Showing papers on "Workforce published in 1995"

Work Family Programs and the Employment Relationship

Abstract: This research was supported by the Spencer Foundation. I am grateful to Rose Batt for superb research assistance and to Lotte Bailyn, Steve Barley, Peter Cappelli, David Knoke, and Maureen Scully for comments. Using data from a representative sample of American private-sector establishments, this paper explains variation across firms in the implementation of work/family programs by examining how these are related to the employment strategy of organizations. The central hypothesis is that firms seeking to implement so-called high-performance or high-commitment work systems, incorporating employee involvement and quality programs, are more likely to adopt work/family programs as part of an effort to build up the level of workforce commitment to the enterprise. This hypothesis is tested, controlling for two other broad hypothesized effects: (1) that adoption of work/family programs is linked to the demand for them arising either from workforce problems such as absenteeism and turnover or from pressure from the labor force; and (2) that adoption is linked to whether employers already have in place elements of well-developed internal labor markets such as job ladders and human resource departments. Results show considerable support for the link between work/family programs and the use of high-commitment work systems.'

The Promise of Public Sector-Sponsored Training Programs

Abstract: As concern about workers’ skills has risen, so has interest in the role that government training programs might play in addressing ‘America's workforce crisis.’ One way to gauge whether increased reliance on these programs will substantially improve the skills of the workforce is to examine the impact of past programs. The evidence from these programs indicates that, although the gains were small, for the most part we got what we paid for. This outcome should not be surprising because investments in training were exceedingly modest compared to the skill deficiencies that policymakers have been trying to address.

Dental Education at the Crossroads: Challenges and Change

Abstract: Six dental schools have closed in the last decade and others are in jeopardy. Facing this uncertainty about the status of dental education and the continued tension between educators and practitioners, leaders in the profession have recognized the need for purpose and direction.This comprehensive volume--the first to cover the education, research, and patient care missions of dental schools--offers specific recommendations on oral health assessment, access to dental care, dental school curricula, financing for education, research priorities, examinations and licensing, workforce planning, and other key areas.Well organized and accessible, the book Recaps the evolution of dental practice and education. Reviews key indicators of oral health status, outlines oral health goals, and discusses implications for education. Addresses major curriculum concerns. Examines health services that dental schools provide to patients and communities. Looks at faculty and student involvement in research. Explores the relationship of dental education to the university, the dental profession, and society at large. Accreditation, the dental workforce, and other critical policy issues are highlighted as well.Of greatest interest to deans, faculty, administrators, and students at dental schools, as well as to academic health centers and universities, this book also will be informative for health policymakers, dental professionals, and dental researchers.

Wages, Employment Structure and Employer Size-Wage Premia: Their Relationship to Advanced-technology Usage at US Manufacturing Establishments

Abstract: A common theme in the labour econiomics literature is that use of advanced technology in production requires a skilled and educated workforce. Using a new survey of production processes at US manufacturing plants, we ask whether plants that employ advanced technology require a skilled workforce. We find that plants that use the most advanced technology pay the highest wages and employ the greatest fraction of non-production workers (who are generally regarded as more skilled than production workers). The inclusion in standard wage regressions of variables that indicate the use of advanced technology reduces the size-wage premia by as much as 60% for some size categories.

Beyond the Incidence of Training: Evidence from a National Employers Survey

Abstract: This paper seeks to provide new insight into how school and post school training investments are linked to employer workplace practices and outcomes using a unique nationally representative survey of establishments in the U.S., the Educational Quality of the Workforce National Employers Survey (EQW-NES). We go beyond simply measuring the incidence of formal or informal training to examine the determinants of the types employers invest in, the relationship between formal school and employer provided training, who is receiving training, the links between investments in physical and human capital, and the impact that human capital investments have on the productivity of establishments. We find that the smallest employers are much less likely to provide formal training programs than employers from larger establishments. Regardless of size, those employers who have adapted some of the practices associated with what have been called `high performance work systems' are more likely to have formal training programs. Employers who have made large investments in physical capital or who have hired workers with higher average education are also more likely to invest in formal training and to train a higher proportion of their workers, especially in the manufacturing sector. There are significant and positive effects on establishment productivity associated with investments in human capital. Those employers who hire better educated workers have appreciably higher productivity. The impact of employer provided training differs according to the nature, timing and location of the employer investments.

Transferable skills—Can higher education deliver?

