US Workforce Research Articles

Unraveling gender disparities in arbitrators' social networks: differential effects of centrality and tie strength on career outcomes among independent contractors

PurposeThe prevalence of independent contractors in the US workforce is growing. This research examines the social environment and career outcomes of labor and employment arbitrators, a unique profession of high-skilled and high-status independent contractors who play a significant role in facilitating organizational justice. Previous research has focused on the employment relationships that independent contractors have with hiring organizations and the characteristics of individuals who become independent contractors; however, little attention has been given to how relational factors influence the career outcomes of high-skilled independent contractors or how such influences differ by gender. Building upon theories of social networks and unequal network returns (UNR), our study investigates the informal social relationships among arbitrators, the association between interpersonal relationship patterns and arbitrators’ career success, and how these associations vary based on gender.Design/methodology/approachA social network survey is used to collect the social networks, attitudes and fee information of 407 labor and employment arbitrators working in North America. A multi-level regression analysis was used to examine the proposed relationships among social networks, gender and career outcomes of the arbitrators.FindingsWe discovered that occupying a central position within advice networks is positively associated with occupational satisfaction. On the other hand, having strong ties is associated with achieving high employment arbitration fees. Notably, we found that the advantages of strong ties for arbitration fees are comparatively weak for female arbitrators relative to their male counterparts.Originality/valueThis research examines the relationship between social networks and career outcomes for independent contractors in the unique context of arbitrators. It further highlights inequalities experienced by female arbitrators in a male-dominated profession where their social networks offer fewer rewards relative to their male counterparts.

Artificial intelligence and automation: creating a more resilient United States workforce

This study investigates the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation on the United States workforce, aiming to contribute to the creation of a more resilient workforce. The problem statement identifies the potential negative consequences of job displacement and socioeconomic disparities resulting from the integration of AI and automation technologies. The objective is to assess the extent of this impact, analyse existing initiatives and policies, and propose recommendations for fostering workforce resilience. A qualitative approach using manual content analysis is employed to review relevant literature. Findings reveal the multifaceted nature of AI's impact, the diverse landscape of upskilling initiatives, and the importance of collaborative efforts. Implications include the need for adaptive policies, targeted programs, and cohesive collaborations to ensure a resilient and inclusive workforce amidst technological advancements. This study contributes to knowledge by providing nuanced insights into the challenges and strategies associated with AI and automation's impact on the US workforce.

Emphasizing family as a source of social support: implications for work-family conflict and job satisfaction among hispanic professionals

PurposeAlthough Hispanics represent a large and growing proportion of the US workforce, little is known regarding the possible effects of their somewhat unique cultural values, beliefs, and practices on their experiences of work-family conflict or job satisfaction. This research tested theoretically derived hypotheses regarding the protective effect of a component of familism values, family as a source of social support, on these outcomes.Design/methodology/approachA moderated mediation model was tested using survey data from Hispanic professionals (N = 103).FindingsAs predicted, family support was negatively related to work interfering with family (WIF) and positively related to job satisfaction. WIF mediated the relationship between family support and job satisfaction. Additionally, gender moderated this mediated relationship such that the effects were stronger for Hispanic women than men.Research limitations/implicationsGeneralizability of the results should be explored by employing larger samples that include longer tenured workers, employees with higher degrees of management experience, and additional Hispanic subgroups. Results contribute to a growing body of research demonstrating beneficial effects of familism values for Hispanics.Practical implicationsResults suggest that organizations may benefit from taking active steps to support familism values among Hispanic workers.Originality/valueThis is the first empirical study to explore the possible benefits of family support values on workplace outcomes.

