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This chapter starts by providing the foundation for the book’s central theoretical model that explores the link between democratization and trade reforms in developing countries. The chapter builds on this foundation to understand how political competition over office by political parties in the context of new democratic institutions affects trade policy given certain labor market conditions. The theoretical model then uses the logic of game-theory to analyze how labor market conditions affects the domestic balance of political power between labor and capital in a newly democratized regime and how this in turn influences the design of trade policy by political parties (including the ruling party) in this regime. The model is then extended to understand when and how the adoption of trade reforms in new democracies may decrease the likelihood of electoral malpractices in these regimes and thus foster democratic consolidation.

This chapter describes the changing patterns of ethnic disadvantage in employment in Great Britain. It discusses the increasingly differentiated experiences of Britain's minority ethnic citizens and the persistence of disadvantage relative to the white population and reviews the situation of minority ethnic groups across a range of labour-market issues, from participation rates to earnings. The findings suggest that upward occupational mobility and labour-market success do not have the same beneficial consequences for members of all groups in terms of material well-being.

Chapter 6 unpicks the long-term dynamics of occupational mobility or immobility of daladala workers. By drawing on the list of the 121 transport workers who were members of the association in 2002, and by tracking their occupational whereabouts in 2009 and again in 2014, the chapter asks to what extent work as a daladalaman, notwithstanding its hardship and insecurity, fuelled dynamics of micro-accumulation and upward mobility. Semi-structured interviews with twenty-five of these workers aim to elicit workers’ own views on their own occupational trajectory and on the strategies they have used and the constraints they have encountered when navigating the labour market. Such interviews inform the potted occupational histories of a dozen of workers presented in the chapter.

The second chapter looks at the transformed labor market of the inner city, documenting the large expansion of low-wage, service class occupations, and the challenges inner city residents have finding a good job. There are many individuals with different skills and experiences that can or cannot move up the job ladder that each of their occupation offer. In short, the quality of one’s job matters; it can have a very strong effect on one’s occupational mobility over time, and ultimately one’s economic opportunities in the long run.

The major focus of this chapter is the occupational changes that occurred due to migration, especially on whether the poorer migrants have been able to realise their aspiration for better livelihoods by migrating to Dhaka. It analyses the respondents’ occupational patterns, trends, and changes at different points in time—before migration, immediately after migration, and the occupation at the time of the survey. It confirms structural changes in the economy with the waning of the number of agricultural workers and the increase in those employed in the services, construction, and transport sectors prior to migration. It also addresses the scope for better livelihood for an average urban resident, reviewing data on how long it took them to secure a job, whether it involved any cost, their level of job satisfaction, how long they continued with the same job, and whether they got an opportunity to switch to more-rewarding jobs.

This chapter records Michigan Anishinaabe women's long history of occupational mobility and creative adaptation against the impositions of federal policies, from women's earliest involvement in the global fur trade of the seventeenth century to waged and entrepreneurial service in tourism of the Upper Peninsula. Enriched by interviews conducted in the early 1990s with women of the Saginaw Chippewa, the chapter focuses on the postwar-era generations of women and their efforts to gain entry to postsecondary education and subsequently to white-collar and professional labor. It shows how they secured opportunities unavailable to their mothers but only because foremothers were so resourceful and persevering.

This chapter examines international migration in Egypt and provides an overview of the trends and patterns of international migration over the last few decades. It documents the changing profiles of migrants and compares their characteristics to non-migrants, distinguishing between current and return migrants. Also the push and pull factors behind migration are investigated. In addition, the contributions of migration to skill acquisition of migrants, savings, and remittances are examined. The findings highlight the importance of migration to the Egyptian economy. Saudi Arabia continues to be the most important destination of migrants, but is by no mean the sole destination. Over the past four decades migrants have become more educated but also more rural. The findings show that returnees experience upward occupational mobility upon return. The evidence suggests that savings and remittances have played an important role in enabling migrants and their households to become investors in shares and economic projects.