Term Unemployment Research Articles

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE: IMPLICATIONS FROM USER NEEDS ANALYSIS FOR e- LEARNING PLATFORM YEU

Long- term unemployment doubled in Europe between 2007 - 14 despite the recent recovery which is slowly translating into more jobs . The effects are felt severely by youth ; t he longer they remain unemployed, the more difficult it is for them to get hired again. As a method t o cope with youth unemployment , the EU ’s Leonardo Programme has been fundi ng projects intended to enhance the entrepreneurship skills of young people. YENTELS ( Young European Entrepreneurs E - Learning Suite) and YEU (Youth Enterprise and Unemployment) projects are examples of such platforms that provide online resources for enterprising. The e - learning platform , including a serious game, dev eloped during YEU project paid close attention to young people who are not employed, in education or training. This study aims to report the process and results of the user needs analysis conducted for the YEU e - learning platform in order to tackle the issue of youth unem ployment by incorporating the viewpoints and needs of multiple stakeholders in the context of entrepreneurship. By means of p rimary and secondary research methods , feedback was obtained from a total of approximately 40 stakeholders and 900 young people across Europe. A range of quantitative and qualitative research findings were identifie d in the areas of youth un employment , entrepreneurship skills and policy making , with genera l observations and experiences also recorded by the project partners from seven countries. The conclusions of the analysis present valuable implications in the areas of European policies , young people’s employment, and business start - up issues . The s tudy also provides recommendations at a general level to improve the employability of young people .

Self-concept clarity and compulsive Internet use: The role of preference for virtual interactions and employment status in British and North-American samples.

Background and AimsCompulsive Internet Use (CIU) describes a maladaptive relationship with the Internet characterised by loss of control and conflict. Although also affecting adults, most studies use teenage samples, and theoretical development on risk factors is scarce. According to Davis (2001), the social connectivity function of the Internet is key in identifying traits associated with CIU. Since Self-Concept Clarity (SCC) is strongly related to social anxiety, and virtual interactions allow “self-edition”, we hypothesized that individuals low in SCC could choose virtual interactions as safer alternative to satisfy their social needs. This could in turn increase the risk of CIU. Building on a previous study, we also expected CIU to be more harmful in the unemployed.MethodsWe collected samples from the UK (N = 532) and US (N = 502) with equal distribution of employed and unemployed individuals. We ran Measurement Invariance tests to confirm that the constructs were equivalent across countries. Subsequently, we conducted mediation and moderation analysis to test our hypothesis with Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis.ResultsMeasurement Invariance was confirmed. The relationship between SCC and CIU was partially mediated by preference of virtual interactions in both countries. This preference was significantly related to lower social support. Short term unemployment seemed to accentuate the negative impact of CIU on life satisfaction in both countries, although only marginally significantly in the US. The unemployed reported significantly lower levels of life satisfaction.ConclusionWe demonstrated that SCC is a key vulnerability factor to CIU in adults, and confirmed the additional risks for the unemployed.

Nueve años de hartz iv: evaluación de una reforma del bienestar

Nine years ago, Germany has implemented Hartz IV, the last one in a series of welfare state reforms, merging the former separate systems of long term unemployment benefit and basic income support into a new system. The article summarizes the main empirical findings from a growing field and draws a few conclusions. Mainly, after years of heavy debates and practical experiences in Germany and elsewhere, it has to be said the goal of substantially reducing poverty and saving public money has not really been achieved. Although the system is working well in terms of financial support and population coverage, there are problems in providing cultural and social participation, and even the money is not enough under certain family constellations. Moreover, the idea to solve every poverty problem by rigid work first policies does obviously conflict with the observable heterogeneity of poverty situations. Main results are the disappearance of the privileges of persons in long term unemployment, a shift from permanent unemployment to unsteady low wage employment and need for further subsidies for a major part of the poor, as well as a consolidation of the normative image of a ‘normal working citizen’, making it harder to get support for people who don’t fit into that scheme.

Multiple Violent Suicidal Attempts by One Mentally Ill Person: A Rare Case

Suicide is a potential threat to our society at present. Young aged boys and girls are most common victims of suicide. Social, economic factors play major role in commission of suicide. People may attempt suicide adopting various means like hanging, burning, poisoning etc. Sometimes multiple methods are adopted at a time. In this case we will discuss such a case where a young aged male person committed suicide using various means. The victim cut his throat at two places and also anterior aspects of both the forearms at a time. Hesitation cut marks were present over neck and right forearm. Presence of poison in the stomach was incidental finding. A painful death was the ultimate fate of the life reflecting an intense depressive state of the mind resulting from long term unemployment. Our goal is to make the society aware so that similar incidences can be prevented to some extent in future by proper precautionary measure and counselling.

