Category: Workers

Malaysia has always been one of the top countries in Asia Pacific that welcomes immigrants to work in the country long since the early 90s. Immigrants are attracted to work in Malaysia because of its low living cost and numbers of job opportunities apart from being one of the most peaceful country in the world. Immigrant labor is significant in Malaysia’s development as they increase the productivity which will simultaneously boost the growth of economy. Employment of foreign workers will also help Malaysia achieve high income status in the nearest future. Number of foreign workers, both documented and undocumented reported by Labor Force Survey (LFS) increased from 1.8 million in 2013 to 2.2 million in 2016. (Wai ‘Rising number of foreign workers in Malaysia – a worrying statistic: The Star columnist’ 2016) Malaysia’s migrant population ratio remains higher than most of its regional peers. In 2018, it is estimated that there are 6.7 million of foreign workers in Malaysia. (‘Bancian Jumlah Warga Asing Dalam Negara’ 2018) This proves that Malaysia has become dependence towards the foreign workers for country’s development. Even though employment of foreign workers benefits the country and provide opportunities, it also comes with challenges.

One of the major causes why Malaysia’s intake of foreign workers keeps on increasing each year is due to more stable and stronger economic growth as a developing country. Unwillingness of locals to accept jobs that are dirty, dangerous and difficult results in higher demands of migrant workers especially in industrial and agricultural sectors. Foreign workers are normally prepared to take on any job given and is hired at a cheaper rate. Cheap labor profits the employer in the overall turnover of the company and this certainly is one great profitable aspect for the employers. Also, employers can use the contacts of foreign workers to expand their business in other countries. Foreign workers can share about the market and demands in their country which can give an inside idea of the industry and its developing stage; Thus, the employers can have ideas on what to invest to generate a great amount of profits in foreign countries. In addition, this provides opportunities for locals to join business ventures in other countries and get help aid in business. Other than that, working with foreign workers help Malaysian to understand other people’s culture. Therefore, locals can see things from different point of view and represent itself in another market better. In Forbes article, it is said that networking is an art of business with so many rewards. It is indeed important to master this skill to open doors for many more businesses by helping others to achieve their goals and at the same time meeting our objectives. All in all, networking has always been proven beneficial not just for business but also for one’s character.

Malaysia requires more skillful workers to be a developed country by 2020. Employments of foreign workers which includes the skillful ones with higher education contributes to this effort by increasing the overall productivity. High education foreign-born such as scientists and engineers will help fuel Malaysia with innovation and creative invention. Concurrently, provides more job opportunities to the local and open more businesses that can contribute to the growth of economy in Malaysia. The employment of foreign workers will be also be a good influence in the working environment and strengthen the economy. In addition, skillful foreign workers such as architects, engineers, and lecturers is absolutely needed to increase one’s country development as they can share ideas and teach local citizens. For example, back in 1985, imported workers from Japan helped Malaysia produced the very first car called ‘Proton Saga’ by Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Berhad (PROTON) which is a Malaysian automobile company. Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Mahathir Mohamed, coined the idea of national car. (Md. Noor, Idris, and Divendran Vijaya Lingam. “Malaysians Perceptions toward Proton Car.”) This shows how important it is to exchange ideas among workers. Besides that, the expertise of foreign workers in a professional field is guaranteed and able to increase the quality of Malaysia’s productivity. As an example, developed countries such as United States of America have 14 million on average of foreign workers with most of them working in professional field which contributes to new creation of technology. According to figures released by Bureau of Labor Statistics, number of foreign-born workers in the U.S. labor force has reached 27.4 million, or 17.1 percent of the total number of workers. (Garrett, ‘Immigrants now make up 17.1 percent of U.S. labor force ‘, 18)

Although it is undeniably true that foreign workers act as a platform for Malaysia to become one of the top advanced countries in the world, accepting large numbers of foreign workers also have its consequences. One of the challenges faced by this country by allowing high numbers of foreign workers entering Malaysia is the suppress of overall wages. Malaysia’s dependence on low-skilled foreign workers adversely shapes its reputation as a labor intensive and low-cost destination to foreign investors. Increasingly, this affects the type of initial investments that foreign investors propose to bring to Malaysia. They are likely the less complex segments of their production chain, with many seeking to primarily leverage Malaysia’s relative ease of hiring foreign workers and lower labor costs. This results in foreign multinationals relocating lower value-added processes to Malaysia, while moving higher productivity and value-added processes to neighboring economies such as Singapore and PR China. In the end, this self-reinforcing image further locks Malaysia into this low-cost bind that would require significant resources to undo. This also worsens the displacement of local talent migrating to higher-paying employment countries, culminating in a brain-drain for Malaysia.

To prevent low overall wages that can adversely impact the locals and disrupts Malaysia economy chain, certain measures needs to be taken. Some of the resolutions includes ensuring priority is given to Malaysian citizens in terms of job opportunities by advertising vacancies on the Jobs Malaysia website before allowing applications by foreign workers and prioritize job interviews for the locals. The ministry needs to be strict about the terms and conditions of foreign workers employment, supervise companies with migrant workers and are responsible for determining the actual numbers needed in the respective sectors. It is crucial to reduce our country dependency on cheap labor. Also, proper actions should be taken towards the undocumented workers in Malaysia. Raid in the early hours and deportations towards immigrants who failed to register and get work permits should be executed. Employers who do not renew their workers work permit should also be prosecuted to prevent more undocumented workers from working illegally in Malaysia and as an example how important it is to be responsible and abide by the stipulated laws and regulations. If there is too much of foreign workers, our environment will also be affected as an illegal immigrants usually find a place to live and migrates from one place to another leaving traces and trash behind.The Immigration Department has pledged to free the country from illegal immigrants beginning Aug 31. Its director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali who is a director-general said that The Immigration Department has pledged to free the country from illegal immigrants.The department would further intensify the operation to detain illegal immigrants. Employer who hire illegal foreign workers would also be detained.Nevertheless, enough time will be given for the illegal immigrants to surrender. A program called voluntary surrender programme enable illegal immigrants to return back to their countries of origin voluntarily. (‘Department of Immigration pledges to rid Malaysia of illegals’ 2018)

All things considered, the entering of foreign workers has certainly results in positive impact towards Malaysia’s country development. Foreign workers in Malaysia is undeniably needed for growth and stability of economy. The demand for foreign workers is understandable as there is shortage of manpower in sectors that contributes most profits to Malaysia’s economy. However, If the number of foreign workers in Malaysia outnumbered the citizens, both the demographic and social profile would change dramatically in the coming years. The current profile is bumiputra (68.6 per cent), Chinese (23.4 per cent), Indians (7.0 per cent) and others (1 per cent) with the official count of non-Malaysian citizens in 2016 at 10.3 per cent of the total population of Malaysia. (Wai ‘Rising number of foreign workers in Malaysia – a worrying statistic: The Star columnist’ 2016) These are numbers that all Malaysians should seriously reflect on when they talk about wanting more foreign workers. Our addiction to unskilled, cheap and uneducated foreign labor will help us in the short term but in the long run, we will have to shoulder the presence of these people. Our work force needs to be upgraded with more specialization in areas of expertise as traditional commodity-based exports will lose out to high technology products. We also need to make sure that the entering of immigrants will not change the local society. All culture of Malaysia citizens need to be well preserved and far from being affected by others. In order to be one of the top best countries in the world, Malaysia needs to be able to handle human resources diligently to avoid any difficulties in the future. Government and citizens of Malaysia should work together towards a better nation.

The study that will be analysed is titled ‘On our own terms: the working conditions of internet-based sex workers in the UK’ and looks at researching all the permutations that come with earning your living as an online sex worker. The aim of this essay is to critically analyse the methodological approach taken to acquire the research for this study. The overall aims and objectives of the study should be outlined near to the start of the study and justification for why the topic even needed to be researched to begin with. The different types of methodologies used will be evaluated by outlining the advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, these evaluations will be described in the terms of reliability, validity, generalisability, credibility and reflexivity. Suggestions of what other methodologies could have been used to improve the study, if any are needed, whilst also outlining the potential issues with these as well. Another feature of the essay that will be analysed is the ethical approach taken within the research used for the findings of the study. Ethics are often a controversial topic within research as there is always the argument of does the ends justify the means so it will be key to see how far the researchers were willing to go with research on such a sensitive topic and if they claim that they can justify the findings if they support the study to a good enough extent. The essay will conclude with a summary of all the key points discussed and whether or not the findings found what they were intending to, based on the working conditions of internet-based sex workers.

Within the abject of the study, the aims and objectives are clearly stated in good detail. The first aim was to discuss the working conditions of internet-based sex workers with the objectives being sub-topics based on this aim. The objectives were to look at the basic working patterns, trajectories, the everyday experiences of doing sex work online and the impact this has on the lives of the sex workers. The other aim was to research the experience of different crimes these individuals go through online now, such as blackmail and harassment. Exploration of the relationship between the sex workers and the police is the objective as laws on online sex work currently have detrimental effects for safety and justice when the sex workers are victims of crime. It is clear and apparent as to why research is needed on this topic, due to the obvious issues the online sex workers face when it comes to being victims of crime and the police not being able to help very much, but in the abstract it also states that the research is only based on a specific group of individuals, women, who share the same characteristics. The question that needs to be asked is, why were men not researched as this could drastically change the results of the study (research men). It is also stated this research does only look at the impacts on some of the online sex workers, but the question still remains, why was it only this specific group of people that were researched?

The methodological approach taken for the research finding for this study was a quantitative method in the form of a survey. The ontology of the study is that the reality is that sex workers exist, and it is known that they experience harassment but what is not known is how the police can actually help the victims due to the current laws in place. The epistemology is the fact that we know of the experiences of online sex workers but what we don’t know is how anyone can help them. The survey will supposedly help to understand. As previously mentioned, the aims and objectives are based around the working conditions of internet-based sex workers and the different crimes they experience. The ontology and epistemology and are justified by the research objectives as they look at the reality that sex workers exist and are victims of crime.

