Local Employment Opportunities Research Articles

Do internal migrants crowd out employment opportunities for urban locals in China?—Reexamining under the skill stratification

The relationship between internal migrants and local workers in urban labor market is the particularity of the transformation and development of China’s labor market. The analysis of which is helpful to accurately grasp the current situation and future of labor market. Based on the micro data of the fifth and sixth National Census and 1% National Sample Survey in 2005, this paper empirically tests the net effect and its heterogeneity characteristics of internal migrants on the employment of urban local workers. The results show that the effect of migrants on local workers’ employment is not a complete substitution effect, but there is a complementary effect on the employment of local workers. Specifically, the employment substitution effect is only manifested in low-skilled local workers, while the complementary effect is manifested in medium-skilled and high-skilled local workers. The micro mechanism of employment complementary effect can be explained by scale economy, skills complementarity, externalities of consumption and human capital. In addition, the impact of migrants on the employment of local workers depends significantly on the degree of division of the labor market that still exists. The reform of labor marketization and the mode of resource allocation guided by marketization are beneficial to balance urban and rural labor resources, promote skills complementarity and division between migrants and local workers, and finally realize a good situation of mutual benefit and win–win situation.

Developing a Competency Framework for Population Health Graduate Students Through Student and Faculty Collaboration

Defining competencies within health disciplines is important because it provides a shared understanding of the fundamental knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for research and practice while also offering a practical reference point for academic preparation and professional development. However, existing literature regarding competency frameworks does not address the unique needs of interdisciplinary population health research graduate students. The purpose of this project was to understand the competencies desired by interdisciplinary population health research graduate students within the Healthy Populations Institute (HPI) at Dalhousie University and to create a competency framework on which training and program development could be based. A student-led initiative was undertaken to identify core competencies necessary for interdisciplinary population health research graduate students from both traditional (e.g., health promotion) and nontraditional health (e.g., political science) backgrounds. Data were collected and analyzed via three phases: environmental scan, community resource mapping, and consultations with HPI research scholars. Through the environmental scan, core competencies and guiding principles were identified. Community resource mapping of local employment, volunteer, educational, and/or skill-building opportunities resulted in the development of a database. Consultations confirmed the validity of competencies identified in the scan and elicited further resources and suggestions for educational and professional skill development. This project resulted in a unique competency framework that will inform ongoing program development and foster additional opportunities for graduate students within HPI. The process of creating this framework may also be of value to other universities wishing to develop or refine their own set of competencies.

Linking local labour market conditions across the life course to retirement age: Pathways of health, employment status, occupational class and educational achievement, using 60 years of the 1946 British Birth Cohort

Several studies have documented that older workers who live in areas with higher unemployment rates are more likely to leave work for health and non-health reasons. Due to tracking of area disadvantage over the life course, and because negative individual health and socioeconomic factors are more likely to develop in individuals from disadvantaged areas, we do not know at what specific ages, and through which specific pathways, area unemployment may be influencing retirement age.Using data from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, we use structural equation modelling to investigate pathways linking local authority unemployment at three ages (4y, 26y and 53y) to age of retirement (right-censored). We explored five hypothesized pathways: (1) residential tracking, (2) health, (3) employment status, (4) occupational class, and (5) education. Initially, pathways between life course area unemployment, each pathway and retirement age were assessed individually. Mediation pathways were tested in the full model.Our results showed that area unemployment tracked across the life course. Higher area unemployment at ages 4 and 53 were independently associated with earlier retirement age [1% increase = mean −0.64 (95% CI: −1.12, −0.16) and −0.25 (95% CI: −0.43, −0.06) years]. Both were explained by adjustment for individual employment status at ages 26 and 53 years. Higher area unemployment at age 26 was associated with poorer health and lower likelihood of employment at aged 53; and these 2 individual pathways were identified as the key mediators between area unemployment and retirement age.In conclusion, these results suggest that interventions designed to create local employment opportunities for young adults should lead to extended working through improved employment and health at mid-life.