The Role of Women in Top Management and Its Impact on Company Leadership

The women workforce has been increasing worldwide owing to various socioeconomic changes like the increase in women education, the impact of globalization etc. Women occupy 46% of the US workforce, and they make 23% of Women CEOs in the USA alone. A woman in a research study had indicated that in a firm, people are their main concern, whereas, men had indicated that completion of task is their main concern. Although women have more and better facilities of education today than they had in the past, their capability is still limited in work spheres compared to men due to gender discrimination, job difficulties of local laws and family responsibilities. This paper explains the role of women in various sectors and the drawbacks especially for their development and their capability compared to men.

Federal and foundational research funding trends for cerebrovascular neurosurgeons: the decline of the cerebrovascular surgeon-scientist?

The number of cerebrovascular (CV) surgeons has grown with the rise of endovascular neurosurgery. However, it is unclear whether the number of CV surgeon-scientists has concomitantly increased. With increasing numbers of CV neurosurgeons in the US workforce, the authors analyzed associated changes in National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) funding trends for CV surgeons over time. Publicly available data were collected on currently practicing academic CV surgeons in the US. Inflation-adjusted NIH funding between 2009 and 2021 was surveyed using NIH RePORTER and Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research data. The K12 Neurosurgeon Research Career Development Program and NREF grant data were queried for CV-focused grants. Pearson R correlation, chi-square analysis, and the Mann-Whitney U-test were used for statistical analysis. From 2009 to 2021, NIH funding increased: in total (p = 0.0318), to neurosurgeons (p < 0.0001), to CV research projects (p < 0.0001), and to CV surgeons (p = 0.0018). During this time period, there has been an increase in the total number of CV surgeons (p < 0.0001), the number of NIH-funded CV surgeons (p = 0.0034), and the percentage of CV surgeons with NIH funding (p = 0.370). Additionally, active NIH grant dollars per CV surgeon (p = 0.0398) and the number of NIH grants per CV surgeon (p = 0.4257) have increased. Nevertheless, CV surgeons have been awarded a decreasing proportion of the overall pool of neurosurgeon-awarded NIH grants during this time period (p = 0.3095). In addition, there has been a significant decrease in the number of K08, K12, and K23 career development awards granted to CV surgeons during this time period (p = 0.0024). There was also a significant decline in the proportion of K12 (p = 0.0044) and downtrend in early-career NREF (p = 0.8978) grant applications and grants awarded during this time period. Finally, NIH-funded CV surgeons were more likely to have completed residency less recently (p = 0.001) and less likely to have completed an endovascular fellowship (p = 0.044) as compared with non-NIH-funded CV surgeons. The number of CV surgeons is increasing over time. While there has been a concomitant increase in the number of NIH-funded CV surgeons and the number of NIH grants awarded per CV surgeon in the past 12 years, there has also been a significant decrease in CV surgeons with K08, K12, and K23 career development awards and a downtrend in CV-focused K12 and early-career NREF applications and awarded grants. The latter findings suggest that the pipeline for future NIH-funded CV surgeons may be in decline.

Long COVID and Chronic Conditions in the US Workforce: Prevalence, Productivity Loss, and Disability.

This study examines how long COVID, chronic conditions, and work outcomes affect the general workforce. It examines the prevalence of long COVID and its associations with chronic conditions, and other sociodemographic characteristics using 2022 National Health Interview Survey data. Long COVID affected work attendance and disability risk, especially in those with mental health issues, angina, stroke, cancer, diabetes, chronic lung conditions, and musculoskeletal conditions. This study reveals the relationships between long COVID, chronic conditions, and work outcomes.

0003 Sleep and Circadian Disruption Induced by Simulated Night Shift Work Impair Cardiometabolic Outcomes in Healthy Adults