Surveys are often used to collect specific details on offenders, victims and non-victims that have been involved in the crimes (Keith, 2014). Surveys have benefits and limitations. One of the benefits is that the results generally give a good representation of the population that are being researched (Sincero, 2014), in this case online sex workers. Whilst surveys can be beneficial for a topic that would be generalisable to a large amount of the population, this topic, in particular, would not be beneficial in that light as it is researching such a niche occupation. This is because online sex work is not often seen as a desirable job and some people may not even be willing to come forward and admit that it is their occupation. Also, stated within the study, it outlines the fact that the research was only conducted on people who were part of the National Ugly Mugs (NUM), an organisation which confidentially reports incidents involving online sex workers, therefore leading to a limited sample as it is not known how many other sex workers’ have been victims of crime. The researchers do state that they are aware of the lack of representation within the sample but this does not mean there can be any claims that the research has much external validity as it does not correctly represent all the online sex workers. Along with the lack of overall representation within the research, there is also an alarming lack of research on men in this area. Only 11.7% of the participants were men, with 81.7% being female, and the other percentages being made up by those who identify as trans or would prefer not to say. It has to be asked why there was such a low percentage of males researched. The most reasonable explanation could be that there is just a lack of males within this industry but there is a lack of research into this that it cannot be fully justified until there is substantial evidence. Another more likely reason is the whole thought process that men are effectively ashamed to come forward as a victim as they feel it may harm their masculinity (Engel, 2017).

The use of qualitative research within this study would not have worked as it is hard to conduct experiments on violence that online sex workers experience. However, this is not to say that surveys were the perfect method to use. An interview with sex workers could have been conducted to get a more detailed report on what the participant actually experienced and a trend of what specific crimes are usually committed to further help sex workers to not experience this anymore. An interviewer asking questions face to face will be able to tell what emotions the participant is portraying (DeFranzo, 2014) and therefore should hopefully be able to identify when the participant is telling the truth or lying. It is often harder for the participant to lie when it is face to face but much easier when just ticking boxes on a survey. The lack of detailed reports through interviews within the research means that there was not enough research done to justify the conclusions made by the researchers themselves. There is no way for them to prove that the participants taking the survey were not lying as they could not see their raw emotions. Obviously, there is no way to prove that they are lying either but the fact that there is no way to tell either way means there is a lack of reliability based around the findings of the survey. While there are the clear positives of using an interview instead of a survey, there is also negatives to using an interview as well. The detailed reports that come from an interview often come with the downside that they take so much time to do because you are individually interviewing each person which could take up to 30 minutes to complete, depending on the participants answers. This time-consuming aspect of interviews in turn leads to the researchers often having to reduce the number of participants, as they just don’t have the time to interview everyone, thus leading to a limited sample size (DeFranzo, 2014). A limited sample size, as discussed previously with surveys, will not give an accurate representation of the sex workers as a large majority have not been interviewed. Therefore, the findings from an interview have a lack of generalisability to the large majority of online sex workers that have not been researched.

With ethics, there is often a fine line between what is said to be going too far for research and what isn’t going too far. It is often difficult to properly define how far is too far as the ends may justify the means. The overall goal of any study, ethics wise, is to ensure that the way the research is conducted is justified by the need for the findings. Looking at the study into online sex workers, many of the ethical basis that need to be covered, were covered to an acceptable extent (BSOC, 2015). The first step that was taken was to ensure that the participants knew they had the right to withdraw from the research at any point. This is a key part of any study because the participants need to be provided with as much information as possible regarding the research as long as it will not have an effect on the participants’ performance (Caulfield and Hill, 2014). Furthermore, the researchers also provided the subjects with the contact details of the Principle Investigator for further information or if they wanted to withdraw from the study. The only slight issue with providing the sex workers with this much information is that it could alter how they react to the questions being asked. It is quite common that some people will want to answer the questions based on what they think the researchers want to hear instead of what their true opinion is. Therefore, this can have an effect on the reliability of the research due to the fact that the subjects were told a lot about what the study was for. However, the researchers could claim that, as it was a sensitive topic to be studying, they felt the need to not leave the participants in the dark about any part of the study. The researchers also outline that the identities of the participants will be kept confidential and this is another key part of ethics in criminological research because the researchers are required to ensure that this confidentiality is kept at all times unless any of the participants have given consent to their name being used (Westmarland, 2011). Along with stating that no form of identification was taken by the researchers, it is also stated that no IP addresses were collected to be traced which ensures absolute confidentiality. The IP addresses not being collected is obviously incredibly important as these can be used to trace a person to their location, and with such a frowned upon job, this means the participants themselves do not have to worry about being tracked down. The study clearly covered the basis of confidentiality and informed consent to a more than acceptable standard but one issue that did not appear to be touched upon is the potential to cause harm to the participant, whether it be physical or psychological. As it is just a survey, there is clearly a very minimal chance of any physical harm being caused but there is every chance that answering questions on a topic of this magnitude may lead to psychological harm occurring. Participants should not be placed under any psychological harm and, if this happens, they should be given the chance to discuss anything that caused them distress (Matthews and Ross, 2010). At no point in the ethical section of the study does it state that there was any awareness of any psychological harm that could have been caused and consequently there was no mention of how they would assist participants if they felt they had been subjected to psychological harm. There is no way of confirming if the researchers did or did not do this as they could have just forgot to state it but the fact that they went into such detail stating everything they did for confidentiality and informed consent, it is hard to believe that they would have just forgotten to mention it. Unfortunately, this is an ethical issue posed for the study in an otherwise flawless display of covering the majority of the basis with ethics. It is only a minor issue as the likelihood of psychological harm occurring through a survey is slim but there is always the potential no matter what study is being conducted, especially considering it is regarding online sex workers.

The aim of conducting research into online sex workers and the conditions they work in was always going to be tricky due to the laws that are in place meaning there is little anyone can do to help the sex workers if they are the victims of a crime. Overall, the aims and objectives were set out clearly and there were no questions left to be desired regarding what the researchers were planning to investigate. The use of quantitative data instead of qualitative was beneficial as it allows for more data to be collected in a shorter amount of time, as apposed to the longer time usually taken within qualitative methods. Surveys were the obvious choice of methodology as they can be sent out for participants to complete instead of asking them to come in. The slight issue with using surveys instead of interviews is that the participant is more likely to be honest with their experiences in a face to face situation due to it being easier to tell if someone is lying in person. The sample size was not the best representation of all sex workers as there appeared to be a lack of male participants and this could be due to the predicted lack of men in this line of work but it is not exactly clear how many people work in this industry as it is not desirable or something that some people are willing to come forward and admit to. The ethical points were well covered in terms of confidentiality and the participants knowing they have a right to withdraw but the slight risk of psychological harm was not stated and, therefore, probably would not have been dealt with if there were any issues. The study does well to gain insight into a topic that is not often researched but there are still some minor flaws regarding the methods used to achieve the findings for the aims and objectives of the study.

Many high schools students are unsure of what careers they want to do after high school. Many jobs today require a degree however there are plenty of jobs for those do not want to go to college, the assembly line worker being one of them. Beginning in 1913, the assembly line worker has been one of the most available jobs in America and essentially created the American middle class. This paper will provide an intro in to the field as well as a field analysis and an overview of the work environment. It will include an interview with Edward Zabrzenski, an employee of the Ford River Rouge Plant for 24 years, as he describes the benefits of working as an assembly line worker. The paper will also look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics outlook of the job field, the educational requirements and the controversies of the field, including the impact of the UAW General Motors strike. Through this paper high school students can better understand one of America’s most popular blue collar jobs.

On October 7th, 1913 the moving assembly line was developed for the Ford Model T at the Highland Parks Ford Plant. The assembly line process cut the production time of a Model T to an incredible 93 minutes, dividing production into 45 steps. In 2018 the United States auto industry made up approximately 2.7% of the United States gross domestic product (Amadeo, 2019). Behind every giant corporation is the assembly line workers that make up the backbone of each company. These blue collar Americans work tirerestly to provide each auto corporation its quota of vehicles which in turn are sold to the customers. However, like the auto industry, the assembly line workers job and duty is ever changing. Automation, the process of replacing workers with robots, has reduced user error and allowed one robot to complete the job of multiply workers. With the technological explosion happening right now, automation will only continue to take over more of the auto industry and affect more of its workers. Another change in the auto industry is a surge in the development, research, and sale of electric vehicles. The surge of electric vehicles will help create thousands if not millions of jobs for the auto industry, but assembly line worker will need to be trained on how to build electric vehicles on the assembly line. This research paper will examine the job of assembly line workers, their duties, and the controversies of their job fields. By finding out more about this blue collar job field high school students will better be able to learn about the auto industry and the assembly line workers that work there.

Introduction

The auto industry is a worldwide industry. The Big Three of the automotive industry, Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors, employ thousands of workers in the United States. They have operations and assembly plants around the world The Ford Motor Company operates more than 65 plants throughout the United States, and operates around the world, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Brazil. General Motors currently employs 180,000 people worldwide. Finally Chrysler has 36 manufacturing plants which includes twenty two in the United States, seven in Mexico, six in Canada, and one in Venezuela (Fiat Chrysler Automotive, 2018).

Field Analysis

An automotive assembly line worker help to assemble a mass produced vehicle. The vehicle moves down an assembly line with each worker assembling the part they are responsible. Assembly line workers operate as one small part in a large team. Assembly line worker must be able to do repetitive work for long periods of time at a fixed rate of speed while remaining focused on the job to minimize mistakes. Assembly line workers must also have a keen sense of detail, as each worker must ensure that they have accurately done their job in order to send the vehicle to the next stage in assembly.

Work Environment

Ford assembly plants currently run a three different shifts. The A,B, and C crews all work the same job but work at different hours including day, afternoon, and night shifts. Employees of the day shift at the Ford Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan work 4 days a week, 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The General Motors plant in Wentzville, Missouri runs 3 shifts for 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. The shifts work 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 2:30p.m. to 10:30 p.m., and 10:30p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Each company and assembly plant runs different shifts for different amounts of time depending on each plant’s products and the size of the plant.

The work environment tends to be fast paced as each vehicle needs to be mass produced to reach the assembly plant’s quota. Most assembly line workers work in manufacturing plants, however the work conditions vary by both plant and industries. The job of an assembly plant worker can be physically demanding. Physical tasks including the tightening of bolt or moving large and heavy parts into place. However, many of these physically demanding tasks have been made easier due to many of the more demanding tasks being automated or through the use of power tools. Auto assembly jobs still involves long periods of standing and some jobs in the assembly line may require workers to walk up and down the line.

