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72. Constraints on the demand for youth labour in Zambia
- Author:
- ZIPAR, Grayson Koyi, Gibson Masumbu, and Albert Halwampa
- Publication Date:
- 12-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
- Abstract:
- Zambia is one of many developing countries struggling to create adequate employment opportunities for its people, especially in the formal economy. Unemployment is highest among youths (15–24 years old) and particularly affects those without skills. Unless the challenge of youth unemployment is met, Zambia could face rising poverty levels in the future. Based on a survey of firms in the mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and construction industries, this study analyses constraints on the demand for youth labour and identifies five broad policy areas in which the government could help make it easier for firms to absorb more young people.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Labor Issues, Youth, Mining, and Unemployment
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Zambia
73. When Voicelessness Meets Speechlessness – Struggling for Equity in Chinese-Ghanaian Employment Relations
- Author:
- Karsten Giese and Alena Thiel
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- In this article Chinese-Ghanaian employment relations are analyzed using the concepts of foreignness, the psychological contract, equity, and cross-cultural communication. Based on a qualitative study conducted in Accra, Ghana, we discuss the labor market in general and introduce the conditions under which Chinese sojourners operate their family trade businesses in the city. After discussing the phenomenon of Ghanaian employment within Chinese trade companies from a theoretical perspective, we explain how Chinese employers' and Ghanaian employees' culturally based perceptions of employment relations are contradictory and prone to conflict. We then show how, under the condition of the employers' foreignness, Ghanaian employees perceive their psychological contracts as being violated and Chinese employers regard the equity of exchange relations as distorted. We discuss how Ghanaian employees cope with this situation by means of voice, silence, retreat or destruction, while Chinese employers, who lack both sufficient language skills and effective sanctions, choose to endure perceived distortions of equity and in some cases ultimately terminate employment relations when inadequate cross-cultural communication results in a failure to mediate conflicts.
- Topic:
- Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Labor Issues, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Africa, China, and Ghana
74. The Economic Agenda of the Islamist Parties
- Author:
- Ibrahim Saif and Muhammad Abu Rumman
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Islamist parties have gained newfound political power across the Arab world. Four parties in particular—Tunisia's Ennahda, Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party, Morocco's Justice and Development Party, and Jordan's Islamic Action Front—have either made a strong showing at the ballot box or are expected to in upcoming elections. Their successes have dredged up fears about their political and social ambitions, with worries ranging from the enforcement of sharia law to the implications for Western tourists on these countries' beaches. Meanwhile, the parties' economic platforms have largely been overlooked, despite the serious challenges that lie ahead for the economies of the Arab world.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Democratization, Islam, Political Economy, Regime Change, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, and Arabia
75. Constraints on the demand for youth labour in Zambia
- Author:
- Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis & Research (ZIPAR), Grayson Koyi, Gibson Masumbu, and Albert Halwampa
- Publication Date:
- 12-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
- Abstract:
- Zambia is one of many developing countries struggling to create adequate employment opportunities for its people, especially in the formal economy. Unemployment is highest among youths (15–24 years old) and particularly affects those without skills. Unless the challenge of youth unemployment is met, Zambia could face rising poverty levels in the future. Based on a survey of firms in the mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and construction industries, this study analyses constraints on the demand for youth labour and identifies five broad policy areas in which the government could help make it easier for firms to absorb more young people.
- Topic:
- Development, Labor Issues, Youth, Mining, Manufacturing, and Unemployment
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Zambia
76. Understanding youth labour demand constraints in Zambia: The mining, manufacturing and construction sectors
- Author:
- Grayson Koyi, Gibson Masumbu, and Albert Halwampa
- Publication Date:
- 12-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
- Abstract:
- Zambia is among many developing countries struggling to create adequate employment opportunities for its people, especially in the formal economy. There is high youth unemployment, especially in urban areas where it has surged to 40.4% for females and 35.6% for males (CSO 2011, 95). Sender et al. (2005) attribute the high youth unemployment rates in Zambia to the socio-economic crisis of the past two decades and the young and increasing population that is producing an ever bigger youth labour force. Mayaka and Moyo (1999) further observe that youth unemployment mainly affects those without skills. A new challenge is the revised minimum wage legislation, which could influence youth employment levels if formal sector employers opt to lay off excess labour in order to contain labour-related costs of production. Unless the challenge of youth unemployment is met, Zambia could face rising poverty levels in the future. The new government has made pronouncements about expanding employment opportunities for youths, but without good data and information about labour demand dynamics, the government’s good intentions are likely to face severe challenges. Closing this knowledge gap is a necessary step in identifying corrective policy measures.
- Topic:
- Development, Labor Issues, Youth, Mining, Manufacturing, Unemployment, and Construction
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Zambia
77. Labour Immigration Policy in the EU: A Renewed Agenda for Europe 2020
- Author:
- Sergio Carrera, Elspeth Guild, Anaïs Faure Atger, and Dora Kostakopoulou
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
- Abstract:
- The EU's capacity for a legitimate, coherent and migrants' rights compliant policy on labour immigration is now more than ever at a test in light of the political priorities set in the EU's 2020 Strategy and the effects of the revolutions and war in North African states during the last four months. This Policy Brief examines the incoherencies characterising the current generation of EU's labour immigration policies and the challenges towards ensuring a global rights-based approach to migration. The analysis carried out in this paper is accompanied by a synthesis of the main policy recommendations discussed at the Workshop on “The Next Phase of EU Labour Immigration Policy: Enhancing Policy Coherence and Advancing a Rights-Based Approach” organised in the context of the Conference “State of the Union: Brussels Think Tank Dialogue 2011” in January 2011.
- Topic:
- Labor Issues and Immigration
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Europe
78. Europe Fighting Irregular Migration – Consequences for West African Mobility
- Author:
- Nauja Kleist
- Publication Date:
- 10-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- In collaboration with African countries, the EU is fighting irregular migration to Europe through border control and deportations. However, rather than halting irregular migration, such policies reconfigure mobility flows and make migration routes more dangerous and difficult.
- Topic:
- Migration, Labor Issues, and Immigration
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Europe
79. Reconsidering West African Migration: Changing focus from European immigration to intra-regional flows
- Author:
- Anne Sofie Westh Olsen
- Publication Date:
- 10-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- Research on West African migration has tended to focus on specific 'crisis migration' issues, such as trafficking, international refugee flows or irregular migration to Europe. This reflects rather Eurocentric policy priorities, since these forms of West African migration are actually relatively small in comparison with intra-regional migration.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Markets, Migration, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Europe
80. From Compliance to Practice: Mining Companies and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Author:
- Jana Hönk and Tanja A. Börzel
- Publication Date:
- 10-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Abstract:
- Transnational institutions increasingly commit multinational companies to human rights and social standards on a voluntary basis. Our paper investigates the security practices of multinational companies and whether these comply with the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. Analysing the case of mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo we evaluate the impact of the Principles on local security practices and critically analyse the effects of these practices. We argue that one needs to go beyond compliance studies, which focus on the implementation of formal programs (output) and rule-consistent behaviour (outcome), in order to evaluate corporate governance contributions. We therefore develop a conceptual framework that looks at companies' local security practices, including non-compliant practices, and their effects on local security. Our approach leads to a more differentiated evaluation of the effects of voluntary standards and the potential for corporate governance contributions than much of the literature on business and governance does.
- Topic:
- Security, Human Rights, Natural Resources, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo