Center for Global Work and Employment Events

Join the Labor Studies and Employment Relations Department and the Center for Global Work and Employment for a presentation by Rina Agarwala (Sociology, Johns Hopkins University) on "Union‐Cooperative Collaborations: Toward a Global Framework of Analysis" beginning at 11:30am in the Labor Education Center, Room 115.

This talk will show the effects of digitalisation on the skills and autonomy of a specific type of knowledge worker - industrial scientists - using labour process theory (LPT) and the concept of the "texture of skill change." The findings emphasise that skill changes are complex, nonlinear, and deeply intertwined with the material, relational, and situational aspects of work.

Youth unemployment and underemployment, especially among college graduates, have surged to unprecedented levels in recent years in China. In this study, we highlight youth unemployment and underemployment as prevalent yet distinct phenomena, and explore their trends and determinants over the past few decades. We further investigate the political implications of youth unemployment and underemployment.

Professor Zhao will draw on his new book, The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy, to trace the dramatic shifts in China’s foreign policy since its founding in 1949 and the key roles played by Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Xi Jinping. Each of these transformational leaders reshaped foreign policy to better fit their aims for China. His presentation will focus on Xi Jinping’s power concentration and its implications for Chinese foreign policy.

Talk One discusses Public Disclosure of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains: Improvement and Spillover?  with Dr. Chunyun Li and Talk Two discusses The Garment Industry in Bangladesh under COVID-19: Lessons from the Rana Plaza Disaster on How we Understand Worker Safety with Dr. Sanchita Banerjee Saxena.

The 2019 Vietnamese Labour Law, which came into effect on January 1, 2021, allows for the establishment of workers' representative organizations, known as Internal Employee Organisations (IEOs), independent of the official trade unions under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour. This reflects the widespread, ongoing industrial conflicts marked by illegal wildcat strikes led by unofficial workers' representatives due to the absence of effective trade union representation. The new legislative framework is seen as a significant step toward industrial democracy, with the potential to shift the dynamics of workplace representation in Vietnam. The expected outcomes—such as improvements in working conditions, better law enforcement, and more effective conflict resolution—have yet to materialize. More than three years have passed since the legislation was enacted, yet no IEO has been established to date.

This seminar will offer an in-depth analysis of why this is the case. It will provide an overview of the current state of Vietnamese trade unions and the labor dispute landscape in the country. Furthermore, it will demonstrate how Vietnam's corporatist and authoritarian political system has adapted to maintain its longevity and legitimacy in the era of globalization. Finally, the seminar will outline a research agenda focused on the conditions necessary for the emergence, development, and future function of IEOs.

The Center for Global Work and Employment (CGWE) co-organized a training camp, "Research on Labor Relations in China in the New Era," with the School of Politics and Public Administration, South China Normal University, on August 30-31, 2024, in Guangzhou, China. It also co-hosted a workshop, "Labor, Work, and Security in the Digital Age," with the School of Public Administration, South China University of Technology, on September 1, 2024, also in Guangzhou. Around 80 young Chinese scholars participated in both events. CGWE Director Mingwei Liu and affiliate Xian Huang, Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers, attended and delivered lectures.

The Center for Global Work and Employment (CGWE) co-organized the 4th Summer Camp, "Frontiers of Labor and Human Resources Management," with Rutgers Global, held from July 29 to August 10, 2024. Eleven students from Renmin University of China participated in the camp at Rutgers' New Brunswick campus.

Has China’s rapid economic growth reached to an end? What lessons can one learn to appreciate China’s historical ascendance to material abundance? Based on his  newly published book, Professor Wang revisits the four narratives commonly seen to account for China’s spectacular transformation in the last four decades: that China’s growth was preordained, it was guided by state initiated reforms, it relied on a vast reservoir of cheap labor, and that China’s experience is unique.  He traces the origins of this transformation, summarizes the paths of China’s rise to material abundance, and revisits its underlying driving forces. He argues that China’s ascendance was in essence an industrialization and urbanization process with special Chinese characteristics, that China’s growth originated from grassroot initiatives in the society, and that China’s cheap labor was good and exploited labor. With the surplus created during this age of abundance beginning to shrink, the Chinese state is facing increasing fiscal challenge as China exits from its age of abundance. Rapid population aging, persistent inequalities, and a return to political rigidity are among the major headwinds that are likely to accelerate the end of this era.

Mao and Markets (Yale University Press, 2022/3), a Financial Times Best Book of 2022, examines these questions and charts how the lasting legacy of Mao Zedong’s ideological principles, mass campaigns, and socialist institutions enduringly influence Chinese economic and political actors and so are essential for understanding the country’s future trajectory.