Automotive assembly line workers enjoy a multitude of benefits. For example assembly plant workers at Ford enjoy cash bonuses, shares in company stocks, and profit sharing. Profit sharing is the system by which employees of a company receive a direct share in the profits. Each employee’s share is based on their job title and the amount of hours worked. In 2018 Ford reported to have made $7.6 million pretax in North America, which would result in the $7,600 profit sharing checks for the company’s nearly 56,000 hourly UAW workers (Howard, 2019). General Motors and Ford share the same profit sharing system in which each employee receives $1,000 for every billion the company makes. At General Motor assembly plants, workers must be a full time permanent GM UAW employee at the end of the year. For workers to receive the full amount of their profit sharing check they must log 1,850 compensated hours during the year (LaReau, 2019). Another benefit assembly line workers enjoy is good health insurance. According to Edward Zabrzenski, an employee of the Ford River Rouge Plant for 24 years, the health insurance that workers of the assembly line receive includes health care coverage, vision insurance, and dental care plans. Hourly workers of Ford also only have to pay 3% of their health care costs. Mr. Zabrzenski continued to say that the new agreement between the UAW and Ford will now allow workers to have raises every other year, starting this year.

Job Outlook

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States has approximately 1,868,100 assembly line workers as of 2018. The Bureau also states that the outlook of the job field will decline by approximately 11%, leading to a loss of about 200,000 jobs. The main cause of job decline would be the automation of the industry, which would allow more jobs to be done at a faster and more consistent pace. In addition, new advances in robotics has enabled machinery to complete more complex tasks, once thought to have been done by only humans. Additionally with General Motors and Fords sales declining in China both countries may look to move factories down to Mexico to utilize the abundance of cheap labor. Finally, advancements in three dimensional printing is now allowing entire parts or vehicles to be made in a single build that would require little assembly. However this technology is still in its infancy and may take many years to have a significant impact on the automotive industry (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018).

Organizations

Assembly line workers from Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler all belong to the UAW, otherwise known as the United Auto Workers. The UAW currently has 400,000 active members along with more than 600 local unions (UAW, 2015). The UAW continues to represent assembly line workers during contract negotiations. The UAW fights for fair wages and improved working conditions.

Education and Skills

Most workers receive on the job training. A GED is only needed to work on the assembly line. Workers should be able to understand basic english and math. However, associates degrees or skilled trades degrees may be needed for more advanced jobs. The two most common ways of applying for a skilled trades apprenticeship at Ford is through either Ford and the UAW or through the U.S. Department of Labor. Department of Labor apprenticeships are paid programs meaning that apprentices will be paid and get trained. Once accepted into skilled trade programs apprentices should expect a minimum of 144 hours of classroom training and approximately 2,000 hours of on the job training. The Ford-UAW apprenticeship program provides current employees the opportunity of learning skilled trades such as electrical, mechanical, and welding. The Ford-UAW apprenticeship program involves almost 600 hours of classroom instruction and approximately 7,400 hours of on the job training. Apprentices are trained with a journeyman which includes hands on training. Once training is complete apprentices become journeymen themselves (Kraft, 2018).

Controversies of the Field

The most controversial topic involving assembly line workers is the contract disputes between the UAW and General Motors. After rejecting a contract from General Motors, UAW and hundreds of its General Motors hourly works went on strike at 11:59 PM on September 16, 2019. General Motors claimed to have made a strong offer which was said to have been a $7 billion investment and would include the addition of 5,000 jobs, higher pay, and improved benefits. However, the UAW said GM’s contract failed to address key issues including health care, temporary workers, and the integration of temporary workers into permanent hourly employees. The strikes cost GM nearly $2 billion in lost production and employees nearly $1 billion in lost wages. On October 16th GM and the UAW agreed on a new labour contract that could end the month long strike by 48,000 workers. The new contract was ratified by UAW members on October 25th, ending the strike. GM also agreed to lift the $12,000 cap on their profit sharing system. With the new contract ratified workers are now guaranteed a 3 percent pay and a 4 percent lump sum increase in alternating years. Also GM’s Hamtramck plant was originally set to close before the strikes began. However, the plant will now stay open and build electric trucks and vans. General Motors is reportedly investing $3 billion into the plant and would create approximately 2,000 jobs. Finally, temporary workers now have system to become permanent employees after 3 years on the job. However, negotiations between the UAW and General Motors were unable to get to move car production from Mexico in a plant in Lordstown, Ohio. General Motors was agreed to build a battery factory near Lordstown, however the battery factory would employ non union workers who can be paid lower wages.

Throughout this paper we have examined the job of an assembly line worker. Throughout the years the automotive industry has become more technologically advanced but the job itself has remained relatively the same for over a century. Like many jobs today this one is becoming increasingly technologically advanced including the automation of the industry. The automation of the industry as well as advancements in electric vehicles will forever change the industry. However, one thing is for sure, the assembly line worker will always be the pinnacle of blue collar working class America.

INTRODUCTION

The Western world is undergoing a demographic decline. The western term means not only the United States, Western Europe or Japan but also China and Eastern Europe. There is a growing average age in the population, and this is having a substantial impact on communities, social systems, countries and the world of work. Over 30/40 years, the average age will increase from around 40 to around 50 years. Jobs that require specialized skills involve an increase in the age of the workforce between 5 and 10 years in a single decade. (Leibold and Voelpel, 2006). The gaps due to the lack of qualified persons, with specific abilities, cannot be filled by the so-called Millenials (generation of those born between the 80s and 90s) due to numerical questions.

The UKCES (UK Commission for Employment and Skills) has proposed that between 2012 and 2022, 14 million jobs will be available but only 7 million, will be filled by young people. By 2020 the generation born between the 80s and 90s will be only 50% of the global workforce.

The British population is ageing, which means that there is a higher number of older workers, over 65, available on the labour market. The data show an increase, by 2022, of 400,000 people over the age of 50, or 30% of the workforce (http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/,2017).

Challenges (positive or negative) are emerging for businesses, that may be overcome dynamically and persistently are emerging.

AGEING POPULATION

Aubrey De Gray, physician and chief scientist of the SENS Research Foundation (2011) announced that the first person who could live up to 150 years was born, as doctors will soon be able to delay ageing.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) researched in this regard, stating that:

• Life expectancy for males is 79.30, and for women, it is 83 years by 2039.
• The retirement age has increased from 61.2 years to 62.3 years for women 63.8 years to 64.6 years for men years to 62.3, between 2004 and 2010 (https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk, 2016).
• The world of work for the over-65s is similar to that between 16 and 64 years old.
• 448,000 women and 742,000 men over 65 worked in the United Kingdom from May to July 2016.
• By 2039 they will be present in the world of work increasingly over 65.
• Part-time self-employed workers tend to be older than the average age of self-employed workers. (https://www.ons.gov.uk/,2016)

OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS CHART

Office for national statistics (www.ons.gov.uk,2016) reported this chart below (2019); on the left axis percentage of population aged 65+, on the central axis the years (from 1992 to September 2019)

DISCRIMINATION

Research has shown that in the United Kingdom, there is alarming discrimination based on age. Pensions Minister Ros Altmann (2016), said ‘The unconscious prejudice is happening in the business. It is this automatic assumption, this social and national perception that once you have reached the end of the 50s you are on a downhill track and soon you will leave, so let’s focus on all the others, ‘she says.’ The people of that band of age they are grouped in a box regardless of their characteristics and abilities.’ (www.hrmagazine.co.uk,2016)

The 2014 CIPD report showed that one-fifth of companies (22%) do not have the suitability to ensure that older employees can keep their skills up to date. Older workers are neglected in the development and training sector. The same company policies often require the worker to retire past a certain age. The over 65s are also discriminated because they earn more, by seniority. It is present on widespread unconscious prejudice related to age. Racism and sexism are not accepted as age discrimination. This is because age is an objective fact; everyone feels confident in claiming a certain authority. (www.hrmagazine.co.uk,2016)

BENEFIT FROM EMPLOYING OLDER WORKFORCE

There are many benefits to consider by employing over 65 workforces:

• The default retirement age has been removed, so employers can no longer force employees to withdraw only because they reach a certain age.
• Experience is not studied; it is an evolutionary process, which occurs over time.
• Considerable emotional intelligence has been developed over the years
• The increase in the ageing of the population has a substantial impact on world markets, with the marketing of products and services aimed at people over 65.
• Exchanges and collaborations between generations. Seniors can be tutors for the new generations.
• Medicine and technology are revolutionizing the well-being of the person and health care benefits from this.
• Fundamental benefits in society and companies brought by older people: talent, experience and philanthropy.
• Substantial increase in policies aimed at facilitating financial security to increase life expectancy.
• Cities and infrastructures are becoming increasingly accessible to all ages, especially over 65. This facilitates the civic contribution of the so-called seniors. (Irving and Paul H.,2014)
• If 1.2 million older workers, currently unemployed, were in full-time employment, they could add up to £ 25 billion a year to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and up to £ 9 billion if part-time. ( www.hrmagazine.co.uk,2016)

Ann Brown (2016), director of human resources at Nationwide, said that the company needs employees who correspond to the community in which the company operates. Therefore, a balanced component, even in the age of workers. ( www.hrmagazine.co.uk,2016)

SOCIAL RELATIONS

All the technological innovations, the optimal organization of work and consequently of free time, globalization and a capitalist system that is advancing more and more, have had a substantial impact on British society. Nowadays much more time is spent outside the home, among a thousand work or recreational commitments. However, social relations remain a key factor for each individual, regardless of age. The consequences can often fall on elderly people who do not work or who for various reasons are cut off from social connections by the system. This creates chain reactions, such as isolation, frustration and loneliness. (Christina Victor, Sasha Scambler and John Bond, 2009).

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Many 50-year-olds are supporting their children and elderly parents, so they cannot pay attention to their pensions. So they will probably need to work over the age of 65. ( www.hrmagazine.co.uk,2016).

