Jobless Persons Research Articles

Changes in mental well-being of adult Poles in the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic with reference to their occupational activity and remote work.

The present study focused on the relationship between occupational activity and mental health during the first COVID-19 lockdown. At the turn of May and June 2020, an online survey was conducted on a representative sample of 3000 Poles (age: Me = 45 years). Working persons accounted for 52% of the respondents, while 38.1% were hired workers. Two standardized (0-100 pts) indices were defined. The level of mental health symptoms index (LMHSI) concerned the incidence of 4 problems within the past 2 months, whereas the change in mental health symptoms index (CMHSI) concerned the degree of mental health deterioration. The mean value of LMHSI was 40.91 (SD = 26.97), and that of CMHSI 60.51 (SD = 23.97). In both cases, a worse assessment was obtained among women than among men. In the group of working respondents, the least advantageous results were found among those who worked casually or under a commission contract. Among the non-employed respondents, jobless persons and students were the group at risk. Remote work resulted in the deterioration of mental health in the light of CMHSI; however, a threat of changes in the professional situation affected LMHSI variability to the greatest extent The results of linear regression (R2 = 0.339) suggest that the increase in the CMHSI score (adjusted for LMHSI) is independently influenced by female sex, university education, remote work and a threat of the worsening of employment terms. The analysis of the interaction effect showed a stronger impact of the last factor in the group of women (p = 0.001). To conclude, COVID-19 restrictions were associated with a negative impact on mental health which should be analyzed in the occupational context. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2021;34(2):251-62.

What Kind of Joblessness Affects Crime? A National Case–Control Study of Serious Property Crime

To assess whether joblessness affects the commission of serious property crime. We studied serious property crime, applying a case–control design to nationally representative samples of (a) known serious property crime offenders and (b) nonoffenders. This was done by comparing a national sample of prison inmates convicted of robbery or burglary (the “cases”) with a general sample of the U.S. adult population (the “controls”). In contrast to prior individual-level research, the study sample included substantial numbers of serious offenders, and provided a formal basis for generalizing the findings to the U.S. adult population. We differentiated five labor force statuses: (1) unemployed (according to the official government definition), (2) underemployed, (3) out of the labor force for widely socially accepted reasons (OLFL), (4) out of the labor force for reasons not widely accepted (OLFN), and (5) fully employed. We found that when these distinctions are made, people are not more likely to engage in burglary or robbery when they are either completely unemployed or underemployed according to the official definitions. Instead, it is being out of the labor force for reasons not widely accepted as legitimate that is significantly and positively related to serious property offending. The results suggest that offending among jobless persons may reflect preexisting differences in criminal propensity among those who stay out of the labor force, rather than effects of joblessness per se. Part-time work is associated with significantly less property crime, perhaps because the willingness to accept even part-time jobs serves as an indicator of commitment to pro-social attitudes.

Job Maintenance by Supported Employment: An Overview of the "Supported Employment Plus" Trial.

The number of days of absence from work associated with mental illness has risen dramatically in the past 10 years in Germany. Companies are challenged by this issue and seek help for the physical and mental health of their employees. Supported Employment concepts such as the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model have been designed to bring jobless persons with mental disorders back to work. In the randomized, controlled SEplus trial, a modified IPS-approach is tested concerning its ability to shorten times of sick leave of persons with mental distress or a mental disorder and to prevent them from losing their job. The trial is outlined in this study protocol.

Le chômage a-t-il encore un sens ? Enseignements d’une comparaison dans trois métropoles

Unemployment (in the sense of the ILO) has been subjected to many international comparisons that usually apply codified indicators to measure it, according to given standards. Our approach is entirely different. The comparison is not pre-established by simply adjusting the instrument of measure, it becomes itself the object under examination: is unemployment a meaningful and stalwart category that allows jobless persons in very different societies to possess an identity? In order to solve this enigma, the article outlines the different phases of a comparative approach based on biographical interviews with unemployed persons in three conurbations (Paris, São Paulo, Tokyo). A comprehensive comparison reveals both the strength and the fragility of the jobless category, thus becoming a useful adjunct to standardized comparisons. ln line with Figurational Sociology, we see unemployment as a crossroads, where normativities, variables of time and space, and subjectivities that differ according to social status and personal itineraries, intersect.