Local Employment Opportunities and Corporate Retention Policies

We study how firms adjust their corporate retention policies to their employees’ local job opportunities. The more similarities between the firm’s labor-skill profile and the local labor market’s—a measure we label LEO—the greater are the employees’ outside options. We show that, when LEO is high, firms grant more rank-and-file stock options, provide a more employee-friendly work environment, and maintain higher financial flexibility. The relation between LEO and retention policies is stronger for firms with high-skill workers and high R&D. Two quasi-natural experiments, the staggered adoption of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine and Hurricane Katrina, support a causal relation.

Spillover Effects of Mass Layoffs

Abstract Using administrative data on firms and workers in Germany, we quantify the spillover effects of mass layoffs. Our empirical strategy combines matching with an event study approach to trace employment and wages in regions hit by a mass layoff relative to suitable control regions. We find sizable and persistent negative spillover effects on the regional economy: regions, and especially firms producing in the same broad industry as the layoff plant, lose many more jobs than in the initial layoff. In contrast, negative employment effects on workers employed in the region at the time of the mass layoff are considerably smaller. Strikingly, workers younger than 50 suffer no employment losses, as geographic mobility fully shields them from the decline in local employment opportunities.

Implementation of a landscape ecological use pattern model: Debris flow waste-shoal land use in the Yeyatang Basin, Yunnan Province, China

Debris flow waste-shoal land (DFWSL) is a significant and potential land resource that is largely ignored in ecologically fragile mountainous areas. Yeyatang Basin, in Yunnan Province, China, is a typical mountainous debris flow area with a large amount of DFWSL. In order to achieve efficient use of DFWSL in this area, we built a demonstration plot and implemented a landscape ecological use pattern (LEUP) model for the DFWSL, with which we analyzed the economic, ecological, and social benefits. The results showed that the LEUP significantly improved incomes and vegetation coverage, and it reduced soil and water loss, controlled the debris flow, and ensured the safety of residents. To some extent, the LEUP alleviated the conflict between socioeconomic development and environmental protection and increased local employment opportunities, which could help to resolve the socioeconomic issues associated with rural hollow villages and left-behind children. The model demonstration results will provide a “road map” to wasteland use and serve as an important information resource for policymakers. Leaders should consider shifting their perspectives toward exploring land resources that had previously been deemed unavailable and pay more attention to the management and development of DFWSL, which could potentially enable the sustainable development of mountain ecosystems and economies, and enhance the prevention and control of natural disasters in mountainous regions.

Financial Modelling Strategies for Social Life Cycle Assessment: A Project Appraisal of Biodiesel Production and Sustainability in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is a rapidly evolving social impact assessment tool that allows users to identify the social impacts of products along with their life cycles. In recent years, S-LCA methodologies have been increasingly applied to energy systems and resources with notable success yet with limited reliability and even less flexibility or geographic specificity. In response, this study develops a novel assessment tool, named the GreenZee model, to reflect the social impacts of products and their sustainability using local currency units. The model is developed through evaluating both qualitative and quantitative inputs that capture the perceived monetary value of social impacts. To demonstrate the operationalization of the model, we explore a hypothetical case study of the biodiesel industry in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada. Results indicate that biodiesel production in NL would have positive socio-cultural impacts, high cultural values, and would create employment opportunities for locals. Overall, the GreenZee model provides users with a relatively simple approach to translate a variety of qualitative and quantitative social impact inputs (as importance levels) into meaningful and understandable financial outputs (as strength levels). We argue that building and testing models such as the GreenZee are crucial to supporting more flexible approaches to life cycle assessments that need to address increasingly complex social categories, cultural values, and geographic specificity.

