Los caminos de la "empleabilidad"

En Argentina, desde comienzos de la década de los noventa, puntualmente a partir de la Ley de Empleo de 1991, se articularía una red de políticas sociales de atención al desempleo que cabe analizar en términos de workfare. En este proceso sería fundamental la introducción de una serie de nuevos conceptos, con los que diagnosticar el problema del desempleo y prefigurar su tratamiento. Uno de estos conceptos ha sido el de "empleabilidad". El término empleabilidad está relacionado con distintos contextos de emergencia: el debate sobre la cuestión social en Inglaterra a comienzos del siglo XX, el debate estadístico de medición del empleo en Estados Unidos en la post-crisis del '30, el desarrollo de los tests psicométricos entre los cincuenta y los sesenta, la proliferación de políticas de lucha contra la pobreza en la década del setenta y la reforma más reciente de los Estados de Bienestar. En este trabajo nos proponemos dar cuenta de estos contextos y de los sentidos que en ellos adquiere la cuestión de la empleabilidad. Luego, brevemente, nos referiremos a los sentidos del concepto en el caso de los programas sociales actuales en Argentina

Los caminos de la "empleabilidad"

En Argentina, desde comienzos de la década de los noventa, puntualmente a partir de la Ley de Empleo de 1991, se articularía una red de políticas sociales de atención al desempleo que cabe analizar en términos de workfare. En este proceso sería fundamental la introducción de una serie de nuevos conceptos, con los que diagnosticar el problema del desempleo y prefigurar su tratamiento. Uno de estos conceptos ha sido el de "empleabilidad". El término empleabilidad está relacionado con distintos contextos de emergencia: el debate sobre la cuestión social en Inglaterra a comienzos del siglo XX, el debate estadístico de medición del empleo en Estados Unidos en la post-crisis del '30, el desarrollo de los tests psicométricos entre los cincuenta y los sesenta, la proliferación de políticas de lucha contra la pobreza en la década del setenta y la reforma más reciente de los Estados de Bienestar. En este trabajo nos proponemos dar cuenta de estos contextos y de los sentidos que en ellos adquiere la cuestión de la empleabilidad. Luego, brevemente, nos referiremos a los sentidos del concepto en el caso de los programas sociales actuales en Argentina

Donde impere el olvido:poesía y Alzheimer en Los cuerpos oscuros de Juana Castro

La terrible invalidez física y mental a la que se enfrentan en sus últimos años, meses y días los enfermos de Alzheimer, se refleja, como en un espejo, en el vacío y la impotencia de los otros, aquellos que conviven con ellos. Los unos no se acuerdan de los otros, pero los otros pierden su identidad si los unos no les recuerdan, no les reconocen. Es el laberinto de la memoria y la desmemoria. El propósito de este artículo es analizar la representación que del Alzheimer se hace en el poemario de Juana Castro Los cuerpos oscuros (2005) tanto a nivel de contenido como a nivel del empleo del lenguaje poético. En primer lugar se hace un recorrido sobre cómo se ha representado la demencia en la esfera cultural y lo que de ella encontramos en los discursos actuales sobre el Alzheimer. Desde lo aportado por los estudios del envejecimiento y, sobre todo, por los estudios de la demencia, se establecen las cuestiones de identidad y de subjetividad que se plantean con la polifonía de voces que nos ofrece el poemario. Por último se analiza la relación entre la memoria semántica y el lenguaje metafórico.

Crisis de gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo y transformaciones en la gubermentalidad

La crisis en el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo abierta a mediados de la década del '60 a ambos lados del Atlántico tuvo respuestas diversas. En América Latina, y en particular en Argentina, vinieron de la mano del régimen de terror y desindustrialización en los 70', de la hiperinflación y la baja del salario real en los '80 y de la "cuestión del empleo" en los 90'. La presente ponencia expone los primeros avances de una investigación que se propone describir las formas que está asumiendo el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo desde mediados de la década del 90' a través de los programas sociales de empleo. En particular, se orienta a indagar respecto de los aspectos "positivos" y "productivos" de esta forma de gobierno, orientándose a describir el tipo de subjetividad y verdad que se tienden a producir. La hipótesis que orienta la citada investigación es que asistimos a una mutación en el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo que se sostiene en la interpelación a que los sujetos devengan activos en su propio gobierno mediante la gestión de sí en espacios comunitarios. Esta mutación parte de la crítica al Estado de Bienestar-Providencia en términos de que este habría generado dependencia en los individuos "tutelados"

Crisis de gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo y transformaciones en la gubermentalidad

