IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/reorpe/v49y2017i1p30-53.html

Job Quality Complexities

Author

Listed:
  • Leanne Roncolato
  • John Willoughby

Abstract

This paper draws on feminist and Marxist traditions to develop a framework for analyzing job quality, which incorporates context, social relations, and power. Job quality among small business owners in low-income communities surrounding Cape Town, South Africa is analyzed using data from semi-structured, time-intensive interviews. The results reveal a complicated story of self-employment being a means of expressing creativity, forming identity and community, while simultaneously being characterized by insecurity and harsh constraints.

Suggested Citation

  • Leanne Roncolato & John Willoughby, 2017. "Job Quality Complexities," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(1), pages 30-53, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:49:y:2017:i:1:p:30-53
    DOI: 10.1177/0486613415621751
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0486613415621751
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0486613415621751?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David KUCERA & Leanne RONCOLATO, 2011. "Trade liberalization, employment and inequality in India and South Africa," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 150(1-2), pages 1-41, June.
    2. Elaine McCrate, 2012. "Flexibility for Whom? Control over Work Schedule Variability in the US," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 39-72, January.
    3. Milford Bateman & Ha-Joon Chang, 2012. "Microfinance and the Illusion of Development: From Hubris to Nemesis in Thirty Years," World Economic Review, World Economics Association, vol. 2012(1), pages 1-13, September.
    4. Ferber, Marianne A. & Nelson, Julie A. (ed.), 2003. "Feminist Economics Today," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226242064, October.
    5. repec:wea:worler:v:2012:y:2012:i:1:p:2 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:462479 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. McCallum, Jamie K., 2011. "Export processing zones : comparative data from China, Honduras, Nicaragua, and South Africa," ILO Working Papers 994624793402676, International Labour Organization.
    8. Floro, Maria Sagrario & Bali Swain, Ranjula, 2013. "Food Security, Gender, and Occupational Choice among Urban Low-Income Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 89-99.
    9. Strober, Myra H, 1994. "Rethinking Economics through a Feminist Lens," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 143-147, May.
    10. Paula Kantor, 2005. "Determinants Of Women'S Microenterprise Success In Ahmedabad, India: Empowerment And Economics," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 63-83.
    11. Baoyindureng Wu & Xinhui An & Guojie Liu & Guiying Yan & Xiaoping Liu, 2013. "Minimum degree, edge-connectivity and radius," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 585-591, October.
    12. Maloney, William F, 1999. "Does Informality Imply Segmentation in Urban Labor Markets? Evidence from Sectoral Transitions in Mexico," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 13(2), pages 275-302, May.
    13. Guy STANDING, 2002. "From People's Security Surveys to a Decent Work Index," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 141(4), pages 441-454, December.
    14. Richard ANKER, 2002. "People's Security Surveys: An outline of methodology and concepts," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 141(4), pages 309-329, December.
    15. Ariely, Dan & Kamenica, Emir & Prelec, Drazen, 2008. "Man's search for meaning: The case of Legos," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(3-4), pages 671-677, September.
    16. Pablo Fajnzylber & William Maloney & Gabriel Montes Rojas, 2006. "Microenterprise Dynamics in Developing Countries: How Similar are They to Those in the Industrialized World? Evidence from Mexico," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 20(3), pages 389-419.
    17. John Messier & Maria Floro, 2008. "Measuring the Quality of Employment in the Informal Sector," Working Papers 2008-10, American University, Department of Economics.
    18. Maria Sagrario Floro & John Messier, 2011. "Is there a link between quality of employment and indebtedness? the case of urban low-income households in Ecuador," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 35(3), pages 499-526.
    19. Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi & Knight, John, 2004. "Unemployment in South Africa: The Nature of the Beast," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 391-408, March.
    20. Maloney, William F., 2004. "Informality Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1178, July.