Abstract: Personal Transferable Skills have been placed on the higher education agenda, both by the recognition that there is the need for a flexible, adaptable workforce as we move into the twenty-first century, and by the requirements of both employers and students that graduates can make an immediate contribution to any job situation. This article reports on the findings of a survey carried out in one institution to review course provision for, lecturers' approaches to, and students' perceptions of the development and assessment of certain communication skills. A number of issues arise from the findings and these are discussed. The article concludes that, despite innovative initiatives, some radical rethinking is required if transferable skills are to be addressed seriously in higher education.

Gender Segregation in Small Firms

Abstract: This paper studies interfirm gender segregation in a unique sample of small employers. We find that interfirm segregation is prevalent among small employers, as men and women rarely work in fully integrated firms. We also find that the education and sex of the business owner strongly influence the sex composition of a firm's workforce. Finally, we estimate that interfirm segregation can account for up to 50 percent of the gender gap in annual earnings.

Productivity, Education and Training

Abstract: The continuing development of automated production methods, combined with increasing competition from low-wage developing economies, is likely to reduce yet further the scope for the employment of low-skilled and inexperienced personnel in advanced economies. Higher standards of schooling and of vocational training are now widely recognised as essential. Based on visits by expert teams over the last ten years to matched samples of manufacturing plants, as well as to schools and vocational colleges in Britain and the European Continent, this book provides a realistic analysis of what needs to be done. The emphasis is on the need to expand, not the proportion of the workforce with university qualifications, but those with craft and vocational qualifications. The findings of this research have been influential in the development of government policies, and the author explains why these policies need to move even further, and in which directions they must next move.

The Dynamics of Political Suppport for Reform in Economies in Transition

Abstract: This paper considers a simple model of economic transition to analyze the dynamics of preferences over economic policy. I consider an economy with two sectors: a high-productivity private sector, which initially employs a small share of the economy′s workforce, and a low-productivity state sector, where the majority of the population is employed at the outset. In the early stages of the transition, the private sector expands at a rate that is lower than the rate at which the state sector is contracting, with the result that unemployment first rises and then falls. The government′s policy consists of a subsidy to the state sector, which has the effect of slowing down the transition. The analysis focuses on the dynamic evolution of worker′s preferences over the level of subsidy. A worker in the private sector always prefers the lowest subsidy to the state sector possible. The same is true of an unemployed worker as well, as the subsidy only reduces the number of new jobs created without reducing the number of job seekers. But the state-sector workers have ambiguous feelings over reform strategy and their preferences change over time. In particular, even state-sector workers prefer shock therapy at the outset, they will always want to slow the reforms down at a later stage. The reason is that the probability of finding a higher paying private-sector job declines as the transition unfolds. J. Japan. Int. Econ., Dec. 1995, 9(4), pp.403–425. Columbia University, CEPR, and NBER

Building the Theory of Comparative Hrm

Abstract: The study of comparative HRM is needed to complement and condition the field of international HRM. But the task of building a theory of comparative HRM is not a simple one. This article argues that the goal of such theory should be to account for differences in workforce capability and labour productivity across nations. Suggesting what ought to be explained, however, is much easier than providing credible explanations. the article argues that it is important to identify dominant models of HRM in each country, recognising that there is significant variation both within and between nations. Management in firms plays a critical role in shaping models of labour management but analysis must also take account of the impact of other actors such as the state and labour.

Towards a New Understanding of the Relationships between Higher Education and Employment.

Abstract: Do we have to reconsider the prevailing ways of perceiving and interpreting the relationships between higher education and employment? If so, what are the appropriate approaches at the end of the 20th century? Obviously, concern about unemployed graduates is more pronounced than in the past. The changing professional role of graduates in the wake of educational expansion is again on the agenda. The public debate about the relationships between higher education and employment indicates an increased trend towards utilitarian views combined with growing uncertainty about how utilitarian intentions can be translated into strategic action. Finally, political developments, such as the growing economic and social integration of the European Union as well as the socio-political transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, have substantial implications for the relationships between higher education and employment. Recently, various efforts have been made to summarise facts and interpretations. For example, in the late 1980s the OECD commissioned national case studies about the transition from higher education to employment (OECD, 1993). The Consortium of Higher Education Researchers (Brennan, Kogan & Teichler, 1995) and the Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education recently focused their annual conferences on these issues. The OECD and the Commission of the European Union (OECD, 1995) chose this topic as one of the four major themes of a series of conferences and workshops on future developments of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe. Last but not least, the selection of articles in this and the previous issue of the European Journal of Education reflects the re-emerging interest in this theme. Is higher education expected more strongly than in the past to consider its contribution to technological innovation and economic growth? Does the growing sense of a competitive environment for higher education create a need to find one niche or competitive edge in the labour market for graduates? Does higher education redefine its role for society when graduates become part of a highly qualified workforce? Which educational approaches are most suitable in the wake of growing uncertainty as regards both future demands in general and, more specifically, the future careers and tasks of the individuals currently enrolled at institutions of higher education? Why do we note a growing emphasis on the autonomy of higher education concurrent with more complaints about tensions