La crisis en el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo abierta a mediados de la década del '60 a ambos lados del Atlántico tuvo respuestas diversas. En América Latina, y en particular en Argentina, vinieron de la mano del régimen de terror y desindustrialización en los 70', de la hiperinflación y la baja del salario real en los '80 y de la "cuestión del empleo" en los 90'. La presente ponencia expone los primeros avances de una investigación que se propone describir las formas que está asumiendo el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo desde mediados de la década del 90' a través de los programas sociales de empleo. En particular, se orienta a indagar respecto de los aspectos "positivos" y "productivos" de esta forma de gobierno, orientándose a describir el tipo de subjetividad y verdad que se tienden a producir. La hipótesis que orienta la citada investigación es que asistimos a una mutación en el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo que se sostiene en la interpelación a que los sujetos devengan activos en su propio gobierno mediante la gestión de sí en espacios comunitarios. Esta mutación parte de la crítica al Estado de Bienestar-Providencia en términos de que este habría generado dependencia en los individuos "tutelados"

Crisis de gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo y transformaciones en la gubermentalidad

La crisis en el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo abierta a mediados de la década del '60 a ambos lados del Atlántico tuvo respuestas diversas. En América Latina, y en particular en Argentina, vinieron de la mano del régimen de terror y desindustrialización en los 70', de la hiperinflación y la baja del salario real en los '80 y de la "cuestión del empleo" en los 90'. La presente ponencia expone los primeros avances de una investigación que se propone describir las formas que está asumiendo el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo desde mediados de la década del 90' a través de los programas sociales de empleo. En particular, se orienta a indagar respecto de los aspectos "positivos" y "productivos" de esta forma de gobierno, orientándose a describir el tipo de subjetividad y verdad que se tienden a producir. La hipótesis que orienta la citada investigación es que asistimos a una mutación en el gobierno de la fuerza de trabajo que se sostiene en la interpelación a que los sujetos devengan activos en su propio gobierno mediante la gestión de sí en espacios comunitarios. Esta mutación parte de la crítica al Estado de Bienestar-Providencia en términos de que este habría generado dependencia en los individuos "tutelados"

Crisis of work as a social integration factor

This article analyzes the process of deterioration of the work as a source of social rights and as a social integration element. The context of this process is the passage of a wage-labour society with stable employment to other where the labour relations are deregulated. This aim was tackled by means of quantitative and qualitative techniques. Secondary sources of statistical information were used together with interviews to experts of the institutional sphere. The results of this research show the emergence of a new exclusive model of social cohesion based on intensification and generalization of social inequalities and job insecurity. In this new model of social cohesion, it is noted that the integration strategies of people have less and less support from Government and people are neglected. This process appears in the four spheres that classify the social exclusion risks factors: the structural, the institutional, the relational and the individual.

Social economy, youth and employment

Organizations of the Social Economy in Spain accounted for 13% of employment and 12% of GDP in 2013, according to the Spanish Confederation fo Social Economy. Also, according to various institutions and studies, the role of Social Economy has become relevant due to they represent a model promoting the creation of collective business projects with greater sustainability and potential than models of individual self-employment. However, despite all this, there are few academic studies or sectoral reports analyzing employment in this sector, especially in the case of youth employment. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature analyzing the scared available data in order to show the numbers and characteristics of youth employment in this sector. Results show the weight of youth employment in the Social Economy is higher than the economy overall.

Temporary contracts and non-protected employment in Argentina, Chile and Perú: incidence and determinants

The diverse kinds of legal temporary contracts and the employment forms that do not comply with legal requirements both facilitate employment adjustment to firms´ requirements and entail labour cost reductions. Their employment incidence depends not only on the economic and labour market evolutions but also on other factors, in particular the historical trajectories followed by labour legislation, state enforcement, and the degree of compliance. To contribute to the understanding of the determinants of the degree of utilization of different employment practices, the study reported in this article explores the use made of the various legal temporary contracts and of precarious employment relationships by private enterprises in three Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile and Peru) during 2003-2012, a period of economic growth, and the explanatory role of diverse factors.

Discourse on equality in organizations. A case study of the chemical industry in Tarragona

This paper presents a proposal for analyzing discourses on gender equality in organizations. The research is carried out as a case study, focusing on the chemical industry in Tarragona. To the question: why there are still so many differences between women and men in labour market, despite having multiple tools to avoid inequalities? we propose to focus on discourses of equality to find an answer. The viewpoint that companies have on gender is crucial in enabling policies for equality. To ensure that policies are truly aimed at promoting equality, it is needed a gender approach that nowadays is not widespread in organizations. From these considerations, we present a fourfold typology of discourses on equality in organizations.

Female employment from the household. Towards a comprehensive analysis of work-life articulation

Research on women’s employment has proliferated over recent decades, often under a perspective that conceptualizes female labour market activity as independent of male presences and absences in the productive and reproductive spheres. In the face of these approaches, the article argues the need to focus on the couple as the unit of analysis of work-life articulation. After referring to the main theoretical arguments that, from a gender perspective within labour studies, have pointed out the relevance of placing the household as the central space for the analysis of the sexual division of labour, the article reviews different empirical contributions that have incorporated such perspective in the international literature. Next, the state of the art in the Spanish literature is presented, before arguing the desirability of applying such framework of analysis to the study of employment and care work in Spanish households, which are at present undergoing major transformations.