An example of benefits comes from Epping Forest College (case study):

Epping Forest College offers professional courses such as scientific laboratories, beauty salons, theatre dance studios, in specialized facilities. The college’s workforce includes: almost 40% of staff are over 50; 10% over 60 years and few people 70. The maintenance of older and more experienced staff satisfies the business needs, as the over 65 staff is appreciated for the quality of its work and its reliability. The college’s head of human resources stated that ageing workforce is more reliable, they do not get sick often, and they do not go away for a long time. The general lack of qualified people in specialized sectors means that recruitment in these sectors is almost impossible. Another benefit is to employ older workers as teachers by sharing their experience and knowledge with other members and with students. Thus a chain reaction of knowledge is engaged.

(Employer case studies: Employing older workers for an effective multi-generational workforce, 2011)

CHALLENGES FROM EMPLOYING OLDER WORKFORCE

As confirmed by Rachael Saunders (2016), director of Age At Work for Business in the Community (BITC), keeping workers over 65 longer in the workplace has become a survival challenge.

The 2014 CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) report showed that only a fifth of the companies surveyed had or were developing a strategy to address the issue.

Most companies deal with the fact in a reactive, rather than proactive (ie planning a real strategy).

31% will address the problem as soon as they have a massacre, while 15% have not even considered the fact.

There will be a clash / meeting of multiple generations on the job, up to 5 generations working together.

This can lead to conflicts and problems.

A challenge is to try to ensure that the age issue is prioritized by social and corporate policies.

Another is the training and management of work in a multigenerational team: people are the result of different life and work experiences so they will have different working approaches. At a general level there is a concern that generational stereotypes allow us to dodge legislation concerning age discrimination (www.hrmagazine.co.uk, 2016).

The challenges to be faced in strategies and human resource management will be important. Attention must be paid to modern leadership strategies, concepts in health management, how to facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge. Consideration is also given to new ideas relating to diversity and innovation. Given the increasing age, companies will have to invest in their employees over 65, supporting their talents, helping them to learn new information and consequently keep them in the company. At the same time, the challenge will be to increase productivity, search for new products and also include external experts. (Leibold and Voelpel, 2006).

WEST MIDLANDS POLICE

An example of challenge and barriers is West Midlands Police (case study). The workforce is ageing and above all for this type of work, those over 65 require flexible models. It is not a type of work where you know when you enter and when you leave, long shifts are also required. Requires flexibility as shifts must cover the 24 hours of the day for 7 days. There is, therefore, an incompatibility between personal life, family and sometimes caring responsibilities. (Employer case studies: Employing older workers for an effective multi-generational workforce, 2011)

RECOMMENDATIONS

Various actionable recommendations related to the topic:

It is necessary to maintain an open line of communication, regular conversations since life expectancy is changing and consequently, the way people shape their lives. In this way, companies are continuously informed about the future wishes and wishes of their workers.

This can be done by creating inclusion strategies so as to avoid discrimination, ensuring that recruitment panels are prepared to recognise unconscious prejudices.

Why is it essential to do this?

Pensions minister Ros Altmann (2016) states that what is measured is managed, so it is necessary to monitor and monitor the age of the staff in each step, from hiring to retirement. This process would have to be done in order to avoid that when possible older workers with particular abilities leave the company, the latter will not be caught unprepared, with negative consequences on the market. To avoid the surprise effect.

In the event that it would be too costly to keep so many workers over 65, companies will be able to take into consideration the retribution of people more for their work than for their seniority. Workers may prefer to do stimulating work and renounce salary benefits.

The basic concept is flexibility. It is a crucial point in formulating strategies.

Dixon (2016) of The Center for Aging Better, states that there may be a risk that those over 65 will leave work to take care of a family member. Supporting policies could be of great help to caregivers. A research conducted by Aviva has confirmed the fact that 50over workers require flexibility, intellectual stimulation and a good salary to be encouraged to stay in the working world.

Helping the worker with support groups, information, flexibility. Furthermore having experience and developed emotional intelligence, they can be reinserted into the work system as teachers, trainers, mentors.

An example, reported by Minister Altmann, is that of BMW. German car manufacturer, globally famous. BWM found that work was becoming physically too heavy for experienced senior engineers, so it introduced a series of facilities such as brighter lighting, seats to make it easier to sit and places to rest. All this has led to a significant boost to productivity. Another important recommendation is to provide elderly employees who are not familiar with the technology with the necessary support, through intergenerational tutoring.

Human resources should break down age barriers, clarifying to employees that the differences within a generation are similar to those of all ages. Communicate in advance with older employees, to know and understand their moods, their requests to implement preventive operations (see BMW). Will be a fundamental strategy for the survival of many companies. (www.hrmagazine.co.uk,2016)

Increase what the Jobcentre Plus is doing, by informing citizens of these possibilities:

• Courses to develop skills in English, IT and mathematics.
• Apprenticeship (not only for young people).
• Self-Employment is a popular option. It allows older workers to take advantage of experience, develop knowledge and have control over their working lives.
• Offer flexible and part-time jobs.
• Career review through Career advice and Skills Health Check.
• Work combination and grandchildren.
• If an elderly decide to continue working, once reach retirement age, he/she will no longer have to pay national insurance. (www.gov.uk,2017)

Other suggestions for actionable recommendations come from the policies undertaken by EPPING COLLEGE (case study):

• Ensure that managers and supervisors are aware that they are not allowed to use age as a means of discrimination.
• The staff evaluation system in the college has been strengthened to ensure that employees of all ages are managed in a consistent and equitable manner, including considering older workers for growth opportunities.

CONCLUSION

A radical change in working life is taking place, due to demographics, sociological and technological changes. In future working life, flexibility, breaks and a ‘partial’ commitment will be required.

So the role of human resources will be more useful than ever to keep organisations competitive. To do this, HR managers must realize and consequently make others aware, that age is just a number.

REFERENCES

1. Bird, D. 2018. Generation work: Preparing for the ageing workforce. [Online]. [15 November 2019]. Available from: https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/generation-work-preparing-for-the-ageing-workforce
2. Briggs, A. 2017. Ageing workers are key to filling skills gaps. [Online]. [15 November 2019]. Available from: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/ageing-workers-are-key-to-filling-skills-gaps
3. Department for work and pensions. 2017. Fuller Working Lives A Partnership Approach. [Online] [15 November 2019]. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587654/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach.pdf
4. Department for work and pensions. 2011. Employing older workers for an effective multi-generational workforce . Employer case studies. v1.0, pp. 17.
5. Department for work & pensions. 2017. Help and support for older workers. [Online]. [19 November 2019]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-and-support-for-older-workers/help-and-support-for-older-workers
6. Dew L. and smith C. 2016. Attitudes to Working in Later Life:British Social Attitudes 2015. [Online] [15 November 2019]. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/574655/attitudes-to-working-in-later-life-british-social-attitudes-2015.pdf
7. Gratton, L. 2016. Lynda Gratton: The HR implications of longevity. [Online]. [15 November 2019]. Available from: https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/lynda-gratton-the-hr-implications-of-longevity
8. Iff research. 2017. Employer experiences of recruiting, retaining and retraining older workers. [Online]. [15 November 2019]. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/584448/employer-experiences-of-recruiting-retaining-and-retraining-older-workers.pdf
9. Irving, P. H. and Beamish, R. (2014) The upside of aging [electronic resource] : how long life is changing the world of health, work, innovation, policy and purpose. Wiley. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01212a&AN=ubed.b1630585&authtype=sso&custid=s5099118&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed: 15 November 2019).
10. Lars Andersson 2011, ‘Christina Victor, Sasha Scambler and John Bond (2009). The Social World of Older People. Understanding Loneliness and Social Isolation in Later Life. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 262 pp. ISBN 978 0 335 21521 8 (paperback)’, International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, no. 2, viewed 15 November 2019, .
11. Leaker, D. 2019. Employment rate 65 + People. [Online]. [15 November 2019]. Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/timeseries/lfk6/lms
12. Leibold, M. and Voelpel, S. (2006) Managing the aging workforce [electronic resource] : challenges and solutions. Publicis. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01212a&AN=ubed.b1737763&authtype=sso&custid=s5099118&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed: 19 November 2019).
13. Office for national statistics. 2016. Five facts about… older people at work. [Online]. [15 November 2019]. Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/fivefactsaboutolderpeopleatwork/2016-10-01
14. Roper, J. 2016. The HR challenges of an ageing workforce. [Online]. [15 November 2019]. Available from: https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/the-hr-challenges-of-an-ageing-workforce
15. The 100-year life . 2018. The 100-Year Life. [Online]. [15 November 2019]. Available from: http://www.100yearlife.com/the-book/

With over 320 million people residing in the United States, this makes the country one of the most populated in the world. Although there are millions upon millions of people living in the United States, not all of them are in legal residence. Although there has been much controversy surrounding all of the undocumented people in the country, there have been some minor pushes to help better things for these workers. This paper will analyze undocumented workers and their lives, history and demographics.

Who are these Undocumented workers and where do they come from?

According to research done by the Urban Institute Immigration Studies Program, there are approximately 9.3 million undocumented immigrants in the country as of 2004 and they represent roughly 26 percent of the total foreign population. Only about 6 million of them are working and they represent about 5 percent of American workers (Passel, et. al. 2004). Of these 9.3 million undocumented people, about 57 percent are from Mexico, 23 percent are from other Latin American countries, 10 percent come from Asia and the remaining 10 percent come from the rest of the world (Passel, et. al. 2004). This data shows the immense amount of these undocumented people in the United States. Many of these people live in hiding as they cannot do a whole lot besides work and support their families for fear of being found and deported. As the data shows, undocumented people come here from all over the world which means they come from many different backgrounds and perspectives of life.

They are residing all over the country, however a vast majority (65 percent) are located in just six states. This consists of California with 27 percent, Texas holding 13 percent, New York with 8 percent, Florida with 7, Illinois with 6 and New Jersey with just 4 percent (Passel, et. al. 2004). The majority of these people come from Mexico and that speaks miles about just how many Mexicans come over seeking a new and better life. Most of the time, these are people who are willing to work in whatever jobs they are offered in order to make a living for themselves and/or their families.

Undocumented and Documented Mexican Workers Difference in Pay

Generally, undocumented workers are payed significantly less than those who are documented and working legally. This has to do because they have no other option than to accept whatever pay they are offered. In an 1897 survey by Douglas Massey of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, he found that undocumented workers are paid 37% less than those who are documented (Rivera-Batiz, 1998). There is also a gap when it comes to genders, the same research found that undocumented males earn approximately 36% more than females. Different factors play into their earnings such as years of schooling, English language proficiency, and time spent in the United States.

