Clerical Sector Research Articles

The influence of socioeconomic and demographic factors on rural-urban disparities in infant mortality in Kakamega Central Sub-County, Kakamega County, Kenya

Background: Infant mortality, measured as the summation of neonatal and post-neonatal mortalities, remain unacceptably high in Kakamega Central Sub-County, Kakamega County, Kenya. Reducing infant mortality is paramount not only in assessing the progress made towards the third sustainable development goal but also in creating a conducive environment for fertility reduction and in giving a chance to new-born babies to live out their social and economic potential in their families and societies at large. Objective: This study sought to establish the influence of socioeconomic and demographic factors on rural – urban disparities in infant mortality in Kakamega Central Sub - County, Kakamega County, Kenya. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used. Systematic random sampling was employed to obtain a sample of 422 mothers within the reproductive age range of 15 to 49 years. Purposive sampling was used to arrive at key informants that were engaged in the study. Primary data were collected from December 2022 to January 2023 by administering pretested and validated questionnaires and interviewing key informants. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted on the Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software to estimate the prevalence of infant mortality and the odds ratio used as a measure of association at ρ<0.05. Results: Results of multivariate analysis indicated that there were higher likelihoods of rural neonatal (aOR = 1.913) and urban post-neonatal (aOR = 3.823) mortalities amongst mothers with no education qualifications. There were reduced likelihoods of rural post-neonatal (aOR = 0.105) and urban neonatal (aOR = 0.108) mortalities amongst mothers working in the professional, technical, managerial and clerical sectors. Both young (aOR = 1.579 for neonatal mortality) and old (aOR = 2.742 for infant mortality) ages at motherhood, and first births (aOR = 3.492 for infant mortality) and births of high orders (1.881 for neonatal mortality) were associated with increased likelihoods of mortalities in urban and rural areas, respectively. Urban mothers who observed a ≤ 24 months wait period prior to an index birth were more likely to report both post-neonatal (aOR = 3.294) and infant (aOR = 3.616) mortalities. Conclusions: The major contributors to the rural - urban disparities in infant mortality in Kakamega Central Sub-County were order of the index birth, which was significant only in rural areas, and wait period prior to the index birth, which was significant only in urban areas, after controlling for the confounding variables. It is important to advocate for childbearing during the middle reproductive ages and widen the wait period between successive births so as to improve the maturity of the mother and reduce parity, both of which correlate with low infant mortality. Future studies should be done on the relationship between marital status of the mother and infant mortality.

Cuarta transformación, medios de comunicación e iglesias: el desmoronamiento del Estado laico en México

After the resounding electoral victory achieved by the qTogether We Will Make Historyq coalition in 2018, the new governance project established by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and by the Morena political front, opted for a profound structural change that would give rise to the Self-styled Fourth Historical Transformation of the country. One of the most important changes made was the modification of the traditional relationship that the Mexican State maintained since the 19th century with the clerical sectors, by separating the existing relationship between the State and the church. Through this, the government gave new concessions of electronic media to the evangelical congregations, modifying the heart of the secularism of the nation-state and the historical pact between the state and the church, causing very serious consequences for democracy, politics, culture, education and the stability of the Republic.

As relações entre as esferas laicas e eclesiásticas na aristocracia da Nortúmbria no século VIII

Este artigo propõe-se a analisar as relações entre a aristocracia clerical e a aristocracia laica na Inglaterra Anglo-Saxã, no período conhecido como longo século VIII. A principal hipótese deste artigo é que estes dois grupos também podem e devem ser pensados como parte de uma mesma classe social, sendo esta a classe dominante – a aristocracia. Para demonstrar esta hipótese, o artigo iniciará discutindo como o medievalismo tratou a questão do mundo clerical e como no século XX a ênfase nas dinâmicas internas e estruturas internas ao mundo eclesiástico acabou por progressivamente desvincular este grupo de relações com grupos laicos. Em seguida, para demonstrar como este vínculo deve ser pensado, seguir-se-á a análise de dois estudos de caso em que são possíveis identificar processos de fundação e regência de mosteiros na Nortúmbria. Estes casos são os do mosteiro de Wearmouth, os assim como a carta de Beda ao bispo Ecgberto.

