White-collar Jobs Research Articles

Successfully Implementing Technical and Vocational Education and Training Programmes in Secondary Schools

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) plays a critical role in developing essential labour market skills. While the original goal of TVET, which is still prominent today, was to prepare youth to enter the workforce by training them to be work ready, the global technological revolution and innovations in science and technology demands higher levels of education and technological skills for the 21st century. TVET has evolved to meet the needs of industry and countries. Strengthening technical and vocational education at the secondary education level provides a wider transformational vision for students to have the opportunity to gain these skills. There are challenges, which are more prevalent in some countries than others. For example, perception and participation in TVET has traditionally been stigmatized in favour of white-collar jobs. Additional challenges include contemporary curriculum and facilities, training and development of staff, and financial strains, which many developing nations have. This article sets out to provide information and guidance on the implementation of TVET programmes and focuses on: strong or emerging global TVET practice, with a focus on the secondary school sector; key features of successful practice, in order to extract the most relevant lessons; and the most common global challenges in developing successful TVET programmes, and how these can be addressed. While the article focuses on secondary education it contextualises this within the wider TVET and vocational education systems.

A proposed DEMATEL based framework for appraising challenges in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector

The Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) sector is a source of livelihood for many people that cannot get white-collar jobs. However, the sector has a plethora of challenges that threaten its economic stability and/or growth. These need to be mitigated or ameliorated through strategic policy response. To attain this, the criticality levels of challenges should be quantitatively assessed based on their intensity and ability to influence or cause other challenges. Currently, no quantitative framework has been developed for this undertaking. Therefore, in this paper, a DEMATEL based framework integrating an expert questionnaire survey, intensity-influence scoring matrix, and sensitivity analysis has been proposed. The framework identifies and ranks critical challenges to prioritize policy response. To illustrate its practical application, it was applied in the assessment of challenges in Zambia's artisanal and small-scale manganese mining sector. Results show that the number of highly, mildly, and tolerably critical challenges are three, four, and one, respectively. Highly, mildly, and tolerably critical challenges are those having a criticality rating of (12–25), (6–10), and (1–5), respectively. The proposed framework has the potential to be used by governments to aid the systematic and strategic formulation of policies that can mitigate critical causal challenges to attain economic stability and/or growth of the ASM sector.

From the Editor

From the Editor

Towards building a Deep Learning based Automated Indian Classical Music Tutor for the Masses

• Addresses a humanitarian concern and presents a possible social innovation. • State-of-the-art Deep Learning techniques for music classification. • Deployed in a highly scalable, orchestrated, and containerized cloud environment. • A substantial literature survey. • Results are acceptably accurate. Music can play an important role in the well-being of the world. Indian classical music is unique in its requirement for rigorous, disciplined, expert-led training that typically goes on for years before the learner can reach a reasonable level of performance. This keeps many, including the first author of this paper, away from mastering the skill. The problem is particularly compounded in rural areas, where the available expertise may be limited and prohibitively expensive, but the interest in learning classical music still prevails, nevertheless. Machine Learning has been complementing, enhancing, and replacing many white-collar jobs and we believe it can help with this problem as well. This paper describes efforts at using Machine Learning techniques, particularly, Long Short-Term Memory for building a system that is a step toward provisioning an Indian Classical Music Tutor for the masses. The system is deployed in the cloud using orchestrated containerization for potential worldwide access, load balancing, and other robust features.

Desk and Derrick: The Women's Petroleum Industry Club That Envisioned Oil's Technocratic Future

AbstractThis article uncovers the hidden history of Desk and Derrick, a female-only petroleum industry employees’ club, to emphasize the importance of clerical work and support staff to oil industry development. In doing so, it demonstrates that despite the oil industry's mythology of individual inventors and lucky wildcatters, oil was remarkably similar to other large-scale scientific and engineering enterprises during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, oil's white-collar and administrative jobs expanded rapidly. And in this industry as in others, women were fundamental to oil industry technological development and labor conflicts. Desk and Derrick's was a haven for working women, providing community, training, and leadership opportunities in an industry deeply hostile to female employees. The club provided numerous outreach and educational campaigns included seminars, workshops, fieldtrips, and conventions. These events showcased female competence and technical knowledge, clashing with union derision and corporate dismissal. The club's vocal emphasis on scientific education and credentialization represented a bid for female inclusion within an increasingly technically complex professional world. However, entrenched workplace sexism and union hostility to changing labor structures limited member opportunities. Ultimately, Desk and Derrick's middle-class aspirations allied the club with industry rebranding efforts and helped support industry automation and union-busting. Desk and Derrick valorized industry engineers and scientific professionals, spreading narratives of prosperity through technology that coincided with industry-wide efforts to repair oil companies’ reputations as greedy, wasteful, and exploitative. In turn, midcentury oil companies promoted Desk and Derrick as a convenient, grassroots way to spread their message.