Abstract Introduction People who work evening, night or rotating shifts make up 20% of the US workforce and have a heightened risk for Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to people who work days, possibly due to repeated bouts of sleep and circadian disruption. However, the mechanism(s) by which sleep and circadian disruption impair cardiometabolic health are unclear. We therefore investigated the impact of acute circadian misalignment on factors related to cardiometabolic health including interstitial glucose concentration, glucose tolerance, resting systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR). Methods Ten healthy adults (6F, 25.0±4.5y, BMI: 22.0±2.2kg/m2; mean±SD) participated in an ongoing 6d inpatient simulated night shift protocol to induce sleep and circadian disruption. Participants lived at the Sleep and Metabolism Laboratory for 2d to simulate day shift work followed by 2d of simulated night shift work. Continuous interstitial glucose monitoring was conducted throughout the study (FreeStyle Libre Pro; Abbott, Alameda, CA, USA). BP and HR were assessed 30 minutes after waketime (Omron HEM-FL31; Omron Healthcare, Kyoto, JP) followed by an oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) conducted 1.5h after waketime in both conditions. Results Simulated night shift work was associated with significantly higher interstitial glucose area under the curve (AUC) in response to an identical first meal after waking (18,299±1412 v 14,606±2035 [mg/dl]*min; p=0.009; mean±SEM) as well as plasma glucose AUC during the OGTT (23,239±2574 v 18,776±1832; p=0.002) compared to simulated day work. Furthermore, simulated night shift work was associated with a significant increase in resting DBP (75±3 v 66±2; p=0.017) compared to day work. No changes were observed in resting SBP (p=0.40) or HR (p=0.11) between conditions. Conclusion Sleep and circadian disruption induced by simulated night shift work appear to impair markers of cardiometabolic health, even in healthy, lean adults. Night shift work is largely unavoidable in modern society, thus is it critical to identify strategies or countermeasures to prevent the impact of circadian misalignment on T2D and CVD risk in a large portion of the population. Support (if any) This project was supported in part by R01DK125653 &amp; F31HL165883.

Comparison of Finger, Hand, and Wrist Injuries in the US Air Force to US Workers.

Fingers, hands, and wrists (FHW) are the most frequently injured body parts in work-related injuries. This study described and compared FHW injuries among enlisted, officer, and civilian US Air Force (USAF) personnel to those in the US workforce. All work-related, noncombat FHW injuries (≥1 lost workday) and demographics among USAF personnel and US workforce (2008-2018) were included. The USAF FHW injury rates were age adjusted to the US employment and compared by sex, source, event, and nature of the injuries. Finger, hand, and wrist injuries were significantly lower among the USAF personnel and among females. In both populations, FHW injuries from falls were higher and increased with age group among females. Males had higher overall FHW injuries from contact with objects and equipment. Prevention efforts should focus on understanding risk factors and sharing successful prevention activities.

Neurodiversity in the workplace: Considering neuroatypicality as a form of diversity

AbstractEstimates suggest as much as 17% of the US workforce may be neuroatypical, a term used to describe individuals whose neurological functioning is at the tail ends of the distribution of naturally occurring variation. Although the neuroatypical population has a history of under- and unemployment, their inclusion in the modern workplace (i.e., promotion of neurodiversity within organizations) is gaining recognition by scholars and organizations as an important dimension of organizational diversity. Despite this burgeoning interest in examining neuroatypicality in the context of organizational diversity, surprisingly little research has been conducted that bridges these two research areas. The literature that does exist is scattered across several different academic disciplines, largely outside of industrial-organizational psychology, and rarely examines the employment of neuroatypical workers explicitly from a diversity perspective. In this article we argue that as the nature of work evolves and jobs continue to become more specialized, neurodiversity will become an increasingly relevant dimension of organizational diversity and is likely to play a key role both in terms of individual employees’ well-being and performance outcomes, as well as organizational success.

Workplace gender segregation in standard and non‐standard employment regimes in the US labour market

AbstractThis study provides a comprehensive analysis of workplace gender segregation in non‐standard employment in the United States. It compares segregation in standard and three non‐standard work arrangements paying special attention to independent contracting – a segment of contingent employment representing novel and consequential developments in work organization. In line with the prediction that inequality is lower in more marketized sectors of the labour market, my analyses based on a representative sample of the contemporary US workforce reveal that workplace gender segregation is lower in non‐standard employment. I further find that the degree of segregation corresponds to the degree of attachment to the employer and that segregation is lower in segments of the economy with higher market competition. Overall, my analyses indicate that a shift towards alternative work arrangements can reduce overall workplace segregation but does not lead to uniform desegregation across occupations, and that institutions of employment and market pressures faced by employers play significant roles in the effect of alternative work arrangements on workplace segregation.

