US Workforce Research Articles

A Control Banding Framework for Protecting the US Workforce from Aerosol Transmissible Infectious Disease Outbreaks with High Public Health Consequences.

Recent high-profile infectious disease outbreaks illustrate the importance of selecting appropriate control measures to protect a wider range of employees, other than those in healthcare settings. In such settings, where routine exposure risks are often high, control measures may be more available, routinely implemented, and studied for effectiveness. In the absence of evidence-based guidelines or established best practices for selecting appropriate control measures, employers may unduly rely on personal protective equipment (PPE) because of its wide availability and pervasiveness as a control measure, circumventing other effective options for protection. Control banding is one approach that may be used to assign job tasks into risk categories and prioritize the application of controls. This article proposes an initial control banding framework for workers at all levels of risk and incorporates a range of control options, including PPE. Using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) risk groups as a surrogate for toxicity and combining the exposure duration with the exposure likelihood, we can generate the risk of a job task to the worker.

DanielCohenThe Infinite Desire for GrowthPrinceton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 184 p. $24.95

As the twenty-first century progresses, Daniel Cohen arrives at a provocative conclusion: “We must try to imagine a world in which happiness and satisfaction with one's life are less dependent on the expectation of constantly earning more (6).” In this slim, erudite volume the director of the Economics Department at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris tells us why. In Part I, “The Origin of Growth,” we quickly move through the millennia during which homo sapiens made the transition from small hunting and gathering groups to large agricultural societies whose growing population densities seem destined to produce mass starvation (à la Malthus) but which eventually provoke the increased innovation (à la Boserup) that led to the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. “Progress,” the Enlightenment ideal, embraced autonomy and freedom in place of a feudal hierarchal social order. The Industrial Revolution redefined the meaning of “progress,” giving it a material foundation: the continual improvement in the living standard of the average individual. Through much of the twentieth century, such an improvement took place and the expectation that it would continue became internalized. But toward the end of the century, incomes stagnated in many developed countries—90 percent of the US population has experienced no growth in purchasing power over the last 30 years. In Part II, “The Future, the Future!” Cohen outlines the debate occurring among economists over what the future holds. There are those (Kurzweil, Moore, Romer) who highlight rapid technological and scientific advances and contend that the twenty-first century will experience “endogenous growth” in the production of wealth at perhaps a 4 percent annual rate. There are others (Frey and Osborne, Gordon, Autor) who see a dark side to the digitalization of the economy. Not only are assembly-line workers being made redundant, but increasingly middle-class jobs—accountant, auditor, pilot, economist, medical staff—are being replaced by computer code. Such “level 2” jobs had been 60 percent of the US workforce in 1970 and have fallen to 45 percent by 2012. These pessimists predict weak growth for the twenty-first century as wealth flows predominately to the few possessing capital. With modest wages generating lackluster demand, the “secular stagnation” (Summers) of economies is likely. The spread of the fertility transition has lessened the likelihood of mass starvation, but the world's seven-fold increase in population and forty-fold increase in energy consumption between 1800 and 2010 has ushered in the Anthropocene Epoch in which earth systems as a whole are being modified by human activities. Rising greenhouse gases are changing climate and necessitating fundamental modifications in economic structures. Maximizing individual incomes can no longer be our major priority. What is to be done? In Part III, “Rethinking Progress,” Cohen contends that that while modern individuals still seek greater happiness through increased wealth, this approach was always bound to fail since research (Easterlin) documents that wealth does not correlate well with happiness. While general contentment might have existed when most were experiencing rising incomes during the twentieth century, this false road to happiness needs to be directly confronted if general despair and anger are to be avoided during an era of slow growth. These times call for a new strategy for achieving happiness: the construction of a global, more truly democratic community; a refocusing of individual desires on “quality, not quantity”; and a commitment to jointly work for the conservation of the planet.