Human capital and welfare receipt among North Korean defectors in South Korea

Using multinomial logistic regressions, this study examines whether human capital accumulated in North Korea (NK) or South Korea (SK) is associated with decreases in welfare receipt among North Korean Defectors (NKDs) in SK. Human capital is measured by (1) (higher) education in NK or SK, (2) work experience in NK or SK, and (3) participation in the employment support programs in SK. This study shows that there are two ways to ensure the economic well-being of NKDs: through employment and marriage. Removing the confounding effect from marriage, it suggests that higher education in NK is associated with decreases in full receipt of welfare and that both blue-collar and white-collar job experience in SK is associated with decreases in both partial and full receipt. It also suggests that license acquisition support is associated with decreases in both partial and full receipt. These findings imply that to facilitate the economic adjustment of NKDs, the government needs to focus on accumulating the human capital of NKDs, mostly without higher education in NK, through work experience in SK.

Birth defects associated with paternal firefighting in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.

Few studies have evaluated birth defects among children of firefighters. We investigated associations between birth defects and paternal work as a firefighter compared to work in non-firefighting and police officer occupations. We analyzed 1997-2011 data from the multi-site case-control National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Cases included fetuses or infants with major structural birth defects and controls included a random sample of live-born infants without major birth defects. Mothers of infants self-reported information about parents' occupations held during pregnancy. We investigated associations between paternal firefighting and birth defect groups using logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Referent groups included families reporting fathers working non-firefighting and police officer jobs. Occupational groups included 227 firefighters, 36,285 non-firefighters, and 433 police officers. Twenty-nine birth defects were analyzed. In adjusted analyses, fathers of children with total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR;OR = 3.1; 95% CI = 1.1-8.7), cleft palate (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.0-3.3), cleft lip (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.2-4.2), and transverse limb deficiency (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.1-4.7) were more likely than fathers of controls to be firefighters, versus non-firefighters. In police-referent analyses, fathers of children with cleft palate were 2.4 times more likely to be firefighters than fathers of controls (95% CI = 1.1-5.4). Paternal firefighting may be associated with an elevated risk of birth defects in offspring. Additional studies are warranted to replicate these findings. Further research may contribute to a greater understanding of the reproductive health of firefighters and their families for guiding workplace practices.

Vanishing social classes? Facts and figures of the Italian labour market

This paper analyses medium-term labour market trends from 1983 to 2018 in Italy relying on the “Rilevazione dei contratti di lavoro” from INPS archive which provides information on average salaries by professional category, age, gender, and geographical origin. Within an overall pattern of exacerbated wage inequalities, documented by means of different indicators, the empirical analysis highlights how the within-component of the wage variation prevails in the gender, age and geographical dimensions. By contrast, the between-component in terms of professional categories (trainees, blue-collar jobs, white-collar jobs, middle managers, executives) is the only between-variation attribute to prevail, corroborating the role played by a reduced class schema, excluding capitalists and the self-employed, in explaining wage inequality. Regression-based inequality estimations confirm the role played by managerial remuneration, the contradictory located class, in driving divergent patterns. Stratification of wage losses is recorded to be largely concentrated among blue-collar professional categories, women, youth, and in Southern regions.

Having the right face for the job: The effect of facial width-to-height ratio on job selection preferences.

Prior research has found that various job candidate characteristics can influence hiring decisions. The current work used experimental methods to test how a novel, appearance-based cue known as a facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) can bias hiring preferences. A first study provides evidence for our initial hypothesis: people believed high fWHR candidates would be a better fit for blue-collar jobs compared with low fWHR candidates, who were in turn favoured for white-collar jobs. A second study replicates this initial finding and extends it by demonstrating that the effect of fWHR-derived trait inferences of strength and intelligence on hireability predictably varies by job type. Finally, in a third study, we find that this bias reverses when traditional stereotypes of blue-collar and white-collar jobs requiring physicality and intellect are subverted, finding that perceptions of the fit between face type and presumed job requirements matter most for hiring preferences. Together, these findings demonstrate how a seemingly subtle appearance-based cue can have robust implications for hiring.

