Outlining the economic significance of the role of global supply chains (GSCs) in the organisation of the global economy, this paper initially presents some indications of health and safety outcomes in low- and middle-income counties (LMICs) where GSCs source much of the production destined for use in advanced economies. It goes on to discuss the operational dynamics of these chains and the corporate priorities that they reflect, which, it argues, do little to improve the poor work health and safety (WHS) outcomes in LMICs. It then examines evidence for the effectiveness of various private and public regulatory strategies that are claimed to bring about improved health and safety practices and outcomes among GSC suppliers in these countries. The paper critically evaluates this evidence and argues that, while there may be some examples of effective strategies and regulatory practices in particular contexts, their overall influence remains limited. It identifies and discusses the principal reasons for these limitations and concludes that the global regulation of conditions of labour – including WHS – at the end of GSCs falls well short of universal best practice and is, more generally, insufficient to counter the economic forces working against the maintenance of adequate standards of worker protection.

Spain increased its minimum wage (MW) by 22% in 2019. Given the intense debate in the economic literature on the impact of MW increases on the labour market, we conduct an impact assessment of this policy. The synthetic control method will be used to replicate the Spanish labour market by means of a pool of European countries that, in the absence of other reliable measures, simulates the evolution of Spanish employment. This will allow us to identify the causal effect from the increase in the MW. After applying the technique, the increase in the MW is found to have no effect on employment. The results have been subjected to robustness tests such as leave one out or segmentation by gender or age.

This study utilises panel data of 46 countries from 2005 to 2019 to examine the impact of digital service trade (DST) on inclusive growth. Inclusive growth is a growth model that promotes economic growth and development, while also building social equity and inclusiveness and balancing environmental sustainability. The findings indicate that a nation’s DST development significantly fosters domestic economic growth and development, specifically through its employment enhancement effect. DST substantially promotes social equity and inclusiveness, mainly through the inclusive innovation effect. However, DST is also found to increase carbon emissions, impeding environmentally sustainable growth, specifically via the energy demand effect. Hence, DST exerts diverse impacts on different facets of inclusiveness. The study also reveals heterogeneity in the effects of DST on the three aspects of inclusive growth related to trade’s import–export dynamics, income levels, and DST barrier intensities. This paper contributes to and refines the body of research on the relationship between DST and inclusive growth. It offers policy suggestions for crafting more open and mutually beneficial DST policies to foster social equity and inclusive global trade.

India is being projected internationally as a country of good growth and good governance, which in turn, it is asserted, should lead to prosperity for its people, especially in terms of proper employment, income, and overall standard of living. Drawing on certain dimensions of decent work proposed by International Labour Organization to measure the quality of employment in India, this article explores how far the notions of good/high growth and good governance discourse are corroborated by the evidence of good quality employment in India. The study is based on the nationally representative unit/individual-level data published by the Government of India during the three periods 2009–10, 2018–19, and 2022–23. The main findings of analysis are: (a) the overall quality of employment in India is poor and stagnant or deteriorating, and (b) the macro-level (sub-national state-level) aspects, such as the overall volume of economic activities, the extent of quality governance, the flexibility of business regulatory environment and better labour law-related compliance, have had a significant negative influence on the quality of employment. Thus, this paper suggests that the very policy environment and the pattern of economic growth have put a drag on the quality of employment in India. Given this, we suggest a variety of countervailing policy options and emphasise the role of civil society and politics.

This paper explores the (de-)routinisation of employment structure in developing countries, through the case of Morocco. We investigate employment (de-)routinisation from an often-overlooked perspective, aiming to elucidate the interplay between the dynamics of occupational employment composition by the level of routine tasks intensity and two structural aspects: premature deindustrialisation and the prevalence of informal labour.

Our findings, based on tertile analysis and regressions, do not fully support the hypothesis of employment structure de-routinisation. At the same time, we could not identify a clear process of routinisation similar to that observed in developing countries undergoing the first stage of the traditional structural transformation process. Rather, we identified an inverted U-shaped pattern in the dynamics of occupational employment, indicative of a rise in intermediate routine-intensive occupations.

We emphasise two key factors, with opposite effects that have contributed to this atypical pattern: The first aspect is premature deindustrialisation, which according to our shift-share decomposition, has adversely affected highly routine-intensive jobs, contrasting with the routinisation trend observed in countries that have experienced a more traditional process of structural transformation. The influence of premature deindustrialisation in terms of de-routinisation is somewhat mitigated by the increasing prevalence of occupations demanding intermediate routine tasks, particularly within the services and construction sector. Regarding the second structural aspect – the prevalence of informal labour – our three-way interaction model indicates a lower susceptibility of informal jobs to de-routinisation compared to their formal counterparts within the same industry. Consequently, the prevalence of informal employment has slowed down the process of de-routinisation of employment structure.