Le travail entrepreneurial, ou l'entrepreneur schumpetérien performé

La création d'une entreprise passe par l'accomplissement de tâches spécifiques de mobilisation et d'articulation des ressources nécessaires à la production et à la vente. Le « porteur de projet » n'accomplit pas ces tâches seul, mais accompagné de conseillers, d'experts et d'outils de gestion. L'étude, auprès de chômeurs créateurs d'entreprise, de ce travail entrepreneurial collectif et outillé rend donc contestable la figure schumpetérienne d'un entrepreneur réduit à la personne d'un individu visionnaire, et concepteur, grâce à cela, d'une « combinaison nouvelle ». Mais, si la nouvelle entreprise n'émerge pas spontanément de l'intuition d'un individu, le cadre dans lequel elle est progressivement construite tend néanmoins à lui conférer la forme d'une nouvelle combinaison, cohérente en termes productifs, commerciaux et comptables, et dont l'entière responsabilité peut être attribuée au « porteur de projet ». L'entrepreneur n'est donc pas schumpetérien ; il le devient. Creating a firm requires the completion of specific tasks of gathering, and combining of the resources needed for production and sales. The head of the project does not do all this alone; he receives help from advisers, experts and managerial tools. This study of the collective entrepreneurial work accomplished by jobless persons who set up a business casts doubt on the Schumpeterian assumption of a visionary entrepreneur, who, all alone, creatively designs a “new combination” of resources. Although a new firm does not spontaneously spring out of an individual's intuition, the framework wherein it gradually takes shape tends to make it a novel combination that is coherent in terms of production, sales and accounting. In this framework, full responsibility can be attributed to the project head. The entrepreneur is not, therefore, Schumpeterian; he becomes so.

Inside the European Union: A Diagnosis of the Labour Market and Social Protection System in Romania at the Moment of Integration

In Romania, a combination of population decline, slow job creation and early retirement resulted in employment decreasing significantly in the 1990s, although the employment rate has stayed above average levels in the New Member States. Industrial restructuring and land restitution have induced a peculiar shift of less qualified and older-aged employment from industry to agriculture, which has represented a survival strategy for those with inadequate skills. Urban unemployment rates have been significantly above rural ones, since subsistence agriculture has absorbed a part of the jobless persons. The institutional structure of social protection is fragmented, with unclear delineation of responsibilities, especially between central and local levels. An excessively high number of central agencies makes the financing of many social protection programmes unclear. The health care system has generated some serious problems of access to medical services for low-income groups and limited coverage in rural areas and small towns. The pension system, although reformed in 2000, continues to have inequities in pension levels; a low number of contributors, reduced rate of pension coverage and insufficient resources. Social assistance has developed since 1990 to cope with crisis situations, and replaced in 2002 by the Minimum Guaranteed Income, partially funded by local budgets and partially by the state budget. Overall, public expenditures on social protection, education and health - as a percentage of GDP - have increased during the transition period, but remain among the lowest in Europe. The co-ordination of spending among various public institutions remains a weak point, negatively impacting its effectiveness.