Many Mexican workers who come illegally come over seeking temporary work. In fact, temporary Mexican laborers range from 500,000 to 2 million persons per year and they stay around 6 months on average (Ranney, Kossoudji, 1983). These workers don’t earn much themselves either. In 1978, these migrants’ earnings were around $23 per day (Ranney, Kossoudji). This data provides an understanding of how many undocumented workers are underpaid and are seemingly underappreciated. The money they earn is usually saved to take back to Mexico in order to help support their families once their temporary stay is over.

Interestingly enough, the rate of return for experience is higher for illegal immigrant males than it is for legal immigrant males, however it is the opposite for females. These workers are predominantly employed in blue collar jobs with about 93% of Mexican males and 87% of females working these jobs (Rivera-Batiz, 1998). There is obviously a significant premium when it comes to the pay legal Mexican workers. These pay differences may reflect discrimination against illegal immigrants.

Industries of employment for Undocumented Workers

These workers are employed in a variety of different industries. However, they are more likely to work in industries which offer low-skill jobs than U.S. citizens are of course. According to research by the Pew research-center, 22% of them work in professional, business and other services. While about 18% work in leisure & hospitality, 16% work in construction and 13% work in Manufacturing. Other major industries for them include agriculture, forestry and mining, wholesale, retail trade, education, health services among others. The industry with the smallest percentage of undocumented workers is Transportation & utilities with only 3 percent (Passel, Cohn, 2015). This data shows the diversity of work that udocumented workers tend to perform.

The undocumented labor force, as states before consists of millions of workers. A vast majority, 96 percent of all undocumented males are working in the labor force. As for women, only about 62 percent of them are in the labor force. This is because many of them remain in the home as housewives and many are of childbearing age (Passel, et. al 2004). This makes sense in relation to Mexican heritage. In Mexican heritage, the male is usually head of the household and provider whereas the female is more likely to stay home and take care of the house and children.

For undocumented workers, virtually any type of job offer is acceptable. Most of them want to survive in this country so they will take what they can get. They are mainly here to secure a home and make a living. Most of the time all they want is to provide a better future for their children. Although there is much understandable controversy surrounding them, they also have a reputable argument sometimes, so this is a very difficult dilemma to try and fix.

Early history of Mexican workers

Undocumented workers in the United States have had a long and rough history. They have gone through much controversy and turmoil while trying to be present and work in the U.S. This is obviously because they should not be residing in the United States in the first place since they are not documented and most of the time have entered the country illegally. Many of them enter in secret crossing the river in stealth or walking through the desert.

The implementation of the Border Patrol in 1924 was a huge step by the U.S. towards fighting undocumented workers and illegal immigration. This made it more difficult for Mexicans to come over illegally and start a life, it also finally created an obvious distinction between people who come over legally and those who violated immigration laws (Bustamante, 1972). However, this of course did not stop illegal immigration altogether. Between 1921 and 1930, “Coyotes” became a scapegoat for this illegal migration. Coyotes are people who help sneak others across the border. During this era, there was massive illegal immigration from Mexico due to the help of these so-called coyotes (Bustamante, 1972). It makes sense that coyotes arose greatly during this time period because of the fact that the border patrol was making it very difficult for people to cross on their own.

During this time period, there were significant deportations, however deportation wasn’t exactly the consequence of having entered the U.S. illegally. It was instead a consequence of having committed some type of criminal offense and then having been found to be residing in the country illegally (Bustamante, 1972). People who were deported were sent back to Mexico and back to their families as many of them would come over for temporary work in order to save money to take back to Mexico.

The border patrol was a game changer not only for authorities and the illegal Mexican worker but also for employers and their workers (Bustamante, 1972). This is because workers now were afraid to have a say in what they were being paid for fear of the employer turning them in to authorities.

Textile workers in India struggle against several problems in their lives such as wage cuts, rationalization but in the same time they have to fight for the recognition of the right of trade union organization in their own states. Besides that, they suffer from unemployment benefits, maternity or healthcare insurance and even sufficient earnings for their families.Trade union’s right to establish in the factory bring the textile workers of India right the position of struggle against military forces.

The workers in the the textile industry in India are being forced to bear impact of mill owners attack during the last decades. Despite the police and armed forces action, the British government get loose in the colonial countries according to their attempts to put down any obstacles to colonial oppression. Indian artisans reached the top of writing uncountable pages of those toiling society that dominates commendation of the international working class people in the capitalist society.

The textile workers for instance in Bombay do not decide to strike without any idea of what they are going into.They ( textile workers) organized them against the factory owners in 1920. It’s influence spread over several towns questioning about working hours and their wages, where as the factory owners up to they period profited unpredictably high of which average rate reached approximately 99.69 %

Eventually, hard working textile workers started to realize the possibility of combination a year later in 1921. There were only a few organizations of textile workers like labor union in that period of time.The textile workers struggled continuously since 1921. On the other hand side, the cotton workers struck in the years 1925 and 1928 which was landmark in battle of Indian working class people.Therefore, the general strike became an epic struggle in the working class movement in India lasting for six months encouraged them in an international movement. In the year 1933, 82 agreements were taken by the Bombay presidency of which 70 agreements were connected with the textile factory where participated around 70,310 workers.

If we compare 20th century to modern 21st century, the situation of the textile workers is seen almost the same. The textile workers in India and even in developing countries are still deprived of basic human facilities. These workers sometimes can neither feed their families nor educate their children. A statistic says that around 70 % of Asian textile workers live bellow the poverty line. But, it’s a good news that recently Germany has taken a step called ‘ Grünen Knopf‘ to improve their Situation.In the same way, it is also challenging for a country alone to establish such an initiative in the existing capitalist world, therefore, all development countries should come forward to solve the problem. It can be a possible way by boycotting world famous brand products like H&M and ZARA

These toiling people are going to realize the necessity of change in systematic societal way that makes lives as their possible; as they hear of the change in Soviet Union and Soviet China; as they see the unpleasant oppression of their trade union and political leaders; they dislike the British imperialism, in fact they are being concious of their mission in life. The success of textile workers would inspire them to begin a greater struggle not only against mill owners but also against any imperialism.

Sources

1. The labor months
2. Wikipedia Britanica
3. Economic statistics

In this assignment I am going to be discussing the role of a youth worker and how that role is defined, I will look at how youth work has changed over the years as well as the youth service. My research will examine the question-Youth workers- Are we agents of social control or agents of social change? I will also look into what social change and social control mean to me and the society we live in. To investigate this further I am basing my argument on three reports, the Albemarle report, the Thompson report and the Milson-Fairbairn report and conclude this.

So, what is our role as youth workers? The term Youth worker refers to both paid and voluntary workers who usually work with young people aged between 4 to 25 years, as youth workers we seek to promote young people’s social and personal development and enable them to have a voice, influence and a sense of identity and belonging in their community and society as a whole. Our role is to give young people a safe place to experience decision making, develop inter-personal skills and think through the consequences of their actions. This leads to young people making better informed choices, changes in activity and improved outcomes. For me a youth workers role is about building a trusting relationship where we treat each other equally and respectfully, always being the listening ear and supportive adult. It is also about being a good role model and encouraging those to be the very best they can with the support of programmes and interventions to guide and skill them to deal with any issues that affect them.

According to the national youth agency “Youth work helps young people learn about themselves, others and society through activities that combine enjoyment, challenge, learning and achievement. It is a developmental process that starts in places and at times when young people themselves are ready to engage, learn and make use of it, the relationship between youth worker and young person is central to this process. (nya.org.uk last accessed 18-04-2020)

The relationship between the youth worker and young person is definitely the most important element as this is where we build the connection to greater participation as Bernard Davis suggests the principle of young people’s voluntary participation Is a – perhaps the – defining feature of youth work.

The definition of social control According to Mannheim, social control is the sum of those methods by which a society tries to influence human behaviour to maintain a given order. Any society must have harmony and order, where there is no harmony or order the society actually does not exist because society is a harmonious organisation of human relationships. (Sociologyguide.com last accessed 19-04-2020)

The definition of social change “refers to any significant alteration over time in behaviour patterns and cultural values and norms. By “significant “alteration, sociologists mean changes yielding profound social consequences. Examples of significant social changes having long term effects include the industrial revolution, the abolition of slavery, and the feminist’s movement. (Cliffsnotes.com last accessed 19-04-2020)

Youth work has a long history where there are examples of social control from the early days of youth institutes and clubs in the 1850s in Britain. Here is some evidence of young people’s behaviours being seen as needing to be regulated and social norms needing to be upheld and enforced. The Reverend Arthur Sweatman set up a youth institute because he believed the lads and young men have “special wants and dangers “. Their peculiar wants are evening recreation, companionship, an entertaining but healthy literature, useful instruction, and a strong guiding influence to lead them onward and upward socially and morally, their dangers are, the long evenings consequent upon early closing, the unrestraint they are allowed at home, the temptations of the street and of their time of life, and a little money at the bottom of their pockets. (Sweatman 1867).

A few years later more Christian uniformed groups were established like the Boys Brigade, these were very controlled and regimented groups, but Robert Baden-Powell disliked the regimentation and was suspicious of the formal religious side of it and started up his own groups, The Scouts and Cubs. He believed in promoting wellbeing and” learning through doing”. Much like we are today in youth work Robert Baden-Powell was concerned with young people’s social life, working together and taking responsibility. During a rally organised by the boys scouts a group of girls arrived and declared themselves Girl Scouts so thereafter Agnes Baden-Powell, Roberts’s sister officially established the Girl Guide Association, this was the girls taking control and making a positive change for themselves.

Another figure in the development of youth work within the Methodist church in the 1950s was Leonard Barnett. His vision was to inspire youth workers and he was an advocate for informal learning

His emphasis on the youth club as an educative community, and his concern with the associational needs of young people owed a great deal to the work of Josephine Macalister Brew (indeed Brew wrote the foreword to The Church Youth Club) and Marjorie Reeves. However, what Leonard Barnett was able to add was a distinctly Christian appreciation of the possibilities of club life.

