Improve Employment Opportunities Research Articles

Diversification and security? Labour mobilization among urban poor households in Kabul, Afghanistan

This article examines the labour diversification strategies of 41 urban poor households in Kabul, Afghanistan across a 12-month period to determine if diversification is sufficient to reduce risk and bring improvement to their lives and livelihoods, or if diversification is solely a survival strategy. It finds that diversification in terms of numbers of workers, multiple employment statuses represented and who works—particularly mobilizing adult male workers—s important to bring some measure of income security, but that movement beyond income adequacy (assessed through low need to borrow for consumption) is elusive. Having male workers and access to regular salaried work are key strategies, though no guarantee in the face of shocks and crises, and all households cannot ensure access to such household compositions or labour pools; in the end many are dependent on child and/or female labour. Recommendations on how to improve employment opportunities and outcomes for the urban poor are provided, linked to on going processes in the Afghan context including the approval of a new labour code, development of a national employment policy, and the drafting of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, Afghanistan's PRSP.

Evaluating 35 years of Green Revolution technology in villages of Bulandshahr district, western UP, North India

This paper analyses the experiences of over 35 years of Green Revolution (GR) technology in villages of the Bulandshahr District, western UP. Fieldwork in three villages revealed that perceptions of GR were extremely positive because higher yields brought food security for all in the area, and financial security for many. Indirect benefits, such as urban development, have improved employment opportunities – which have benefited even the poorest – and rural electrification has transformed rural livelihoods, especially for women. Predictably, the benefits of GR technology are not equally spread: the poorest are better off, but the gap between rich and poor is now greater than ever. As gently declining yields are paralleled by growing populations, farmers are interested in further increasing land productivity.

Employment support agencies in the UK: current operation and future development needs

Disabled people are amongst the most excluded in society, while people with learning disability have the lowest rates of employment. Supported employment promises to address the gaps, but it is a new approach, one whose development has been incremental. The present authors explore some of the features of agencies providing employment support to disabled people, together with their managers' views. This paper describes semistructured telephone interviews with the managers of 31 employment support agencies. The survey sought to understand the types of service provided, the staff and caseload numbers, the training offered, and the targets used. The authors also asked the managers what would help them in delivering employment opportunities to disabled people. The responses of the managers highlight gaps between current policy and practice. Particular attention is given to the use of targets, fragmented funding and what managers consider is required to improve employment opportunities for disabled people. Managers endorsed the vision expressed in current policy, and identified numerous obstacles to its implementation in employment support. Taken together, their views can be used to guide the development of supported employment.

Savings-led Micro-finance to Bank the Unbankables

Based on the ‘Grameen Bank Model’ evolved and developed in Bangladesh, several countries in Asia, including India, and elsewhere in the world have emulated, replicated and modified the original model of micro-finance to suit local conditions and enhance mass acceptability. In India, among various models tried and tested, the one evolved and successfully demonstrated by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and some leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is based on a ‘linkage programme’ linking self-help groups (SHGs) with banks and other financial institutions through the inter-mediation of NGOs. This article attempts to highlight the genesis and evolution of the micro-finance system, importance of self-help groups as central to micro-finance core activities, the distinctive role of banks (viz. commercial, private and cooperative) in credit mobilization and delivery systems and the role of NGOs intermediaries and facilitators, etc. Global experiences concerning the unique positioning perspective of micro-finance in banking the unbankables—both in the developing and underdeveloped economies in the world, with a focus on Asia, have also been highlighted to provide an insight into the potential of micro-finance in alleviating rural poverty at large and in improving employment opportunities to the non-bankables on a sustainable basis.

Revamping a Master Gardener Curriculum for Use in Prison Job Readiness Programs

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE) faculty members have taught horticulture to inmates of correctional facilities for over 8 years. The training material used was the Master Gardener curriculum. Because inmates in Nevada have few opportunities to meet requirements for certification as Master Gardeners, this program was described simply as a horticulture class. Over the past 3 years, we have redirected it toward job readiness to assist inmates after release. The curriculum was first expanded to do intensive teaching on such topics as irrigation, landscape plant selection and maintenance, and problem solving. Even with these changes, horticulture jobs generally limited to low-paying, entry level ones. To improve employment opportunities, UNCE obtained the involvement of the Nevada Department of Agriculture. After inmates have passed the horticulture program, they may take the state pesticide applicator training and examination. This year, a mini course in “Developing a Business Model” will be added to the initial curriculum. To date, 36 inmates have received PAT certification. Conversations with potential employers indicate that this significantly enhances their likelihood of employment at a higher-than-entry level.

