Waste management policy and employment: the case of France

Technological changes that come with industrial revolution have largely affected businesses, as well as society. With the current technological shift and Fourth Industrial Revolution, many questions arise regarding the impacts and effects on current ways businesses operate. This study presents a retrospective analysis and overview of previous industrial revolutions. The aim of the retrospective analysis is to identify common characteristics that may lead to lessons learned for the forthcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution and thus complement the current debate on technological change. All previous industrial revolutions have led to change in business environments and new challenges for managers and owners. The findings show that all previous revolutions have led to increase in the number of service jobs created. The key approach of successful countries during the times of industrial revolution has included education as the source of new skills and knowledge necessary for adaption. Countries that were able to produce high skilled people could not only invent, but also adapt to new technologies sooner than others. Similarly, these approaches included introduction of new managerial practices in order to be able to utilize new technologies and new skilled workers effectively. The research article processes secondary data together with literature review on this topic.

This study analyzes the effect of reducing working time to a 40-hour week standard on employment, using the data of 1,961 publicly traded firms in Korea. The objective of the study is to empirically estimate the economy-wide effect of this working hours reduction on employment in Korea. This paper also attempts to uncover the effect of financial constraints, defined as the degree of accessibility to finance, on employment stability or sustainability. Some economic theories suggest that financial constraints have mixed or conflicting effects on employment. Building on labor and finance literature such as Garmaise (2007), easing financial constraints helps firms to optimally substitute capital for labor, thereby decreasing employment. Likewise, financially constrained firms are limited by the availability of internal funds, and a decrease in the external financing cost will increase firm-level human resource investment, such as employment. Using a longitudinal data on publicly listed companies in Korea, the author examines variations in the timing of implementing the working hours reduction in terms of establishment size to see if the effect of working hours reduction on employment differs with the degree of financial constraints of firms. This paper finds that the economy-wide effect on employment of work-hours reduction is positive, approximately 3.5% increase in employment. The results, however, show that there is no effect of the working hours reduction on employment in less financially constrained firms or larger corporations, whereas a substantial positive effect on employment is in smaller firms or financially constrained firms, supporting the Garmaise’s prediction.

In developing countries, non-agricultural micro-sized informal enterprises are known to create employment and income generation opportunities. However, due to the complexity and unregulated nature of the sector and, in particular, the Jua Kali, achieving efficient and effective sustainability remains a major challenge for the owners and policy makers alike. Since many unknown barriers continue to impact the effective and efficient development of the aforementioned enterprises, the aim of this study was to determine the barriers to effective job creation in a developing country’s informal micro enterprise industry using evidence from the Jua Kali sub-sector in Kenya. The data from a survey conducted among a random sample of 118 enterprises, which were listed in one Jua Kali Association Directory Nairobi, were analyzed using exploratory factor and regression analyses. Strong evidence supports the notion that some socio-demographic variables such as age, education and marital status have an impact on entrepreneurial activities in the Jua Kali sector. Training, advise and consultation for Jua Kali entrepreneurs need to be enhanced, as this will be necessary to advance their business prowess. The results contribute to studies in entrepreneurship and management by demonstrating that designing and implementing the systems, activities and programs for supporting employment creation through the informal sector can improve productivity at all levels of the economy and improve the living of these entrepreneurs.