Willingness to pay by using travel cost method in Chitwan National Park, Nepal

This study assessed the impact of tourism and willingness to pay by foreigners in Chitwan National Park of Chitwan district during the year 2007-2008. Eighty tourists were selected randomly to evaluate the recreational value of Chitwan National Park to protect the biodiversity of buffer zone area in Chitwan National Park. The tourism created the local employment opportunities to local people but it was unplanned and location specific. Since the program has focused in both community development and conservation awareness activities however, the study showed that only public infrastructure development was emphasized instead of sensitizing the members towards the conservation issues of protected areas. The study examined how much Park visitors were willing to pay to visit the Park. Annual benefits from the Park were considerable - the total annual consumer surplus obtained from recreation in the Park was approximately USD 233 million. Various factors influence the visitors like travel cost, household income, and the quality of the Park. Improvements in quality of the Park were likely to increase recreational benefits.Journal of the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science. Vol. 33-34, 2015, page :1-10

The market value of trans-cultural capital. A case study of the market of provision for Scandinavian retirement migrants in Spain

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to analyse in depth the market of provision for Scandinavian retirement migrants in Spain answering the following research questions: a) what kind of goods and services are typically on offer in the market oriented to Scandinavian retirees?; b) what are the main characteristics of the people who work in this market?; and c) how can we explain the varying levels of success that different providers have? To deal with the last research question we use a Bourdieusian framework to seek out connections between the type(s) of capital that each provider possesses (economic, social, cultural) as well as her/his living conditions. Our results indicate that ‘trans-cultural capital’ (Triandafyllidou, A. 2009. “Sub-Saharan African Immigrant Activists in Europe: Transcultural Capital and Transcultural Community Building.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 32 (1): 93–116) a form of cultural capital defined as the ability to navigate between two cultures, is the key determinant that differentiates those who can economically benefit from retirement migration from those left behind. High levels of trans-cultural capital almost guarantee success in this market, but the absence of this form of capital among the vast majority of the local population explains the relatively small impact that retirement migration has on economic employment opportunities for locals. Our results are based on interviews with 80 Swedish retirement migrants, 120 workers and entrepreneurs who provide services for these migrants, and 20 experts in 24 villages on the Southern coast of mainland Spain as well as in the Canary Islands.

Urban Fish Farming in Jos, Nigeria: Contributions towards Employment Opportunities, Income Generation, and Poverty Alleviation for Improved Livelihoods

In most urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa, the migration of people from rural to urban areas in search of better socio-economic conditions and improved livelihoods is contributing to increased unemployment levels, poverty and large scale urban deprivation. Given such poverty situations and the prevalence of people who survive on less than 2 USD per day, local populations in these areas are increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity as well as malnutrition. One way out of this poverty trap is practicing small scale agriculture both for subsistence and income-generating purposes. In this paper, the role of small scale fish farming as a livelihood strategy by urban farmers in the city of Jos has been investigated by means of a mixed-method research design. Thus, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected for analyses in order to understand the various dimensions of small scale fish farming amongst 50 respondents randomly selected in the city of Jos, Nigeria. The results have shown the spatial distribution of these farming practices, as well as the demographic attributes of these farmers. Small-scale fish farming is a viable source of food, generating local employment opportunities as well as much needed income in an environment of urban deprivation. Some of the income (above ₦20,000 or 55.56 USD) derived from this fish farming significantly alleviates poverty, as it exceeds the Nigerian national minimum wage of ₦18,000 (50.00 USD). Results also show that the lack of reliable water supplies and high production costs are some of the most constraining problems that militate against operational effectiveness and efficiency, along with poor marketing of their produce and lack of preservation facilities. The lack of access to credit facilities was also mentioned as one of the problems besetting this activity. From the perceptions of the respondents in this study, a number of negative environmental impacts associated with small scale fish farming have been highlighted. Given these results and the growth potential of this kind of farming in Jos, more integrated local development planning is recommended for addressing the infrastructural and resource needs of practicing farmers for achieving long term sustainability in small scale fish farming.

Implementation of the Two Step Cluster Method on the National Labor Force Survey Data (Sakernas)

MAYA DEANTI. Implementation of Two Step Cluster Method on National Labor Force Survey Data (Sakernas) 2017 Bogor Regency. Supervised by FARIT MOCHAMAD AFENDI and AAM ALAMUDI.
 
