Low-skilled workers in the "Knowledge Based-Economy": The Case of the Pharmaceutical Sector in France and Belgium

When social sciences study the workforce in the “knowledge economy”, they focus on the most highly skilled workers (managers and professionals). This article addresses the issue of the role and the employment conditions of low-skilled workers in the knowledge industries. How can we explain the persistence of low-skilled workers and bad jobs in high-tech sectors? And do the workers at the bottom of the hierarchy take advantage of working in a knowledge-based sector? From a collective survey conducted in the pharmaceutical sector (ethnographic surveys in production plants and drug distribution c... Mehr ...