A club… must be seen as an instrument which can aid and abet to a large degree the unfolding of the more abundant life by those who are members of it. It is a community which seeks to help forward the process of education for life by its consistent care for body, mind and spirit. And the differentiae of the church youth club derive from a basic conviction that the Christian faith alone and in its fullness can prove the ultimate integrating factor, both for the individual and for the community. It bids us exercise an over-all care for the well-being of the whole person, body and mind no less and no more than spirit, believing that they together form an inviolate trinity. (Barnett 1951: 34)

Our job is to provide such opportunities for development of body, mind and spirit, as will enable the boys and girls in our club to enter upon fullness of life as the sons and daughters of the living God. (Barnett 1962: 3)

I believe Barnett was promoting social change through the term” fellowship “and how he brought this into his youth clubs. He was concerned with care of the whole person and the rights of the individual, he was strongly committed to association and the learning and good that comes from playing one’s part and taking responsibility.

In the 1960s the Albemarle Report (1960) was published after pressure was put on the government to select a committee to review the youth service, as the media where perceiving young people as a problem. Youths were being portrayed as irresponsible, increasingly violent and destructive. The Albemarle report (1960) revealed the lack of expenditure in the past and that the service had been scandalously neglected. The report was a landmark in the history of youth service and new approaches were needed. 44 recommendations were made altogether and one was for the expansion of the work force and more opportunities for workers to become professionally qualified. Action was also needed to make the youth service a more significant part of the educational structure. The report also found that volunteering and voluntary attendance was the youth services strength. Albemarle (1960) states ” voluntary attendance is important because it introduces adult freedom and choice” This can be seen as social change as the youth were in control of their choice whether to attend and participate in activities, but also there are elements of social control in the reasoning behind the changes.

The Milson-Fairbairn report (1970s) was set up to review the youth service after the Albemarle report and it had a committee that was broke into two sub groups, one chaired by Fred Wilson to look at youth work and the relationship with the adult community and the second was chaired by Andrew Fairbairn to examine youth work and schooling and further education. The report suggested that the service was failing in some areas particularly the younger age bands, originally the focus was on the 14 to 20 age band. Some figures produced from this report revealed that member’s numbers dropped by the ages 19 and 20, the voluntary sector had a higher proportion of all ages but there was a lower percentage of girls who seemed to lose interest quicker. When you look at the reasons behind the girls drop in participation you have to consider what was available for them? The young men had their pool/ snooker tables ,football halls, dart boards and the like and the girls tended to spend most of their time in the toilets talking or doing hair if they were lucky enough to have a hairdressing room, even though years earlier Albemarle had stated that “much more thought will need to be given to their specific needs” The report suggested looking for results in young people with wider interest freely chosen and gaining social confidence and responsibility for themselves and others. If this was accomplished then I see the result as youth workers as agents of social change

The Thompson report (1982) looked favourably to youth services working collectively with the community, with the hope that young people feel a sense of belonging in the society they lived in. Some of Thompsons report (1982) recommends the following:

• Youth service to help all the young people who needs it.
• The provision of political education should be a normal part of the youth service curriculum.
• The youth service should develop the means of working together to encourage the most effective use of funds, staff and facilities.
• The service must take deliberate steps to insure the personal development of girls.
• Provision of minority groups to be integrated and separate.

The overall aims of the youth service should be seen as affirming an individual’s self-belief and encouraging participation in society.

Workers to gain necessary training, accept that part of their work is administration and working in the community.

Thompson also recognised the difference between teachers and youth workers because of the voluntary participation, this would encourage positive development when working in the community and providing informal education. It also felt that personal social development programmes were key to building relationships and educating youth in their own identity and place in social.

Published in 1987, this piece by HM Inspectors is one of the last English government reports to promote open youth work – albeit with an emphasis on activity, planning and personal and social development. It drew upon a series of inspection reports to provide a series of examples of what they then deemed to be good practice.

The development of individuals through activity

Young people voluntarily associate with the youth service. They become involved for many reasons—to meet their friends; to spend their leisure out of the home; for specific activities from rock climbing to drama; for help and advice. Some are content if the youth facility they use is welcoming and friendly, if the activities they participate in are exciting and creative. Effective youth work seeks to use young people

Spontaneous or continuing interests to foster their personal and social development. Sometimes the youth worker cannot plan the interventions to encourage the achievement of such goals but has to take opportunities ‘on the wing’ in a variety of social or recreational contexts: effective youth work (1987)

If youth workers where to take an active role in enabling young people to avail of all the opportunities available by their own choice, this could be youth workers acting as agents of social change

After reading the reports and other papers on youth work, I am drawn to the repetitive nature of how young girls youth provision was not catered for fully. Each report recognised failings but the next report didn’t rectify the outcomes. This brings me to thinking about my own young girls at our youth club. Unfortunately, we still live in a male dominated society and focus a lot on the improved chances and outlook of young men in our society. Is this history repeating itself?

I live and work in an area of high deprivation in the Bogside and Brandywell and my main aim as a youth worker is to guide and support our young people on a journey of development to be able to express themselves, and more than anything to feel safe.

Now when I reflect on our young people’s journeys I am honestly reflecting firstly on the changes for our young men. In this area we have gone through difficult times for young people and their families and community. Our first reaction is to try and keep everyone safe.

When I was thinking about a time when I felt an agent of social change and social control, I am drawn back to two summers ago when there was a lot of tension in our area with paramilitaries. Our young boys were on the streets that they lived in, and where being drawn into activities surrounding anti- community behaviour. These were young people that grew up in the youth club environment and had been involved with a variety of educational programmes. Our task was to re-engage with them and offer support, safety, guidance and an alternative option, the result was a group of young men that enrolled in a young men’s employment scheme. Where they felt a sense of identity, appreciation and belonging. They further went on to enrol in voluntary programmes where they gained experience of giving back to the community.

This is where I go back to the young girls in our youth club. These girls have come to the youth club every week, from little juniors to now empowered young adults. They have gained a wealth of life experiences already in their young lives, through their club adventures from social and personal development programmes, dance clubs, sports teams, volunteer projects, international volunteering opportunities, travel and cultural experiences as well as gaining accredited qualifications. This is to name but a few of the youth service experiences the young girls and boys have participated in.

To conclude I do feel that youth workers are using aspects of social control and social change. I would say we have used control to keep our young people safe. When we are offering interventions to steer our young people away from trouble and danger this is seen as social control but the alternative is being controlled by the police and youth justice system.

When you look at the description of” what is the role of a youth worker” it all points towards promoting social change for our young people.

Looking at the reports you can see the control in decision making about funding and pre-decided programmes. Although all of the reports made good recommendations I think the Thompson report went further towards creating more possibilities to deliver social change. The most important words in all three reports are voluntary participation.

Bibliography

1. Cliffsnotes.com. 2020. Social Change Defined. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2020].
2. Infed.org. 2020. Arthur Sweatman And The Idea Of The Club | Infed.Org. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2020].
3. Infed.org. 2020. Arthur Sweatman: Youths’ Clubs And Institutes | Infed.Org. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2020].
4. Infed.org. 2020. Effective Youth Work. A Report By HM Inspectors | Infed.Org. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2020].
5. Infed.org. 2020. Leonard Barnett And The Church Youth Club | Infed.Org. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2020].
6. Infed.org. 2020. Youth And Community Work In The 70S – The Younger Teenage Group | Infed.Org. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 April 2020].
7. Infed.org. 2020. Youth Work | Infed.Org. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2020].
8. Mitchell, G., n.d. A New Dictionary Of The Social Sciences.
9. Scott, J. and Marshall, G., 2009. Dictionary Of Sociology. Oxford University Press.
10. Sociologyguide.com. 2020. Social Control, About Social Control, Type Of Social Control, Sociology Guide. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 April 2020].

During the Industrial Revolution, social workers were needed because of all the societal issues. Also, at this time, the economy was booming. Lots of people had jobs in factories, assembly lines, coal mines, etc. However, at the time, America was a capitalist economy which meant that people had the freedom to do whatever they wanted to, in order to make money. There was little government interference in the economy. In the result of this, there was no minimum wage, no health care, no minimum or maximum work hours, and no benefits to those who worked for a large company such as a factory. On top of all of this, immigrants were entering the US at this time, so if somebody wanted to keep their job, they would have to be paid less. This Capitalist economy destroyed the lower class of society.

Behind the scenes of the Industrial Revolution, some people were struggling to make ends meet. Nobody could afford to take care of their families. Poverty was taken to the streets. The cities began to flood with people who were not able to support themselves. The impoverished people who took over the streets were seen as a direct threat to social order. In response to this, the government created and organized systems that would help them. This led to the beginning of social workers.

The government needed people who would assist the citizens directly. Government created groups started to form around the cities. These groups did not just help the poor, but they found ways to keep disease, prostitution, mental illnesses, and other afflictions under control (Social Work Degree Guide). At this time, the groups were not officially known as social workers, but instead, were just thought of as the social order control groups. The people in these groups saved many people’s lives. They cared about helping people who were not as privileged.

During the late 1800s, systems were being created to continue to help the social issues that were occurring in the urban areas of America. One of the first professional Social Workers, Jane Addams, created the U.S. Settlement House Movement. Settlement houses were built to act as community centers. At the settlement houses, services were provided to help the community. This new system was created to try and help the environmental causes of poverty. As said by Chris Ingrao, the social workers “activities included conducting research, establishing a juvenile court system, creating widows pension programs, promoting legislation, prohibiting child labor, and introducing public health reforms and the concept of social insurance” (Simmons University). The most famous settlement house was called the Hull House. This house was located in a culturally diverse part of Chicago. This house offered up education programs and social services such as a public kitchen, public baths, and a nursery. (Simmons University).

The government started to see a phenomenal change in society. The government realized that the social service groups needed to stick around because they were impacting the cities in such a positive way. By the nineteenth century, social work programs started to develop. Classes were offered at colleges, and people could pursue in a social work career. Social workers have impacted so many people’s lives, and over time, they have helped the poorest of the poor people get back on their feet.

During the Industrial Revolution, our society needed help. Social workers came to rescue the people. They had a passion for helping out the community, and because of them, people had a chance at survival during the Industrial Revolution.

