Current Research Projects

Labor Markets
Labor and Employment Law
Employment Relations
Multidisciplinary

Labor Markets

Labor market trends in North America. This study, which is the third in a series of background reports on North American labor markets, will provide a statistical overview of recent labor market trends in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, focusing on trends in the labor force, employment, hours of work, earnings, income distribution, labor costs, and productivity. This work is structured around the following topics:

Employment in the information age. This section examines the labor market impact of the spread of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Of particular concern is the impact of ICTs on remuneration, productivity, training, and unemployment. The study also assesses the extent to which a "digital divide" has been created, and explores initiatives that have been taken to ensure that ICTs increase the level of well-being of workers and their families and promote economic and social development.

Women's employment. This is a follow-up to the Secretariat's 1998 report The Employment of Women in North America. The section, which will focus on the period 1996-2002, provides a detailed portrait of the employment patterns of women in North America, analyzes the extent of gender inequality in the labor markets of the three countries, and summarizes existing public policies aimed at promoting gender equality in terms of incomes and employment opportunities.

Cross-border labor mobility. This section describes and analyzes cross-border labor force mobility among the three countries of North America, including cross-border commuters, internationally mobile workers (e.g., in transportation), and temporary and permanent immigrants. The study provides an overview of statistical patterns of labor movement between the three countries, analyzes the characteristics and employment conditions of mobile workers, and examines the impact of cross-border mobility on labor markets. Contact: Patricia López-Guerra.

Employment and Labor Law

Employment discrimination and equal pay law. This study provides a comprehensive guide to the legal framework in each of the three countries in regard to NAALC labor principle 7 on the elimination of employment discrimination on such grounds as race, religion, age, and sex, and to principle 8 on equal pay for women and men. The research covers the measures taken by governments to eliminate employment discrimination, laws regarding equal pay for women and men, government enforcement machinery, rights of private action, and remedies to ensure enforcement. The study will be the second volume in the Secretariat's series of comparative guides to labor and employment law in North America. Contacts: Tequila Brooks and Clementina Vargas.

Occupational health and safety and workers' compensation. Research on occupational health and safety and workers' compensation laws in the three North American countries is being conducted to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive, tri-national guide to these subjects. These issues are covered in NAALC labor principle 9 on the prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses and principle 10 on compensation in cases of occupational injuries and illnesses. The topics include the standards adopted by governments to minimize the causes of occupational injuries and illnesses; systems for providing benefits and compensation to workers and their dependents for employment-related injuries, illnesses, or fatalities; and government administrative and enforcement machinery in these areas. The study will be the third volume in the Secretariat's series of comparative guides to labor and employment law in North America. Contacts: Tequila Brooks and Clementina Vargas.

Employment Relations

Trends and practices in employment relations. The purposes of this research study are to describe the systems of employment relations in the three North American countries and to identify emerging issues and trends. The study covers staffing and work organization, working conditions, labor-management relations, and cross-border aspects of employment relations. This work is structured around the following topics:

Violence in the workplace. This section deals with the problem of violence in North American workplaces. A key objective of the research is to assess, compile, and disseminate statistical and other data regarding workplace violence in the three countries. The study includes an analysis of the types and causes of violence at work, as well as an examination of prevention strategies.

High performance work systems. This section seeks to analyze the diffusion in the three countries of work practices associated with "high performance work systems." Drawing on existing research in the field, the study analyzes the following practices: numerical flexibility (e.g., contingent employment, employment security); functional flexibility (teamwork, multi-skilling); new compensation systems (incentives, pay-for-knowledge); skill enhancement; employee participation; and decentralization of authority.

Occupational health and safety. The purposes of this section are to provide an overview of occupational health and safety in North America, using up-to-date and comparable indicators for the three countries, and to analyze innovative experiments aimed at improving workplace health and safety by means of labor-management cooperation. Thus, in addition to quantitative analysis of health and safety indicators, the research involves a number of detailed case studies. Contacts: Martin Dumas and Norman Caulfield.

Corporate codes of conduct. This research focuses on the effectiveness of corporate codes of conduct in North American companies. After providing background information on the emergence of codes of conduct and government initiatives to foster the development of such codes, the study focuses on the prevalence, content, parties, and objective of codes, as well as on the factors that promote or discourage the adoption and implementation of effective codes. Contact: Martin Dumas.

History of employment relations in North America. In order to identify the historically specific features of each country's system of employment relations so as to foster a better understanding of contemporary practices and transformations, this study provides a concise overview of the history of employment relations in each of the three North American countries. The study will draw on and synthesize existing research and will focus on three general themes: work organization; working conditions; and labor-management relations. Contact: Norman Caulfield.

Multidisciplinary

Data comparability. A multidisciplinary team of researchers is developing a plan to enhance the comparability of data on enforcement, labor standards, and labor market indicators. The research involves an identification of key types of data in these three areas that are available from official sources, an analysis of the principal causes of non-comparability, and an assessment of the changes required to improve comparability.