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The purpose of this study is to investigate labor congestion in the automotive industry in Mexico.

By using the cluster and subcluster definitions by Delgado et al. (2016) and relying on an efficiency and production function perspective, this study estimates a standard production function and measures marginal returns of labor at the regional cluster and subclusters levels. To assess whether wages affect the finding of congestion and productivity, the model also measures the individual impact of wages on both total productivity and marginal returns of labor.

Among other results, this paper finds evidence of labor congestion in the automotive cluster in Mexico. This congestion deepens with wages and it is specific to some regions and some subclusters.

The methods used are based on panel data techniques but are fundamentally cross-section in nature. The time period available may condition these findings.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study reporting congestion in the automotive cluster in Mexico.

This chapter looks at the discursive dimension of the working environment in research and higher education organizations; more specifically at neoliberal managerial discourse and at how it participates in shaping the way researchers, teachers and support staff perceive themselves and their experiences. It is based on a multiple case study and combines an intersectional and a socio-clinical approach. The empirical data is constituted by in-depth interviews with women conducted in Ireland and Chile, and includes some observations made in France. A thematic analysis of individual narratives of self-ascribed experiences of being bullied enables to look behind the veil drawn by managerial discourse, thus providing insights into power vectors and power domains contributing to workplace violence. It also shows that workplace bullying may reinforce identification to undervalued social categories. This contribution argues that neoliberal managerial discourse, by encouraging social representations of “neutral” individuals at work, or else celebrating their “diversity,” conceals power relations rooting on different social categories. This process influences one’s perception of one’s experience and its verbalization. At the same time, feeling assigned to one or more of undervalued social category can raise the perception of being bullied or discriminated against. While research has shown that only a minority of incidents of bullying and discrimination are reported within organizations, this contribution suggests that acknowledging the multiplicity and superposition of categories and their influence in shaping power relations could help secure a more collective and caring approach, and thus foster a safer work culture and atmosphere in research organizations.