Blending work and learning: the impact of a workplace learning programme on the low-skilled and long term unemployed

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of a workplace learning programme on the low-skilled and long term unemployed. The paper evaluates improvements in skills and attitudes from the workers perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds on current literature in the area to design and evaluate a workplace learning programme. Quantitative and qualitative data are used to evaluate staff perceptions. Findings – Findings indicate that providing a mix of workplace learning, and focused academic content can have an extremely positive impact on the skill-set and mind-set of low-skilled and long term unemployed workers. The effect of this is that workers are more likely to apply for further educational and employment opportunities. Practical implications – Findings reinforce the view that an integrated approach to tackling long-term unemployment and the up-skilling of workers may be more effective than providing employment initiatives alone. Originality/value – While statistics on long term unemployment and the vulnerability of low-skilled workers are widely available right across the EU, there is a comparative lack of literature around initiatives designed to tackle these problems, and even less which incorporates the views of workers themselves. This paper provides a unique look at the implementation of a workplace learning programme and its impact on staff.

20 Years of Transformation of Social Policy in Slovakia-Current State and Main Challenges

I would like to present the principles and main steps of transformation of social policy in Slovakia since democratic changes in 1990 and its current state and main challenges. I would like to present the transformation process in four main areas: employment policies, wage policies, family policies and social security. I would like to stress main principles as monopolization, democratization, pluralisation of sources and tools etc., main steps of the process as well as the changes of the process, evaluate current state in comparison with selected EU countries and present main challenges of social policy in Slovakia, especially long term unemployment, low fertility rate, pension system contingencies, excluded Roma villages, etc. I would like to point particular areas that could cause potential social risk or positive effects, as pension reform in 2004, Social Services Act, etc.

No significant difference in depression rate in employed and unemployed in a pair-matched study design.

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the differences of depression rate in employed and unemployed persons in the period of financial and economic crisis in Romania, in a pair-matched study design.Method: The cross-sectional study uses a pair match design (395 pairs) of two groups of employed and unemployed persons. Other socio-demographic risk factors of depression (gender, age, marital status, residence, ethnicity, educational level, and profession) were controlled. The study was done in a historical period of economic crisis, 2009–2010. For the screening of depression we used the patient health questionnaire-9.Results: There were no statistical differences (p = 0.054) between the depression rates in the employed (17.98%) and unemployed (23.80%) samples. The depression rate in both groups was higher in females, age (51–55), marital status (divorced), living in the rural area, with a low level of education and poverty. Suicidal ideas are more frequent in men, employed persons with low level of education and in unemployed persons with medium level of education.Conclusion: The exposure to short term unemployment status was not associated with change in depression rate in the period of financial and economic crisis in Romania, comparing with controls pair-matched. Unemployment status increases the depression rate only in vulnerable groups such as single or divorced women; and suicidal ideas were associated with the unemployment status (longer than 8 months) in men from rural area with medium level of education.

Does low Power Distance Culture Contribute to Lower Long Term Unemployment?

In this paper we use European Social Survey (2012) microdata from 23 countries to assess the relationship between culture a person is facing at work and the probability of experiencing long- term unemployment by this person. The cultural factors that are tested are: the degree of freedom at work and influence on managerial decisions, which are treated as an indication of the level of power distance. The hypothesis is that low power distance culture encourages employees to gain more hard and soft skills as more responsibility is delegated to them. In our research we follow the concept that cultural factors are among root causes of economic outcomes. The low power distance approach to a subordinate resembles methods applied by personalized Active Labour Market Policies. Both approaches intend to make people aware of their responsibility for their economic outcomes and their power to improve these outcomes. The logit model proved a statistical significance of a relationship between cultural variables and probability of being long-term unemployed even after controlling for age, education, type of work, country and other control variables.

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Youth Labour Markets

This paper investigates the impact of the GFC on youth unemployment and long term unemployment. In particular, we study whether the GFC had a bigger impact on youths than adults, and whether youth unemployment rates increased due to an increase in youth wages relative to adult wages. To anticipate our results, we find that the youth unemployment rates increased significantly more than that of adults even though youth wages had been falling relative to adult wages.