Women’s Higher Education, Assortative Mating, and Empowerment: Long-Term Evidence from College Enrollment Expansion in South Korea

This study examines the impact of higher education on women’s bargaining power in the household in South Korea. Utilising the nationwide college expansion programs in South Korea in 1979 and 1981 as a natural experiment, this study uses 6181 married women born between 1943 and 1976 and adopts the birth cohort as an instrumental variable to identify women that benefitted from the programs. The results show that more years of schooling increased women’s property ownership and decision-making power at home, which is further explained by three channels. The first channel, related to women’s economic resources, indicates that education increased women’s likelihood of being employed, having a white-collar job, absolute income, and age at marriage. However, it did not increase women’s relative income compared to their husbands’. Second, consistent with the assortative mating theory, higher education encouraged women to marry a partner who has a prestigious job and is closer to their education level and age. Third, the channel of gender role attitudes revealed that more years of schooling led women to realize the need for financial independence from their spouses. These findings show how access to higher education for women improved gender equality in South Korean society.

Invalidation, Desire and Destruction in Willa Cather’s Paul Case

Willa Cather’s short story “Paul’s Case” depicts how constant reproaches and invalidation of parents and teachers make an adverse effect on a child’s personality growth that might lead to tragic end of life. Paul, a motherless child, is suspended from the class and is brought in front of the inquisition jury at the office of Pittsburg High School for his clarification of his ill manners. He could not satisfy the jury the reasons for his manners and they suggest his father not to let Paul to work in the concert where he works as an usher. Then his father finds him a job in a business office from which he steals money and goes to New York. There he spends money lavishly but as the amount lowers and he comes to know that his father is coming to receive, he fears to meet him and commits suicide. This article explores how constant reproaches and invalidation mar the personality of a child from humanistic psychological perspective. Carl Roger’s Humanistic perspective of personality growth assumes that a child possesses full potentials for his or her growth and if he or she is given appropriate environment for his growth, he experiences full growth. But the social or familial imposition of their obligations mar the growth and sometimes such obligations lead to death of a child. Paul, who is suppressed and invalidated at home and at school uses concert as a place to comfort. As his father does not let him work there, he finds no palace to ease him. In the desperate mood, he steals money and spends lavishly for sometimes. But the thought of meeting his father distresses him so much that he finds no other ways than committing suicide.

Employers' Speech-Based First Impressions of Cochlear Implant Users.

This study is part of a series on speech-based first impressions of prelingually deaf cochlear implant (CI) users with differing speech intelligibility. Hiring managers with typical hearing (TH) rated CI users and TH young adults on various personality traits and suitability as job applicants after hearing recorded speech samples. Similar to prior peer listeners, managers rated TH speakers more positively than highly intelligible CI users (CI-Hi), with less-intelligible CI users rated even more negatively. Managers for white-collar or high-communication jobs rated CI-Hi lower than did managers of blue-collar or low-communication jobs. Positive attitudes and experience with deafness improved ratings of CI users. While underlining the importance of intelligibility, these patterns also highlight the impact of listeners' underlying attitudes on their initial judgments of CI users, which could affect deaf employment opportunities. The study calls for workplace education about hearing loss and deaf communication to improve deaf inclusion and employment rates.

Inforpreneurship: Opportunities and Challenges for Library and Information Science Professionals in 21st Century

The 21st century has offered unlimited opportunities to library and information science (LIS) professionals to explore their potentials and engage in productive ventures through the use of Internet and digital technologies. The objectives of this paper was to explore inforpreneurship opportunities that library and information science professionals could venture in the information industry as well as unravel the challenges that might be encountered especially in today’s world of 21st century. The opportunities discussed include: information brokerage, information systems consultancy, blogging and advertisement, web development/programming, database designing/distribution as well as internet café / business centre. The study stressed that these opportunities could enable tech-savvy LIS professionals to engage in one or more of these ventures without necessarily waiting for white collar jobs from the government. They could also offer job opportunities to themselves and to others, become self-reliant, as well as prestige associated with the jobs which could ultimately contribute in boosting the economy of the country, reduce unemployment and empower people. Challenges bedevilling LIS professionals from engaging in inforpreneurship as highlighted by this study include: lack of inforpreneurial spirit and fear of competition, lack of requisite skills/expertise, lack of adequate funds/capital, lack of adequate electricity and bandwidth and poor patronage from fellow citizens. Finally, the study recommended encouraging LIS professionals to develop inforpreneurship spirit during their course of study, reviewing curriculums that could inculcate inforpreneurship ideas in students, granting soft loans to graduates who are endowed with inforpreneurship ideas, improving power supply as well as encouraging fellow citizens towards patronising information products and services produced locally.