Explaining the American and Canadian Crime Drop in the 1990’s

After decades of continuously increasing crime rates, Canada and the United States have now experienced their first prolonged period of decline in crime rates. Criminologists are just starting to look at the reasons that may explain such a reversal. In the U.S., many factors have been invoked to explain the trend, including increases in the number of police officers, more aggressive policing, and an increased use of incarceration. Although Canada’s crime trends are similar to those found in the U.S., there has been little or no change in policing practices or incarceration trends. This paper suggests that the causes of the decline in crime rates lie elsewhere, namely, in demographic shifts, improved employment opportunities and changes in collective values.

Enhancing their likelihood for a positive future: focus groups reveal the voice of inner-city youth.

To learn directly from adolescents living in a challenging environment what they believe would most influence their likelihood of achieving a positive future. A teen-centered methodology used focus groups, nominal group technique sessions, and a survey to allow adolescents to develop, prioritize, and explain their own solutions. AmeriCorps workers guided in-school 8th-, 9th-, and 12th-graders in north Philadelphia through a 4-stage hierarchical process. This article reports the qualitative explanations offered by adolescents in Stage 4 explanatory focus groups. In these 10 groups, 91 youth added meaning and context to the ideas their fellow students generated and prioritized. Transcriptions were reviewed for consistent themes. Direct quotations representative of those themes are offered here. Students in all grades gave highest priority to solutions that would promote educational or job opportunities. Solutions that would ameliorate disruptive surroundings or reduce risk behaviors were generally rated lower. Focus group participants agreed that education, improved employment opportunities, connection with adults, and meaningful uses of their time were the keys to positive change. They also expressed how a risky environment impacted on their chances for success and offered strategies for reducing their risks. They discussed how positive forces might counter the draw of the streets. Although most adolescents remained optimistic, some viewed problems in their neighborhood as intractable. An individual's ability to draw from protective resources while avoiding the challenges inherent to a risky environment may determine his/her ability to succeed. Youth have clear ideas about how they can best be supported to succeed. Adults should consider and incorporate their wisdom as they plan strategies to develop productive young adults.

The Pension Transfer Program

The paper examines the following pension reform strategy that aims to defuse the pension time-bomb without giving rise to intergenerational conflict. Let people with rights to public pensions have the option of using a portion of their potential pensions to provide employment vouchers for employers that hire them. The policy is entirely voluntary; only those older workers and those employers who wish to avail themselves of this option will do so. The older workers retain the right to draw their public pensions and the employers have the right not to employ them. In effect, the policy involves taking some of the funds that would have financed public pensions and using them to provide employment subsidies. When a person takes advantage of the PTP over a given period of time, he loses his pension rights over that span and gains improved employment opportunities instead.

Monitoring Employment Trends: Itʼs a Programʼs Responsiblity

Introduction: PA programs should analyze the employment trends of their new graduates since recent studies indicate the availability of jobs may be decreasing. We conducted a study of our 1999 graduates to help us better understand the local, regional, and national job market from their perspective, and to compare this with national data to determine how we might improve employment opportunities for our students. Method: A questionnaire was sent to 44 new graduates and calls made to unemployed graduates at monthly intervals to update their job status. Results: On average, students began work within 15 weeks of graduation. Sixty-three percent obtained employment within North Carolina or Virginia and began employment an average of 30 days sooner than their classmates who sought employment outside the region. The best job leads came from close associates such as fellow PA students, friends, family, former employers, and alumni. On average, respondents applied for 16 positions, interviewed for four and were offered two jobs by potential employers. Once employed, the majority reported being satisfied with the locale, specialty, salary and benefits, working environment, and opportunity for professional growth of their new jobs. Discussion: Programs should standardize their methods of collecting employment trend data and share this information with the APAP and AAPA. By doing so, programs could compare their effectiveness in helping students find employment with that of other programs regionally and nationally.