Wendy Chan and Accenture's Upwardly Global Partnership

Wendy Chan, a manager in strategy at Accenture, a global professional services company, was offered the opportunity to help build and formalize a partnership between Accenture and a nonprofit called Upwardly Global. The nonprofit provided job coaching services to work-authorized, college-educated immigrants, refugees, and asylees, helping them rebuild their careers in the United States and fully contribute their talents to the US workforce and economy. The two companies had already been partnering on a small scale, and Chan had been providing pro bono consulting to Upwardly Global on strategies to grow its impact. Chan was personally passionate about Upwardly Global's work, and she believed a partnership would be beneficial to both companies. At the same time, she worried about the career consequences of focusing on a nonprofit; she was unsure how Accenture's executives would react to her proposal; and she was excited but nervous about the possibility of executing a strategy she herself had designed, if the partnership went through. How would a partnership affect each company? What would success look like for the potential partnership? What would success look like for Chan? Excerpt UVA-OB-1285 Apr. 17, 2019 Wendy Chan and Accenture's Upwardly Global Partnership Wendy Chan was a manager in strategy at Accenture, a global professional services company. Returning from maternity leave after the birth of her second child, Chan was offered the opportunity to help build and formalize a partnership between her company and a nonprofit called Upwardly Global. The nonprofit provided job coaching services to work-authorized, college-educated immigrants, refugees, and asylees, helping them rebuild their careers in the United States and fully contribute their talents to the US workforce and economy. Accenture had been partnering with Upwardly Global on a small scale. As part of a process to determine if a larger partnership would be appropriate and mutually beneficial, Chan provided short-term, pro bono consulting services to Upwardly Global and advised its leadership on strategy to grow its impact. During this project, Chan and her team saw opportunities for Upwardly Global to use technology to engage more stakeholders as well as to reach more individual immigrants and refugees who might use the nonprofit's services. She developed a blueprint to guide Upwardly Global to leverage these strategies to make its training programs more accessible and scalable. . . .

PROFILE OF OLDER WORKERS USING THE NATIONAL HEALTH & AGING TRENDS STUDY

The US is experiencing a substantial increase in the proportion of the population who is 65 and older. This “greying of America” necessitates a reexamination of employment and health policies to ensure the economic viability and health of the US population. Older workers are a growing segment of the US workforce representing both a highly experienced and valuable group of individuals; however, due to a myriad of factors, older workers are especially vulnerable to involuntary job loss as they age. Cross sectional analysis using data from the 2016 wave of the National Health & Aging Trends Study was used to provide weighted estimates examining a broad range of health, behavioral, and sociodemographic factors related to older worker labor force participation. Overall, 21% of community dwelling older adults (N=5930) reported working for pay in the last month, with 6% reporting health/function preventing their participation in work. Among current workers (n=946), administrative (11.8%), sales (9.8%), and managerial (8.2%) positions were the most common occupations older adults held. Gender, race, and age all play a significant role in the likelihood of older adult participation in the workforce. By understanding the current profile of older workers in the US, we can more effectively target health and policy resources to support productive and successful aging among older adults seeking to participate in the US workforce.

US Entrepreneurship Education; Missing the Mark for Greater Societal Impact

US workforce economic health continues to deteriorate as contributing stresses mount. Entrepreneurship educators must more broadly define “entrepreneurship”, creating new platforms better preparing society, not just students dreaming of starting something. Beyond entrepreneurship preparation of high school and university students, the task goes to non-traditional education of workers unable to retire and unprepared to finish life as self-employed “unintended entrepreneurs”. The greatest challenge in educating a healthier, more entrepreneurial workforce is first creating awareness of the need. Entrepreneurship educators are best positioned to deliver the needed training, but first must create awareness of the need. If they don’t, who will?

A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Truck Seat Intervention: Part 1-Assessment of Whole Body Vibration Exposures.