Planning future construction skill requirements: understanding labour resource issues

Abstract: Construction is a labour-intensive industry, which places heavy reliance upon the skills of its workforce. These skills need updating continually as many of the trades involved in the industry become increasingly specialized. During the 1980s, there was a rapid rise in construction activity within the UK, followed by a sudden but short-lived boom accompanied by skill shortages. The construction industry is now experiencing a deeper and longer lasting recession than originally predicted, resulting in valuable employees in all sections of the industry being lost - a high proportion of whom will not return to the construction industry. The construction industry is predicted to grow in the period after the recession by an average of 3% per annum until the year 2001. With this growth the industry is expected to experience considerable skill shortages in both traditional and new skill areas. Construction is in a period of rapid cultural change accompanied by the introduction of new technologies and new ways of ...

At the Crossroads: Supported Employment a Decade Later

Abstract: Supported employment has grown rapidly within the past decade, fueled by the consumer empowerment and inclusion movements. The program has resulted in thousands of people with severe disabilities entering the labor force for the first time. Many consumers have expanded their vocational expectations, and employers have developed a new appreciation of the potential contribution individuals with disabilities can make to the workforce. Unfortunately, despite these dramatic gains, the supported employment movement appears to have lost much of its early momentum and is increasingly at a crossroads. This article addresses major challenges that consumers and professionals alike must face. Conversion of day programs to integrated work options, expansion of program capacity, the need to insure consumer choice and self-determination, and the achievement of meaningful employment outcomes in a highly competitive economy are among the challenges that those dedicated to the supported employment movement must solve in th...

Is the "Skills Gap" Really About Attitudes?

Abstract: Contrary to popular opinion, the vast majority of complaints about the poor quality of school graduates who enter the workforce are not about a lack of academic skills but instead focus on deficiencies of appropriate work attitudes and behaviors. In fact, attitudes and behaviors have a significant impact on workforce quality and can be developed both in schools and on the job.

The recruitment and selection of young people by small businesses

Abstract: The study investigated the methods used by small businesses to select people under the age of 20. While over 88 per cent of all businesses employ fewer than 25 people (about a third of the total workforce), very little is known about how they recruit and select their staff. A national sample of 498 small businesses, employing a total of 5612 people, were interviewed by a team of about 50 interviewers. A structured face-to-face interview was used to explore each organization's most recent selection of one or more young people. The recruitment and selection procedures they followed and techniques they used were probed in detail. Data were analysed in terms of general trends and differences relating to four main variables: size of business; geographical location; industry sector; and type of occupation. The results raise questions about ‘good’ and ‘fair’ practice and are discussed in terms of difference in selection practice between small and larger businesses. The selection and recruitment procedures used by small businesses, especially those employing 10 or fewer people, differ markedly from those of large organizations, being far more informal and unstructured. Among the major findings was a strong emphasis by employers on the importance of personality characteristics—such as honesty and integrity—and of interest in the job. All were rated as far more important than ability, aptitude or attainment.

Enterprise training in developing countries : overview of incidence, determinants, and productivity outcomes

Abstract: Unique firm-level data from five developing countries -- Colombia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan and China -- were assembled to provide a first look at the incidence, determinants, and productivity outcomes of enterprise training in developing countries. Several common training determinants were identified in the cross-national analysis. Firms are more likely to train when they are large, employ an educated and skilled workforce, invest in R&D and technology licences, emphasize quality control methods, have foreign capital participation, and export to foreign markets. The production function analyses provided strong evidence of the productivity enhancing effects of training. A large and significant impact of training on productivity was found for skilled workers but not unskilled workers, and for inhouse formal training as compared with external sources of training.

