Subsample Of Workers Research Articles

Patterns of Earnings and Employment by Worker Sex, Race, and Ethnicity Using State Administrative Data: Results from a Sample of Workers Connected to Public Assistance Programs

During the strong economic conditions that predated the COVID-19 pandemic, many US workers, especially females and individuals of color, suffered from economic vulnerability. Despite growing research attention, we lack an understanding of how the prevalence and patterns of earnings and job instability vary with worker characteristics, particularly at the intersections between sex and race/ethnicity. This study uses longitudinal administrative data from a large, diverse state from 2015 through 2018 to document changes in earnings and jobs. We then examine variation in the size, frequency, and direction of these changes by worker sex and race/ethnicity among a subsample of workers who are connected to the public welfare system. Results indicate that, as expected, workers who are connected to the public welfare system experienced higher levels of economic vulnerability, but with substantial racial/ethnic and sex differences. As a consequence, a large number of workers—disproportionately those of color—were experiencing high levels of economic instability during a period of strong economic growth. Our findings have implications for policy and practice strategies.

On-shift naps are associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure level among night working nursing professionals

ABSTRACT Few studies have analyzed on-shift naps with regard to shift workers’ health. The aim of this study was to examine the association between exposure to night work (intensity and length of exposure to night work) and blood pressure (BP), considering the impact of on-shift naps. A cross-sectional study was carried out at a hospital based on a questionnaire and measurement of BP. The outcomes were systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and casual hypertension (HTN), i.e., SBP > 140 mmHg, or DBP > 90 mmHg, or reporting a prescription of antihypertensive medication. The sample comprised 449 fixed 12 h night workers who were (unofficially) allowed to nap during the night shift for up to 3 h. Approximately 42% of the sample reported napping. Among non-nappers (but not among nappers), those exposed to more work nights (≥5/fortnight) showed a DBP that was 3.66 mmHg higher than that of the reference group. The likelihood of casual HTN was more than three-fold greater among non-nappers working more nights/fortnight than among those working fewer nights/fortnight. A similar tendency was observed in a subsample of workers who did not take antihypertensive medication. The results were less consistent regarding length of exposure to night work (in years). A possible explanation is that workers who usually take on-shift naps could experience suppression of the BP increase derived from the many nights worked, while the non-nappers did not experience this suppression. The results may be explained by the relationship between napping, melatonin secretion, and attenuation of circadian misalignment. Napping likely contributes to creating a “physiologically nocturnal environment” that tends to favor the circadian system and, therefore, health. Possible negative effects related to sleep inertia deserve attention. The findings encourage new studies on this topic to improve the management of night work at hospitals in regard to workers’ health.

The impact of foreign technological innovation on domestic employment via the industry mix

This paper analyses how differences in the industry composition of British local labour markets moderate the impact of foreign technological competition in manufacturing on domestic employment, both overall and across subsamples of workers with different skill levels (high, intermediate and low). To this scope, it exploits both variations across industries in the exposure to the introduction of new technologies, and information on how such industries are combined in shaping the industrial structure of each place. The analysis shows that places that specialise in industries undergoing substantial technological competition due to foreign innovation experience a reduction in total employment that is 4.5% larger than places less exposed based on their initial industry mix. This negative performance is mainly explained by a decrease in the employment opportunities for intermediate-skilled workers. Limited support is found for successful adaptation trajectories over time across British local labour markets.