Full-time vehicle and heavy equipment operators often have a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, especially low back pain (LBP). In occupations requiring vehicles or heavy equipment operation, exposure to whole body vibration (WBV) has been consistently associated with LBP. LBP is the most common cause of work-related disability and continues to be the leading cause of morbidity and lost productivity in the US workforce. Using a parallel randomized controlled trial design, over a 12-month period, this study evaluated two different seating interventions designed to reduce WBV exposures. Forty professional truck drivers were initially recruited and randomly assigned to one of two groups: (i) a passive suspension/control group-20 drivers who received a new, industry-standard air-suspension seat, and (ii) an intervention group-20 drivers who received an active-suspension seat, which has been shown to reduce vertical WBV exposures by up to 50% compared to passive seats. WBV exposures from the truck seat and floor were collected during driver's full shifts (6-18 h) before (pre-intervention) and after the intervention (0, 3, 6, and 12 months post-intervention) per International Standards Organization (ISO) 2631-1 and 2631-5 WBV standards. After subject dropout and turnover, 16 truck drivers remained in each group. The pre-intervention WBV data showed that there were no differences in the daily equivalent time-weighted average WBV exposures [A(8)], vibration dose values [VDV(8)], and static spinal compression doses [Sed(8)] between the two groups (P's > 0.36). After the new seats were installed, the A(8) values showed that the active suspension/intervention group experienced much greater reduction in the vertical (z) axis [~50%; P = <0.0001; Cohen's d effect size (95% CI) = 1.80 (1.12, 2.48)] exposures when compared to in the passive suspension/control group [~20%; P = 0.23; 0.33 (-0.36, 1.02)]. The post-intervention z-axis VDV(8) and Sed(8) WBV exposure measures were not different between the two seat groups [VDV(8), P = 0.33; 0.35 (-0.32, 1.03); Sed(8), P = 0.61; 0.08 (-0.59, 0.76)]. These study findings indicate that, relative to the current industry-standard, passive air-suspension seats which are ubiquitous in all semi-trucks today, the active suspension seat dramatically reduced average continuous [A(8)] WBV exposures but not periodic, cumulative impulsive exposures [VDV(8) and Sed(8)].

Assessing Diversity across Cultures: A U.S.-Hispanic Perspective

&lt;em&gt;The purpose of this study was to compare workplace diversity perceptions between a US and Hispanic population. This study used the diversity perceptions of a sample of US business students and compared them with a sample of Hispanics using the Reaction to Diversity Inventory (RDI). The means of both samples were tested for significant differences at the p&amp;lt;.05 level using SPSS. A statistically significant difference was noted between the US sample and the Hispanic sample. The data analysis showed a between groups sum of squares=5892.35 and significance at p&amp;lt;.000 level. This study suggests that Hispanic perceptions of diversity are quite different than may be intuitively perceived or portrayed in the literature. The study also reinforces what is already stated in the literature, that collecting and analyzing perceptions can help determine if an organization’s workplace is viable to support diversity initiatives. This study is one among a limited collection of research on Hispanic perceptions of diversity behaviors in the US workforce and illustrates how cultural values of majority-minority populations can potentially impact the design and implementation of diversity initiatives, especially within a global workforce environment.&lt;/em&gt;

Http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol8/iss2/7/

Hispanic Americans make up 15% of the current US workforce, but they only account for 7% of the STEM Education workforce [8]. One effective way to reach this population, particularly Latinas, is by providing stories and ethnographic biographies of successful Latinas they can relate to. It is important to note that Latinas have been earning PhDs in STEM disciplines outside of the US much longer than US-born Latinas have been earning them inside. Thus we offer the story of a mathematics educator, from Peru, Dr. Luz Antonia Mendizábal Gálvez de Rodriguez, a girl who was given a chance to be educated, and whose education opened doors for her and for those she influenced. She earned her PhD in Mathematics Education while raising eight children and working full time and later in life became the school superintendent in Lima, awarded a prestigious national award for her teaching and service. Through a narrative that is part biography and part duoethnography, we chronicle milestones in her journey and explore the intersections of her life with the lives of two other US-born mathematics educators, ourselves. We conclude with some thoughts on revising the storyline by presenting new narratives to empower our communities.