Even two hundred and sixty years later, the idea of social workers is still around. Today, there are many types of social workers and they are available to help people in many different situations. During the Industrial Revolution, it was found that social workers needed to exist, and ever since then, the country has only improved the social worker’s ability.

From poverty to alcoholics to disease, American society has never been perfect. The government faces a constant battle while trying to keep American society sane. Their solution was a government-financed group that would help American society flourish. This group became known as social workers. The social workers helped decrease societal issues.

Imagine walking in a neighborhood and seeing homeless alcoholics roaming the streets. Imagine seeing kids begging for food and money on every street. Envision what America would look like if all these issues were not controlled. Thanks to social workers, America does not have to live in brutal conditions where the lower class does not have a chance at survival.

One of the main societal issues that was greatly impacted by social workers was the amount of homeless and impoverished people living out on the streets. Social workers were determined to get everyone into a safe environment. They did not know this at the time, but by getting the homeless people off the streets, a bunch of new social issues was also alleviated. Diseases were easily spread throughout the cities because everyone was in close proximity to each other, and the poor did not have the resources to be cured (International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences). Most of the homeless people did not even realize they carried a deadly disease. So, when social workers found homes for the poor, they also made sure they were checked out by a doctor. This reduced the amount of sick people in the cities.

Social Workers saw themselves as investigators. They wanted to figure out what needed to be fixed in the cities, to depress the issues of society. Along with controlling poverty and disease concerns, social workers went above and beyond to reform previously made laws that put the poor at a disadvantage in society. In 1907, a group of social workers in New York City realized that if they wanted to help the people, they needed to gather statistics on how most lower-class people were living (American Decades). The Pittsburgh survey was created to collect all the statistics. In order to get all the information, “Workers fanned out in ethnic communities and looked at housing conditions, counted members of the household, and asked questions about employment and income, housekeeping standards, diet, clothing, education, and recreational activities” (American Decades). The evidence was gathered from hundreds of photographs that were taken of workers and their families. The group of social workers got a first-hand look at how families had to live in order to survive. In most lower-class families, every person in the family had to work so that they could have a roof over their head and food on their table. The data that was compiled was very descriptive, and it was used to advocate reforms. The social workers went to the state legislators to create laws that would limit the number of working hours for a worker and to give the worker minimum wage rights. They also used the lower class housing conditions as evidence to create laws that would put regulations on the size and type of buildings that could be built (American Decades). These laws did not just change the lives of people working in New York City. These laws spread throughout the country and changed people’s lives forever. Social Workers fought for the rights of the lower class individuals, and they succeeded.

Over time, social workers have branched out into different fields of work. In the beginning, their main goal was to help the poor. They successfully achieved their goal and so they decided to help out society in different ways. Most modern social workers are advocates for children and families. They protect children who have been abused and they help families cope with the stressors in their lives (Why Our World Needs Social Work). Social workers do not get enough credit for all the things they do to help Americans.

The role of social workers in America is to help the well-being of people. They show people how to be successful in life. They lift people up by empowering them to make a positive change in their life. Social workers have changed America from a depressed state to a hopeful state. Social workers provide resources to all the people. They change the lives of people every day. They helped form some of the most important laws that are still used today; such as the working hours and minimum wage laws. They spoke out for the people who did not have a voice in society.

The responsibility of social workers got larger as the years progressed because there were always more societal problems that needed to be taken under control. One of the issues that never went away was all the kids that were abandoned or abused by their parents and other family members. Nobody could figure out how to help the children until Charles Loring created the Foster Care system. The Foster Care system was created with the help of social workers, and they played an important role in the creation of the system.

Charles Loring was an American Philithranpoist who made it his life’s goal to change society. He had witnessed all the homeless children who lived on the streets of New York City. The kids had nowhere to go, so their only sense of comfort was knowing that they were not alone in being homeless. The kids started to form violent gangs in order to survive. As said in the Social Welfare Library, “These children became notorious as “street Arabs” or “the dangerous classes” due to the street violence and gangs with which they inevitably became members.” Sometimes, kids as young as five years old would go to prison where the adults would go. The police were fed up with the kid’s rambunctious behavior, and they called them “street rats”(Social Welfare Library).

The only resources that were available at the time for poor and homeless kids were orphan asylums and almshouses. Loring was determined to find a better solution for the kids because they deserved a second chance. Loring believed that the best thing for the kids was to get them out of New York City and relocate them to the rural areas where there was more farmland. In the 1850’s, Loring created a solution that was known as “placing out”. His purpose of this idea was to get the kids connected with a random family, so they could learn from them, and they could have the experience of living in a loving atmosphere. In 1854, Loring sent his first group of 46 boys to a town in Michigan. An agent went with the boys, and when they got to the town, the agent explained to all the townsmen that the boys were in desperate need of a home. It only took a week for all the kids to be claimed by a farmer. Over the next seventy-five years, the placing out program found homes for over 100,00 urban children who were living in poverty (Social Welfare Library).

In modern terms, the “placing out” system is known as the foster care system. Although the names changed, the goals have stayed the same. Kids are put in foster care every single day because they don’t have family who is capable of taking care of them. For the child, it can be hard to find comfort in a random family. However, social workers work hard to ensure that the kid is put into a loving home. In the newspaper article “Foster Care” written by Manila Bulletin, a former foster child’s parents spoke out and said, “That was the ‘medicine’ that erased her fears and taught her how to trust a new family.” Foster families help children get back on their feet, and they act as an authority figure to teach them life lessons. In some cases, such as the newspaper article “Foster Care”, the foster family ends up adopting the child because they fall in love with each other.

In US history, there have been bumps in the road. Nothing has been easy, but social workers have impacted the US in such a positive way. They helped some of the worst societal issues and they found a solution to them. Without the creation of the foster care system, kids would not have any way of turning their life around.

In 21st century, where technology is growing on fast pace it is still hard to replace human labour. Most of the industries still rely on human labour for their production. In countries like china, India and Vietnam they are still facing problems like labour violation rights and low wages in all the leather and footwear industries.

According to the survey in north and south India “low wages of 100 euros per month, lack of regular employment relationships, lack of employee state insurance and EPF and long working hours ae among the problems they face” (Watch your step 4). It is noticed that most of the employees have complained of poor wages. Even working conditions are not good. India is the fourth largest exporter of the leather goods in the world and the reason is cheap labour. Most of the employees are working in these companies due to lack of opportunities but their wages are not enough to fulfill the basic needs of the family.

Moreover, workers are exposed to hazardous chemicals. Employers are forcing employees to operate chemicals which are prone to their health. irregular intake of chemicals killed 50 people in the jeans industry (“Killer jeans” 5). Companies have been using sandblasting and a lot of silica dust is generated during the process and can result to silicosis which is a hazard chemical.

However, the workers want social security and a raise, but I don’t know how to negotiate with factory manager( No excuses for homework 2). Workers rights were violated like no fixed working hours and were hired temporarily or on contract as per the availability. Workers don’t have a permanent job. Furthermore, there is an unfair distribution of prices and actual value of goods. As it is not completely distributed among production workers and most of it is consumed by the distributor and brand (“Real cost of our shoes” 3).

In addition, the interview held in Chinese footwear industry states that they are forced to work overtime and if they denied doing, they were either abused or demoted (“Tricky footwears” 1). Workers were discriminated on behalf of wages. the living cost is much higher than what they are actually paid. Women were not granted the paid maternity leave.

To conclude, lack of implementations of these laws can be resolved by bringing labour laws in effective, legalization of freedom of assembly and association. It is evident that employees are paid poorly and are forced to do overtime shifts in extreme worst conditions.

Introduction

The current situation of the US economy shows that already more and more people are preferring to work in the gig economy, meaning that they do not have an official working place for a certain organization. The majority of the population prefers working as independent workers rather than being hired (Petriglieri, Ashford & Wresniewski, 2018). The predictions are that the next five years, almost half of all organizations in the US will expand the use of temporary employees. This expansion will most likely lead to about 43% of woking age population being active in the gig economy (Katz & Krueger, 2016).

However, the gig economy is not as promising as people think it is, for instance working for Amazon. Due to the fact that Amazon is using crowd workers they avoid being responsible for unsafe or unfair conditions for these workers. Furthermore, people working for Amazon are earning 19% lower wages than the living wage in their region and their work is often dehumanizing, including critically high production rates.

Furthermore, the gig economy includes crowd working and work on demand via apps types of work. This paper will focus on the first mentioned type of work.

Crowd working can be explained as completing a series of tasks by using online platforms. Crowdwork is relatively simple work, thus mostly done by unskilled workers (Kalleberg & Dunn, 2016). As mentioned above, the future of these unskilled workers is somewhat unclear and needs some clarification. Moreover, there are lots of short- and long-term implications of the gig economy, both positive and negative. But in this paper the focus is going to be on the future of the unskilled crowd workers, which leads to the following question: To what extent will crowd work change the employment opportunities for unskilled workers?

To answer this question, a literature review will be used, which contains academic articles about the gig economy and crowd working and the positive and negative effects for the future of unskilled workers. In the Theoretical framework the gig economy, the role of digital platforms and crowd work will be described. In the third section the short- and long-term implications of the gig economy for the future of work will be analyzed (both positive and negative). Moreover, the role of digital platforms from crowd working will be explained as well. In the last section the research question will be answered and recommendations and limitations for further research will be given.

Theoretical framework

First of all, the gig economy will be described in more detail. As mentioned earlier, working in the gig economy means that people are not working for a certain organizations. Moreover, there are few permanent workers so most of the work is for a short term, which includes flexible arrangements. Due to the fact that most work is for a defined time, there is almost no connection between the workers and the employer (Friedman, 2014).

Furthermore, digital platforms have an important role in the gig economy and the number of searching jobs on digital platforms is rising. By the use of digital platforms, an employer can easily find suitable workers for particular jobs, pay them a particular amount and then get rid of them (Graham, Hjorth & Lehdonvirta, 2017). Another advantage of the use of digital platforms is that not only employers can easily find new workers, but that the workers easily can find new jobs or top up their salaries as well (Aloisi, 2015).