Age and learning during unemployment

Summary This study investigated age, past job control, social support and financial hardship as predictorsof continuous learning among a sample of unemployed job seekers. A total of 172 participantscompleted measures of continuous learning (motivation to leam, education initiative andupdating behaviour) and of potential predictors. Analysis showed that age was not related tomotivation to leam and education initiative. Past job control and social support moderated therelationship between age and continuous learning. Age was positively related to some types ofcontinuous learning for unemployed people with high social support and high past job control.Future research should identify more individual and situational characteristics, which supportcontinuous learning throughout the lifespan. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Introduction Global competition, technological innovations, new production and job concepts call for continuousand lifelong learning (Howard, 1995; Ilgen & Pulakos, 1999; London & Mone, 1999; Thayer, 1997).Orgatiizations expect that their employees are able and willing to update their knowledge and skills on aregular basis. Frequent changes of job requirements and the pursuit of multiple careers during workinglives make learning a necessity for today's employees (Hall & Mirvis, 1995; Ilgen & Pulakos, 1999).There is cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence that learning has positive effects on individual andorganizational level outcomes (e.g. Colquitt, LePine, & Noe, 2000; Tharenou, 2000). Moreover, studiesexamined how employees improve their knowledge and skills (e.g. Sonnentag & Kleine, 2000). Inaddition, empirical studies addressed the question if individual differences such as age and motivation(e.g. Birdi, Allan, & Warr, 1997), and situation characteristics such as management support and teamclimate (e.g. Allen, Russell, Poteet, & Dobbins, 1999; Warr, Allan, & Birdi, 1999) support or hinderleaming activities (for an overview see Sonnentag, Niessen, & Ohly, 2004).However, continuous and life-long leaming is not only important for enhancing employees'development, but also for preventing skill obsolescence of unemployed persons. While seeking a newjob, individuals may find that their knowledge and skills have become obsolete. For example, acomputer scientist who is no longer familiar with recent developments in progratnme languages willexperience particular difficulties in finding a new job. Wanberg, Hough and Song (2002) suggested thatseeking additional training while unemployed is one important part of the jobless persons' humancapital that can enhance their skill level and employability. There is some evidence that retrainingduring unemployment is one strategy that helps to accelerate reemployment (Leana, Feldman, & Tan,

Age and learning during unemployment

Summary This study investigated age, past job control, social support and financial hardship as predictorsof continuous learning among a sample of unemployed job seekers. A total of 172 participantscompleted measures of continuous learning (motivation to leam, education initiative andupdating behaviour) and of potential predictors. Analysis showed that age was not related tomotivation to leam and education initiative. Past job control and social support moderated therelationship between age and continuous learning. Age was positively related to some types ofcontinuous learning for unemployed people with high social support and high past job control.Future research should identify more individual and situational characteristics, which supportcontinuous learning throughout the lifespan. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Introduction Global competition, technological innovations, new production and job concepts call for continuousand lifelong learning (Howard, 1995; Ilgen & Pulakos, 1999; London & Mone, 1999; Thayer, 1997).Orgatiizations expect that their employees are able and willing to update their knowledge and skills on aregular basis. Frequent changes of job requirements and the pursuit of multiple careers during workinglives make learning a necessity for today's employees (Hall & Mirvis, 1995; Ilgen & Pulakos, 1999).There is cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence that learning has positive effects on individual andorganizational level outcomes (e.g. Colquitt, LePine, & Noe, 2000; Tharenou, 2000). Moreover, studiesexamined how employees improve their knowledge and skills (e.g. Sonnentag & Kleine, 2000). Inaddition, empirical studies addressed the question if individual differences such as age and motivation(e.g. Birdi, Allan, & Warr, 1997), and situation characteristics such as management support and teamclimate (e.g. Allen, Russell, Poteet, & Dobbins, 1999; Warr, Allan, & Birdi, 1999) support or hinderleaming activities (for an overview see Sonnentag, Niessen, & Ohly, 2004).However, continuous and life-long leaming is not only important for enhancing employees'development, but also for preventing skill obsolescence of unemployed persons. While seeking a newjob, individuals may find that their knowledge and skills have become obsolete. For example, acomputer scientist who is no longer familiar with recent developments in progratnme languages willexperience particular difficulties in finding a new job. Wanberg, Hough and Song (2002) suggested thatseeking additional training while unemployed is one important part of the jobless persons' humancapital that can enhance their skill level and employability. There is some evidence that retrainingduring unemployment is one strategy that helps to accelerate reemployment (Leana, Feldman, & Tan,