Professional immigrants and high-functioning anxiety: assessing some interventions

ABSTRACT Professional immigrants from South Asian countries make a rapidly growing percentage of the US workforce. High-functioning anxiety is a latent mental state coupled with challenges faced due to their intersectional identities. This study examines the effectiveness of an online meditation lessons (OML) intervention in mitigating anxieties, enabling socio-cultural adaptation and wellbeing of professional US-based Indian immigrants as compared to online support group sharing sessions (OSGSS). OML attendees reported lower anxieties, better socio-cultural adaptation, self-construal, wellbeing, and psychological flourishing. OSGSS participants also reported statistically significant gains in socio-cultural adaptation scores. Latent class analysis revealed eight subgroups of participants likely to gain the most from OML: men, with doctoral and postdoctoral qualifications, university academics, medical professionals, currently married, cohabiting, above benchmark OML attendees and regular homework doers. With some refinements addressing specific issues of women, banking, and IT sector professionals, and singles, OML would be impactful for professional Indian immigrants to the US.

The “Great Resignation” in the US workforce: An interview with Professor Anthony Klotz

The “Great Resignation” in the US workforce: An interview with Professor Anthony Klotz

Trends in Workplace-Related Eye Injuries in the United States From 2011 Through 2020.

To provide insight into the current scope of workplace-related eye injuries (WREIs) by describing the demographic profiles and causes of WREIs from the years 2011 through 2020. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) dataset on WREIs injuries was used. Descriptive data generated included the frequency of eye injuries, the setting, and demographic data. The BLS reported an estimated 237 590 WREIs in the study timeframe. In that time, the incidence fell from 2.4 to 1.7 per 10 000 workers. These injuries commonly occurred in men (77.1%), White individuals (36.3%), those aged 25 to 34 years (26.9%), and those in the service (23.0%) and production (18.5%) industries. On average, WREIs resulted in a median of 2 missed workdays, with only 5.0% missing more than 1 month of work. Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 15.6% reduction in total WREIs in the US but a 39.3% increase in WREIs among healthcare workers. Men, White individuals, and younger workers might be at increased risk for WREIs. Public health interventions targeted toward improving access to and the quality of protective equipment in these groups and in fields involved in the primary or secondary sectors of industry and healthcare might be the most cost-effective measure to reduce the impact of WREIs on the US workforce.

The Covid Shift: working women's punctuated equilibrium

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper on women in the formal workforce is grounded within the leadership and organization development literature.FindingsThe authors posit the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent instability in the US workforce, particularly among women and mothers, is effectively examined through the lens of punctuated equilibrium. Specifically, the widespread disruption initiated by the pandemic provides an opportunity for transformative change within organizations and society. Furthermore, working women impacted during this punctuated equilibrium are likewise positioned for transformation. The authors suggest the pandemic and its impact on the formal workforce can be leveraged for individual and organizational development as well as transformation, resulting in advancement toward self-authorship and increased equity within organizations, respectively.Originality/valueThis paper offers a novel integration and application of three leadership and organization development concepts: punctuated equilibrium, the self-authorship theory and Theory U, to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working women.

Are there more women in the dentist workforce? Using an intersectionality lens to explore the feminization of the dentist workforce in the UK and US.