Abstract 16: Home Care Workers Who Care for Adults With Heart Failure: A Community-Partnered Qualitative Study

Background: Paid home care workers (HCWs) represent one of the fastest growing sectors of the US workforce and healthcare industry. They are increasingly utilized by home-dwelling adults with heart failure (HF) for long term assistance and post-acute care. Yet, little is known about the perspectives of HCWs regarding their role in HF management and as part of the healthcare team. Objective: We sought to understand the perspectives of HCWs who take care of adults with HF as the foundation for the development of future intervention(s). Methods: We conducted 8 focus groups with English and Spanish-speaking HCWs at the 1199SEIU’s Home Care Industry Education Fund, a non-profit organization that oversees the training of 65,000 HCWs from 50 home care agencies across NYC. Eligibility criteria included taking care of a client with HF within the last year and being a HCW for at least 2 years. Purposeful sampling ensured equal representation of English and Spanish speaking HCWs. Focus groups were audio recorded and professionally transcribed. Data were organized using qualitative software and analyzed using grounded theory. Results: The 46 participants were mean age of 49 years (SD 10), 45 (98%) were female, 17 (37%) were Black, 25 (54%) were Hispanic, and 42 (91%) had at least a high school education. Participants had been HCWs for 16 years (8.4 SD) and spent 3.5 days per week (1.8 SD) with HF clients. Seven major themes emerged: 1. HF has an unpredictable disease course, which is frightening to HCWs. “One minute we’re watching TV and the next, he crumps.” 2. HCWs often assist with HF management , although most have not received HF training. “Over time, you pick up on the symptoms - the shortness of breath, the swollen legs. But, I’ve never received HF training.” 3. Communication is fragmented. ?No one at the agency picks up the phone, so I just take him to the emergency room instead.? 4. HCWs are ignored by the healthcare team. “We’re with the clients all day, more than anyone else. So why aren’t we included in the conversation?” 5. Role definition is lacking . “The agency doesn’t make clear who we are or what we do. We aren’t just the help!” 6. Delicate family dynamics. “I’m always in the middle and I can’t afford to lose my job.” 7. Social isolation and burnout. “I’m with her all day, and she has Dementia too. It’s hard -- I’ve literally got nobody to talk to.” Conclusions and Implications: Our findings suggest that while HCWs are frequently involved in their clients’ HF management, most have not received formal HF training or resources. Additionally, despite spending so much time caring for their clients, they often feel invisible to healthcare providers. HF-specific training, as well as interventions that aim to integrate HCWs into the healthcare team, may improve HCWs’ HF knowledge and the quality of care delivered to adults with HF.

Highly engaged but burned out: intra-individual profiles in the US workforce

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use the job demands-resources model to investigate intra-individual engagement-burnout profiles, and demands-resources profiles.Design/methodology/approachA representative sample of the US workforce was surveyed online. Latent profile analysis (LPA) and configural frequency analysis examined intra-individual profiles and their inter-relations.FindingsA negative inter-individual correlation between engagement and burnout suggested that burnout tends to be lower when engagement is high, but intra-individual analyses identified both aligned engagement-burnout profiles (high, moderate, and low on both variables), and discrepant profiles (high engagement – low burnout; high burnout – low engagement). High engagement and burnout co-occurred in 18.8 percent of workers. These workers reported strong mixed (positive and negative) emotions and intended to leave their organization. Another LPA identified three demands-resources profiles: low demands – low resources, but moderate self-efficacy, low workload and bureaucracy demands but moderate information processing demands – high resources, and high demands – high resources. Workers with high engagement – high burnout profiles often reported high demands – high resources profiles. In contrast, workers with high engagement – low burnout profiles often reported profiles of high resources, moderate information processing demands, and low other demands.Originality/valueThis study examined the intersection of intra-individual engagement-burnout profiles and demands-resources profiles. Previous studies examined only one of these sides or relied on inter-individual analyses. Interestingly, many employees appear to be optimally engaged while they are burned-out and considering to leave their jobs. Demands and resources facets were distinguished in the LPA, revealing that some demands were associated with resources and engagement.

