Olive Robinson

Employment Policies in the Service Sector: Training in Retail Distribution

This article presents in summary the results of the recent study by the Distributive Trades EDCs Part-Time Employment Group, which focussed attention on the training practices and career opportunities for this major and increasing component of the labour force of retail firms. There is no great certainty or unanimity about the training needs of retail staff, and differences in skill requirements are evident across the various retail trades and diverse organisational structures. Retailing is a dynamic and rapidly changing industry arid employers are not unaware of the training needs associated with labour intense operations yet the training implications of the industrys considerable dependence on part-time workers do not appear to be fully appreciated. In discussing the Reports findings in the context of the ongoing training debate in Britain, it is argued that the corporate strategies of retailers must comprehend the centrality of the training function, if effective use is to be made of all their employees.

Employment policy and deregulation in European air transport.

The air transport industry in Europe in the present decade isyfacing an increasingly competitive environment. With prolongedyrecession and the prospect of a common aviation area within theysingle market of the European Community, airlines are exposedyto levels of competition from which they have been previouslyysheltered. These changed operating circumstances have led Euro-ypean airlines to review their cost structures, and in particularylabour costs, which constitute a major cost item under directymanagement control. In the United States increased competitionyin the 1980s following on the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act,ytransformed a hitherto largely non-labour sensitive industry intoya highly labour-sensitive one. The article examines recentyemployment policy developments in European airlines and con-ysiders the extent to which they mirror those witnessed in theyderegulated United States industry.

Employment in Services: Perspectives on Part-time Employment Growth in North America

Service industries are the major employers of labour in the advanced market economies and generally the principal source of employment growth. They also account for the significant expansion of the numbers of part-time workers, ,who form the main component of the ‘non-standard’ or ‘Jlexible’ workforce. Over 40 per cent of the estimated 50 million part-time workers in these economies are found in the United States and Canada, the bulk engaged in service sector activity. Part-time employment growth is the subject of extensive discussion and it is the purpose of this article to consider the debate that has been emerging recently in North America. It is concluded that the advantages of labour force flexibility widely seen as conducive to productivity improvement and profitability in the labour intensive services sector may not be fully realised unless employers appreciate the longerrun implications of their increasing utilisation of labour on a part-time basis.

Earnings in the Hotel and Catering Industry in Great Britain

Employment growth has not changed the low pay status of the hotel and catering industry. Additional labour requirements have been met mainly by recruiting women to part-time jobs, thereby avoiding the need to offer comparatively high rates of pay to attract workers displaced from manufacturing industries. Re-structuring the earnings composition has raised the significance of statutory minimum rates at the expense of other pay components, minimised the cost of implementing the Equal Pay Act, and restricted the rate of increase in mens earnings. Further savings result from the growing proportion of part-time employees with earnings below the threshold for contributions to the National Insurance scheme.