Changing employment relations : behavioral and social perspectives

Abstract: Shifts in economic, political and social structures are occurring on an international scale and resulting in unprecedented changes in employment relations These changes include the trend toward more part-time, contingent, and female workers in the workforce and a decrease in the number of unionised employees This edited volume provides a broad, up-to-date review of related critical issues joined with current representative research in the field of industrial and organisational psychology The book is divided into two parts The first part identifies relevant changes and discusses their effects on populations as diverse as adjunct professors and blue collar workers The second part focuses on adaptation to change through discussion of union relations and union member participation and commitment in the face of these changes Highlights include discussions of organisational justice, psychological contracts, and occupational health and safety Chapters also cover the unique, yet universal, problems experienced in Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, and Canada, in addition to the United States Finally, this volume asserts that unions must find ways to expand and retain their membership, whereas corporations need to learn how to restructure workplace systems and functions to accommodate the new demands of the changing workforce and at the same time remain profitable The studies collected here should serve as a useful guide for industrial psychologists and provide a good foundation for helping unions and corporations manage change

Maximising the hospitality management student workplace experience: A case study

Abstract: Placement is an important component of third level hospitality management programmes and is one of the most vital experiences on which graduates base their career aspirations. The effect of changing demographics on the workforce is likely to have an impact on the way hospitality employers recruit and retain managers. At present, however, significant numbers of graduates are turning their backs on the industry. The onus is on educators and industry to ensure that the placement experience is as rewarding as possible. Presents a developing model of good practice based on the tripartite relationship between the University of Ulster, the student and Ryan Hotels. Demonstrates the need for colleges to build up successful relationships with individual companies and calls on colleges to invest the necessary resources in the placement function. Companies must develop a professional attitude towards placement and students should be positive and forthright in their attitude to the whole process.

US Teaching Hospitals in the Evolving Health Care System

Abstract: AMONG the surprises in the last 2 years' health care debate was the extensive controversy engendered by proposals related to teaching hospitals and their associated academic health centers. Of more than 6500 hospitals nationwide, only some 300 nonfederal hospitals are generally considered to be "major teaching hospitals" (hospitals whose ratio of the number of interns and residents to the number of beds is ≥0.25)1and fewer than 1250 participate in graduate medical education.2Nevertheless, the importance of these institutions and their medical school partners in the national dialogue soon became clear. They play a central role in workforce training, research, and patient care, especially for disadvantaged populations. As centers of excellence, they epitomize the high-technology care that many US citizens associate with worldwide leadership in the quality of their medical care. Most of the policy interest and controversy centered on two key issues: the financial viability of teaching

How skilled were Lancashire cotton factory workers in 1833

Abstract: Economic historians have long been divided over whether the industrial revolution led to an increase of skill among the factory workforce.2 One reason for this continuing disagreement is that the process of skill formation is difficult to observe directly. Historians have thus tried to identify changes in the stock of skills available from changes in levels of illiteracy, or from the proportion of the workforce completing apprenticeships. Neither measure indicates skill formation accurately. Industrialization may have called for a more adaptable and eventually a more literate workforce, but until the i830s changes in rates of literacy in Britain, as well as their links to the process of industrialization, are uncertain both in direction and in pace.3 Similarly, apprenticeships are a poor guide to the amount of on-the-job training in the industrial revolution. By the end of the eighteenth century, laws governing apprenticeships were widely regarded as anachronistic.4 In practice they were abused or ignored by employers, or if upheld were used mainly as a barrier (especially against females) to entry into skilled trades, rather than as a vehicle for training labour.5 An alternative approach suggested by human capital theory is to measure skills formation through observing the lifetime earnings profiles of workers. The basic idea behind human capital theory is that people enhance their earning capabilities by investing in themselves (i.e. by creating human capital) in much the same way that earnings may be increased by investing in physical capital.6 The simplest way to think about human capital is that it is the quality of labour or the set of skills (though human capital includes much more than skills) which enables a worker to perform at a higher standard. The opportunity cost of acquiring these skills may be seen as investment, in that the time spent training could have been used in paid

Racial, Gender, and Professional Diversification in the Forest Service from 1983 to 1992