The Big, Gig Picture: We Can't Assume the Same Constructs Matter

I am concerned about industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology's relevance to the gig economy, defined here as the broad trends toward technology-based platform work. This sort of work happens on apps like Uber (where the app connects drivers and riders) and sites like MTurk (where human intelligence tasks, or HITs, are advertised to workers on behalf of requesters). We carry on with I-O research and practice as if technology comprises only things (e.g., phones, websites, platforms) that we use to assess applicants and complete work. However, technology has much more radically restructured work as we know it, to happen in a much more piecemeal, on-demand fashion, reviving debates about worker classification and changing the reality of work for many workers (Sundararajan, 2016). Instead of studying technology as a thing we use, it's critical that we “zoom out” to see and adapt our field to this bigger picture of trends towards a gig economy. Rather than a phone being used to check work email or complete pre-hire assessments, technology and work are inseparable. For example, working on MTurk requires constant Internet access (Brawley, Pury, Switzer, &amp; Saylors, 2017; Ma, Khansa, &amp; Hou, 2016). Alarmingly, some researchers describe these workers as precarious (Spretizer, Cameron, &amp; Garrett, 2017), dependent on an extremely flexible (a label that is perhaps euphemistic for unreliable) source of work. Although it's unlikely that all workers consider their “gig” a full time job or otherwise necessary income, at least some workers do: An estimated 10–40% of MTurk workers consider themselves serious gig workers (Brawley &amp; Pury, 2016). Total numbers for the broader gig economy are only growing, with recent tax-based estimates including 34% of the US workforce now and up to 43% within 3 years (Gillespie, 2017). It appears we're seeing some trends in work reverse and return to piece work (e.g., a ride on Uber, a HIT on MTurk) as if we've simply digitized the assembly line (Davis, 2016). Over time, these trends could accelerate, and we could potentially see total elimination of work (Morrison, 2017).

Still Only Part Way Home: Part-Time Work and Underemployment in Illinois and Its Region

Despite gradually declining in the US over the last 8 straight years of economic recovery from the Great Recession, the rate of involuntary part-time working remains stubbornly high in the State of Illinois. Over a quarter million workers were employed but working part-time for economic reasons in Illinois. Illinois ranks 10th among the 50 states in the number of involuntary part-time workers. Illinois’ rate of labor underutilization has one in ten workers either fully or partially unemployed, still well above the pre-recession rate and the US national average. Policies are needed to accelerate its return to prior levels. Examining recent trends and patterns in involuntary part time working finds that involuntary part time working has declined for cyclical reasons but remains elevated for possible structural reasons. In particular, working only part time hours for the reason of “inability to find full time work” has all but plateaued in recent years, and trended upwards over the period since the year 2000 in the US, East-North-Central (ENC) census region and state of Illinois. The current number of part timers who are working part time for the reason of only being able to find part time work is still more than double the levels observed at the start of the last recession. In Illinois, the number working involuntary part-time escalated from roughly 100,000 to well over 400,000 thousand in 2010, and to date remains well above 200,000 workers. As a proportion of total employment in Illinois, involuntary part-time workers rose from less than 2 percent to over 9 percent and stayed above 7 percent until 2013. The number has since shrunk to between 4 and 5 percent but remains above the national proportion of 3 to 4 percent. Involuntary part-time working due to “slack work and business conditions,” is still somewhat higher in Illinois and in the 5-state region than in the past. Within the single key industry of Recreation/Hospitality, in the ENC region, working part time hours involuntarily remains almost double the number at the start of the recession period and displays a steep upward long-term trend through the period. Moreover, when examining transitions, flows of workers out of involuntary part time working and full time employment has become either less rapid or less likely, starting with the Great Recession. Those who were either unemployed or involuntarily part-time 12 months prior are more likely to be involuntarily part time than they were prior to the Recession. When expanding the scope of underemployment beyond just part timers, the rate of more broadly-defined, time-related underemployment encompasses more than a third of the US and ENC regional work force. The ENC region figure is above all but two of the nine census regions. The prevalence of worker desire to work more hours is disproportionately higher in certain industries, such as retail, food and accommodation and for younger and lower income groups. Addressing underemployment, for part-time workers and others, requires public policy innovations and reforms that go beyond general economic expansion and job growth. Three sets of policies are proposed here, to both improve the quality of part time jobs and the experience of the job incumbents while curbing employer over-reliance on part-time jobs. This includes unemployment insurance reform and short-time compensation, more predictive (secure, fair) scheduling and providing first or priority access to available work hours for the underemployed part-timers plus an employee right to request additional work hours from their employer without fear of retaliation.

Are Workplace Psychosocial Factors Associated With Work-Related Injury in the US Workforce?: National Health Interview Survey, 2010.