MADM in the Case of Simultaneous Equations Models and Economic Applications

In this paper we will solve MADM (Multiple Attribute Decision Making) problems in the case of the simultaneous equations models. The p dependent variables are considered the stochastic criteria, and the alternative decisions are given by points in Rk, where k is the number of explanatory variables. The set of alternative decisions contains the points from the dataset from which we estimate the regression coefficients, but it is completed by simulation on an interval in Rk The senses are given by the economic interpretation of the variables Yi, i=1, p. We consider as economic application the GDP/capita and long term unemployment rate in terms of computer skills

The Current Eurozone - An Impediment to Critical French Reform

France currently needs deep structural reforms to boost competitiveness; but such reforms seem impossible while France remains in the straitjacket of the rules-bound transfer union that is the current Eurozone. High outstanding sovereign debt coupled with almost zero economic growth pose a real challenge to the French economy saved only by the relatively low government bond yield but this is subject to market swings. An unacceptably large proportion of the French workforce is trapped in long-term unemployment with the most affected part of the population being the young and older workers suffering from long term unemployment because of the adverse incentives brought about by a social safety net financed by taxing labour.

Long-Term Unemployment in the Varieties of Capitalism

Usually, when the attention is focused on the different performances of the labour market, the overall rate of unemployment is at the center stage. But this is misleading: while short term unemployment can be seen as physiological for the the working of the labour market, long-term unemployment is certainly pathological. The paper considers how the different varieties of capitalism affect the rate of long-term unemployment, rather than the aggregate rate. The liberal market variety, where employment protection is the lowest, presents lower rates of long-term unemployment than the continental European and the Mediterranean varieties. In the latter both employment protection and long-term unemployment are the highest and labour market participation the lowest. The social-democratic Scandinavian variety gets the best of both worlds: low rates of long-term unemployment, high rates of labour participation, lower degree of inequality, with relatively high levels of employment protection. However the Scandinavian model may be hardly applicable in countries, such as the Mediterranean ones, where a sizable part of public opinion apparently adheres to the various specifications of the “lump of something” economic fallacy. Low rates of long-term unemployment and high levels of labour participation are also produced by the far-Eastern Asian variety, but at the cost of a markedly dualistic labour market structure.

Robustness of the Encouragement Design in a Two-Treatment Randomized Control Trial

In this paper we discuss how the encouragement design used in randomized controlled trials can be extended to a setting with two treatments and one control group. Conditions to interpret the Two-Stage Least Squares (TSLS) estimates causally are stronger than in the case with only one treatment and one control group.A first case where a causal interpretation holds is when only those assigned to one of the two treatments can effectively enter the corresponding program. A second case is when there are always takers. In that second case, entry rates into a given program should be the same among those assigned to the control group and those assigned to the other program; this restriction can be tested from the data. In cases where the restriction is rejected, we derive bounds to the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) based on weaker monotonicity conditions. We illustrate the results using data from a large randomized experiment where job seekers at risk of long term unemployment can receive a reinforced counseling scheme offered either by the public or the private sector, or remain on a standard track.

Is Government's Help for Unemployed People Helpful for the Society? An Empirical Study on Macro Data of Public Unemployment Spending in OECD Nations

Using panel data of public unemployment expenditure as a percentage of GDP of 34 OECD nations across year 1980-2010, I explore the effect of this ratio on three unemployment outcomes: total unemployment rate, long-term unemployment rate and youth unemployment, as well as labor participation rate and investment rate. After taking into account potential endogeneity of this ratio using Durbin-Wu-Hausman test, I find the data does not support the hypothesized aggregate demand effect of unemployment insurance (UI) expenditure in theory but gives strong support for hypothesized disincentive effect in theory. The estimates indicate that every percentage point increase in public unemployment welfare expenditure relative to GDP leads to 0.9 to 1.1 percentage point increase in total unemployment rate and 4.5 to 4.7 percentage point increase in long term unemployment rate. The distortionary effect of UI program on business is also verified by an estimate that every percentage point increase in this unemployment spending rate is associated with about 2.1 percentage point decrease in investment rate.

