Many U.S. workers receive health & pension benefits from employers, & the cost of these benefits represents a growing share of workers¿ total compensation. Employers have made changes to control these rising costs, contending that these changes will allow them to remain competitive in an increasingly global market. This report examines the practices employers are using to control the costs of benefits. To evaluate changing employer benefit practices & their implications, the author examined: (1) current & emerging practices employers are using to control the costs of health care benefits, & retirement benefits; & (2) employers¿ workforce restructuring changes. Charts & tables.

As the structure of the economy has changed over the past few decades, researchers and policy makers have been increasingly concerned with how these changes affect workers. In this book, leading economists examine a variety of important trends in the new economy, including inequality of earnings and other forms of compensation, job security, employer reliance on temporary and contract workers, hours of work, and workplace safety and health. In order to better understand these vital issues, scholars must be able to accurately measure labor market activity. Thus, Labor in the New Economy also addresses a host of measurement issues: from the treatment of outliers, imputation methods, and weighting in the context of specific surveys to evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of data from different sources. At a time when employment is a central concern for individuals, businesses, and the government, this volume provides important insight into the recent past and will be a useful tool for researchers in the future.

Since the renaissance of market politics on a global scale, precarious work has become pervasive. Divided into two parts, the first section of this cross-disciplinary book analyses the different forms of precarious work that have arisen over the past thirty years. These transformations are captured in ethnographically orientated chapters on sweatshops; day labour; homework; unpaid contract work of Chinese construction workers; the introduction of insecure contracting in the Korean automotive industry; and the insecurity of Brazilian cane cutters. The editors and contributors then collectively explore trade union initiatives in the face of precarious work and stimulate debate on the issue.

This handbook provides an overview of the research on the changing nature of work and workers by marshalling interdisciplinary research to summarize the empirical evidence and provide documentation of what has actually changed. Connections are explored between the changing nature of work and macro-level trends in technological change, income inequality, global labor markets, labor unions, organizational forms, and skill polarization, among others. This edited volume also reviews evidence for changes in workers, including generational change (or lack thereof), that has accumulated across domains. Based on documented changes in work and worker behavior, the handbook derives implications for a range of management functions, such as selection, performance management, leadership, workplace ethics, and employee well-being. This evaluation of the extent of changes and their impact gives guidance on what best practices should be put in place to harness these developments to achieve success.

This practical guide offers management, psychology, and related professionals comprehensive background in—and robust methods for evaluating—frequently litigated wage and hour issues. Wage and hour compliance is impacted by numerous sources including federal laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, state and local laws, guidance from government enforcement agencies and court decisions. This book provides a clear and understandable overview of the legal context along with methods for data collection and analysis to measure and evaluate compliance pertaining to commonly litigated disputes, such as independent contract classification, FLSA exemptions, pay equity, and off-the-clock work. This framework for understanding and responding to such cases is suitable to both those new to the field and expert consultants while also acting as a springboard for further research in this increasingly relevant legal area. Included in the coverage: · Trends in wage and hour litigation. · Applicable data collection methods for evaluating wage and hour compliance. · Assessing employment status. · Strategies to measure and prevent off the clock work. · Factors that impact meal and rest break compliance. · Stages of a class-action lawsuit. · Statistical sampling and analyses. · Understanding and analyzing pay equity. Wage and Hour Law: Guide to Methods and Analysis fills knowledge needs for an audience that includes management and industrial/organizational psychology graduate students interested in legal issues as well as testifying experts, external consultants, HR practitioners, management professionals, and labor economists.

Toxicology --