Labour Productivity and Flexibility [Hardcover]

This book is about two polemical issues in labour studies, namely, the notions and determinants of labour productivity and flexibility. This book attempts to develop the notion of labour input flexibility or the capacity of workers to adapt to changes in the environment and its relation with labour productivity. The role of institutions, employment practices, capital-labour relations and labour market policies in determining labour flexibility is emphasized. The chapters look at the experiences of industrialized countries (European countries, the USA, Canada and Japan) and three Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile and Mexico).List of Figures and Tables - Acknowledgements - List of Contributors - Labour Flexibility and Productivity: Overview; E.J.Amadeo & S.Horton -Brazil: Labour Market Flexibility and Productivity. Many Poor Jobs; J.M.Camargo - Labour Flexibility: The Case of Chile; P.Romaguera, P.Gonzalez, A.Mizala & C.Montero - What Flexible is, Rigid can be: The Mexican Labour Market in the Eighties; F.Zapata - Labour Flexibility and Productivity in Canada: Markets, Institutions and Skills; M.Baker, M.Gunderson & S.Horton - Labour Market Flexibility in the European Union; R.M.Lindley - Labour Productivity and Flexibility in Japan; N.Saavedra-Rivano & H.Imaoka - Quantitative Flexibility in the US Market; S.G.Allen & R.B.Freeman - Index