Review article
https://doi.org/10.3935/rsp.v10i2.125
Restructuring Work? Transformation of the Employment Structure
Teo Matković
; Studijski centar socijalnog rada, Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Abstract
The transformation of work and employment occupies a key position within the process of capitalist restructuring. New organizational models and doctrines, supplemented by ICT use and deregulatory political decisions, have contributed to the change of forms as well as structure of employment world-wide. The paper examines the structure of employment on the macro-level. Based on the concept of post-industrial society it considers theses on a) a shift of economic activity towards services and b) key role of professions with high knowledge and information content. Through an overview of the employment structure of first world countries, transition countries, and Croatia, structural developments are examined within their historical context. For the most part, Labour Force Survey data were used, complemented with recomputed official labour statistics for Croatia (period 1970–1996). Economic activities were aggregated according to Castells' adaptation of Singleman's classification of occupational sectors. The data for the first world countries, inter-state differences notwithstanding, supported the original theses. Analysis of the recent occupational structure developments in transition countries shows varying starting positions and varying patterns of transformation. Common characteristics included the growth of producer and social services, while changes in professional structure remained minor. The Croatian case was subject to more in-depth examination, and two phases of employment structure development were detected. In the 1970–1990 phase employment grew in size, but occupational structure was almost “frozen” due to certain political and institutional choices. During the second, transition phase (1990–2001), the number of employed plummeted initially, but with different impact in different sectors. It had a similar net structural effect as the occupational restructuring in developed countries – relative growth of employment in producer and social service sectors and a drop in the transformative sector. In the latter part of the nineties, occupational structure stabilised, while the labour market became more dynamic.
Keywords
transformation of employment; occupational structure; professional structure; information society
Hrčak ID:
30143
URI
Publication date:
1.2.2003.
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