Call for reform for pupils with special needs

A skills focused school curriculum and integrated career support could dramatically improve employment opportunities for people with ‘invisible’ disabilities entering the workplace. This is the main conclusion from a Head Teachers and Industry report.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, mental disability, and employment practices.

This research examines the response of employers to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with a specific focus on the employment of those with mental disabilities. A telephone survey was completed in a metropolitan area in the southern United States with a random sample of 117 businesses. In terms of specific practices that indicated compliance with the ADA, 15% had specific policies for hiring those with mental disabilities, and 37.6% had indeed hired such individuals. Companies that had complied with the ADA were more likely to be large and to have specific policies for the hiring of minorities and those with physical disabilities. Employers also did not believe that employment of those with mental disabilities was their responsibility, and supported increased efforts by the rehabilitation community to improve employment opportunities for individuals with mental disabilities Mental health services providers need to work more closely with employers in their regions and educate them about the capabilities of individuals with mental disabilities, and inform employers that the types of accommodations necessary are neither costly nor difficult to implement.

British Ethnic Minorities and Employment Training: Redressing or Extending Disadvantage?

The reasons which have been offered to explain the low labour market success encountered by ethnic minorities in Britain include their possible lack of motivation, lack of qualification and training opportunities, and discrimination in the labour market. Whilst discrimination as a contributory factor to labour market exclusion has been widely discussed in the literature, the efficacy of Government sponsored training schemes designed to equip ethnic minorities with skills which may improve their competitiveness and reduce their disadvantage has been subjected to less scrutiny. This article provides an evaluation of the role of Government sponsored employment training programmes in reducing ethnic minorities’ disadvantaged position in the labour market. It argues that training programmes designed to improve employment opportunities are failing members of the ethnic minority communities and are in some cases helping to extend their disadvantage. It identifies the reasons for the failure as (1) the constant changes in Government policies with the development of sometimes contradictory policies, and (2) the inefficiency and prejudice of the training and employing organisations which are involved in the process. The article concludes with an assessment of the consequences of continuing discrimination against ethnic minority communities.

Community-based employment: experiences of adults who use AAC

A survey was employed to investigate the experiences of adults using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) who were successfully employed in community-based jobs. Twenty-five AAC users responded to the survey, representing a range of disabilities, ages, educational backgrounds, literacy skill levels, and communication systems. Respondents were employed in a variety of jobs including clerical positions, laborers, public educators and consumer advocates, and educational/therapy aides; the majority of the respondents were employed in disability-related services. By far, the majority of the respondents reported satisfaction with their job duties, immediate supervisors, coworkers, and current salaries; however, 40% of the respondents were dissatisfied with their opportunities for advancement. The results of the survey are discussed with recommendations for improving employment opportunities for AAC users and directions for future research.

Using Public‐Private Partnerships to Develop Local Economies

Throughout the 1980s, states experimented with enterprise zone programs aimed at alleviating fiscal distress in urban areas, by promoting the growth of private business. Together, public and private sectors supposedly function as partners to improve employment opportunities, especially for disadvantaged residents in designated zone areas. Today, however, questions continue to be raised regarding the impact of enterprise zone programs on financially depressed areas. This research provides a detailed investigation of the economic activities undertaken in the Kansas City and Cuba, Missouri enterprise zones to determine if a comparative employment advantage exists, and whether zone businesses fulfill their responsibilities with respect to hiring and training disadvantaged workers. The types of businesses attracted to the Kansas City and Cuba enterprise zones are identified to determine if either community has engaged in smokestack chasing. Finally, an urban‐rural comparison is offered to help illuminate various factors affecting enterprise zone functions, including job creation capacity, in different socioeconomic settings.

