Substantive equality encompasses equality of results, opportunity, and human dignity. To implement it requires an incremental approach ranging from voluntary participation to penalties for noncompliance, active participation of all stakeholders, and empowerment of disadvantaged groups. (SK)

International Labour Organization (ILO) standards for decent work promote social justice and humane working conditions. These standards can contribute to sustainable development, macroeconomic security, and fairer distribution of benefits from growth. The ILO is working for policy integration and promotion of international labor standards as a…

The effect of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) on working conditions depends on the way in which the technologies are designed to fit operator requirements, work organization, and organizational objectives. Recent attempts to promote skill-based human-centered approaches to CIM design are aimed at introducing humane working conditions…

Examines four conceptual features of decent work essential to its achievement in a context of globalization: (1) an inclusive approach, (2) rights-based thinking, (3) placing work within a broad economic, political, and social context, and (4) extension of thinking from international to truly global. Contains 17 references. (JOW)

A study of workers from Argentina (n=2,920), Brazil (n=4,000), Chile (n=1,188), Hungary (1,000), and the Ukraine (n=8,099) examined relationships between job satisfaction and employee and employer characteristics. Satisfaction was related to job security, perceptions of workplace safety, higher education, and employer attitudes. (Contains 17…

Provides a framework of analysis for determining whether workers' nonmonetary interests regarding the workplace are taken into account during the process of economic development. Argues for including attention to workplace quality and mechanisms for worker voice as a requirement for meaningful work. (JOW)

The author defines the scope and importance of vocational guidance in the Soviet Union. He states that such guidance is primarily for youth. He discusses the institutional framework of vocational guidance programs and new developments in the Soviet Union. (CH)

Conditional multiple correspondence analysis of data from workers in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile found that training was a consequence rather than a cause of promotion. More job training resulted in increased salary and benefits as well as in greater costs such as hours of work and work-related insecurity. (Contains 21 references.) (JOW)

Attention to the quality of the working environment for women factory workers can make a real contribution to productivity. The example of an Indonesian project that introduced low-cost workplace improvements and provided health instruction shows the feasibility and effectiveness of such efforts, provided there is a clear commitment from…

International employment policy must change in order to provide people with work suited to their abilities at every life stage. If technology fails to create sufficient jobs, available work should be redistributed to ensure that large numbers of people do not remain inactive at the community's expense. (Author/CH)

The impact of information and communications technologies on jobs is not yet known and no outcome is inevitable. Technology-driven changes in organizational structures, employment relations, worker autonomy, and work organization will not automatically result in higher job quality. (Contains 92 references.) (SK)

The author reviews the social benefits and costs to South Asian women of technological advancement. Some women have experienced improved work environments due to technology, but the poorest women have either lost their jobs and not been trained to use the new technology, or their work has not been affected by it. (CH)