Employment, Education and Health Flashcards
the issue of employment in the south
•more ppl in developing countries are not in full-time regular paid work but few households where there’s no income at all
•many ppl in south rely for their income on work in informal sector e.g. self employment, petty trading
work in the informal sector
•labour intensive and unregulated, may be illegal - usually not officially registered and may not pay tax
•ppl in this sector make a living in a variety of ways - precarious work and often temporary - problems especially acute for women, meg and disabled
•ppl tend to work very hard but productivity is low and there’s low pay
•many ppl in developing countries also support themselves and family by growing food for own comsumption
work in formal sector
•tends to involve large businesses w fairly stable employment, higher wages and regulated conditions (sick pay etc) and worker may be able to organise trade unions
•includes those working in public sector e.g. tnc’s - can be described as sweatshops and normally regulations on pay conditions
•fs work in short supply (5-6% of kepler’s jobs w many in developed world) and is highly sort after
why are tnc’s a target for criticism
•despite good lay and conditions by local standards - criticised by campaigners bcs workers only receive v small proportion of profits in the form of wages and benefits w most wealth created being taken out of the country
informal economy
•unrecorded
•activities e.g. production for own consumption which replaces money and market activities
which groups are in particular difficult situations
•children - time spent at school could be time earning money so children work rather than school
•older ppl - idea of retirement belongs to formal sector and it’s unlikely there’ll be state pensions
•disabled - absence of state support, ppl rely on family and community, may beg to earn an income
•women - some cultures state it’s unacceptable to have women work outside the home, often reliant on husbands and fathers to earn money, often taken adv. of by working for lower pay and poorer cond.
>elaine and pearson - gl. led to many women working in factories producing food for export - provided some financial ind. but kept them subordinate w supposedly limited skills(justifies low wages)
what has gl. enabled
•increasing no. of ppl from dev. countries working in north - some well trained and qualified w others being unqualified, some work legally while others aren’t
•but pull to north due to higher wages - being able to send money home in the form of remittance to support fam in c. of origin increasingly important aspect of many econs.
children working
•law limits amount of work a child can do so ed. doesn’t suffer - dev. countries, fam often rely on child to work, has been cited as a reason why families have several kids - econ asset to fam
•ilo makes distinction between working children and child labour w it working to abolish child labour but accepts that some kids working is essential (depending on age and local conditions)
child labour
•refers to children under age of 15 who work more than 14 hrs a week and usually not attending school
•estimate in 2012 - 168 million child labourers - many engaged in hazardous work directly endangering health safety and moral development
•great maj. in dev. countries
why has the number of child labourers fallen in recent years
•result of internat. campaigns to reduce child labour - ilo believe total abolition possible arguing that cost of eliminating it much let than benefits gained in health and ed.
education
•widely accepted as an essential aspect of dev. - usually when trying to achieve ind. countries spend highly on ed.
•sen argues that ed. essential both to increase human capability to make choices for ourselves and bcs develop. is not possible w/o it
has education increased for ppl around the world
•2000-2015 - post dakar ed. forum and setting of mdg for ed. - sig. progress in improving ed. in dev. countries
•2015 - unesco stated, although no. if kids not in school had fallen by half, still 58 million not in school and around 100 mil who didn’t finished primary
inequality in ed
•still some gender disparity (g less likely) despite emph. on g in ed. bcs getting women into workforce and raising general health and ed. standards
•gap between rich and poor increased
•cons. of inadequacy of ed. in past, 781 mil illiterate adults (is an improvement tho)
what are some problems faced by schools and pupils in developing countries
•many countries can’t afford universal primary let alone other levels
•teaching not well paid so not attractive career - means larger classes so pupils focused on less and less pupils can get into school
•schools under resourced - access to few textbooks
•may charge fees that parents can’t afford
mt on education
•argues that ed. essential to develop. - favour a western style education system and curriculum, able to spread modern values
•higher ed. essential to train future political business leaders, level of ed. required is linked to country’s stage of econ. growth - fully modernised soc will need well-ed. general pop
•theory of hums capital argues that investment in ed. provided it is tied into developing skills necessary for industry can be basis for modern. and that human cap can make up for shortages of money cap
•ed. way to spread modern values, encourage entrepreneurial skills and break trad. values that act as a break on mod.
