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Tunisians are striving for the opportunity to realize their potential and aspirations in a country that is rich in both human and physical capital, but whose recent economic growth has failed to create enough opportunities in the form of good and productive jobs. This report highlights the main barriers that hinder the Tunisian labor market from providing income, protection, and prosperity to its citizens and proposes a set of labor policies that could facilitate the creation of better, more inclusive, and more productive jobs. The weak economic performance and insufficient and low-quality job creation in Tunisia is primarily the result of an economic environment permeated by distortions, barriers to competition, and excessive red tape, including in the labor market. This has resulted in the creation of a insufficient number of jobs, especially in the formal sector. To change this situation, policy makers need to address five strategic directives that can promote long-term inclusive growth and formality: foster competition; realign incentives, pay, and benefit packages in the public sector; move toward labor regulations that promote labor mobility and provide support to workers in periods of transition; enhance the productivity of informal workers through training and skills building; and reform existing social insurance systems and introduce new instruments to attain broader coverage.

Sri Lanka has long been regarded as a model of a successful welfare state in a low-income setting, yet it has not succeeded in creating a sufficient number of \"good jobs\" for the increasing number of young people. Hence, young Sri Lankans perceive their country as an unjust and unequal society, in which mainstream institutions have failed to address inequalities in the distribution of resources, as well as of benefits deriving from economic growth. Against this background, 'The Challenge of Youth Employment in Sri Lanka' aims to identify ways to improve the opportunities available to new job market entrants by addressing existing inequalities and to help young people more fully realize their potentials. Drawing from original research and a review of existing studies, the authors use the \"4Es\" conceptual framework to analyze four key aspects of labor markets—employment creation, employability, entrepreneurship, and equal opportunity—identifying main issues and results, current trends, and possible new approaches.

Employability has become a key element in sustaining successful vocational careers. The role of self-directedness is considered paramount in maintaining one’s employability. However, it also requires certain competences on part of employees to invest in learning and career development. This study examines the influence of self-directedness in learning and career of low-qualified employees on their employability. In a follow-up study of 284 low-qualified employees, we find that higher levels of self-directedness in learning and career of employees corresponds with higher chance to be promoted to higher-level job positions (vertical job mobility). However, no relationship was found between different formats of self-directedness and job retention or horizontal job mobility of lower qualified personnel.

This study examines whether a series of unemployment insurance benefit reforms that took place over a 20-year period in the Netherlands had a gendered effect on the duration of unemployment and labor market outcomes. Using longitudinal data from the Dutch Labor Supply Panel (OSA) over the period 1980-2000, and adopting a quasi-experimental design, we test whether seemingly 'gender neutral' institutional reforms result in a structural disadvantage for women in particular. Our results demonstrate a striking gender similarity in terms of shorter unemployment durations and ultimately less favorable labor market outcomes (lower occupational class, lower wage, part-time and temporary contracts) among both men and women affected by these reforms. Findings also indicate that disadvantaged groups (older and low-skilled female workers) are the most likely to experience a negative effect from state interventions. These findings provide support for the long-term gains of unemployment benefits and their role in operating as \"bridges\" to better employment.

Anecdotal evidence shows that despite extensive restrictions on the hiring of African workers, these workers were increasingly employed in semi-skilled occupations throughout the apartheid era. This article shows that White skill acquisition throughout the apartheid era reduced the supply of White semi-skilled workers and led to the removal of job reservation, the process of reserving skilled and semi-skilled jobs for Whites. Although job reservation declined, there is little evidence of a decline in racial segregation in the labour market. It is concluded that the transformation in the labour market was driven by White economic incentives rather than any evident change in White preferences regarding racial segregation.

Purpose – This paper aims to, using the example of the highly globalised shipping industry, shed light upon the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the extent to which it might be relied upon to fill international regulatory gaps. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon findings from a questionnaire study of shipboard accommodation. Findings – The paper finds that seafarers’ welfare remains under-considered by many companies. It suggests that the consolidation of regulation pertaining to seafarer living conditions under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) has been timely. However, a priority for the international community should be to develop the relatively low standards currently required by existing regulation to provide for better standards of seafarer welfare across the global fleet. Research limitations/implications – This evidence from the shipping industry challenges arguments for the normative basis for CSR and lends weight to those suggesting that the apparent exercise of CSR by multinational companies should broadly be understood as an exercise in public relations. Social implications – The research points to the need for the MLC to be amended to raise the mandatory standards of shipboard accommodation in the merchant shipping industry. Originality/value – The paper contributes unique data on seafarers’ living conditions and augments the body of knowledge concerning the exercise of CSR in global sectors.

