Workforce

About: Workforce is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 32140 publications have been published within this topic receiving 449850 citations. The topic is also known as: labour force & labor force.

The "Production" of Child Care: How Labor Markets Shape Social Policy and Vice Versa

Abstract: This article examines child care policies in three countries-France, Sweden, and the United States-to explore the links between labor markets and social policy and to probe the applicability of the “varieties of capitalism” literature to the human services. Countries differ in the extent to which they subsidize early childhood care and education programs, reflecting, in part, the nature of the child care workforce. In liberal market economies such as the United States, a low-skill, low-wage workforce has enabled a private market of child care to develop, letting federal and state governments off the hook from having to subsidize these programs. In the more coordinated market economies of Western Europe, by contrast, higher labor market regulations, wages, and rates of unionization raise the cost of labor and impede the growth of a private child care market. As a result, governments aiming to promote women’s employment or assure the education of young children will feel pressed to provide extensive public subsidies for these services. While these differences reflect long-standing variations in labor market skill regimes, strong public sector unions also shape diverging trajectories in the “production” of child care services.

The direct support workforce in community supports to individuals with developmental disabilities: Issues, implications, and promising pactices

Abstract: Difficulties in finding, keeping, and ensuring the competence of the direct support workforce in community developmental disability services has long been a challenge for individuals, families, providers, and policy makers. Direct support staff recruitment, retention, and competence are widely reported as one of the most significant barriers to the sustainability, growth, and quality of community services for people with developmental disabilities (ANCOR [2001] State of the states report. Alexandria, VA: ANCOR; Colorado Department of Human Services, [2000] Response to Footnote 106 of the FY 2001 appropriations long bill: Capacity of the community services systems for persons with developmental disabilities in Colorado; Hewitt [2000] Dynamics of the workforce crisis. Presentation at the NASDDDS Fall meeting. Alexandria, VA). While long in existence, these challenges are ones of growing concern because the number of people demanding community services is increasing and the population of people from which to recruit workers is declining (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [2006] The supply of direct support professionals serving individuals with intellectual disabilities and other developmental disabilities: Report to Congress. Washington, DC: Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy, ASPE, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). As the service system moves towards consumer direction, managed care, and more noncategorical service delivery systems, the difficulties of providing for an adequate and well-prepared workforce to support people with developmental disabilities becomes more complex and multifaceted. The solutions to those challenges are also more complex. This article reviews the literature regarding the complexity of the direct support workforce crisis, the effects of this crisis on various stakeholder groups, promising practices designed to address the challenges, and the related practice and policy implications.

Exclusion, Employment and Opportunity

Abstract: The relationships between employment, education, opportunity, social exclusion and poverty are central to current policy debates Atkinson argues that the concepts of poverty, unemployment and social exclusion are closely related, but are not the same People may be poor without being socially excluded, and vice versa Unemployment may cause poverty, but this can be prevented Equally, marginal jobs do not ensure social inclusion Britton argues that convential economic analysis misses a key part of the problem of unemployment: the role of work in providing self-esteem and non-material parts of human well-being Hills examines whether new evidence on income mobility implies less worry about inequality and relative poverty Some low income is transitory, but the 'poverty problem' discounting this remains 80-90 per cent of that shown by cross-section surveys Machin finds that intergenerational mobility is limited in terms of earnings and education, and that childhood disadvantage has effects long into adult life and is an important factor in maintaining immobility of economic status across generations Arulampalam and Booth suggest that there is a trade-off between expanding more marginal forms of employment and expanding the proportion of the workforce getting work-related training Workers in temporary or short-term contracts, part-time, and non-unionised employment are less likely to receive work-related training Green and colleagues compare 1986 and 1997 surveys to show that skill levels for British workers have been rising, not just in the qualifications needed to get jobs, but also in the skills actually used in them There is no evidence of 'credentialism'

Workforce Skills and Innovation: An Overview of Major Themes in the Literature

Abstract: This paper provides an account of the main approaches, debates and evidence in the literature on the role of workforce skills in the innovation process in developed economies. It draws on multiple sources including the innovation studies discipline, neoclassical Human Capital theory, institutionalist labour market studies and the work organisation discipline. Extensive use is also made of official survey data to describe and quantify the diversity of skills and occupations involved in specific types of innovation activities.