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PubMed1982

Economic dependency, health services, and health: the case of Lesotho.

This article is concerned with two factors affecting the health status of the people of Lesotho: (1) the nation's function as a reserve labor economy (that is, the primary source of income for about half the country's male labor force is employment in South Africa); and (2) the health care system (its size, composition, accessibility, and efficiency). Although such apparently diverse factors usually are analyzed independently, they might be combined to provide a more complete understanding of the determinants of health and disease. The paper reaches the conclusion that any substantive solutions to the problems of Lesotho will be found primarily in the wider southern Africa setting, and not within the context of small, dependent national states. At the same time, these small, dependent national states must make development decisions considering existing geopolitical realities. Foresightful decision making on these issues could both contribute immediately to the health of the people of Lesotho, and also increase in longer-term possibilities for a better life for all the people of southern Africa.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1982

U.S. population: where we are; where we're going.

This Bulletin reviews recent trends in the dynamics and character of the U.S. population, the outlook for the remainder of the 1980s, and prospects for longterm growth. Estimated at 232 million as of mid-1982, the U.S. population is currently growing at about 1% a year, one of the developed world's highest growth rates. Natural increase (births-deaths) still adds some 1.7 million people a year, despite the rapid postbaby boom fall in fertility to a near-record low rate of 1.9 births/woman in 1981. With increasing numbers of refugees, net legal immigration averaged 600,000/year in 1979-81 and the net inflow of illegal immigrants may now be 500,000 a year. Uncertainty over potentially large numbers of immigrants complicates projections of future U.S. population size. Currently, the U.S. death rate is at an alltime low. More than 1/2 the population now resides in the South and West. Rural areas and small towns grew faster than urban areas in the 1970s for the 1st time in over a century. Educational attainment is at an alltime high, as is labor force participation, due to increasing employment among women and the baby boom generation's arrival at working ages. The age composition of the population, with the bulge of the baby boom generation surrounded by the older "depression" generation born during the 1930s and the younger "baby bust" generation born since the end of the 1960s, presents special problems for U.S. society.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1989

China: surplus labour and migration.

Surplus labor force and migration trends in China are examined, with emphasis on the impact of underemployment in rural areas. "Government policy encourages surplus labourers to transfer out of crop farming into agricultural sidelines or non-agricultural work. Peasants are urged to stay where they are, shifting jobs without shifting location; however, many rural areas are poorly endowed for providing alternative employment, so their surplus workers must also leave the village to find work. Many do not formally migrate, but rather move on a seasonal basis or set up 'temporary' residence in an urban place. This 'floating' population has been escalating rapidly in recent years....[The authors argue] that China's cities and towns can absorb millions of surplus labourers from rural areas each year, to the mutual benefit of sending and receiving areas."

Agriculture↗
PubMed1984

A model of child nutrition, fertility, and women's time allocation: the case of Nicaragua.

"This study had two main goals. The first was to test the hypothesis that women who work in the informal sector of the labor force have better-nourished children, ceteris paribus, than women who work in the formal sector. A simple home production model for child nutrition incorporating this hypothesis was specified and the behavior of a utility-maximizing household investigated. The empirical estimates of the nutritional status production function provided no convincing support for the hypothesis." The second goal was "to investigate the joint determinants of child nutrition and of women's fertility and work choices....[It is suggested] that increases in women's education and formal sector wages will induce declines in fertility and improvements in child nutrition. Increases in informal sector wages will improve nutrition but have little impact on fertility, and income effects are minimal on all three variables." Data are from a household survey conducted in Nicaragua in 1977 and 1978.

Americas↗
PubMed1992

Manpower options in a small labour-importing state: the influence of ethnic composition on Kuwait's development.