In recent decades, there has been a global growth of the use of contract labour in the mining industry, primarily driven by cost/flexibility considerations. At the same time, contracting has been associated with poorer occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes across a range of industries. Drawing on published research, theses, and government reports, this paper critically reviews the available evidence on the OHS effects of contract labour in mining and the likely implications of further growth in this trend. This evidence confirms that the use of contract labour is associated with worse OHS outcomes, and that the Ten Pathways and Pressure, Disorganisation, and Regulatory failure (PDR) models are both valuable in explaining this. The latter point is confirmed by a more detailed examination of four serious mine incidents in NSW and Queensland. The paper identifies some gaps and areas for further research as well as the actions that mining companies, regulators, and unions could take to improve contractor safety. Notwithstanding the latter, the paper argues that the most effective way of improving contractor safety in mines is reducing the use of contractors overall and concentrating their activities in areas such as major shutdowns/repairs, where contractors have specialised expertise to undertake non-routine tasks. Despite oft-repeated phrases such as zero-harm and management systems, the corporate shift to using contractors is primarily driven by cost-cutting and highlights how OHS is compromised by such priorities.

This study explores labour market segmentation within the Turkish construction industry, in a developing country context characterised by refugee influxes and heightened earthquake risks. We apply statistical and regression analyses using 2002–2020 Household Labour Force Survey data to explore segmentation with a specific focus on payment, job type and social security enrolment. The findings reveal a segmented labour market where the progress in regular, permanent and registered employment in the 2000s failed to encompass most construction workers. Lower wages, and temporary and unregistered work are more common among the youngest and oldest workers, those with poor education and qualification levels, immigrants, and those employed by micro enterprises. The construction industry lags behind both manufacturing and services in terms of registered and permanent employment rates and average wages. The prevalence of workers in elementary jobs with little education highlights the ongoing challenge of ensuring a highly skilled workforce, while reconstruction activities in earthquake-prone zones and the demand for urban transformation in Türkiye are increasing. We argue that improvements in working conditions constitute an urgent restructuring component in the sector for elevating the status of construction jobs, addressing the shortage of skilled labour and ensuring a high-quality building stock that upholds the right to a secure life in Türkiye.

Work-related stress is a major occupational health and safety (OHS) issue that has industrial relations origins. Aside from the moral and human rights imperatives to improve the corporate climate for worker psychological health (as per psychosocial safety climate, PSC), there are strong economic costs for not doing so. PSC refers to worker perceptions of the corporate safety system to protect and promote workers’ psychological health and wellbeing. It is a leading indicator of working conditions, which in turn affect workers’ health and work engagement. In this study, we estimate the attributable economic cost of low PSC due to sickness absence and turnover. Data were collected from a multinational company using survey at Time 1 (T1) and objective company data (i.e., sickness absence and turnover) after one year (T2). Using regression analysis and a matched sample of 617 responses, PSC was negatively related to future sickness absence. A binomial logistic regression with 1268 respondents (i.e., all responses at T1) showed that PSC was negatively related to future voluntary turnover. An economic analysis suggests that improving OHS via PSC could save an organisation with 5000 employees USD 0.6–2.7 million per year. Building PSC to protect and promote workers’ psychological health is a likely economic saving on organisational productivity.

Indigenous-owned businesses in Australia are strong employers of Indigenous people, maintaining rates of Indigenous employment that are not seen across the breadth of the Australian economy. Despite an increasing focus from governments and private organisations to improve rates of Indigenous employment, there is limited evidence to suggest that substantial improvements are being made. Despite acknowledgement from government of the crucial role played by Indigenous employers in creating Indigenous employment, there has been little focus on what may be learned from the Indigenous business sector in informing public and private Indigenous workplace and recruitment policies. Given the significantly strong levels of Indigenous employment in Indigenous-owned businesses, it is important to interrogate the extent to which this employment differs from that in non-Indigenous businesses and the potential explanations for such divergence. Using data from Supply Nation (2,291 Indigenous-owned businesses) and a survey of 680 non-Indigenous businesses, this paper finds that Indigenous businesses employ Indigenous people at a rate 12 times higher than non-Indigenous businesses. Regression analyses and Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions reveal that these divergent employment outcomes cannot be explained by the broad characteristics of the two sectors (such as industry, location, or profit status). These findings help confirm that the unique workplace practices of Indigenous businesses may explain their strong Indigenous employment and, therefore, provide the template for all Australian businesses to be better employers of Indigenous people.

