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Labour Productivity, Investment in Human Capital and Youth Employment

Labour Productivity, Investment in Human Capital and Youth Employment Comparative Developments and Global Responses

Author: Roger Blanpain; W Bromwich; O Rymkevich; Silvia Spattini
Publisher: Kluwer Law International
ISBN: 9789041132499
Published In: March 2010
Format: Paperback , 264 pages
Jurisdiction: International ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Unemployment levels are on the rise nearly everywhere, and the rate is particularly high among young people. If this trend is not reversed, the potential long-term economic and social damage is incalculable. For this reason a particular urgency attended an international conference on the subject held in March 2009 at the Marco Biagi Foundation in Modena, Italy, in the course of which specialists in labour law, human resources management, labour economics, sociology, education, and statistics met to present and compare research. This issue of the Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations includes a selection of the papers presented at that conference. Although the selected essays present findings on specific issues in particular countries, the general applicability at the global level is evident. Assessing measures taken to deal with youth unemployment in thirteen countries (Italy, Spain, Russia, Sweden, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Israel, Nigeria, the United States, China, and Singapore), twenty-five leading authorities describe and analyse such aspects of the problem as the following:

vocational education and training;
quality of employment as well as quantity;
links between educational institutions and local, national and international enterprises;
consultation and co-operation between employers’ associations and trade unions;
job security vs. employment security;
funding for postgraduate programmes, internships, and on-the-job vocational training;
career development for future managers;
safeguards for workers in a framework of flexibility;
labour market pressure from unskilled immigrant workers;
‘earn-as-you-learn’ schemes;
work in the informal economy; and
the rationale behind the phasing out of passive labour market measures for school leavers such as unemployment benefit.

Admirably fulfilling the need for a critical analysis of today’s increasing rate of youth unemployment with a comparative and interdisciplinary approach – and highlighting in particular the growing mismatch between the expectations of graduates and what the labour market is actually able to deliver – the research papers in this volume provide invaluable indicators for labour lawyers, educators, and policymakers seeking to address this issue in their specific regional and national contexts.

Part I: THE PROBLEM OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN EUROPE

1. Job Insecurity and Job Change Prospects: Views among Employees in Sweden with a Focus on Youth; B. Furåker.

2 . The Integration of Young People into the Labour Market in Bulgaria; E. Ribarova.

3. The School-to-Work Transition for Polish Students: Are There Any New Channels? J. Religa, H. Bednarczyk.

Part II: HUMAN CAPITAL: PROMOTING TALENT

4. Managing Talent: New Challenges in the Banking Industry; C. Anagnostopoulou, M. Pilati.

5. Encouraging Youth Employment through Vocational and Technical Education, and Contribution of Employers’ Organizations to the Inclusion of Young People in the Labour Market: The Israeli Experience; T. Lotan.

6. Vocational Qualifications as a Safeguard for Workers in a System of Flexicurity: the Role of Higher Education; M.L. Martín Hernández.

Part III. HUMAN CAPITAL AND LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY POLICIES: THE CHALLENGE OF THE ASIAN MARKETS.

7 . Youth Chances under China’s ‘Socialist Market Economy’; H.K. Josephs.

8. Higher Education, Employment and the Labour Market in China: A Survey of Graduate Employment in Zhujiang Delta, Guangdong; Li-Li F., Zhang X-M.

9 . Youth Employment and Training in Singapore; R. Chew, Chew S.B.

Part IV: THE REFORM OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING AS AN ANTIDOTE TO PRECARIOUS EMPLOYMENT: NATIONAL CASE STUDIES.

10. Higher Education Quality Assessment for Innovation and Transfer in the Knowledge Society; G. Alessandrini.

11. Student and Graduate Mobility in Italy; F. Brait, R. Petrillo, M. Strozza.

12. Legal Means for Promoting Youth Employment in Estonia; M. Mude.

13 . The Role of Industrial Relations in Youth Employment: Case Study of Nigeria; J. Opute, K. Koch.

14. National Youth Employment Programmes in Hungary; A. Kun.

15. Employment Problems of Young Lawyers in Russia; A. Zavgorodniy.

Prof. Dr. Roger Blanpain is professor emeritus of the Faculty of Laws of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Florida, Georgia (USA),   Insead (France), Kentucky, Michigan State (USA), Paris (France), and Sophia (Japan).

At present he is a professor at the Universities of Hasselt and KUBrussel, Belgium and   the University of Tilburg, the Netherlands; and is a member of the Flemish Royal   Academy (1992-).

He has been Dean of the Leuven Faculty of Laws (1984-1988), is Past President of the   International Industrial Relations Association (1986-1989), and has been a member of the Belgian Senate (1987-1989). He is a doctor honoris causa of the University of Szeged, Hungary (1997). He is also Past-President of the International Society of Labour Law and Social Security.

Professor Blanpain is also the editor of the International Encyclopaedia of Labour Law and Industrial Relations 1975 and general editor of the International Encyclopaedia of Laws ( more than 1200 collaborators worldwide), the Bulletin of Comparative Labour Law and of the book Comparative Labour Law and Industrial relations (9th ed. 2007).