The number of people claiming incapacity benefits increased rapidly to the mid 1990s, and has hardly reduced since then. This paper uses survey data to plot trends over time in the prevalence of disability, and in the employment rates of disabled people, in a way which is independent of, but comparable with, benefit statistics. The research is mainly based on General Household Survey data across the period 1974 to 2005. Much of the analysis is based on a loose definition of disability, but this is effectively complemented by more detailed data on health conditions available in some GHS years.
The relationship of role conflict and role ambiguity to job satisfaction and other variables was examined in a national sample of 506 employment counselors. A survey was mailed to USES counselors in ten states. Regression analysis showed that the 11 personal and organizational variables included in the study accounted for only a small amount of the variance in role conflict or role ambiguity. On the other hand, role conflict and role ambiguity were negatively and significantly related to job satisfaction of the counselors. These stress variables were related positively and significantly to counselors' propensity to leave the agency. Privacy of counseling facilities and time spent in counseling activities were two variables contributing most to explaining variance in role stress. Both related negatively and significantly to role conflict and role ambiguity.
This study contributes to the growing body of literature about women veterans of the U.S. military by investigating how veteran status and disability are related to women's ability to work. The study uses nationally representative data to analyze labor market outcomes of women who served in the U.S. military since 1973, with a focus on findings about women who have served since 2001. Results indicate women who served after 2001 are more likely to have a disability when compared to men veterans and women nonveterans. Those women veterans who do not have a disability are more likely to be employed than their nonveteran counterparts, net of controls for demographic factors. Disability, including service-related disability, is strongly related to unemployment and being out of the labor force. The discussion considers the implications of women's military service for their ability to work.
The production of braille simultaneously with print from a Teletype allows blind persons access to computers without sighted assistance. Jobs in which the use of the output from a Teletype is required are thus open to appropriately trained blind persons. The article includes explanations of the uses made of the braille-producing attachment by a mathematician, a systems programmer, a taxpayer service representative, and a newscaster. Modifications in the braille code necessitated by the system are also discussed.
AbstractThis paper investigates the relationship between the local unemployment rate and immigrant self‐employment entry decision. The study uses Swedish population register data at the individual level and the annual unemployment rate data at the local labour market level over the time period of 1996–2007. The paper finds that the local unemployment rate is negatively correlated with the probability of entering into self‐employment for natives and immigrants who are not from the Middle East. Compared with natives, Middle Eastern immigrants are more likely to enter into self‐employment when local unemployment rate increases. Furthermore, the magnitude of the impact of the local unemployment rate on women's self‐employment entry is quantitatively smaller than that of men, indicating the less important role of economic conditions in determining women's decision to enter self‐employment.
PurposeDuring the transition from socialist to post-socialist regimes, many Central and Eastern Europe societies have developed a broad sector of informal work. This development has caused substantial economic and social problems. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachThis paper aims to answer two questions regarding European countries with a relatively weak economy and welfare state: what are the differences in the social characteristics between workers in formal and informal employment? And how might they be explained? According to the main assumption, a key reason why people work in undeclared employment in such countries is that they are in particularly vulnerable positions in the labour market. This paper uses the example of Moldova. The empirical study is based on a unique survey data set from the National Statistical Office of Moldova covering formal and informal employment.FindingsThe findings show that, in informal employment, workers in rural areas, workers with a low level of education, young workers and older workers – in the final years of their careers and after the age of retirement – are over-represented. It seems that a significant reason why these workers are often engaged in informal employment is the lack of alternatives in the labour market, particularly in rural areas, compounded by limited social benefits from unemployment benefits and pensions.Originality/valueResearch about social differences between workers in formal and informal employment in the countries of the European periphery is rare. This paper makes a new contribution to the theoretical debate and research regarding work in informal employment.
Discusses the goals of feminist theory & the potential advantages of grounding such theory in poststructuralism. The aims of feminist theory are broadly defined as illumination of all forms of patriarchy, emphasis on plurality & diversity over unities & universals, deconstruction of male-centered power hierarchies, new ways of conceptualizing social reality, & the capacity for political change. It is argued that poststructuralism is best suited for these goals, & feminists have already appropriated a variety of poststructuralist terms, including language, discourse, difference, & deconstruction. Drawing on the example of a 1979 sexual discrimination suit against Sears by the Equal Opportunities Employment Commission, it is argued that the contemporary debate between the equality & difference camps of feminism is misleading & destructive. Contrary to popular belief, equality & difference are not mutually exclusive goals in the pursuit of women's rights. Poststructuralism offers the opportunity for fluid & context-specific conceptualizations of difference & equality that would allow feminists to pursue both goals simultaneously. T. Sevier
This article draws from "institutional" labour economics and mainstream industrial relations, but differs from the more usual uses of their ideas in a number of ways. For example, the observation we make, that wages and prices are "sticky" downwards and that labour markets respond to falls in demand by employment and quantity adjustments, is not new. Similarly, the idea that labour markets are different from "normal" commodity markets is not of recent origin Hence, while Clay and Hicks were making such observations and speculating on the labour relations consequences of them, Keynes was using the concept of wage rigidity (stickiness) as a central building block in his General Theory which dealt with the conditions for macro‐economic equilibrium.