The Accidental Republic is a concern for all industrialised countries, and China is no exception. To solve this problem, Workers’ Compensation Insurance (WCI) is a perfect option. The redemption of The Accidental Republic can be understood through the development of WCI. However, little attention has been paid to the development of Chinese WCI. Starting from labour insurance regulations promulgated in 1951, this research explores over 70 years of reform and development of Chinese WCI, explicitly dividing reforms into three phases – establishment and implementation, exploration and practice, and adaptation and formation – that aligned with stages of China’s economic development. Further, the insurance fund performance in the last decade is evaluated by Data envelopment analysis and Malmquist (DEA-Malmquist), through the static and dynamic results, yielding generally average results. Subsequently, five major problems of WCI are identified and discussed and five suggestions offered drawing on international comparison and the national situation. Lastly, the accidental and inevitable aspects of China’s WCI system during the redemption of The Accidental Republic are summarised.

Digital technology has enormous potential in rural revitalisation, thus providing impetus for improving the well-being of rural residents in underdeveloped areas. This study takes the policies of e-commerce in rural areas as an intervention in the development of e-commerce. It uses the panel data from 321 counties in the old revolutionary areas of China from 2003 to 2020 to empirically explore the impact of e-commerce development on the income of rural residents. Results show that e-commerce significantly improves the income and well-being of rural residents in old revolutionary areas. Propensity score matching and entropy balance matching are used to overcome group differences in covariate features, and the estimation results are consistently robust. In terms of mechanisms, e-commerce development increases per capita income in old revolutionary areas by promoting three aspects significantly: agricultural revitalisation, non-agricultural employment, and government support efforts. On the other hand, the heterogeneity analysis shows that e-commerce plays a diminishing role in increasing income in the eastern, central, and western regions.

This study examines the influence of bullying at work on self-rated anxiety (SRA) across 19 European countries through the European Working Conditions Survey (2015 and 2021). Descriptive analysis highlights a significantly higher prevalence of bullying among women compared to men. The econometric analysis uncovers that the detrimental impact of bullying is particularly pronounced in environments characterised by higher gender inequality. Gender differences are more prominent in countries where women face lower economic participation and opportunities. However, the frequency of reported bullying is higher in the group of countries where conditions for women are more equal. The apparent lack of awareness regarding these abusive behaviours would feasibly result in a lack of specific legislation and consequently generate a greater impact on SRA, even though the issue seems less prominent.

Deaths in workplace incidents – of both workers and members of the public – normally spark a number of official responses, including coronial inquests. In many instances, however, these investigations have examined the incident in isolation from the wider context of hazards in that industry and are rarely informed by the extensive research literature on health and safety, and death and disaster, at work. In this examination of a tragic theme park disaster in 2016, we demonstrate that applying a wider lens and drawing on the ‘ten pathways model’ not only provides a more compelling explanation of how and why safety measures failed but may also inform more fatality and injury prevention measures. Drawing on James Reasonʼs concept of latent failures, the ten pathways model identifies latent failures that are repeatedly associated with death and disaster in workplaces across different industries. Using the Dreamworld coronial inquest findings and other related source material, this paper finds that at least nine and possibly all ten pattern failures were present in the Thunder River Rapids ride disaster at the Dreamworld theme park and contributed to the deaths of four visitors. In particular, it highlights the corroding effects of poor maintenance, inadequate management systems, and regulatory failure. The paper also raises questions about why theme parks as high-hazard workplaces marked by injuries, deaths, and ‘near misses’ were not subject to more rigorous oversight prior to the event and how regulatory failures might best be addressed.

The Australian debate over Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) sharpened in 2023 because Australian mining billionaire Clive Palmer, having previously registered his mining company in Singapore, has claimed to be a Singaporean investor. He is using ISDS provisions in the 2012 ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and the amended 2017 Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement to sue the Australian government for a total of A$410 billion in three separate claims. This article uses Cox’s critical theory framework developed by Schneiderman to explain the historical development and power dynamics of ISDS, the contest between its business supporters and social movement critics, and the impact of this contest on governments. It then analyses the Palmer claims and explores the global debate about ISDS, including its increased use by fossil fuel companies against government regulation of carbon emissions, which has led to increased resistance from social movements and governments. ISDS is also being reviewed by the United Nations and World Bank institutions which provide arbitrators for its tribunals and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The conclusion assesses the debate over whether ISDS can be reformed and its future viability.

On 1 January 2016, China further relaxed its family planning policy and adopted the universal two-child policy, which allows any Chinese couple to have two children to address the country’s increasingly severe ageing problems and low fertility. With this shift comes a direct and profound impact on society, especially women; this paper evaluates the effect of the universal two-child policy on the gender wage gap and its mechanism. Several major conclusions emerge from this analysis. The policy significantly expands the urban gender wage gap by 12.86% in the low-policy-fertility-rate (PFR) provinces versus high-PFR provinces. Evidently, it increases the gap among younger or lower-educated people. Moreover, the severity of gender discrimination in the labour market after the implementation of the universal two-child policy is rising, and deserves further attention.