Putting Job Accommodation to Work

Job accommodation is an essential ingredient of employment for individuals with physical disabilities. Services such as supported employment have improved employment opportunities. However, rehabilitation practitioners encounter an increasingly varied and complex array of accommodation options from which to choose. This article describes the Job Accommodation System, a user-friendly tool that assists rehabilitation practitioners, employees, and employers to identify and implement job accommodations.

Empowerment and Fertility Transition on Antigua, WI: Education, Employment, and the Moral Economy of Childbearing

This paper shows that Antiguan women's birth trajectories are functions of their view of the moral economy of childbearing, which in turn is a function of the conjunction of improved employment opportunities and increased educational attainment. Women's educational attainment, however, is a function of improved employment opportunities. Education by itself had almost nothing to do with Antigua's decline to replacement-level fertility. Education together with expanding employment opportunities had everything to do with it. Indeed, empowered women are ushering in a revolution in West Indian gender relations.

Higher education and development in the Arab states

Arab universities and institutions of higher education, while part of the international system, have their own cultural characteristics. They belong to their own region but they recognize the international dimension of learning and teaching. Western culture perhaps best represents modernity. It is also the dominant culture at present, yet it is not the only one. Cultural plurality is therefore a fact of life in the global community and a fact we must learn to understand. Development is a process and product of change but is has to be relevant to the culture and meaningful to the people, thus in its pursuit of modernity the Arab world must build up its own notion of development, associated with a relevant educational system. Higher education, more than other sectors, is able and responsible for assisting the community to be modern, while preserving and developing culture and generating resources to make a higher standard of living possible. In the light of a concept of cultural development that involves improved employment opportunities and a better quality of life, higher education policies must be translated into programs and action relating to all aspects of human life. A systematic model, is suggested, with higher education, training and development projects interacting throughout the Arab states.

Family Planning in Rural Uganda: Knowledge and Use of Modern and Traditional Methods in Ankole

Ankole has recorded the highest fertility in Uganda over the past several decades. One of the main proximate determinants of fertility in the area is the low level of contraception. A study of knowledge and use of modern and traditional contraceptive methods is reported in this paper. It is shown that higher proportions of women known and practice traditional methods compared with modern ones. Several factors contributing to past low use of modern contraceptives in the area are examined and current contraceptive use is also examined.

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND COMMERCIALIZATION IN AGRICULTURE: The Effect on the Poor

Do the economic gains brought by technological innovation and commercialization in agriculture work their way through to the poor? The prevailing optimistic view is that they do. But this view is not universal: some hold that these forces for change can interact with, or even induce, institutional and market failure, with adverse consequences for the poor. Adherents of the pessimistic view point to real-world instances in which the poor have failed to reap the benefits, or even have lost, from the technological change or commercialization. Where these effects have occurred we find that they are mostly attributable to inelastic demand or adverse institutional features; often, when technology or commercialization has been blamed for the decline in income of the poor, other-not necessarily connected-policies have in fact been responsible for the damage. This article contends that the optimistic view is, by and large, correct: normally, technology and commercialization stimulate agricultural growth, improve employment opportunities, and expand food supply-all central to the alleviation of poverty. The evidence does not offer much encouragement to an extension of this view-that through social engineering the benefits from technology and commercialization can easily be targeted toward the poor; the limited opportunities for such targeting should of course be seized.

Disability and diabetes

Little work has been carried out on diabetes and disability. A questionnaire survey on the employment of people with diabetes aged 17-65 years was carried out in the UK. Data were also collected from a questionnaire sent to a random sample of employers. A comparison between those diabetic patients registered as disabled and those not so registered showed that men were more likely to be registered than women. The disabled group were also older, lower down the social scale, more likely to rent their house, to have left school before the age of 17 years, and to live in the north of the country. Significantly fewer disabled patients were currently working compared with those not registered as disabled (30% versus 65%, p less than 0.0001). Registered disabled patients who were working were no more likely to report having more than 20 days off sick in the last year compared with those patients not registered as disabled (7% versus 9%). Employers did not report adverse sickness absence rates for their registered disabled diabetic patients. People with diabetes who are registered as disabled can make good employees in a range of different occupations. Registering as disabled may improve employment opportunities for people with diabetes who are finding difficulty in obtaining suitable employment.