In this paper, we seek to understand feminization of the dentist workforce moving beyond previous research that has looked at gender in isolation. We contend that little consideration has been given to how gender interacts with other important social identities such as race/ethnicity to influence the opportunities and barriers that female dentists encounter during their dental career. We argue that the scholarly debate about the feminization of the dentistry has not acknowledged the intersectionality of women's lives. Intersectionality describes how multiple social identities (such as race/ethnicity, gender, and class) overlap and interact to inform outcomes, creating disadvantages and/or privileges. Our thesis is that the increasing feminization of the dentist workforce is complicated and paradoxical, creating both opportunities for women and gender imbalances and blockages within the profession. To support our thesis, we critically reviewed the literature on feminization and analysed UK and US workforce data. While the female dentist workforce in both the UK and the US has increased significantly over the past decade, the growth in the number of female dentists was not equal across all racial/ethnic groups. The largest increase in the number of female dentists was among White and Asian women. Viewing the feminization of the dentist workforce through an intersectionality lens exposes the multiple and complex experiences of women, as well as the power dynamics in dentistry. Feminization in dentistry demonstrates the importance of presence, privilege, and power. Based on our assessment of the dentist workforce, dentistry may be less inclusive, despite being perceived as more diverse. Further research should explore how power and privilege may operate in dentistry. Dentistry should embrace intersectionality to provide an inclusive evaluation of equity in the workforce.

The Affordable Care Act and Women’s Self-Employment in the United States

The United States’ Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 improved and expanded availability of non-group health insurance. Previous studies have shown that women in the US workforce value health insurance more highly than men do. Because prior to the ACA self-employed individuals did not have guaranteed access to affordable health insurance coverage, women’s relatively lower rate of self-employment may partly have reflected their greater “job lock” due to employer-based health insurance. This article employs nationally representative survey data for 2009–18 and a quasi-experimental difference-in-difference modeling approach and finds that unmarried women’s probability of self-employment increased by 1.2 percentage points in 2015–18, after the ACA’s expansion of non-group health insurance came into effect. Among women who have never married, overall probability of self-employment increased by 1.2–1.5 percentage points versus trend, and the probability of transitioning into full-time self-employment increased by 0.9 percentage points. HIGHLIGHTS In the US, unmarried women are less likely than men to be self-employed. The Affordable Care Act improved access to non-employer-based health insurance, reducing the cost of leaving jobs. As a result, from 2015–2018, unmarried women were increasingly drawn to self-employment. The ACA’s expansion of health insurance thus provides important economic benefits beyond healthcare access.

Trends of Pandemic Parenting in Medical Academia.

IntroductionThe pandemic has been difficult on physicians, with two fifths of doctors in one survey reporting that their mental health is now worse than before the pandemic. It is likely that a significant proportion of these physicians are parents of children necessitating childcare, as approximately 32% of the US workforce has someone in their household under the age of 14. We sought to study the impact of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on physician parents in academia. Our goal was to investigate the intersection of professional and personal challenges, as well as perceived impact on domestic life and professional development secondary to the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsUsing Survey Monkey, we developed a 37-question survey to address the aim of this study. Questions were grouped into four categories: demographics; impact on childcare; impact on care; and impact on mental health/wellness. Most of the questions were multiple choice with a few fill-in-the-blank options to allow participants to provide additional information related to their experiences as physicians during the pandemic. A link to the survey was disseminated via email to physicians at our home institution, Rush University Medical Center (Chicago), via our own intra- and interdepartmental communications, We used private social media accounts such as Facebook physician groups to reach out to physicians at other academic medical centers. Survey responses were voluntary and collected anonymously over an eight-week period, without identifiable data. Inclusion criteria included any physician identifying themselves as working full or full or part time in an academic facility in the US and caregivers for children <18 years.ResultsSurvey respondents were mostly female (83.2%), practicing in the Midwest (61.2%), and ranked as assistant professor (59.5%). The majority of respondents had two children (65.1%) who were <11 years in age (85.6%). Most respondents worked full time with 72.8% working over 50% clinically. Childcare was disrupted for 171 of 232 respondents (73.7%); 62.9% struggled with balancing work with childcare; 81.9% worried often or very often about fulfilling their responsibilities. A vast majority, 210 of 232 respondents (90.5%) had some degree of concern about feeling overburdened by their roles. More than half (57.3%) worried that their professional advancement was impacted by the pandemic, and 53.9% considered making adjustments to their clinical workload/. Over half (51.6%) thought that increased domestic responsibilities impacted their professional advancement.ConclusionIn the survey, which was completed primarily by early-career women physicians practicing in a variety of specialties and geographic regions, we noted that childcare disruption amidst the pandemic was extremely prevalent. The majority of respondents reported full-time equivalent work; thus, it is reasonable to assume that significant workloads and limitations in remote work in combination with childcare constraints resulted in significant burden. A large number felt the challenges were negatively impacting their professional development and felt overburdened by their various roles.