The Worsening of the employment and work conditions and its relationship to the self-perceived health in European working population. Relevance and effects of the latest socioeconomic crisis

The recent crisis of the capitalistic economic system has altered the working conditions and occupations in the European Union. The recession situation has accelerated trends and has brought transformations that have been observed before. Changes have not looked the same way in all the countries of the Union. The social occupation norms, labour relations models and the type of global welfare provision can help underline some of these inequalities. Poor working conditions can expose workers to situations of great risk. This is one of the basic assumptions of the theoretical models and analytical studies of the approach to the psychosocial work environment. Changes in working conditions of the population seems to be important to explain in the worst health states. To observe these features in the current period of economic recession it has made a comparative study of trend through the possibilities of the European Working Conditions Survey in the 2005 and 2010 editions. It has also set different multivariate logistic regression models to explore potential partnerships with the worst conditions of employment and work. It seems that the economic crisis has intensified changes in working conditions and highlighted the effects of those conditions on the poor health of the working population. This conclusion can’t be extended for all EU countries; some differences were observed in terms of global welfare models.

The elderly care and domestic services sector during the recent economic crisis. The case of Italy, Spain and France.

Over the past ten years in Italy, Spain and France, the demographic pressure and the increasing women’s participation in labour market have fuelled the expansion of the private provision of domestic and care services. In order to ensure the difficult balance between affordability, quality and job creation, each countries’ response has been different. France has developed policies to sustain the demand side introducing instruments such as vouchers and fiscal schemes, since the mid of the 2000s. Massive public funding has contributed to foster a regular market of domestic and care services and France is often presented as a “best practices” of those policies aimed at encouraging a regular private sector. Conversely in Italy and Spain, the development of a private domestic and care market has been mostly uncontrolled and without a coherent institutional design: the osmosis between a large informal market and the regular private care sector has been ensured on the supply side by migrant workers’ regularizations or the introduction of new employment regulations . The analysis presented in this paper aims to describe the response of these different policies to the challenges imposed by the current economic crisis. In dealing with the retrenchment of public expenditure and the reduced households’ purchasing power, Italy, Spain and France are experiencing greater difficulties in ensuring a regular private sector of domestic and care services. In light of that, the paper analyses the recent economic conjuncture presenting some assumptions about the future risk of deeper inequalities rising along with the increase of the process of marketization of domestic and care services in all the countries under analysis.    

The Spanish reforms on domestic work regulation

This paper analyses the latest Spanish reforms regarding domestic work. The Spanish legislator, doubtlessly influenced by the ILO Domestic Work Convention nº 189 – which, however, was not later ratified in Spain- made a deep reform on domestic work in 2011. This legal reform implied a striking change that affected both working conditions and social security of employees in the family home. The aim of this reform has been to bring the regulation in domestic work closer to the general regulation for other workers, although maintaining certain specialties. Regarding working conditions, their setting as “particular employment relationship” has been held. However, the differences between this relationship and the common ones have been reduced. As for social security, domestic employees have been incorporated into the General Social Security System, but with important specialties, thus erasing the Special Domestic Employees System. The paper also examines the legal changes that have taken place in this field after the new Government arose.

Late-career international migration and reproductive work. A comparison between Peruvian and Ukrainian women in the Southern Europe

Research on the relationship between reproductive work and women´s life trajectories including the experience of labour migration has mainly focused on the case of relatively young mothers who leave behind, or later re-join, their children. While it is true that most women migrate at a younger age, there are a significant number of cases of men and women who move abroad for labour purposes at a more advanced stage, undertaking a late-career migration. This is still an under-estimated and under-researched sub-field that uncovers a varied range of issues, including the global organization of reproductive work and the employment of migrant women as domestic workers late in their lives. By pooling the findings of two qualitative studies, this article focuses on Peruvian and Ukrainian women who seek employment in Spain and Italy when they are well into their forties, or older. A commonality the two groups of women share is that, independently of their level of education and professional experience, more often than not they end up as domestic and care workers. The article initially discusses the reasons for late-career female migration, taking into consideration the structural and personal determinants that have affected Peruvian and Ukrainian women’s careers in their countries of origin and settlement. After this, the focus is set on the characteristics of domestic employment at later life, on the impact on their current lives, including the transnational family organization, and on future labour and retirement prospects. Apart from an evaluation of objective working and living conditions, we discuss women’s personal impressions of being domestic workers in the context of their occupational experiences and family commitments. In this regard, women report varying levels of personal and professional satisfaction, as well as different patterns of continuity-discontinuity in their work and family lives, and of optimism towards the future. Divergences could be, to some extent, explained by the effect of migrants´ transnational social practices and policies of states.