The Beveridge curve in Europe: new evidence using national and regional data

The Beveridge curve depicts the empirical negative relationship between job vacancy rate and unemployment rate, and reflects the efficiency of the job matching process. Movements along a fixed downward sloping Beveridge curve are associated with cyclical shocks, while shifts of the curve arise from structural factors that alter the matching efficiency between job vacancies and unemployed workers. National and regional data on job vacancies and unemployment are combined to estimate the Beveridge curves of five European countries and their regions, focusing on the period 1975 to 2004. I also analyse whether shifts in European Beveridge curves are due to changes in the composition of the unemployed pool, labour market rigidities or cyclical and structural shocks. The empirical evidence suggests that changes in labour market rigidities, long term unemployment, as well as cyclical shocks are responsible for outward shifts in European Beveridge curves. I also find evidence of nonlinearities in the relation between unemployment and labour market institutions.

Surmountable Hurdles? Employers’ Perception of the Long Term Unemployed and Labour Market Interventions

Over the last few years, most OECD countries have extended their activation policy to new groups of non-working people, including the long term unemployed (LTU). However, it is known that LTU people tend to be regarded as potentially problematic persons by employers. This is likely to constitute a major obstacle for long term unemployed jobseekers. On the basis of a survey among employers in a Swiss canton (N=722), this paper aims to shed some light on the perception employers have of the long term unemployed and whether may matter for recruitment practices. It also asks what, from the employer point of view, may convince them to take the risk of hiring a LTU person. Key findings: Large companies are more likely to use long term unemployment status as a discriminating factor. More likely to hire LTU people seem to be employers who are aware of some of the problems this group may have (low productivity) and who are used to work with the employment agency. Finally, a test period or the recommendation of a trustworthy person are seen as the factors most likely to facilitate access to jobs for LTU people.

Stakeholder Protection in Corporate Governance and in the Legal System, the Varieties of Capitalism, and Long Term Unemployment

In the literature the issue of the protection of stakeholder interests (of employees in particular) is usually considered in a static context: how should the institutions of corporate governance be shaped having regard to already existing firms, conforming, in particular, to some subjective criteria of fairness and fair play. It is remarkable that no attention is paid to the basic fact that a company in order to exist must first be established, and that the founders-owners are the original shareholders. Moreover not necessarily the most appropriate protection of stakeholder interests can be provided by the institutions and practice of corporate governance, specific kinds of legal provision may be more suitable. But rather than substitution complementarity prevails between different legal provisions protecting the interests of stakeholders (in particular employees) and the stakeholder protection afforded through the institutions of capital governance, conforming to the logic of the different varieties of capitalism. An aspect of the latter that is emphasized in the paper, and is usually overlooked, are the much higher rates of long-term unemployment associated with the continental European variety as compared with the Liberal Market variety of the Anglo-Saxon tradition. But the Scandinavian Social-Democratic market model gives the best of both worlds: low long-term unemployment rates and incidence, together with high degrees of employment protection.

Productivity Growth and Structural Reform in Bulgaria: Restarting the Convergence Engine

Labor productivity levels in Bulgaria lag well behind that in the EU, weighing on the convergence process. Stronger productivity growth would allow Bulgaria to close the income gap with the EU average more quickly and to alleviate the structural problems in its labor market, reflected in its high long–term and youth unemployment. Our analysis of the drivers of labor productivity suggest that for Bulgaria closing the gap with EU standards in the areas of institutional and infrastructure quality, goods market efficiency, higher education, and innovation would permanently boost productivity growth by a total of 1 percentage point a year. This would be enough to close the income gap with the EU average by 2040, compared to the status quo where it would take an additional 10 years.

Productivity Growth and Structural Reform in Bulgaria: Restarting the Convergence Engine

Labor productivity levels in Bulgaria lag well behind that in the EU, weighing on the convergence process. Stronger productivity growth would allow Bulgaria to close the income gap with the EU average more quickly and to alleviate the structural problems in its labor market, reflected in its high long–term and youth unemployment. Our analysis of the drivers of labor productivity suggest that for Bulgaria closing the gap with EU standards in the areas of institutional and infrastructure quality, goods market efficiency, higher education, and innovation would permanently boost productivity growth by a total of 1 percentage point a year. This would be enough to close the income gap with the EU average by 2040, compared to the status quo where it would take an additional 10 years.

Crises, Labor Market Policy, and Unemployment

Using a sample of 97 countries spanning the period 1980?2008, we estimate that financial crises have a large negative impact on unemployment in the short term, but that this effect rapidly disappears in the medium term in countries with flexible labor market institutions, whereas the impact of financial crises is less pronounced but more persistent in countries with more rigid labor market institutions. These effects are even larger for youth unemployment in the short term and long-term unemployment in the medium term. Conversely, large upfront, or gradual but significant, comprehensive labor market policies have a positive impact on unemployment, albeit only in the medium term.