 Five labor issues in Indonesia that have not been resolved by 2017 are termination of employment due to digitalization or automation, labor informalization, BPJS, high accident and occupational safety (K3), and outsourcing. In addition, the increasing number of Foreign Workers (TKA) in Indonesia can affect the decrease in local employment opportunities. Therefore, in this study will be carried out clustering to the labor force data to determine the condition of employment in Indonesia, especially Bogor regency. However, this labor force data has considerable observation with mixed data types, namely numerical and categorical. Regular cluster analysis can not be applied directly to the condition of the data, so that to be used in this research is a Two Step Cluster analysis which is a modification of existing cluster analysis. This Two Step Cluster analysis produces 3 clusters, with the characteristics of each cluster that is cluster 1 consisting of resident households or unemployed, cluster 2 consists of self-employed residents, and cluster 3 with the majority of the population working as laborers or employees. This clustering is based on work aspect only because the demography and education aspect of Bogor Regency is quite uniform.
 
 Keywords: cluster analysis, cluster, Two Step Cluster, uniform

Impact of a cross-jurisdictional Payment for Ecosystem Services program on the participants’ welfare in North China

Abstract The Paddy Land to Dry Land (PLDL) program, implemented in the cross-jurisdictional Miyun Reservoir Catchment (MRC) area of North China since 2003, is designed to protect source waters for the city of Beijing and alleviate poverty in local rural households. It is not known whether this program has improved the welfare of the participating households. This paper investigates the welfare effects of this program on the participating households. Two regression models combined with descriptive analysis were employed to analyze the household participation decision. To minimize the selection biases due to the non-random program implementation, three estimators, including Difference in Difference (DID), Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Difference in Difference aligning matching technology (DDM), were selected to compare the welfare changes of the participants and non-participants before (2002) and after (2015) implementation of the program. The regression results showed that there are a few ex-ante differences between the participants and non-participants, and the three estimators revealed several common findings, revealing that the PLDL program has a positive but small welfare effect on participants, and the increases in the household off-farming, other transfer and property income offset the significant decrease in cropping income. Participants became less reliant on cropping income relative to non-participants during the study period. However, the nonoccurrence of the designed shift of surplus agricultural labor to off-farming employment suggests that the PLDL program may meet the sustainability risk. It can be concluded that the PLDL program is not a totally successful cross-jurisdictional Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program for sustainably improving the household livelihoods of participants in the MRC area. Attention should be focused on follow-up activities, including creating more appropriate local off-farming employment opportunities and providing capacity-building activities and technical services. In addition, comparisons of the three estimators suggest that DDM is particularly effective in estimating the program's welfare effects on heterogeneous rural households.

The role of Local Economic Development Agencies in South Africa’s developmental state ambitions

South Africa’s Local Economic Development Agencies have emerged as appropriate institutional structures for advancing socio-economic development in the local government-led development landscape, due to the inability of local municipalities to lead local economic development. This shift signifies that South Africa is turning to local economic development strategies to address developmental challenges, such as poor socio-economic conditions (unemployment, poverty and inequality), by creating local development solutions and employment opportunities. This article utilises the developmental state theory to examine the role of Local Economic Development Agencies in South Africa’s aspirations of becoming a capable developmental state. While the developmental state literature is concerned with the central role of the state in economic development, this article extends the developmental state theory to the subnational level by arguing that the developmental local government is the local developmental state. In addition, the article locates Local Economic Development Agencies within the developmental state paradigm by showing that Local Economic Development Agencies were established as economic development coordinators at the subnational level to assist local government in addressing South Africa’s triple challenges. Although the roles and functions of South African Local Economic Development Agencies are aligned to the developmental state ideology, their developmental mandate is undermined by the lack of coordination within local institutions.