Psychosocial hazards in the workplace may adversely impact occupational and general health, including injury risk. Among 16,417 adult workers in the 2010 National Health Interview Survey Occupational Health Supplement, weighted prevalence estimates were calculated for work-related injuries (WRI) and any injuries. The association between injury and psychosocial occupational hazards (job insecurity, work-family imbalance, hostile work environment) was assessed adjusting for sociodemographic and occupational factors. WRI prevalence was 0.65% (n = 99); any injury prevalence was 2.46% (n = 427). In multivariable models job insecurity, work-family imbalance, and hostile work environment were each positively associated with WRI prevalence (odds ratio [OR]: 1.60, 95% CI: 0.97-2.65; OR: 1.69, 95% CI 0.96-2.89; and 2.01, 95% CI 0.94-4.33, respectively). Stressful working conditions may contribute to injuries. There is need for ongoing surveillance of occupational psychosocial risk factors and further study of their relationship with injury.

The IT Boom and Other Unintended Consequences of Chasing the American Dream

With the majority of all H-1B visas going to Indians, we study how US immigration policy coupled with the internet boom affected both the US and Indian economies, and in particular both countries’ IT sectors. The H-1B scheme led to a tech boom in both countries, inducing substantial gains in firm productivity and consumer welfare in both the United States and India. We find that the US-born workers gained $431 million in 2010 as a result of the H-1B scheme. In India, the H-1B program induced Indians to switch to computer science (CS) occupations, increasing the CS workforce and raising overall IT output in India by 5 percent. Indian students enrolled in engineering schools to gain employment in the rapidly growing US IT industry via the H-1B visa program. Those who could not join the US workforce, due to the H-1B cap, remained in India, and along with return-migrants, enabled the growth of an Indian IT sector, which led to the outsourcing of some production to India. The migration and rise in Indian exports induced a small number of US workers to switch to non-CS occupations, with distributional impacts. Our general equilibrium model captures firm-hiring across various occupations, innovation and technology diffusion, and dynamic worker decisions to choose occupations and fields of major in both the United States and India. Supported by a rich descriptive analysis of the changes in the 1990s and 2000s, we match data moments and show that our model captures levels and trends of key variables in validation tests. We perform counter-factual exercises and find that on average, workers in each country are better off because of high-skill migration.

Job-to-Job Flows and Earnings Growth

The US workforce has had little change in real wages, income, or earnings since the year 2000. However, even when there is little change in the average rate at which workers are compensated, individual workers experienced a distribution of wage and earnings changes. In this paper, we demonstrate how earnings evolve in the US economy in the years 2001-2014 on a forthcoming dataset on earnings for stayers and transitioners from the U.S. Census Bureau's Job-to-Job Flows data product. We account for the roles of on-the-job earnings growth, job-to-job flows, and nonemployment in the growth of U.S. earnings.

Abstract P005: Improving Heart Health in the Workplace: Results From the First Year of the American Heart Association’s Workplace Health Achievement Index

Background: Comprehensive workplace wellness programs (CWWPs) have the potential to improve the heart health of the US workforce. To accelerate the adoption of these programs, the American Heart Association launched the Workplace Health Achievement Index (WHAI). The WHAI is an online scorecard that evaluates a workplace’s culture of health and the aggregate heart health score of its workforce as measured by Life’s Simple 7. Evidence from other workplace scorecards indicate that smaller companies achieve lower scores. Objective: To quantify differences in WHAI scores and score components between smaller (&lt;250 employees) and larger (250+ employees) worksites. Methods: The total WHAI score is derived from 55 structure and process measures across seven best-practice domains and performance metrics based on employee Life’s Simple 7 data. Data from the first WHAI cycle (Feb 1 - June 30, 2016) were analyzed from 239 worksites that provided structure and process information. All data were stratified according to company size (smaller vs. larger). Differences in practice and performance measures were assessed across groups using Pearson chi-square tests or paired t-tests. Results: Overall, 5% of workplaces submitted the required amount of heart health metrics data (≥25% of employees) for eligibility. Smaller companies achieved a lower total WHAI score and lower scores across all domains except for Partnerships (Table 1). Conclusion: Lower WHAI scores for smaller companies may be due to limited resources and capacity to implement CWWPs. Low submission of performance metrics highlights the challenge of including these data in a comprehensive assessment of CWWPs. To meet its 2020 Goals, AHA should consider providing smaller companies with resources to implement CWWPs and develop strategies to increase submission of employee Life’s Simple 7 data. Table 1: Differences in mean AHA Index scores between small and large companies *Sample sizes too small for meaningful comparison.