Pre- and post-injury job type distributions of individuals with SCI in relation to structural changes in the labor market: A comparative analysis based on findings from the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study

Objective: To compare pre- and post-injury job type distributions of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) living in Switzerland. Design: Cross-sectional, self-report survey. Setting: Community. Participants: Two hundred sixty-three individuals reporting a pre- and 677 a post-injury job title in the Swiss SCI Cohort Study community survey. Interventions: Not applicable. Outcome Measures: Job titles were elicited by free-text questions and classified using the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08). Frequencies across ISCO-08 major groups were calculated and compared to Swiss labor market statistics for 1995 and 2011. Results: Compared to pre-SCI, Professionals (16.3% vs 31.2%) and Clerical Support Workers (11.7% vs 19.1%) were more prevalent and Crafts and Related Workers (26.5% vs 5.4%) less common post-injury. Except for Clerical Support Workers, these results reflect recent structural changes in the Swiss labor market. Conclusion: The higher post-SCI prevalence of jobs predominantly requiring cognitive and communication skills compared to rather physically oriented jobs mirrors structural changes in the labor market, except for clerical jobs. Future return-to-work strategies should not primarily target the clerical sector with its diminishing job opportunities, but promote vocational re-training towards jobs requiring higher education and assistive technology to return individuals with limited cognitive resources to physically oriented jobs.

Temporary agency workers stepping into a permanent position: social skills matter

PurposeTemporary agency work (TAW) has increased enormously in recent decades. Most temporary agency workers are pushed involuntarily into this work arrangement and prefer permanent work arrangements. Therefore, the motive to find a permanent job through TAW is predominant for the majority of temporary agency workers. However, little is known about what helps in obtaining a permanent job in a client organization. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of social skills by simultaneously considering the human capital aspects and motivational background of the individuals for transition success.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a questionnaire study of 151 temporary agency workers with two measurement points. The questionnaires were first administered at the very beginning of their work as a temp and again five months later.FindingsThe findings show that the social skills of temporary agency workers in contrast to various aspects of human capital and motives for temping had a significant impact on becoming a permanent worker in a client organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalizability of the finding that social skills help temporary agency workers to find a permanent job in a client organization may be restricted due to the particularities of the work setting in the clerical sector. The incidences as well as the determinants of transition success may depend on the industry sector because of the respective assignment characteristics as well as the clients’ reasons of using temporary agency workers. Future research should investigate more thoroughly the role of assignment characteristics for the experiences of the workers.Practical implicationsSocial skills seem to play a crucial role for transition success in TAW. Qualification measures should therefore include the training of interpersonal behavior. It would be desirable when the involved organizations would assume responsibility in this respect. Furthermore, policy makers should provide adequate training formats since they promote TAW as a stepping stone opportunity for unemployed people.Originality/valueThis paper suggests that career mobility in the context of flexible work arrangements may be driven by more informal processes of social integration into the existing permanent team. While TAW is seen as a temporary solution in Germany, this study focuses on the individual determinants of transition success of temporary agency workers that is still rare in studies on the topic.

Erin Hatton . The Temp Economy: From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America . Foreword by Nelson Lichtenstein . Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 2011. Pp. xvi, 212. $26.95.

