In Search of the Global Labour Market
In Search of the Global Labour Market. Actors, Structures, and Policies
October 2017 - July 2018
Globalisation is on everybody's lips. Like few others this catchword epitomises the dynamic changes of present times, not least with regard to labour markets. Never before have such a large number of people emigrated in the hope of better working and living conditions. Never before were so many flight miles spent on business travel. For the highly qualified elites globalisation appears as a cornucopia of opportunities. In less privileged sectors of the labour market, above all in industry, employers refer to the 'pressure of globalisation' to justify the lowering of standards and wages or the shifting of jobs abroad.
Employee organisations such as trade unions, but also populist movements, demonise 'global labour markets' as a threat resulting in a downward spiral for working conditions and substantially menacing Western welfare states and democracies. According to this reading, immigration of any kind, refugees included, is threatening to push aside a low-qualified domestic workforce from the national labour markets.
There is, however, little verifiable empirical knowledge about the consequences of globalisation for labour markets. Thus, it is unclear both what the catchword 'global labour markets' means specifically and how to tackle the phenomenon in research and politics. Many studies in the Social Sciences and Economics have dwelled on particular aspects of manifestations and processes involved in globalisation, but without focussing on 'global labour markets' themselves. This is the starting point of the ZiF Research Group "In Search of the Global Labour Market".
The group is concerned with questions such as: What can be conceived of as 'global labour markets' from a theoretical perspective, and what exactly is the 'commodity' traded here? Which terminology and concepts, methodologies and empirical approaches are suitable for identifying and describing 'global labour markets' in an analytically profound manner? What do the existing empirical findings reveal about 'global labour markets' – in a present-minded as well as in a (long-term) historical perspective, provided they can be regarded as 'global' and/or functioning 'labour markets' in the first place? Which role is played by migration and the growing mobility of the workforce for the transformation of national labour markets towards a single 'global market'? How is this transformation influenced by existing institutions, international intermediaries and social networks?
To pursue these questions the ZiF Research Group assembles renowned scholars and younger academics from Economics, Sociology, History, Political Science, Social Policy, Industrial Relations, Management Studies and Migration Studies.
The opening conference took place at Bielefeld from 16th to 18th October 2017.
Members
- Convenors
- Fellows
Patrik Aspers
Economic sociology, social theory, phenomenology, qualitative research
Uppsala University, Department of Sociology & University of St. Gallen, Institute of Sociology
Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick
Industrial relations
Birkbeck College, University of London, Department of EconomicsGraham Hollinshead
International management and employment studies
University of Hertfordshire, Centre for Research on Management, Economy and Society
Sigrid Quack
Sociology, cross-border institution building
University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of Sociology and Centre for Global Cooperation Research and Institute of Sociology
Helen Schwenken
Sociology of migration
University of Osnabrück, Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS)
Publications
- All Publications
Publications in Journals
- Aspers, Patrik (2018). Comment on 'The Complex Market: Communications of Exchange, Observing Competitors, and Prices' by Pascal Goeke and Evelyn Moser" Sociologica, International Journal for Sociological Debate (1), 101-104.
- Aspers, Patrik (2018). "Forms of uncertainty: decision, evaluation, valuation, and contest", Theory and Society, 47 (2), 133-149.
- Clegg, Stuart; Geppert, Mike; Hollinshead, Graham (2018). Politicization and Political Contests in and around Contemporary MNCs- An Introduction'. Human Relations 7(6), 745-765.
- Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene; Kesselring, Sven (2018). Sharing mobilities. Some propaedeutic considerations. In: Applied Mobilities 3 (1), 1-7. DOI: 10.1080/23800127.2018.1438235.
- Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene; Kesselring, Sven (2018): Special issue on Sharing mobilities'. In: Applied Mobilities 3 (1).
- Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick und Richard Hyman (eds.) (2020). Special Issue: Labour Markets across Borders. The Journal of Industrial Relations, 62, 2, 2020
- Hefeker, Carsten; Neugart, Michael (2019). Policy Coordination Under Model Disagreement and Uncertainty. Open Economies Review.
- Kesselring, Sven; Armin Himmelrath. (2017). Mobility as a distinctive practice. A conversation between Armin Himmelrath and Sven Kesselring on mobile media work, speed, the communication overflow and socio-technical change. In: Applied Mobilities Vol. 2 (1), 100-105.
- Mense-Petermann, Ursula: Eastern European Service Contract Workers in the German Meat Industry – A Case Study in Market Making of a Transnational Labour Market, ZiF-Mitteilungen 2|2018, 23-31
- Ursula Mense-Petermann (ed.) (2020). Special Theme: Theorizing Transnational Labour Markets: Economic-Sociological Approaches. Global Networks: a journal of transnational affairs, 20, 3, 2020
- Zaharieva, Anna (2018). On the Optimal Diversification of Social Networks in Frictional Labour Markets with Occupational Mismatch. Labour Economics, 50 (special issue on search and matching models), 112-127.
- Zaharieva, A., & Iftikhar, Z. (2019). General Equilibrium Effects of Immigration in Germany: Search and Matching Approach. Review of Economic Dynamics (31), 245-276.
Submitted working papers and articles under revision
- Alaverdyan, Sevak; Zaharieva, Anna (2019). Immigration, Social Networks and Occupational Mismatch (Universität Bielefeld Working Papers in Economics and Management, 04-2019). Bielefeld: Bielefeld University, Department of Business Administration and Economics.
- Kesselring, Sven; Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene; Servou, Eriketti. (in review). What is smart for the future city? - Mobilities and automation. In: Sustainability. Special Issue on Smart Mobility for Future Cities; edited by Hussein Dia (Smart Cities Research Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia).
- Neugart, Michael; Zaharieva, Anna (2018). Social Networks, Promotions, and the Glass-Ceiling Effect (Universität Bielefeld Working Papers in Economics and Management, 07-2018). Bielefeld: Bielefeld University, Department of Business Administration and Economics.
Books and book chapters
- Aspers, Patrik; Ahrne, Göran; Brunsson, Nils (2018). The Organization of Markets, In N. Brunsson and M. Juttersström, Market Organization (17-31). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Aspers, Patrik; Darr, Asaf (2018). Organization of Market Places: The Constitution of Trade Fairs in Cutting Edge industries, In N. Brunsson and M. Jutterström, Market Organization (210-220), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene; Kesselring, Sven (eds.) (2018). Exploring networked urban mobilities. Theories, concepts, ideas. 1st. New York, NY: Routledge (Networked urban mobilities series, volume 1).
- Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene; Sven Kesselring. (2018). Networked Urban Mobilities. In: Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene; Sven Kesselring (eds.). Networked Urban Mobilities - Theories, Concepts, Ideas. Forthcoming.
- Jensen, Ole B.; Kesselring, Sven; Sheller, Mimi (eds.) (2018). Mobilities and Complexities. London & New York: Routledge.
- Kjaerulff, Aslak Aamot; Kesselring, Sven; Peters Peter; Hannam, Kevin (ed.) (2018). Envisioning networked urban mobilities. Art, creativity, performance. New York, NY: Routledge (Networked urban mobilities, volume 3).
- Mense-Petermann, Ursula; Welskopp, Thomas; Zaharieva, Anna (eds.) (2022). In Search of the Global Labour Market. Leiden/NL: Brill.