Family effects on the rurality of GP\u2019s work location: a longitudinal panel study

BackgroundReduced opportunities for children’s schooling and spouse’s/partner’s employment are identified internationally as key barriers to general practitioners (GPs) working rurally. This paper aims to measure longitudinal associations between the rurality of GP work location and having (i) school-aged children and (ii) a spouse/partner in the workforce.MethodsParticipants included 4377 GPs responding to at least two consecutive annual surveys of the Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) national longitudinal study between 2008 and 2014. The main outcome, GP work location, was categorised by remoteness and population size. Five sequential binary school-age groupings were defined according to whether a GP had no children, only preschool children (aged 0–4 years), at least one primary-school child (aged 5–11 years), at least one child in secondary school (aged 12–18 years), and all children older than secondary school (aged ≥ 19). Partner in the workforce was defined by whether a GP had a partner who was either currently working or looking for work, or not. Separate generalised estimating equation models, which aggregated consecutive annual observations per GP, tested associations between work location and (i) educational stages and (ii) partner employment, after adjusting for key covariates.ResultsMale GPs with children in secondary school were significantly less likely to work rurally (inclusive of > 50 000 regional centres through to the smallest rural towns of < 5000) compared to male GPs with children in primary school. In contrast, female GPs’ locations were not significantly associated with the educational stage of their children. Having a partner in the workforce was not associated with work location for male GPs, whereas female GPs with a partner in the workforce were significantly less likely to work in smaller rural/remote communities (< 15 000 population).ConclusionsThis is the first systematic, national-level longitudinal study showing that GP work location is related to key family needs which differ according to GP gender and educational stages of children. Such non-professional factors are likely to be dynamic across the GP’s lifespan and should be regularly reviewed as part of GP retention planning. This research supports investment in regional development for strong local secondary school and partner employment opportunities.

Experience of producing natural gas from corn straw in China

Globally, crop straw is a rich resource and further establishment of its use as an energy source is an important aspect in developing the circular economy. Projects in this vein can bring benefits such as improving energy access and living conditions as well as boosting the local economy and employment opportunities in rural communities. This paper presents a detailed case study on the production of bio-natural gas (BNG) from corn straw in China, using Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to assess energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, conducting economic analysis, and analyzing operation management models. The “Nongbaomu” business model (whereby professional personnel assist farmers in the management of straw collection, bundling, storage and transportation) and the “Mutual Offsetting in Kind” business model (whereby farmers can buy a quota of the project’s BNG products at a lower price in return for selling straw to the project) can ensure the acquisition of straw by the BNG project at stable prices and high quality. Because the main product (BNG) replaces refined oil products used by automobiles and the byproduct (organic fertilizer) replaces traditional fertilizer (produced using coal), the project offers the potential for significant decreases (up to 80%) in life cycle GHG emissions and fossil fuel use. Benefited from the relatively high natural gas prices in the project location and applicable government subsidies, our studied case was found to be economically viable. The findings in this study are also likely to be relevant to other countries where governments should develop industrial policies that support the development of rural distributed energy, and introduce and implement appropriate subsidies to allow BNG to compete in the traditional natural gas market. Although, enterprises are responsible for selecting an effective business models and the most appropriate technological pathway, governments should also identify the ways in which they can support businesses to make these choices.

Social farming in Catalonia: Rural local development, employment opportunities and empowerment for people at risk of social exclusion

Social Farming (SF) engages groups at risk of social exclusion in agricultural activities with the aim of including them in society, providing them with job opportunities, and empowering them. This phenomenon materializes in many forms throughout Europe, and is known by many different names, including Green Care in Agriculture, Care Farming and Farming for Health, forms that combine agricultural work with health and social services (care). In various European countries, SF enjoys an advanced stage of development, social visibility, and institutional support. In Catalonia, SF is still in its early stages, an innovation that is progressively becoming consolidated and serving as an instrument to facilitate sustainable territorial development. This article provides an analysis of the status quo and the dynamics of SF in Catalonia, as the first objective, where there has been little study of this phenomenon, based on the creation of a database of existing projects, in-depth interviews with those who manage the entities and an analysis of the sector's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) based on the information collected during the field research. It also provides case studies of selected initiatives that identify key characteristics, management models, and level of social impact based on Business Model Canvas (BMC) and Social Return on Investment (SROI) analyses as a second objective. This dual approach allowed us to show how SF has taken shape at our regional scale, which actors have intervened, and elements that have supported or obstructed this new practice. It also showed the type of entities in existence, their specific characteristics, and their social impact in order to understand how SF is structured in this specific territorial and social context.