Abstract: The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service traditionally has been dominated by white, male for esters, particularly in its professional and leadership ranks. Beginning in the mid-1970s, however, civil rights legislation, lawsuits, and statutes that mandated interdisciplinary planning collectively impelled the agency to begin diversifying by race, gender, and profession. This study attempts to quantify the progress the agency has made in workforce diversification since the early 1980s by grouping Forest Service job series into categories and tracking changes in these categories over time. The study reveals that the numbers of employees in “nontraditional” Forest Service fields (e.g., the social and biological sciences) increased markedly, but that these employees remain vastly outnumbered by employees in traditional fields such as forestry. The number of women in the agency also increased greatly, but women made much greater gains in administrative support positions than in jobs that put them in the pipeline for leadership positions. They remain vastly overrepresented in clerical and administrative positions and highly under rep resented in professional and technical positions. People of color made gains in nearly all job categories, but, like women, remain significantly overrepresented in jobs that will not lead to leadership positions. Thus, while aggregate numbers show greater diversity in the Forest Service workforce, a more detailed analysis reveals that the leadership ranks are still the domain of white, male foresters.

Firms and Institutions: The Demand for Skills and their Social Production in Europe:

Abstract: It is commonly argued that national economic performance is enhanced by a `surplus' of workers with extensive and well-developed skills, and that this is best achieved by a training system such as that in Germany, where employers are institutionally inhibited from `free-riding' on other firms' investment in human resources. On the basis of a comparative study of France, Germany, Italy and Spain, the author argues that this is an oversimplification. Firms can choose among a variety of production strategies; and each choice implies a different pattern of workforce composition and training. Training regimes different from the much-vaunted German model can be well suited to specific production and market strategies.

Workforce size and work-related role stress

Abstract: This paper examines the relationships between workforce size and four work-role stressors, along with two variables that are proposed here to mediate these relationships: objective organizational support and perceived organizational support. A total of 112 clerical workers in organizations of 1–500 employees participated in the study. Workforce size was positively associated with role ambiguity, role conflict, quantitative and qualitative role overload, and objective organizational support; and it was negatively correlated with perceived organizational support. Partial correlations were then computed between workforce size and role stress, controlling sequentially for objective and perceived support. The relationships between workforce size and the four role stressors remained significant when objective support was controlled. However, the corresponding relationships were non-significant after partialling out the effects of perceived organizational support, which suggests that the effect of workf...

Rural nonfarm employment : a survey

Abstract: So little is known about the rural nonfarm sector that those making policy to assist rural small-scale enterprises have done so largely"unencumbered by evidence". The Lanjouw survey of nonfarm data and policy experience attempts to correct this. Until recently, the commonly held view was that rural nonfarm employment was relatively nonproductive, producing goods and services of low quality. The rural off-farm sector was expected to wither away with development and rising incomes, and this was viewed as a positive, rather than a negative, event. A corrollary of this view was that the government need not actively worry about the sector -- or be concerned about how policies elsewhere might harm it. More recently, opinion has swung the other way, and it is increasingly argued that neglect of the sector would be mistaken. The survey highlights the positive roles that the rural nonfarm sector can play in promoting both growth and welfare. In the widespread situation of a rural workforce growing faster than the employment potential in agriculture, the nonfarm rural sector can lower unemployment and slow rural-urban migration. It is particularly useful in employing women and providing off-season incomes. The technologies used in small-scale rural manufacturing may be more appropriate and thus generate greater income from available productive inputs. What role could government play in promoting the nonfarm sector? The emphasis of government policy has been on large-scale urban industry as the main engine of growth. More recently, there has been a move toward a more"broad-based growth"approach, with greater emphasis on the development of agriculture and the rural economy. Increasingly countries have targeted project assistance schemes, for example to provide training, infrastructure, and technology to support small-scale and rural enterprises. Nonetheless, in most countries it remains true that projects to support the nonfarm rural sector are undertaken in a policy environment which is biased against this sector.

Occupational Censuses and the Agricultural Workforce in Victorian England and Wales

Abstract: This article discusses the difficulties in using nineteenth-century census data relating to occupations for the analysis of sectoral labour inputs. The under-recording of seasonal and women's work in the census shifts in occupational classifications, and the systematic removal from the occupied population of women workers is revealed. Reworking of the census figures suggests the possible need to increase the size ofthe agricultural workforce by between 30 and 40 per cent in the mid-Victorian period. A programme of work is suggested to establish a standardized occupational classification system for census data and to estimate labour inputs from farms.