Migration of labor: differential of income between rural and urban trade union workers in Brazil

PurposeThe objective of this work was to analyze the income differential of the rural–urban worker in relation to the rural–rural worker and in relation to the urban–urban worker in the Brazilian labor market. Two databases were used, the 2005 and 2015 PNADs (Pesquisa Nacional Por Amostra de Domicílios).Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is the decomposition approach proposed by Firpo et al. (2007, 2009). This method adopts estimates of unconditional quantile regressions, based on the concepts of influence function and recentered influence function (RIF).FindingsAmong the main results, income differentials were shown to benefit the urban–urban worker when compared to the rural–urban worker, and income differences to the benefit of the rural–urban workers, when these were compared to the rural–rural workers. The educational variable was relevant in explaining the income disparity and expressing increasing effects in the higher quantiles.Originality/valueThe methodology used in this work is considered recent in the literature as it is based on the RIF regression (Firpo et al., 2007, 2009). The main advantage of this method is the possibility of assigning a “composition effect” and a “wage structure effect” for each variable that determines the level of income at different points of the income distribution.

China will drag feet on urgent pension reform

Subject Pension reform in China. Significance China's main pension fund could be completely depleted as early as 2035. New research published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) predicts that expenditure from the urban worker basic pension fund will begin exceeding contributions in 2028, after which reserves will decline exponentially and could be exhausted within eight years. The government has already introduced measures to address the most pressing problems, such as the gross imbalance between regional pension funds and the failure of employers to contribute to the scheme. Impacts Younger workers will rely on their own savings and investment schemes, having little faith in the government pension. Rural residents, the self-employed and precariously employed have little or no meaningful state-backed pension. International insurers will eventually be allowed to enter China's private pension sector.

Escolas primárias superiores em Portugal: uma política pública voltada para a formação do trabalhador urbano / Upper primary schools in Portugal: a public policy for the formation of the urban worker

Este trabalho apresenta resultados de investigação histórica sobre o processo de criação, instalação e extinção das escolas primárias superiores, em Portugal, durante a Primeira República. As ações do Grêmio dos Professores de Escolas Primárias Superiores pela sobrevivência dessas escolas foram tomadas como ponto de partida da investigação. Tais ações foram divulgadas no jornal O Ensino do Povo, órgão oficial da agremiação. Dada a especificidade desse tipo de fonte, fez-se necessário reconstruir a trajetória legal de tais escolas. Para tal reconstrução, realizou-se um exaustivo levantamento dos diplomas legislativos publicados sobre elas no Diário do Governo. A escrita da história aqui apresentada foi elaborada, de acordo com a expressão utilizada Thompson, no “diálogo com as evidências” encontradas ou produzidas na análise das fontes privilegiadas na pesquisa.

KARAKTERISTIK PENGGUNAAN PELAKU PERJALANAN DALAM PEMILIHAN MODA TRANSPORTASI PEKERJA DI KOTA JAKARTA BARAT

"> Modes of transport workers in the city even become part of the traffic’s problems that have persisted.This is related to the conditions of workers in the city and availability of public transportation relatedto the place where they are live. Many studies in Indonesia about factors of the mode of transportworkers has been done by Lestari (2009), Ludfi Djakfar et all (2010), Widiarta (2010), Sijabar &Ratnasari (2013), Rahmawati (2014), Oktavia and Pandia (2013). Their studies conducting usingbinary logistic regression, but in this study, we try to use multinomial logistic regression. The motivesare expanding the scope of research, and also to capture the actual condition for labor in the city.This study conducted in West Jakarta district, as a growing city and become a second CBD in DKI.The aim of this study to show the factors which affect the urban worker who lives in West Jakartachooses their mode of transportation. This research found several factors like gender, married status,age, car ownership and motorcycle ownership affect labor to choose their mode of transportation.The policy implication regarding the result is how to improve the quality and quantity of publictransportations.Keywords: urban worker, mode of transportation, multinomial logistic regression

The End of Cheap Chinese Labor

In recent decades, cheap labor has played a central role in the Chinese model, which has relied on expanded participation in world trade as a main driver of growth. At the beginning of China's economic reforms in 1978, the annual wage of a Chinese urban worker was only $1,004 in U.S. dollars. The Chinese wage was only 3 percent of the average U.S. wage at that time, and it was also significantly lower than the wages in neighboring Asian countries such as the Philippines and Thailand. The Chinese wage was also low relative to productivity. However, wages are now rising in China. In 2010, the annual wage of a Chinese urban worker reached $5,487 in U.S. dollars, which is similar to wages earned by workers in the Philippines and Thailand and significantly higher than those earned by workers in India and Indonesia. China's wages also increased faster than productivity since the late 1990s, suggesting that Chinese labor is becoming more expensive in this sense as well. The increase in China's wages is not confined to any sector, as wages have increased for both skilled and unskilled workers, for both coastal and inland areas, and for both exporting and nonexporting firms. We benchmark wage growth to productivity growth using both national- and industry-level data, showing that Chinese labor was kept cheap until the late 1990s but the relative cost of labor has increased since then. Finally, we discuss the main forces that are pushing wages up.