Prevalence of Mindfulness Practices in the US Workforce: National Health Interview Survey.

IntroductionMindfulness-based practices can improve workers’ health and reduce employers’ costs by ameliorating the negative effect of stress on workers’ health. We examined the prevalence of engagement in 4 mindfulness-based practices in the US workforce.MethodsWe used 2002, 2007, and 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data for adults (aged ≥18 y, n = 85,004) to examine 12-month engagement in meditation, yoga, tai chi, and qigong among different groups of workers.ResultsReported yoga practice prevalence nearly doubled from 6.0% in 2002 to 11.0% in 2012 (P < .001); meditation rates increased from 8.0% in 2002 to 9.9% in 2007 (P < .001). In multivariable models, mindfulness practice was significantly lower among farm workers (odds ratio [OR] = 0.42; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.21–0.83]) and blue-collar workers (OR = 0.63; 95% CI, 0.54–0.74) than among white-collar workers.ConclusionWorker groups with low rates of engagement in mindfulness practices could most benefit from workplace mindfulness interventions. Improving institutional factors limiting access to mindfulness-based wellness programs and addressing existing beliefs about mindfulness practices among underrepresented worker groups could help eliminate barriers to these programs.

Drug use Pattern among Health Care workers

Background: Most employers of labor in the US require potential employees to undergo mandatory urine drug screen (UDS). Though UDS is not regarded as a medical exam, it is often done post offer pre hire. Other reasons for UDS in the workplace include, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, deterrent and random testing among others. Some studies have noted a negative correlation between workplace drug testing and employee substance use. Objectives: To gain an understanding of the pattern of drugs of abuse use by health care workers who care for the sick compared to the general US work force. Methods: We reviewed drug test results reported by a toxicology laboratory and a medical review officer (MRO) from January 2011 to December 2014 for a health care facility that employs over 16,000 workers. We then compared the results with the drugs consumed by the donor prior to donating the specimen as documented by the MRO. We also compared the result with the pattern of drug use by the general US work force. Results: A total of 4166 urine drug screens (UDS) were done at the medical center over the study period. Dextroamphetamine and lisdexamfetamine were the predominant drugs used by the health care providers resulting in a positive UDS for amphetamine (1.3%), followed by marijuana (0.56%) Marijuana was the predominant drug of abuse (1.9%) in the combined US work force followed by amphetamine (0.90%). Conclusion: Legally prescribed medications for attention deficit disorder (ADD) were responsible for over 50% of the positive UDS result. These scheduled drugs with abuse potential are not without significant side effects. The UDS immunoassay and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) currently in use cannot determine whether someone is abusing a legally prescribed medication or not. There is need for future research to determine from the UDS whether an employee is abusing a legally prescribed medication.