The employment of American workers on a temporary basis has increased steadily in the past few decades. In 2010, as businesses emerged from the “Great Recession,” temporary positions accounted for a quarter of all new private-sector jobs; this development raises fundamental questions about the future workforce. Will temporary jobs become the main model of employment in the economy? Will workers eventually have no job benefits or job security? In this short, engaging book, Erin Hatton explores the rise and evolution of temporary employment in the United States since World War II. Her study shows how a handful of firms popularized the hiring of “temps” and also challenged the common assumption that loyal, full-time workers were assets to businesses. This story begins in the 1950s, when employment agencies like Kelly Girl and Manpower established themselves as leaders in the fledgling “temp industry.” Like “first movers” in American business history, these agencies were innovative and pragmatic. Operating within the cultural environment of the time, they sent out mostly white, middle-class women to take clerical jobs, which helped the agencies convince businesses that temps were “respectable” employees who only needed a little extra money. By targeting the nation's clerical sector, the agencies minimized opposition from powerful trade unions, who had shown little interest in organizing “pink-collar” workers. To build their workforces, they promoted the benefits of temping in popular women's magazines like Good Housekeeping and Ladies' Home Journal.

Invisible influence, tangible trap: The clerical conundrum

Abstract This paper contends that the contribution made by clerical workers to organisational effectiveness is invisible due in part to the dominant perspective on the clerical sector, and in part to what is seen to be the nature of the workers themselves. In synthesising some of the degradation literature with an examination of elements of clerical subjectivity it is demonstrated that clerical effectiveness is rendered invisible and that this, in turn, essentially traps clerks in low status work. Drawing on ideas emerging from past and recent literature on tacit knowledge and comparable worth, the paper seeks to demonstrate that, by applying the principles of tacitness and its analysis to this non-managerial area of work, we can see where the influence of clerical workers lies. The paper ends with a challenge to organisations which reaps the benefits of a skilful and knowledgeable workforce while doing little to formally acknowledge such expertise.

The Slow Assimilation of British Immigrants in Canada: Evidence from Montreal and Toronto, 1901

Using a new sample of individual-level data compiled from the manuscript returns of the 1901 Census of Canada, this article examines the assimilation of male wage-earning immigrants (mainly from the UK) in Montreal and Toronto. Unlike studies of post-World War II immigrants to Canada, and some recent studies of 19th century immigration to the United States, we find slow assimilation to the earnings levels of native-born English mother-tongue Canadians. While immigrants from the UK were about as likely as the Canadian-born to be in craft jobs, they were much less likely to work in the clerical sector. Within the blue-collar sector, English and Scottish immigrants were at little disadvantage.

Warehousing the Unemployed? Federal Job Training Programs in the Depression-Era South

Depression-era vocational programs had a double purpose: to train local workers and warehouse the unemployed. Drawing on theories of the state, I analyze the mechanisms affecting the match between federal policy goals and local policy outcomes. Vocational enrollments in three southern states (1937; N = 279 counties) reveal race-specific patterns. Black enrollments responded to funding differences, making state-regulated supply the driving force. White enrollments responded to urban employment opportunities, rising where manufacturing and clerical sectors thrived. Only weak evidence exists that federal vocational programs served their intended warehousing function for either group. Instead, vocational programs absorbed white secondary students rather those out of work, while comprehensive high schools warehoused the unemployed. The discussion links differences between federal policy goals and their actual outcomes to the rise of academic high schools and the dismal state of black training opportunities.

The Introduction of Information and Office Technologies: The Great Divide?'

Using four case studies, the paper considers the effect of office technologies on clerical skill. This familiar theme is widened by asking to what extent resultant employment practices, e.g., staff rationalization, demise of the `office junior' system, etc., have contributed to the appearance that less skill, experience and training are now required in clerical work; and by questioning the accuracy of that impression. The issues of reducing job opportunities, changing work values and attempts at `corrective' measures through training initiatives are addressed. It is argued that these inter-related developments have created a `divide', between clerks experienced in pre-or partially-computerized systems and those with only post-computerization experience. The role played by clerical sector research in perpetuating the image of clerical work as low-status, low-skill, is considered. The current and potential implications for the effectiveness of the clerical function and, as a consequence, for employing organizations are discussed.