    21. Ferber, Marianne A. & Nelson, Julie A. (ed.), 1993. "Beyond Economic Man," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226242019, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yewande Adetoro Adewunmi & Uchendu Eugene Chigbu & Uaurika Kahireke & Prisca Simbanegavi & Sam Mwando & Amin Ally Issa & Samuel Hayford, 2023. "A Multi-Faceted Approach to Improving Public Services in Low-Income Housing in Windhoek, Namibia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Adewunmi, Yewande & Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene & Mwando, Sam & Kahireke, Uaurika, 2023. "Entrepreneurship role in the co-production of public services in informal settlements − A scoping review," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bargain, Olivier & Etienne, Audrey & Melly, Blaise, 2021. "Informal pay gaps in good and bad times: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 693-714.
    2. Federico S. Mandelman & Gabriel Montes-Rojas, 2007. "Microentrepreneurship and the business cycle: is self-employment a desired outcome?," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2007-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    3. Radchenko, Natalia, 2014. "Heterogeneity in Informal Salaried Employment: Evidence from the Egyptian Labor Market Survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 169-188.
    4. Mandelman, Federico S. & Montes-Rojas, Gabriel V., 2009. "Is Self-employment and Micro-entrepreneurship a Desired Outcome?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 1914-1925, December.
    5. Alessandro Tondini & Cally Ardington & Ingrid Woolard, 2017. "Public pensions and elderly informal employment: Evidence from a change in retirement age in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 206, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    6. Richard B. Freeman, 2009. "Labor Regulations, Unions, and Social Protection in Developing Countries: Market distortions or Efficient Institutions?," NBER Working Papers 14789, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Eliane El Badaoui & Riccardo Magnani, 2020. "Tax Policies and Informality in South Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 267-301, April.
    8. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Klapper, Leora F. & Panos, Georgios A., 2009. "Entrepreneurship in post-conflict transition : the role of informality and access to finance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4935, The World Bank.
    9. Adriana Kugler & Maurice Kugler, 2009. "Labor Market Effects of Payroll Taxes in Developing Countries: Evidence from Colombia," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(2), pages 335-358, January.
    10. Fernando Botelho & Vladimir Ponczek, 2011. "Segmentation in the Brazilian Labor Market," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(2), pages 437-463.
    11. Bennett, John & Estrin, Saul, 2007. "Informality as a Stepping Stone: Entrepreneurial Entry in a Developing Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 2950, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. L. Beccaria & S. Filipetto & N. Mura, 2019. "Revisitando un viejo tema: informalidad y ciclo económico," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4141, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    13. Arias, Omar & Blom, Andreas & Bosch, Mariano & Cunningham, Wendy & Fiszbein, Ariel & Lopez Acevedo, Gladys & Maloney, William & Saavedra, Jaime & Sanchez-Paramo, Carolina & Santamaria, Mauricio & Siga, 2005. "Pending issues in protection, productivity growth, and poverty reduction," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3799, The World Bank.
    14. Freeman, Richard B., 2010. "Labor Regulations, Unions, and Social Protection in Developing Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4657-4702, Elsevier.
    15. Reeg, Caroline, 2015. "Micro and small enterprises as drivers for job creation and decent work," IDOS Discussion Papers 10/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    16. Gillian Hewitson, 2001. "A Survey of Feminist Economics," Working Papers 2001.01, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    17. Ellen Mutari, 2001. ""...As broad as our life experience": visions of feminist political economy, 1972-1991," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 379-399, December.
    18. Anna Horodecka & Magdalena Śliwińska, 2019. "Fair Trade phenomenon – limits of neoclassical and chances of heterodox economics," Studia z Polityki Publicznej / Public Policy Studies, Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 6(3), pages 1-29.
    19. Manuel Suárez & Masanori Murata & Javier Delgado Campos, 2016. "Why do the poor travel less? Urban structure, commuting and economic informality in Mexico City," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(12), pages 2548-2566, September.
    20. Lehmann, Hartmut & Pignatti, Norberto, 2018. "Informal employment relationships and the labor market: Is there segmentation in Ukraine?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 838-857.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:49:y:2017:i:1:p:30-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.urpe.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.