An Injury to One is an Injury to All? US Labour's Divergent Reactions to Trump

6 | International Union Rights | 24/2 FOCUS | UNITED STATES An Injury to One is an Injury to All? US Labour’s Divergent Reactions to Trump Arshiya Chime is a union member helping to rescue the world from climate change. Once she gets her doctorate degree later this year from the University of Washington, she will become a highly prized mechanical engineer, helping economies become less dependent on oil while protecting the environment and creating jobs. But Chime, a leader in her graduate student employees union, United Auto Workers Local 4121, is not welcome in Donald Trump’s vision of America. As an Iranian immigrant, she’s denied the right to freely travel. If Trump’s Muslim travel ban orders ultimately are upheld, Chime would probably have to take her expertise to another country, because US firms won’t want to hire someone unable to work on foreign projects and attend international conferences. Chime is not alone. About 30 percent of her fellow graduate student employees at the University of Washington are international students, many of them from countries included in the Trump travel ban. When the White House announced the ban in late January, Chime’s union rallied with other labour groups, immigrant rights organisations, faith allies and political activists, staging impromptu airport mass marches and shutdowns. Chime and other UAW 4121 leaders mobilised public opinion1 by speaking out at press conferences, organising teachins , and by joining the lawsuit that ultimately blocked Trump’s ban. Other union leaders, unfortunately, seem to have forgotten the picket line refrain, ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’. The same month, but a political galaxy away from the boisterous airport demonstrations, construction union leaders exited an Oval Office meeting to rave about the new president’s pledge to boost infrastructure spending. ‘we have a common bond with the president’, gushed Sean McGarvey, head of North America’s Building Trade Unions2. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Trump for talking up jobs in his first joint congressional address3 and could barely manage a milquetoast riposte4 to Trump’s xenophobic attacks on people like Arshiya Chime. The divergent labour reactions frame the stark choice facing the US union movement: build fighting working class solidarity, or a hunker down in a desperate every-union-for-itself strategy. Today’s situation is perilous. US unions represent barely 10 percent of the US workforce, down from 33 percent in the 1950s. Union leaders across the political spectrum are quick to pin blame for the present crisis on relentless union-busting and hostile politicians. That’s accurate – but not a complete explanation. Corporate America’s insatiable profit drive is only half of our problem; the other half is the movement itself. The disastrous situation didn’t materialise overnight. Rather, the seeds of today’s ruinous harvest were planted 70 years ago. An Era of Union Complacency By the end of World War II, US union membership had soared, reaching a third of all workers. In manufacturing, fully 69 percent of production workers were covered by union agreements. Militant strikes during and right after the war pushed demands for a greater share of the economic pie along with social demands like price controls. In 1946 alone, 4.6 million workers went on strike – about 1 in every 20 in the paid US workforce. But rather than build on that nascent power, most union leaders determined to make peace with political and business elites, believing – incorrectly – that the tripartite domestic détente of World War II was still alive. Even before Senator Joe McCarthy’s witch-hunts, unions started purging communists and other suspected radicals from their ranks, seeking to demonstrate their loyalty to government and business. The leadership of the labour federation that emerged in the 1950s steered away from organising more workers. AFL-CIO president George Meany famously declared, ‘I used to worry about the size of the membership. I stopped worrying because to me it doesn’t make any difference. The organised fellow is the only fellow that counts’. Most union leaders focused on securing economic gains for their largely white memberships, tamping down militant insurgency in the ranks, giving lip service to the emerging civil and...

Absenteeism and Employer Costs Associated With Chronic Diseases and Health Risk Factors in the US Workforce.

IntroductionEmployers may incur costs related to absenteeism among employees who have chronic diseases or unhealthy behaviors. We examined the association between employee absenteeism and 5 conditions: 3 risk factors (smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity) and 2 chronic diseases (hypertension and diabetes).MethodsWe identified 5 chronic diseases or risk factors from 2 data sources: MarketScan Health Risk Assessment and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Absenteeism was measured as the number of workdays missed because of sickness or injury. We used zero-inflated Poisson regression to estimate excess absenteeism as the difference in the number of days missed from work by those who reported having a risk factor or chronic disease and those who did not. Covariates included demographics (eg, age, education, sex) and employment variables (eg, industry, union membership). We quantified absenteeism costs in 2011 and adjusted them to reflect growth in employment costs to 2015 dollars. Finally, we estimated absenteeism costs for a hypothetical small employer (100 employees) and a hypothetical large employer (1,000 employees).ResultsAbsenteeism estimates ranged from 1 to 2 days per individual per year depending on the risk factor or chronic disease. Except for the physical inactivity and obesity estimates, disease- and risk-factor–specific estimates were similar in MEPS and MarketScan. Absenteeism increased with the number of risk factors or diseases reported. Nationally, each risk factor or disease was associated with annual absenteeism costs greater than $2 billion. Absenteeism costs ranged from $16 to $81 (small employer) and $17 to $286 (large employer) per employee per year.ConclusionAbsenteeism costs associated with chronic diseases and health risk factors can be substantial. Employers may incur these costs through lower productivity, and employees could incur costs through lower wages.