Souls of the Skyscraper: Female Clerical Workers in Chicago, 1870-1930.

During the late nineteenth century, a visitor to the city of Chicago would have looked in wonder at the many strange, new, and exciting sights: the nation's first skyscrapers, the bustling and congested streets, the large department stores, and the business girls. The Souls of the Skyscraper documents and explains the transformation of clerical work from a male to a female occupation amidst the industrialization and urbanization of the United States. Using literary, organizational, statistical, cinematic, and archival evidence primarily from Chicago, Lisa M. Fine explains the historical reasons why clerical work became women's work. The appearance of the female clerical worker in the business office signaled two on-going developments: the simple shift of women entering and dominating office jobs that were previously held by men, and the changing gender definition of clerical work. This new opportunity for employment provided women with relatively well-paying and respectable jobs, even though the prestige of the clerical positions was devalued as more women were hired. While economic forces contributed to this process of occupational change, the vocational education of women, the availability of various types of social services such as group homes (e.g. the Eleanor Residences), and the evolving image of the working girl in the popular culture encouraged women to seek clerical positions. Fine explores the realms where the gender definition of clerical work was discussed and negotiated: among technical experts, in the popular culture, in the prescriptions and actions of civic leaders, and in the private worlds of clerical workers themselves. In revealing the dynamics of change within the clerical sector, she enhances our understanding of occupational sex-typing. Author note: Lisa M. Fine is Assistant Professor of History at Michigan State University.

Occupation and pregnancy outcome.

Over a two year period, 1982-4, 56067 women, delivered or treated for a spontaneous abortion in 11 Montreal hospitals covering 90% of such admissions, were interviewed in detail regarding their occupational, social, and personal characteristics in their most recent and past pregnancies--104,649 in all. These data were analysed in relation to four main adverse outcomes--spontaneous abortion, stillbirth (without defect), congenital defect, and low birth weight (less than or equal to 2500 g). For comparison with observed numbers, expected figures were calculated by logistic regression using up to eight potentially confounding variables. Sixty occupational groups in six main industrial sectors were examined in current and previous pregnancies, with tests for heterogeneity between these two estimates of risk. Women in managerial, health, and clerical sectors had little evidence of excess of any of the four outcomes, by contrast with those in sales, service, and manufacturing sectors. Substantial and statistically significant excesses of spontaneous abortion were observed in nursing aides, women in sales occupations and food and beverage service; of stillbirth in agriculture and horticulture, leatherwork, and certain sales occupations; of congenital defects in women in child care, certain service occupations, and the manufacture of metal and electrical goods; and of low birth weight in chambermaids, cleaners, and janitors, and in women employed in the manufacture of food and drink, metal and electrical goods, and clothing.

The Male-Female Earnings Differential: A Historical Overview of the Clerical Occupations from the 1880s to the 1970s

In this article, we analyze the male-female earnings differential in the single most important sector of female employment, clerical and office work, for the period running from the 1880s to the 1970s. Clerical occupations currently provide jobs for one-third of all females engaged in market employment. Our analysis reveals that intraoccupational earnings differences between the sexes rather than differences in occupational structure have been the major factors underlying the male-female earnings gap in the clerical sector. This finding represents a major break with the conclusion reached in many earlier studies where researchers have argued that sex differences in occupational structure account for most of the sex differential in earnings (Cohen, 1971; Fuchs, 1971; Kreps, 1971; Sawhill, 1971). The empirical evidence presented here also suggests that the sex differential in earnings levels in the major clerical occupations has shown no substantial narrowing in recent decades. This result is surprising given the changing social climate of the post-World War II period. In recent decades we have seen a sharp upsurge in activity by feminist groups, pathbreaking civil rights legislation, increasing female labor force participation, increasing female career orientation, changes in sex roles, and other significant social changes. The results in this article suggest that up to now these social changes have not had a significant impact on the male-female earnings gap in the clerical sector.