The measurement of unemployment when unemployment is high

Are jobless persons who want work but are not actively searching, unemployed or out of the labour force? Previous research on this issue has focused on North America and used as the test whether the probability of transition to employment is similar for searching and non-searching jobless persons. This paper develops three new tests as to whether those not searching but wanting work are distinct from the searching unemployed. It asks: are non-searching persons richer, happier, and do they have a lesser impact on local wages, than the searchers? These tests are implemented using data from South Africa, a country in which unemployment is very high and where the treatment of non-searchers really matters for the understanding of poverty and labour market issues. The results favour the ‘discouraged worker’ view of the non-searching unemployed and the use of the broad, inclusive, measure of unemployment.

Farmakolojik Ajanlarla Olan İntihar Girişimlerinin Değerlendirilmesi

An Evaluation of Suicide Attempts with Pharmacologic Agents Suicide is defined as a voluntary desire of a person to put end to his own life and this is the most important cause of death in psychiatry. In this study we aimed to find causes of suicide attempts with pharmacologic agents. We reviewed the charts of Ure patients who were admitted to Ondokuz Mayis University Emergency Department due to intoxication with medications between the period of 01.01.2000-20.05.200. Previous history of a psychiatric disorder, number of suicide attempts, history of psychiatric disorder in the family, precipitating factors of suicide attempt, existance of psychiatric follow up or not and the sociodemographic data were recorded from the medical records of the 59 patient who met the criteria of suicide attempt with medication. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS statistical program. The ages of the patients were between 14-80 years (mean 25.57 years). Forty six of them were female (78%). Forty two of them were married, 42 of them were housewifes. The cause of suicide attempt were unknown in 32 patients (54%) but in 14 patients (23.7%) family problems were the main cause. Twenty seven patients were not seen in the Emergency Department (ED) by a psychiatrist (45.8%). The 17 patients who were seen by a psychiatrist were found to be normal in mental states examination. There were 2 patients who had physical disorder. The suicide attempts were realized with antidepressan in 12 patient (20.3%), with the other drugs in 12 patients with organophosphates in 10 patients (16.9%), 17 of them were seen by a psychiatrist the next day (28.8%), 23 of them were not evaluted by a psychiatrist. Only 4 patients were followed up by the psychiatry department after the event. As a result of this study we determined that the number of female and jobless persons who attempted suicide is high. Most frequently used agents were antidepressants. The patients attempted to suicide were discharged from ED without consultation of psychiatrist. And also a few patient who were consultated with psychiatrist did not follow-up by psychiatry department. As a conclusion the suicide attempts admitted to ED should be followed more seriously. Intihar girisiminde degisik faktorler rol oynamaktadir. Bu nedenle biz bu retrospektif arastirma ile intihar girisimine sebep olan faktorleri belirlemeyi, intihar girisiminde kullanilan farmakolojik ajanlarin hangileri oldugunu saptamayi amacladik. Bu amacla Ondokuz Mayis Universitesi. Tip Falcultesi acii servisine 01.01.2000 - 20.05.2000 tarihleri arasinda ilac intoksikasyonu nedeniyle basvuran hasta dosyalarim geriye donuk olarak inceledik. Verilerine ulasilan 59 kisinin: aldigi ilac tipi, daha once psikiyatrik tanisi olup olmadigi, kacinci intihar girisimi odugu, ailede ruhsal hastalik olup olmadigi, psikiyatri bolumunce hastanin takibe alinip alinmadigi ve intihar girisiminde bulunmasina etken olan stressorlerin ne oldugu ile sosyodemografik veriler kayit edildi. Hastalanil 46'sinin kadin, 42'sinin evli, 42'sinin ev hanimi oldugu saptandi. Hastalann 32'sinde (%54.2) intihal etkeni belli degil iken, 14'unde (%23.7) aile sorunlari neden olarak belirtildi. 27 hasta (%45.8) acil serviste psikiyatri bolumunce gorulmemis olup, gorulen 17 kisiye de (%28.8) normal ruhsal muayenesi oldugu belirtilmisti. Hastalann 12'si (%20.3) antidepresanlar ile 10'u (%16.9) organik fosfor alimi ile intihar girisiminde bulunmuslardi. Hastalarin 17'si (%28.8) bir gun sonra psikiyatri bolumunce gorulmus, 23'u (%39) hic gorulmemis idi. Sadece 4 hastanin da daha sonra psikiyatri bolumunce takibe alindigi saptandi. Sonucta kadin ve issiz olanlarda intihar girisiminin daha fazla oldugu belirlendi. Intihar girisimlerinde en sik kullanilan ajanlann antidepresanlar oldugu goruldu. Ayrica bu calismada, gerek cogu hastanin acil serviste psikiyatri bolumunce gorulmeden taburcu edilmesi, gerekse hastalarin daha sonra psikiyatri bolumu tarafindan hic kontrol edilmemis olmasi goz onune alindiginda intihar vakalarina daha fazla onem verilmesi gerektigi kanisina varildi.

