International Labour Review最新文献

Considering the COVID-19 pandemic as an exogenous shock, this article attempts to determine whether unions adjusted wages and working hours to protect their members during the economic crisis that it triggered. Based on 2018–20 Korean panel data, the author finds that, during the pandemic, union members were 1.9 times more likely to keep their jobs than non-union members. However, no significant difference is found between the wage growth in the two sectors, although union members decreased their working hours more than nonunion members. The results therefore suggest that unions provided employment protection during this period by reducing working hours, not wages.

This article examines legal segmentation in five Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay) by drawing on the employment regulation typology developed by Dingeldey et al. (2022), based on three functions – standard-setting, privileging and equalizing. The author distinguishes between three factors of inequality and precarity: lack of coverage (namely of self-employed workers), discrimination and the circumvention of standards. Lack of enforcement, together with an unfavourable economic environment, results in informality. The analysis identifies different forms and levels of protection under standard and non-standard employment, as well as compensatory rules and other regulations seeking to eliminate inequality.

Since the first minimum wage legislation was introduced in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 1900s, minimum wage regulation has attracted controversy. Opponents of minimum wages use market theory to defend their position, while supporters justify state intervention based on principles of equity and social good. This article examines how these two ideological positions have influenced the fixing of wages, and the ensuing results. As little comparative research exists on the origins, evolution and current systems of minimum wage regulation in the three countries, this article aims to address the gap in the literature.

Despite the striking presence in many developing economies of the two distinctive features of high levels of income inequality and significant informal employment, the literature addressing the relationship between these features is scarce, especially for Latin America. In this paper, we highlight the ambiguous relationship between inequality and informality by identifying the various factors that may affect it. We then empirically test this relationship using panel data pertaining to Latin America between 1990–2018. In these context-specific conditions, our findings reveal a positive association between formalization in the labour market and labour income equality.

This article considers the effects of trans identity on people's workplace experiences. Drawing on in-depth individual interviews with 12 trans people in Switzerland in 2014–15, the author identifies the difficulties and successes of their experiences through the perspective of three dimensions: the effects of the type of transition they undergo (towards the male or female gender), difficulties in reconciling the temporalities of transitions with those of employers, and the circumstances in which individuals “come out”. Reflecting on trans people's access to economic citizenship, the author recommends revising labour legislation and raising awareness among managers of the issues surrounding trans identity.