The gap between the average grades of white men and women m the General Schedule remains substantial, but it has narrowed somewhat in recent years as average grades have risen for both white men and women. This paper uses one percent samples of federal personnel records for 1973 and 1982 to determine whether differences in qualifications can explain the grade gap in 1973, or the rise in grades and shrinking of the gap since. The results suggest that, while women and men are still not rewarded equally for their education and experience, the rewards are becoming more similar.
This paper uses longitudinal, retrospective data from the SCELI surveys to examine changes in employment behaviour and occupation over childbirth for British women over the period 1956-86. It demonstrates that for most women on first re-entry to the labour market increased qualifications and earlier return do not lead to improvement in their occupational status, as Hope-Goldthorpe value, or hourly pay rates. Main findings are that women are returning to the labour market earlier; return between first and second births is increasing; decline in status is frequent, but most mothers do not show a decline; those of previous service-class occupation but without higher qualifications are most at risk; higher qualifications, full-time employment and short breaks are associated with maintenance of status; part-time employment is even more damaging to pay rates than to status; part-time returners may be becoming less likely ever to change to full-time employment.
This article uses individual‐level data from the U.S. Census, Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), to examine wages and employment in the U.S. apparel industry. Total employment in this sector has been falling since 1970, and its overall average wage is the lowest of 25 industry aggregates. But disaggregation by gender, education, and nativity reveals that groups of highly educated male native workers earn higher average wages in apparel than in other industries. Moreover, after adjusting for observed individual differences in human capital (in addition to the three characteristics used to form worker subsets), highly educated male natives earn positive wage premiums in this sector. In contrast, most categories of immigrants and female natives earn relatively low average wages and experience negative wage premiums in apparel. This variation in the adjusted industry wage premiums across worker groups may be related to apparel's relative exposure to imports and immigrant workers.
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Business-owned life insurance is held by employers on the lives of their employees, and the employer is the beneficiary of these policies. Unless prohibited by state law, businesses can retain ownership of these policies regardless of whether the employment relationship has ended. Generally, business-owned life insurance is permanent, lasting for the life of the employee and accumulating cash value as it provides coverage. Attractive features of business-owned life insurance, which are common to all permanent life insurance, generally include both tax-free accumulation of earnings on the policies' cash value and tax-free receipt of the death benefit. To address concerns that businesses were abusing their ability to deduct interest expenses on loans taken against the value of their policies, Congress passed legislation to limit this practice, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Justice pursued litigation against some businesses. But concerns have remained regarding employers' ability to benefit from insuring their employees' lives. This testimony provides some preliminary information from ongoing GAO work on (1) the uses and prevalence of business-owned life insurance and (2) federal and state regulatory requirements for and oversight of business-owned life insurance."
This article examines men's prostate cancer experiences through the lens of patient expertise. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 29 men treated for prostate cancer, recruited from two prostate cancer support groups (PCSGs) in the South-East of England. Different forms of expertise, as classified by Collins, were found to be possessed by these men. How these different forms of expertise were acquired, used, and shared with others are explored, and a concept of communal licensing is posited to better understand these activities. The acquisition and usage of these different forms of expertise, through the employment of moral discourses that emphasise responsibility for one's own health, are found to serve to blur the boundaries between lay person and expert.
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the costs associated with the year 2000 problem, focusing on: (1) estimated year 2000 costs and agency processes to track costs to date; (2) planned uses of emergency funding; (3) year 2000 costs for fiscal year (FY) 2000 and beyond; (4) agency program and information technology (IT) initiatives delayed by year 2000 activities; and (5) lessons learned from year 2000 efforts that can be applied to other IT activities."
Achieving and maintaining high employment rates is becoming increasingly important. Governments seek to mobilise new sub-groups of population into employment. However, the Nordic employment rates are already high when compared internationally and historically. The question arises: where should the increase in employment come from? This report uses statistical comparisons to pin-point the main possible sources of employment potential in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. These countries are both similar and different enough in the sense that comparisons can shed new light on the issue. The four countries are compared to the "best pupil in class" in order to point out the possible potential. For instance, Finnish women work much longer hours than women in the three other countries. This indicates that increasing women's working time is a potential source of new employment for them. Employment trends are compared especially in relation to a number of themes. They include working time and part-time employment, unemployment, early exit, very late exit, sickness absence, and disability. Throughout the report, the countries are studied and compared from the perspective of increasing total employment. Some relevant policy indications and the possibilities of mobilising the existing employment potential are also discussed.