Relative Unemployment in Canada and the United States: An Assessment

The paper reaches three conclusions about causes of the Canada-US unemployment gap. First, pure definitional differences are not very important. Second, changes in the unemployment insurance system in Canada during the 1970s and in the United States during the 1980s caused changes in jobless persons' responses to labour market surveys. Jobless Canadians became more likely to search for work during the 1970s and 1980s; jobless Americans became somewhat less likely to seek work in the 1980s and early 1990s. Third, increased relative Canadian unemployment in the 1990s is genuine, reflecting either a cyclical or structural slump in the Canadian job market.

A Study of the Contents of Dietary Life According to the Health Center Models (Report 3)

The contents of our dietary life are subject to many complex social and economic conditions. It causes the diversification of the contents of individual dietary life.This research is conducted on the domestic staple foods for three meals of 514 persons who live in Osaka, Nara and Wakayama in Japan with due regard to their occupations, season and age according to the health center models.Its summary is as follows:1) Side-work farmers (Model U2. U3), jobless persons of over 65 years over (Model UR3) and primary school pupils (Model UR3) take 100% of domestic foods irrespective of season. On the contrary, female students (Model U5) and male students (Model U4) take the smallest percentage of them in winter. Accordingly, female students take the most of their meals out in winter. Regular workers (Model U4) go without meals remarkably in summer.2) As for three meals, male students (Model U3) take the smallest percentage of breakfast in summer and so female students (Model U5) do in winter. Male students (Model U1) take the smallest percentage of lunch in summer, and so female students (Model U5) do in winter. As for supper, however, remarkable differences are not discernible irrespective of season.3) As for staple foods, side-work farmers (Model U1) and their wives, domestic workers (Model L5) and primary school pupils (Model U3) eat rice for three meals remarkably in winter, while primary school pupils (Model U4. U5), regular workers' wives, domestic workers and female students (all-Model U5) eat little or no rice for breakfast.4) Primary school pupils eat the most bread for breakfast, and younger generations eat chiefly raw noodles with bread for lunch. In both cases the tendency is strong in the urban areas. Much raw noodles, rice and bread are eaten in summer, and much raw noodles with bread are eaten in winter.5) The management eat dry noodles for summer breakfast, and rice and dry noodles for winter lunch. Side-work farmers in the small rural areas eat the most rice with raw noodles for summer lunch among assorted meals.As described above, many differences exist in the contents of dietary life.It is necessary to consider this problem in relation to dining out and economic backgrounds. This is intended to be investigated more thoroughly in future.