The influence of local non-farm employment on rural household structure in Northeast Thailand

This paper examines how the structure of rural households in Northeast Thailand is influenced by the availability of local non-farm employment opportunities. It compares the frequency of different types of households (i.e., nuclear, extended, skipped generation, and truncated households) in two villages that were similar in most respects but differed in the shares of households with members having local non-farm employment. Almost three-quarters of all households in the village with a large share of households having members with local non-farm employment were of the extended and nuclear types. In the village with a small share of households having members with such employment, half of all households were of the skipped generation and truncated types. The extent of out-migration of young adult villagers seeking jobs in large cities also varied according to the availability of local non-farm employment. The village where many households have members with local non-farm employment had a smaller number of out-migrants. This contributes to its having more extended and nuclear households and fewer skipped generation and truncated households than the village with a greater number of out-migrants. These findings suggest that, in an area undergoing rapid economic development and modernization, rural household structure is strongly influenced by specific local economic conditions, in this case the availability of non-farm employment, rather than resulting from a universal trend toward the dominance of nuclear households as posited by convergence theory.

The local economic impact of shale gas extraction

ABSTRACTThe local economic impact of shale gas extraction. Regional Studies. Advocates of UK shale gas expansion have focused upon predicted national economic benefits, but the local and/or regional impact has been largely neglected. This paper seeks to address this deficit by creating a unique dataset, combining industry data with consumer and supply-chain surveys, thereby overcoming the current absence of suitable secondary data. Local economic impact in the Bowland field is estimated via a simple Keynesian local-income multiplier model. Results emphasize the importance of facilitating local employment opportunities, through skills initiatives, and the development of regional supply chain clusters, to anchor economic benefits within the local economy. Policy implications are discussed.

Strategic Planning for Employment Self-Containment in Metropolitan Sub-Regions

Metropolitan strategic plans often focus on strengthening local employment opportunities to address the congestion and commuting issues threatening city sustainability. The success of such strategies relies on a more equitable distribution of jobs between sub-regions and can be comparatively benchmarked through one of the three related measures of employment self-sufficiency, self-containment or jobs-housing balance. However, in practice, planning policy implementation to meet these targets seldom reduces automobile commuting. This paper investigates self-containment across a range of occupation and industry types to highlight large differences in commuting and employment patterns through a case study of Perth’s Northwest sub-region, Western Australia. Its findings suggest the application of current sub-regional policy and targets within Perth may reinforce the wage and skill disadvantage of outer metropolitan sub-regions over the inner core. It recommends a more nuanced understanding of these measures taking into account the complex dynamics of both employment opportunities and commuting patterns across sub-regions of a city.

Socioeconomic consequences of climate induced human displacement and migration in Bangladesh

The main objective of this study was to explore the types and nature of climate induced human displacement and migration, and their socioeconomic consequences in the agro-ecological zones of Bangladesh. The study followed a qualitative research design, where six agro-ecological zones were selected purposively from different parts of Bangladesh. A multi-method data collection method was applied, where the study conducted six participatory rural appraisals (PRAs), eight focus group discussions (FGDs), 24 key informant interviews (KIIs) and 12 in-depth case studies. Data were collected in 2012, and the study used a thematic approach for data analysis. Results showed that the dramatic onset disasters usually caused mass displacement, while the slow onset disasters affected the environment, local ecosystem services and employment opportunities that forced people to undergo routine economic migration at first, followed later by permanent migration. This permanent migration had long-term negative consequences on their livelihoods in terms of poverty, and especially for women, the elderly and those with a disability. It is concluded that while the study focuses on Bangladesh, the implications are international in scope. The findings serve as important guidelines to policy makers, disaster managers and development practitioners.