Who Am I and Where Do I Belong? The Impact of Heritage Cultural Identity Salience on Immigrant Workers Acculturation Strategies.

There has been growing interest among organizational researchers in the relationship between acculturation strategies and organizational outcomes of immigrant employees. However, what is noticeably missing from the literature on acculturation strategies is how cultural values such as heritage cultural identity salience affect an immigrant employee’s acculturation strategy and subsequent work attitude and behaviors. Drawing on Berry’s (1997) acculturation strategy and framework, we examined heritage cultural identity salience, harmony enhancement, integration and marginalization acculturation strategy, turnover intention, and affective commitment among immigrant employees in the USA. In this time-lagged study, we found that heritage cultural identity salience was negatively related to marginalization and positively related to integration. Harmony enhancement significantly buffered the relationship between heritage cultural identity salience and marginalization and integration, respectively. Heritage cultural identity salience had significant indirect effects on affective commitment via marginalization and both affective commitment and turnover intention via integration. Lastly, results from the moderated mediated analysis showed that the indirect effect of heritage identity salience on affective commitment and turnover intention via integration was significantly different at varying levels of harmony enhancement. Our study affirms existing research on acculturation strategy and extends the literature by introducing harmony enhancement as a moderator. The use of Berry’s (1997) framework and the results of this study provide useful insights into the inclusion and retention of immigrant employees in the US workforce. Practical implications, as well as theoretical contributions, are discussed.

Analysis of Occupational Profiles in the Brazilian Workforce Based on Non-Negative Matrix Factorization

In this work we analyse occupational profiles in the Brazilian workforce through data analysis. To achieve that, we implement NMF clustering over data provided by the Brazilian Ministry of Economy. Additionally, we make use of the data on probability of automation of occupations published in the work of Frey and Osborne, originally developed in the context of the US workforce, to extrapolate a model for the Brazilian workforce. Finally we analyze the resulting datasets, focusing on investigating in which ways these combined data could inform us about the occupational profiles in Brazil.

Migraine in the workplace.

Migraine is prevalent, disabling, and peaks during people's peak productive years. The impact of migraine on people's professional lives, work productivity, and interpersonal relationships at work eventually affects everyone, has a significant detrimental effect on people with migraine, and a huge cost in terms of lost productivity. People with migraine want to work, so they do their best to work despite the varied migraine related and associated symptoms. Most of migraine-related productivity loss (89%) is due to presenteeism. People are less than half effective during a migraine attack due to the pain, migraine symptoms, attack unpredictability, migraine comorbidities, emotional impact, under-diagnosis and under-management, and the stigma. Migraine-related productivity loss may negatively affect people's career choice, job status and/or security, financial status, work relationships, mood, and confidence. Migraine is estimated to represent 16% of total US workforce presenteeism. Thankfully, there are ways to help support people with migraine in the workplace and increase their productivity such as: workplace migraine education programs, workplace migraine education and management programs, migraine-friendly work environment, migraine treatment optimization and advocacy. The example of the successful workplace migraine education and management program developed and run in collaboration between Fujitsu, the Japanase Headache Society, and the International Headache Society Global Patient Advocacy Coalition is discussed.