ANGANAWADIS HELP THE POOREST MEMBERS OF SOCIETY OBTAIN FOOD FOR PROPER NUTRITION

The Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) programme,which is run at the state level and addresses the health needs of young children nationwide,was established by the Indian government in 1975.The basic ICDS employees who manage the Anganawadi centre and carry out the ICDS programme in collaboration with staff members from the health, education,rural development,and other departments are known as Anganawadi workers and helpers.Additionally,they offer assistance for the health and nutrition of teenage girls, nursing moms, and pregnant women. Approximately 2 million Anganawadi workers are helping 70 million women, children, and sick individuals become and maintain their health in India today.The goal of the current study,titled "Socio-economic Conditions of Anganawadi Employees," is to examine the working conditions, socioeconomic circumstances, difficulties, and challenges faced by Anganawadi workers.Furthermore,unlike other government office jobs,these teachers don't have a set workday.However,it should be mentioned that the government pays Anganawadi employees a very little honorarium. Unexpectedly, these employees lack retirement benefits for which there are no governmental regulations. The Anganawadi labourers live below the poverty line as a result of their decreased salary.As a result,their families are also dealing with socioeconomic issues.

Leveraging 13 million responses to the U.S. COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey to examine vaccine hesitancy, vaccination, and mask wearing, January 2021-February 2022

BackgroundThe urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic called upon the joint efforts from the scientific and private sectors to work together to track vaccine acceptance and prevention behaviors.MethodsOur study utilized individual responses to the Delphi Group at Carnegie Mellon University U.S. COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey, in partnership with Facebook. We retrieved survey data from January 2021 to February 2022 (n = 13,426,245) to examine contextual and individual-level predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, vaccination, and mask wearing in the United States. Adjusted logistic regression models were developed to examine individual and ZIP code predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and vaccination status. Given the COVID-19 vaccine was rolled out in phases in the U.S. we conducted analyses stratified by time, January 2021-May 2021 (Time 1) and June 2021-February 2022 (Time 2).ResultsIn January 2021 only 9% of U.S. Facebook respondents reported receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, and 45% were vaccine hesitant. By February 2022, 80% of U.S. Facebook respondents were vaccinated and only 18% were vaccine hesitant. Individuals who were older, held higher educational degrees, worked in white collar jobs, wore a mask most or all the time, and identified as white and Asian had higher COVID-19 vaccination rates and lower vaccine hesitancy across Time 1 and Time 2. Essential workers and blue-collar occupations had lower COVID vaccinations and higher vaccine hesitancy. By Time 2, all adults were eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, but blacks and multiracial individuals had lower vaccination and higher vaccine hesitancy compared to whites. Those 55 years and older and females had higher odds of wearing masks most or all the time. Protective service, construction, and installation and repair occupations had lower odds of wearing masks. ZIP Code level percentage of the population with a bachelors’ which was associated with mask wearing, higher vaccination, and lower vaccine hesitancy.ConclusionAssociations found in earlier phases of the pandemic were generally found to also be present later in the pandemic, indicating stability in inequities. Additionally, inequities in these important outcomes suggests more work is needed to bridge gaps to ensure that the burden of COVID-19 risk does not disproportionately fall upon subgroups of the population.

Beating the Employment Challenges: How Unemployed Youths Generate Income for their Households

Youth unemployment remains a global threat to the achievement of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. It impedes the fight to end poverty in all its forms, limits opportunities to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and undermines a country’s ability to reduce inequalities. In Sub-Saharan African nations, the unemployment rate is particularly high because the environment is prone to volatility caused by poor governance, chronic conflicts, and corruption. Unemployed graduates who lack effective strategies risk failing to generate income for themselves and their families. Thus, my purpose in this qualitative multiple case study, which was grounded in achievement motivation theory, was to explore the strategies unemployed youths use to generate income for their households. Four unemployed South Sudanese graduates were interviewed and directly observed, and the gathered data were thematically analyzed. Three themes emerged: exploitation of available opportunities including taking on casual work, working for others to get starting capital, and engaging in trade and microbusiness. A key recommendation was developed: i.e., provide training programs to help unemployed graduates change their mindsets, which value white-collar jobs over casual work, trade, and microbusiness; they can then embark on the identification and exploitation of available opportunities that can create anything of economic value. The implications for positive social change include evidence that unemployed graduates are adopting appropriate strategies to improve their household income. The findings also have the potential to help youth empowerment institutions address the gaps in strategies for directing youths to generate income.

