The New Economy

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Recommended: Working Flexibility

The way that society has depicted the future is right on: stress at work without job security, virtual slavery in micro-enterprises exploiting economic roles, temporary jobs through uncertain agencies, low wages for service employees, self-entrepreneurship and self-management as an instrument of pressure to control and direct the masses (Lloyd, 2008). The New Economy has just collapsed and it is already clear that flexibility, customization and off shoring was not promises but rather threats, and meant nothing else to most people as poor working conditions and poverty. However, workers in the services market and misery are not the only ones affected by the drastic decline of social standards.

Low wages and unstable jobs largely dominate in certain categories: cleaning services, catering, domestic work or care for the elderly. And the fact that these sectors often employ migrants in the most unacceptable conditions, without any legal guarantee and even without a contract, not at all accidental. The process of crisis that weakens the foundations of capitalist development is accompanied by a steady worsening of exclusion and social disintegration. The miserable world of modern services is instead a lesser way to make a living, which lives only because the number of workers profitable (in terms of value) decreases massively, and that, therefore, far from leading to a new model of capitalist accumulation , functions include providing a decoy to those who see their living standards falling into poverty.

The younger workers are heavily affected by low wages. Among those under thirty years, the share of low pay is twice as high as in the 30-49 age groups. They represent 45% of low wages for less than 30% of all employees. If the w...

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.... Organizations must attract employees in a changing labor market. The labor market becomes more diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity (Vosko, 2009). Therefore, the pressure to equal opportunity in hiring practices and promotion decisions will remain for some time in the future. Other trends increase the challenge for organizations. The contingent workforce includes part-time workers, self-employed subcontractor and independent professionals hired by companies to deal with unexpected challenges and temporary.

References:

Flowers, Ronald (2004) the Victimization and Exploitation of Women and Children, McFarland

Montana, Patrick (2008) Management, Barron's Educational Series

Lloyd, Caroline (2008) Low-Wage Work in the United Kingdom, Russell Sage Foundation

Vosko, Leah (2009) Gender and the Contours of Precarious Employment, Taylor & Francis

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