Project Energise: Using participatory approaches and real time computer prompts to reduce occupational sitting and increase work time physical activity in office workers

This efficacy study assessed the added impact real time computer prompts had on a participatory approach to reduce occupational sedentary exposure and increase physical activity. Quasi-experimental. 57 Australian office workers (mean [SD]; age=47 [11] years; BMI=28 [5]kg/m2; 46 men) generated a menu of 20 occupational 'sit less and move more' strategies through participatory workshops, and were then tasked with implementing strategies for five months (July-November 2014). During implementation, a sub-sample of workers (n=24) used a chair sensor/software package (Sitting Pad) that gave real time prompts to interrupt desk sitting. Baseline and intervention sedentary behaviour and physical activity (GENEActiv accelerometer; mean work time percentages), and minutes spent sitting at desks (Sitting Pad; mean total time and longest bout) were compared between non-prompt and prompt workers using a two-way ANOVA. Workers spent close to three quarters of their work time sedentary, mostly sitting at desks (mean [SD]; total desk sitting time=371 [71]min/day; longest bout spent desk sitting=104 [43]min/day). Intervention effects were four times greater in workers who used real time computer prompts (8% decrease in work time sedentary behaviour and increase in light intensity physical activity; p<0.01). Respective mean differences between baseline and intervention total time spent sitting at desks, and the longest bout spent desk sitting, were 23 and 32min/day lower in prompt than in non-prompt workers (p<0.01). In this sample of office workers, real time computer prompts facilitated the impact of a participatory approach on reductions in occupational sedentary exposure, and increases in physical activity.

Social Attitudes on Gender Equality and Firms' Discriminatory Pay-Setting

We analyze the relationship between social attitudes on gender equality and firms' pay-setting behavior by combining information about regional votes relative to gender equality laws with a large data set of multi-branch firms and workers. The results show that multi-branch firms pay more discriminatory wages in branches located in regions with a higher social acceptance of gender inequality than in branches located in regions with a lower acceptance. The results are similar for different subsamples of workers, and we cannot find evidence that regional differences in social attitudes influence how firms assign women and men to jobs and occupations. The investigation of a subsample of performance pay workers for whom we are able to observe their time-based and performance pay component separately shows that social attitudes on gender equality only influence the time-based pay component but not the performance pay component of the same workers. Because regional-specific productivity differences should influence the workers' performance pay and time-based pay, unobserved gender-specific productivity differences are not likely to explain the regional variation in within firm gender pay gaps. The results support theories and previous evidence showing that social attitudes influence gender pay gaps in the long run.

International Trade and Labour Income Risk in the U.S.

This article studies empirically the links between international trade and labour income risk faced by manufacturing sector workers in the U.S. We use longitudinal data on workers to estimate time-varying individual income risk at the industry level. We then combine our estimates of persistent labour income risk with measures of exposure to international trade to analyse the relationship between trade and labour income risk. We also study risk estimates from various subsamples of workers, such as those who switched to a different manufacturing industry (or out of the manufacturing sector altogether). Finally, we use these estimates to conduct a welfare analysis evaluating the benefits or costs of trade through the income risk channel. We find import penetration to have a statistically significant association with labour income risk in the U.S. Our welfare calculations suggest that these effects are economically significant.

The Quality of Enterprise Human Capital: Empirical Evidence Based on Enterprise Survey in China

Based on the classical human capital theory, we propose the connotation of human capital quality which is the combination of knowledge; techniques, capability and health etc. that are embedded in labor and with economic values. According to this concept, we put forward the three-dimensional structure of human capital quality which is constructed by health awareness, education effect and family background. And on the ground of our hypotheses, we set up theoretical models of second-order CFA and get perfect fit by using enterprise survey data of Dongguan city in China. Furthermore, we adopt multiple-group CFA model to test the invariance across subsample of workers and sub-sample of managers and technical staff. Implications of the results for public personnel management are discussed at the end.