Palynology, Paleoenvironment and Stratigraphy Relationship of Tungan Buzu Hill with Adjacent Valley Gwandu Formation, Sokoto Basin, Northwestern Nigeria

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, there is a need to introduce entrepreneurship in the early years of universities. This paper discussed two objectives: creativity and innovation. These objectives will contribute to the success of university graduates' intention to embrace entrepreneurship early and become successful in life and be self-employed, thereby reducing the cluster of people looking for white-collar jobs. This study looked at entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurship intention among Anambra undergraduates. The theoretical framework was founded on the Plan Behaviour theory. The population of the study was 1,929, and the sample size was determined using the model of Borh and Gall (1973) to be 371. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analysed using tables and percentages. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis further, as well as to determine the relative predictive power of independent variables on dependent variables. The study concluded that a more positive relationship between entrepreneurship and these variables has a greater chance of success. The results show that creativity has a positive relationship with entrepreneurship, and innovation has a positive relationship with entrepreneurship. The study recommended that various universities, particularly those in Anambra State, should make efforts in raising awareness and to encourage undergraduates to take an interest in entrepreneurship. This should be incorporated into their curriculum to help students master what is Entrepreneurial Orientation and Entrepreneurship Intention amongst Undergraduate Students of Universities in Anambra State involved in entrepreneurship early on and embrace it for a better life.

Assessment of the Posture of Adults at Their Workplace

Introduction: “Body mechanics” is a term used to describe the ways we move and go about in our lives. It includes how we hold our body while sitting, standing, lifting, bending, carrying, or moving. Poor body mechanics can often lead to poor body posture, back pain, and related discomfort. Workers in industries and offices are exposed to various types of risk factors such as lifting heavy items, bending, reaching overhead, pushing and pulling heavy loads, working in awkward body postures, and performing the same or similar tasks repetitively, causing morbidity. Taking care of the back is a lifelong project, and use of proper body mechanics is an effective way to maintain health and fitness of the back. Objective: To assess the posture of adults at their workplace with an aim to develop a health education package on body mechanics. Methodology: Non-experimental descriptive design was used for the study. The study was conducted among 50 subjects from various organizations at Kurali, Punjab. Sociodemographic data sheet and an observation checklist were used to observe the body mechanics practices of the subjects. Results: The findings of the study revealed that 27 (54%) subjects had good body mechanics practices, 17 (34%) had average practices, whereas 6 (12%) had poor body mechanics practices. Conclusion: Only half of the workers were practicing good body mechanics; hence, there is a need to educate the workers regarding good practices.

Intergenerational Mobility in a Mid-Atlantic Economy: Canada, 1871–1901

This article uses new linked full-count census data for Canada to document intergenerational occupational mobility from 1871 to 1901. We find significant differences among Canadian regions and language groups, with linguistic minorities experiencing notably lower rates of intergenerational mobility. International comparisons place Canada midway between other economies in the Americas and the most mobile European societies. Decompositions of overall mobility show that the Canadian experience shared the New World feature of high mobility from manual occupations, but also the Old World feature of greater persistence in white-collar jobs.

Building wellness performance and work engagement

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of building wellness performance on the productivity of office workers. In six offices with different CASBEE Wellness Office (CASBEE‐WO) scores, a questionnaire survey on indoor environment satisfaction, work efficiency, CASBEE Office Health Checklist (CASBEE‐OHC) simplified version, and work engagement was conducted. The results revealed that most workers in offices with high wellness performance reported more satisfaction with the thermal, light, sound, and air quality environments. In addition, the overall indoor environment improved the work efficiency of workers. Moreover, workers in offices with high CASBEE‐WO scores tended to have high CASBEE‐OHC simplified version scores. In the offices with high CASBEE‐WO scores, the top 20% of workers with high work engagement tended to have higher CASBEE‐OHC simplified version scores than the remaining 80%. According to the “80/20 law,” most outcomes of a group depend on the top 20% of productive workers. Thus, considering the wellness performance of the office, it may be possible that the productivity of workers with high work engagement will be improved.