scholarly journals A Note on the Effects on Unemployment Insurance, Minimum Wage Legislation and Trade Union Growth on Reported Unemployment Rates in Canada, 1950-1975

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 922-927
Author(s):  
Herbert G. Grubel ◽  
Dennis R. Maki

The paper analyzes the effects of the factors noted in the title on reported unemployment rates, both theoretically and empirically. The implications of the results for the natural rate debate and macroeconomic stabilization policies are briefly discussed.

1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (01) ◽  
pp. 171-181
Author(s):  
Raymond O. P. Farrish ◽  
Stanley K. Seaver

Agriculture has been excluded, exempted or by-passed, depending upon one's viewpoint, from much of the social legislation extending back to the 1930's. For many years agriculture was essentially outside of workmen's compensation, minimum wage legislation, child labor laws and the social security system to identify a few. Legislation extending unemployment insurance protection to farm workers has never been enacted but we appear much closer to taking positive action to correct this situation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2110358
Author(s):  
Simon Ress ◽  
Florian Spohr

This contribution scrutinises how introducing a statutory minimum wage of EUR 8.50 per hour, in January 2015, impacted German employees’ decision with regard to union membership. Based on representative data from the Labour Market and Social Security panel, the study applies a logistic difference-in-differences propensity score matching approach on entries into and withdrawals from unions in the German Trade Union Confederation (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB). The results show no separate effect on withdrawals from or entries into unions after the minimum wage introduction for those employees who benefited financially from it, but a significant increase of entries overall. Thus, unions’ campaign for a minimum wage strengthened their position in total but did not reverse the segmentation of union membership patterns.


2021 ◽  
pp. 572-588
Author(s):  
Ola Sjöberg ◽  
Eero Carroll ◽  
Joakim Palme

Unemployment is one of the ‘old risks’ that modern welfare states can be seen to have responded to, but continues to be of great importance in the twenty-first century. Unemployment insurance also appears to be more ridden by political conflicts than other social policy programmes. This chapter describes the evolution of unemployment insurance schemes in eighteen long-standing welfare states. It dates the emergence of the first laws and traces the expansion of the coverage and replacement levels of benefits during the ‘Golden Age’ to more recent periods marked by economic crisis and retrenchment in the quality of unemployment protection. Four models of unemployment insurance are identified: voluntary state-subsidized, targeted, state corporatist, and comprehensive schemes. These models sum up institutional differences that are important for understanding the cross-national variation in a broad set of outcomes—ranging from individual conditions and behaviours, such as poverty and labour supply, to macroeconomic stabilization. The quality of unemployment insurance contributes to explain, among other things, differences in poverty rates over time and among nations.


2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Vandaele

Based on the seminal contribution of Bain and Elsheikh, this article explains the ebb and flow in trade union membership in Belgium from 1948 to 1995. With only four explanatory variables, the model clarifies more than 75 per cent of the fluctuations in Belgian trade union membership. The results show that rises in inflation, real wages and, due to the Ghent system, unemployment have a positive impact on unionization. Although there is an enforcement effect, a saturation effect takes over, indicating that further union growth is hampered by the union's own size. Mainly due to the 'Allgemeinkoalitionsfähighkeit' of the Belgian government system, the impact of leftist parties on unionization is not significant in a quantitative framework.


Author(s):  
Phillip F. Blaauw ◽  
Louis J. Bothma

Orientation: The number of domestic workers in South Africa has decreased in the last decade, seemingly corresponding with efforts by government to increase regulation.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate possible structural changes in this labour market over the last decade, as well as the possible employment effects of the latest minimum wage provisions.Motivation for the study: Previous studies on the topic were carried out either prior to, or just after, the implementation of the minimum wage legislation for domestic workers. Now, five years after implementation, the conclusions and predictions of these studies need to be evaluated.Research design, approach and method: The study utilised a repeat survey in the suburb of Langenhoven Park in Bloemfontein, where two previous microstudies had been conducted. Structural interviews were conducted with a sample of 132 respondents and the data analysed.Main findings: There are now fewer domestic workers working for more employers, than there were ten years ago. In contrast to predictions from the literature, these changes mostly occurred before the implementation of the legislation. Real wages and legislative compliance improved for those who remained employed.Practical implications: The task of balancing the improvement of the lives of domestic workers and the possible adverse consequences of the legislation, in the form of job losses, remains as daunting as it was ten years ago.Contribution: Literature predicts changes in the market for domestic workers to be long term. This study shows that most changes took place before the implementation of the legislation as employers decided on their course of action.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document