To become more specific about the gig economy, crowd work is going to be explained. Crowd working can be defined as completing a series of tasks with the use of online platforms, who connects an indefinite number of requesters with workers on a global basis (Prassl & Risak, 2015). ’Microtasks’ is a term that is very often associated with crowd work and can be defined as short term jobs with a particular function and often simple and monotonous work (De Stefano, 2015). Due to the fact that crowd work is not a hard job to fulfill relatively many workers can take the job.

However, the future of these unskilled workers is somewhat uncertain. Some people think that the future of unskilled workers is good, for instance for immigrants. These unskilled immigrants are able to benefit more when finding a job due to the gig economy. By the use of the gig economy they can protect themself for discrimination as there is no face-to-face relation between workers and employers. However, there are also negative questions about the future, such as Sundarajan (2015) said: ‘Hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future, fearing that the gig economy portends a dystopian future of disenfranchised workers hunting for their next wedge of piecework’ (as mentioned in Kalleberg & Dunn, 2016). The economist states that the future does not look very promising, because people need to desperately search for jobs to earn some money and they need to compete with each other to get a working place, which is particularly not favorable for unskilled workers.

Moreover, technological development plays a role in business as well. As mentioned in Furman and Seamans (2018), Artificial Intelligence (AI) is extremely growing in recent years, whereby technological skills and the work of humans are involved. The work of humans can be replaced by the use of AI and robotics, which leads to a big concern for the working people. Furthermore, new technological advancements leads to increasing productivity. People are concerned about the fact that technology changes switch the work from humans to robotics, although many technological changes are only replacing a certain task of a job and not a whole job. In addition, new technologies can create new jobs. For instance, Mandal (2017) mentioned that there are indeed job losses in brick-and-mortar department stores but that these losses can be replaced by a lot more new jobs in call centers (as mentioned in Furman and Seamans, 2018). However, in Figure 1 you can see that the work with low hourly wages can be automated much more easily than work with higher hourly wages, which leads to a greater job uncertainty for unskilled/ low skilled people (Furman and Seamans, 2018).

Finally, the theory of Coase, a British economist and professor, will be explained and there will be explained how this theory is applicable for crowd work. Coase (1973) explains why firms exist. According to the professor, firms exist to become more efficient in production through hierarchy than through the market and to reduce transaction costs. Transaction or marketing costs can be defined as costs that need to be made when trade takes place while performing in a market. Examples of transaction costs are negotiation and searching costs.

To relate his theory to crowd work, the main advantage of contracts with independent contractors or crowd workers is that the transaction costs are decreasing. In addition, there is a lot of flexibility as well. Thus, due to the use of online platforms the flexibility of the employer as well as for the customer are increasing and the employer still has control over the production process to keep the marketing costs on a minimal level. Although, this can only be achieved if two conditions are met. The first condition is that there always have to be enough crowd workers, which also means that there have to be sufficient competition to maintain low prices. The second condition includes ‘digital reputation’. Digital reputation can be defined as a system to select crowd workers efficient. This system is important for crowdsources, because otherwise they maybe select not the best workers for the task. Thus, through crowd working the transaction costs can be further minimized and this minimization is an important aspect of Coase theorem (Prassl & Risak, 2015).

Analysis

There are many short- and long-term implications, which can be either positive or negative, for the future of work of the gig economy, especially for unskilled workers.

First to start with the short term implications. As Friedman (2014) mentions, gig-workers are often doing the same job as that they did when they had a traditional contract. With a traditional contract, time and memory were important aspect. If an employer wants to hire an employee, past performance are taken into account and earnings are based on how long a worker is working. Moreover, the current achievements of a traditional worker determined their bonuses and if they can get a higher position in the future. Conversely, past performance are not important for employers who hire gig workers and the employers are not going to take care of future work, legacy pay or deferred compensation for the workers. Since past performance are not important for people who are crowd working, low skilled people can earn a job much more easily than when their past performance are taken into account. Although, these crowd workers do not have any social security. However, for a firm can this either be a negative and a positive aspect. Negative because they do not know for sure if they are hiring the right worker, positive because they do not have to pay compensations and promise their workers work in the future.

Another positive effect from the firms perspective is that firms do not need to contract people for a long period, as in traditional firms, but they can hire a crowd worker in a couple of minutes for a short period. The firm can get immediately rid of the workers when the task is done, so hire and fire a worker is a lot less time consuming for digital firms than for traditional firms (De Stefano, 2015).

When employees are crowd workers, they benefit from a lot of freedom, which contains structuring their own time and career paths easily on their own. They can for instance: choose the kind of work they want to do, where they want to perform this certain job and at what time they want to do this. The only thing needed to become a crowd worker is a computer with a good internet connection. The entry and exit barrier are low for the crowd workers as well as for the firms, whereby low skilled workers can enter the employment market very easily (Felstiner, 2011).

Due to the fact that there is so much flexibility, the payment that the workers receive is very little. Moreover, they have more problems such as information asymmetry, deception and privacy. Thus, firms do not know for sure if they hire the right worker. When this happens there is information asymmetry. For the workers, particularly for the unskilled workers, is this a positive aspect. They can earn the job more simple than with a traditional job, where prior achievements are taken in to account. For high skilled people is the information asymmetry rather a bad aspect, there is a change that company’s are choosing a person who has less skills than they have over them. Only, the little payments is for every worker a bad aspect (Prassl & Risak, 2015).

With ‘microtasks’, large tasks have been reduced to smaller tasks that can be independently worked on. After the reduction of the tasks, crowd workers can find them on platforms and perform them. Although a survey research has found that people value these tasks very low and that the average wage is around 2$ per hour (Prassl & Risak, 2015). In addition, they mention that through many competition the wages are very low but the quality is high. For low skilled people this could be a negative and a positive implication. On one hand negative, because it it hard for them to get the job. On the other hand positive, due to the fact that some skilled labor is replaced by unskilled labor because large tasks are diminished to smaller, easier tasks. Looking from the firm’s perspective, it is positive. The firm’s are getting high quality workers for little money (Kittur et al., 2013).

Sometimes, workers are taking a job for which they do not have the suitable experience or skills, so they ignore the fact that they are not skilled enough for a particular micro task, all for earning some money. Although, unskilled workers performing a particular task can lead to insignificant inputs and not fully reliable outputs, whereby resources and time are wasted both of the employee as well as for the firm (Gadiraju, Fetahu & Kawase, 2015).

Now that the short term implications are explained, the long term implications are going to be explained. The creation of new jobs and opportunities is an important aspect for the future or the long term effects of crowd working. These new jobs needs to contain both satisfaction of the working people as well as organizational performance. When crowd workers achieve both feedback from their associates and requesters about specific tasks and when the workers can get new opportunities, they are able to learn from their mistakes and create better results than before. Because of this, workers satisfaction and better result, thus better organizational performance are accomplished. Moreover, the feedback from requesters and peers can result in better performance, so the unskilled workers are maybe able to improve themself and earn better jobs in their future career (Kittur et al., 2013).

Another positive implication in the long term has to do with new technological developments. Kittur et al. (2013) mentions that due to the fact that crowd work is often online, people from all over the world can take the job, thus workers who life in a stagnated economy can work through this online platforms as well. Because of these new developments, unskilled workers who life in a country with a stagnated economy have more opportunities and changes. In the long run, these workers are able to earn a lot more money and therefore create a better life for themself.

However, there are also negative aspects for the crowd workers in the long term. As result of the gig economy, wages are more flexible. This includes that employers can shift the uncertainty of economic fluctuations from them (in traditional employment) to the workers. For instance, when a recession takes place in the future, the wages will decline as well as the employment rate, a lot of crowd workers have to deal with this uncertainty (Friedman, 2014).

Conclusion, Recommendations and Further Research

In this section of the paper, the research question is going to be answered: To what extent will crowd work change the employment opportunities for unskilled workers? This question is based on the uncertainty of the employment changes for unskilled people through the use of crowd work.

First, there are positive as well as negative implications for unskilled workers working as a crowd worker that need to be weighted up against each other. To begin with a summary of the most important arguments in favor of the unskilled workers. The past performance of crowd workers are not taken into account, whereby they can get jobs faster and easier (Friedman, 2014). In addition, they have a lot of freedom and flexibility with low entry and exit barriers (Felstiner, 2011). Moreover, Kittur et al. (2013) states that through crowd working a lot of big tasks can be reduced to a couple of small task that can be performed properly by unskilled people, due to this and feedback from peers and requesters, low skilled workers are able to develop themself and create better employment opportunities in the future. Finally, even in stagnated economies people are able to perform crowd work behind their computer screen (Kittur et al., 2013).

Now that the positive implications are summarized, the negative implications are going to be summed up. The first disadvantage for unskilled crowd workers is that there is a lot of competition in the gig economy whereby it is sometimes harder for unskilled workers to get a job and whereby the payment is very little (Prassl & Risak, 2015). Secondly, the workers often take any job to earn some money, although sometimes they do not have the right experiences, whereby time is wasted (Gadiraju, Fetahu, Kawase, 2015). The third negative implication is that the crowd workers do not have any social security or future promises (Friedman, 2014). Fourthly, digital firms are able to fire the workers immediately when they are not necessary anymore (De Stefano, 2015). The last negative implication is that during a recession wages and employment opportunities will fall extremely (Friedman, 2014).

Now that all the implication are summarized, the research question can be answered: the employment opportunities for unskilled crowd workers are not changed to a large extent. This is due to the fact that there are more negative than positive implications and these negative implications together outweighs the positive implications.

Furthermore, some recommendations to lessen the negative implications will be given. To overcome the problem of little payments, a minimum wage could be implemented. A second recommendations is that firms need to be forced to give the crowd workers some short of certainty, such as social security.

Moreover, the answer that it given on the research question is still provisional and there are a couple of limitations about the research. The first limitation for this research is that a lot of arguments, both positive and negative, are not particularly only for unskilled workers but for crowd workers in general which means that there is almost no prior research about this certain topic, a lot of research is done for the gig economy and crowd working but not in particular for unskilled crowd workers, due to this it was hard to find relevant articles. Another implication is about time. For this paper we had a certain deadline to complete it. However, if there was no time at all, the research would have been more reliable. Finally, a literature review is used which means that this whole paper is based on evidences from prior researchers and not from evidence that is conducted through own experiments. To come to an end, these limitations can be improved in further research to achieve a more reliable research.

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