Custom tailors working in the informal sector in Nairobi, Kenya, mainly acquire technical skills through undertaking traditional apprenticeships (TAs). However, most of these tailors are semi-skilled, produce low-quality products and are often poorer than their formally trained counterparts. This qualitative case study explores the aspects of technical skills and knowledge which tailoring apprentices develop, and the factors which influence these outcomes. The findings show that apprentices do acquire basic technical skills for immediate application to ongoing tailoring activities (such as how to take body measurements, draft patterns, and cut, sew and finish constructed garments). However, apprentices do not acquire the technical knowledge that underpins the trade. Most master tailors who have completed TAs lack technical knowledge and have no access to technical skills upgrading. This perpetuates the cycle of basic and limited technical skills transfer to apprentices, poor performance and poverty among tailors. Both apprentices and master tailors expressed concern over knowledge limitations in TAs and a need to access further training to improve skills and acquire knowledge of the trade. The authors of this article argue that, technically and pedagogically, skilled master tailors are critical to improving training quality. Complementary training in theoretical knowledge is also important in improving apprentices' technical skills and understanding of the trade. Inclusion of TAs in government policy may help ensure sustainable improvement of skills. Perfectionnement des connaissances et savoir-faire techniques dans le secteur informel au Kenya: le cas des tailleurs – Les tailleurs sur mesure actifs dans le secteur informel de Nairobi (Kenya) acquièrent essentiellement leur savoir-faire technique dans le cadre d'un apprentissage traditionnel. Néanmoins, la plupart d'entre eux sont insuffisamment qualifiés, fabriquent des articles de faible qualité et sont plus pauvres que leurs confrères qui ont bénéficié d'une formation officielle. La présente étude de cas qualitative explore les éléments des connaissances et savoirfaire techniques qui sont transmis traditionnellement en confection ainsi que les facteurs qui influencent ces résultats. Les conclusions révèlent que les apprentis acquièrent certes les compétences techniques de base pour une application immédiate dans les actes courants de la confection (prise de mensurations, traçage de patrons, coupe, couture et finition de vêtements conçus). Ils n'abordent cependant pas les connaissances techniques qui sont à la base du métier. La majorité des maîtres tailleurs qui ont accompli un apprentissage traditionnel manquent de ces connaissances techniques et n'ont aucun accès aux mesures correspondantes de perfectionnement. Cette situation entretient le cycle du transfert minimal et limité des compétences techniques aux apprentis, du faible rendement et de la pauvreté parmi les tailleurs. Tant les apprentis que les maîtres tailleurs expriment leur souci concernant la limitation des connaissances dans l'apprentissage traditionnel et le besoin d'accéder à la formation continue pour perfectionner leurs compétences et acquérir des connaissances sur le métier. Les auteures de l'article affirment que sur le plan technique et pédagogique, les maîtres tailleurs qualifiés sont décisifs pour améliorer la qualité de la formation. La formation complémentaire en savoir théorique est également importante pour améliorer les compétences techniques et la connaissance du métier chez les apprentis. L'intégration de l'apprentissage traditionnel dans les politiques publiques pourrait contribuer à garantir un perfectionnement durable des compétences.

As a result of changing employer needs, shifts in the labour supply, and demographic forces, there could be increasingly significant mismatches between worker skills and job requirements by 2030, which could raise structural unemployment levels and slow economic growth. These gaps would include shortages of high-skill workers in advanced economies and China (largely due to aging). In developing economies such as India and Indonesia there could be too few middle-skill workers to support industrialization. This article provides a detailed analysis of these theoretical gaps and examines reforms in education and other initiatives that, along with market forces, could head off the shortages.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to investigate the embedded process that enables or constrains low-income low-qualified employees’ access to workplace learning in small organizations. Design/methodology/approach – Informed by the sociomaterial approach and cultural historical activity theory, this study adopted a qualitative cross-case study method. Data were collected from three small business owners in Central Texas, USA. Data included interviews and organizational artifacts and were analyzed using a constant comparative and inductive thematic data analysis. Findings – This study extends existing literature for low-income low-qualified employees by elucidating business owners’ motivations to develop supportive employment relationships. Despite incongruent value systems, subordinates were provided equal access to workplace learning based on organizations’ needs and business owners’ value systems. Research limitations/implications – The organizations’ small size and business owners’ position as the sole decision maker potentially create a different embedded context from supervisors who are subordinates in larger organizations. Further, findings from this qualitative study cannot be generalized without caution. Practical implications – The findings from this study suggest that workforce professionals should consider the advantages of small organizations for low-qualified clients seeking employment and adult education opportunities. More research is needed to generalize findings that delineate work situations where low-qualified employees can gain equal access to workplace learning and gain access to adult learning opportunities that lead to job mobility. Originality/value – This study identified an organizational context where business owners support workplace learning for low-income low-qualified employees with incongruent value systems.

The Philippines' debt to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank (manufactured by the workings of neocolonial neoliberalisms) continues to constrain the nation's economy and track its citizen-laborers into transnational industries that offer little security. [...]the fact is-as Fajardo shows in an unpacking of David Harvey's concept of time-space compression in late capital-that the time on container ships is decoupled from the time in societies facilitated by capital, making normative ways of keeping and experiencing time moot. [...]the homogenization of space, due to practices such as the open-ship registry that allows hiring from multiple national affiliations, means that additional fieldwork would very quickly yield diminishing returns.