Validity and Reliability of the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) in Workers with Upper Extremity Injuries

Fear Avoidance Beliefs (FAB) have been associated with increased pain, dysfunction and difficulty returning to work in Upper Extremity (UE) injures. The FABQ is used to assess FAB, but its measurement properties have not been established in UE. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the FABQ to screen UE compensated injured workers for FAB. Consenting workers attending a specialty clinic completed a modified FABQ, QuickDASH (Disability), SPADI Pain Score and von Korff Chronic Pain Grade (Pain), SF-36v2 (General Health), and Work Instability Scale (Job Instability). A sub-sample of workers (n = 48) completed the FABQ 2 weeks later for test-retest reliability. 187 workers; 54.0% male; mean age 45.2 (sd 9.68); 56% were currently working. Mean subscale scores (FABQ-Work [FABQ-W]/FABQ-Physical Activity [FABQ-PA]) were 35/42 and 20/24. Ceiling effects (23%/38%) existed in both subscales. Cronbach's alphas were 0.75/0.78. Test-retest analysis (ICC(2,1)) was lower than desired (0.52/0.59). Construct validation was supported by a moderate correlation between FABQ-W/FABQ-PA and QuickDASH Work Module (0.51/0.42) and WIS (0.46/0.38) in those currently working. Low correlations were found between the subscales measures of pain (SPADI: 0.24/0.23; Chronic Pain Grade: 0.25/0.25), and SF-36 MCS (-0.25/-0.30). Although FAB is an important concept to measure in compensated UE injured workers, the FABQ had limitations in this population as there was a high ceiling effect, and lower than desired reliability for individual discrimination. A priori hypotheses around construct validity were rejected for 16/22 concepts tested.

Effective Work/Life Strategies: Working Couples, Work Conditions, Gender, and Life Quality

Using data on a sub-sample of workers in dual-earner families (from the 1992 National Study of the Changing Workforce), we examine the strategies they use to manage work/life pressures, as well as how these strategies, along with workers' life stage and work conditions, predict multiple measures of psychological life quality (low work/family conflict, stress, and overload, along with high coping/mastery). We find that strategies and work conditions are gendered, with workers in dual-earner couples most apt to be in neotraditional arrangements (husbands in professional and/or long-hour jobs and wives working fewer hours, often in non-professional occupations). Life quality is gendered as well, with women in dual-earner arrangements reporting more stress and overload, as well as lower levels of coping/mastery than men. However, the factors associated with life quality are similar across gender, with conditions at work serving as key predictors of life quality indicators for both men and women. Specifically, having a demanding job and job insecurity are associated with low life quality, while having a supportive supervisor is positively linked to life quality outcomes. Work hours and work-hour preferences matter as well. Men and women in couples where both spouses work regular (39–25) full-time hours, tend to score high on indicators of life quality, while those working long hours and those preferring to work less, are less likely to do so.

A CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF GENDER AND PLACE ON WORKERS INCOMES

This research uses the 1987 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth to construct a national and Appalachian subsample of workers at the initial stages of their labor force participation and during a national economic recovery. This contextual research examines the impact of education, work effort, type of job, marital status, family size, Appalachian residence, urban or rural location, unemployment rate, and manufacturing concentration on the incomes of women and men. The results document the overall depressive effect that living in Appalachia has on the incomes of both male and female workers.

Evaluating weighted models of measuring job satisfaction: A cinderella story

Data obtained from a national probability sample of 1533 American workers were used to assess the validity of ten methods of weighting job satisfaction ratings by importance ratings. The methods varied systematically in terms of the input they employed, scale treatment, and the types of mathematical operations used for weighting. Each method was evaluated with data from two subsamples of workers who differed in terms of the magnitude of their intraindividual correlations between satisfaction and importance ratings. The four criterion variables used to evaluate the weighting methods were measures of overall job satisfaction, job-related tension, likelihood of leaving one's present job, and mental health. The data not only failed to support the hypothesis that the validity of job satisfaction ratings may be increased by weighting them by importance ratings but indicated, on the contrary, that importance-weighting actually reduced the validity of satisfaction ratings. This reduction was attributed to several statistical problems, principally the failure of satisfaction and importance ratings to meet the demanding scaling assumptions of weighting models. An inconsistency was pointed out between the research activities necessary for providing an ideal test of a weighting model and those necessary for developing a generally useful measure of job satisfaction based on the model.