Trends in the ethnic composition of the Kuwaiti labor force during recent years are discussed, and the effects on the country's development are assessed. The focus is on the likely shift since the Gulf War toward importing cheaper Asian labor. "The purpose of this paper is to assess whether this is a realistic alternative towards reducing the overall cost of the expatriate labour force. Which areas of the economy would be most promising in this regard? What are the economic costs? The implicit assumption throughout the analysis...is that the country will quickly restore its economy to the structure existing at the time of the invasion." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

Asia↗
PubMed1987

Mariel refugees: six years after.

In 1983, the economic situation of Mariel Cubans could be summarized as abysmal. Those without a job represented close to 1/2 of the sample; the unemployment rate amounted to 27%. A study conducted by Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with Miami-Dade Community College and Florida International University has investigated whether Mariels remain a group apart within the broader Cuban community or whether they have melted into the rest of the community. The study followed a large sample of Mariel refugees living in the Miami area over a period of several years. A sample of 514 Mariel men and women were interviewed in 1983 and were reinterviewed during 1985-1986. The authors conclude that, as a group, Mariel refugees have made rapid progress toward integration into the South Florida economy. There has been a rapid decline in unemployment during the past 2 years and a rapid shift into self-employment. There is still a sizable gap in labor force participation and earnings between this group and the pre-Mariel Cuban population. Mariel incorporation into South Florida society has taken place almost completely through their absorption into the pre-existing Cuban community; there is tension, however, as Mariel refugees see themselves as more discriminated against by fellow Cubans than by outside Anglos. This minority-within-a-minority syndrome is likely to underlie the reported willingness of many to leave the US if conditions in Cuba were to change for the better. Despite these problems, the majority of Mariel refugees would come again to the US if they had to make the choice anew and declare themselves satisfied with their present lives. Within Dade County, the more positive indicators of economic advancement and general adaptation are found among refugees in the cities of Miami and Hialeah. The most problematic economic situation and the greatest alienation from their surroundings is detected among refugees living elsewhere, primarily in Miami Beach. Results indicate that official and private programs targeted on this refugee group should give priority to 4 aspects: 1) support of small entrepreneurship through credit and training facilities to buttress the widespread efforts in this direction; 2) provision of English language courses and help to overcome extreme language deficiencies; 3) promotion of the reunification of the Mariel refugee families who were separated against their will; and 4) additional efforts by Cuban-American organizations to combat lingering prejudice against Mariel refugees.

Americas↗
PubMed1986

Changing factors and changing needs in women's health care.

The aforementioned social trends affecting women, including women in poverty, women in the labor force, and elderly women, are all ultimately related to problems of access to health care. In almost every age group, women use more health and medical services. Women are hospitalized more often, although their stays in hospitals tend to be shorter. Women also make more visits to health care providers for preventive health care, such as examinations and dental care. Access to care, however, is tied to ability to pay for the care. Medicaid payments for medical care are related to eligibility criteria in each state. Recent cuts in federal programs targeted eligibility for welfare and Medicaid. In 1982, 725,000 welfare recipients were declared ineligible. Given the earlier discussion of the predominance of women among those labeled poor in this country and the fact that two thirds of Medicaid recipients are women, these cutbacks have serious implications for women's health. Women are less likely to have medical insurance than men. Insurance coverage as a benefit is least likely to be offered in those areas where women work: part-time employment, small businesses, and manufacturing industries. Insurance eligibility is often dependent on a woman's marital status, despite the fact that 41.5 per cent of all American women are not spousal dependents. Insurance companies frequently adjust premiums for sex, age, income, race, and workforce characteristics, a policy which works against women. As the field of women's health expands and receives more emphasis, the data reflecting the experiences of large groups of women will have to be collected and analyzed ever more carefully. Information collected should include physiologic, psychosocial, and economic factors that together affect the health status of women. These data may then be used to guide health policy decision making, as well as provide a basis for health promotion and disease prevention interventions with individual clients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Mental health, absenteeism and earnings at a large manufacturing worksite.

BACKGROUND: A few recent studies have examined the relationship between mental illness and labor market variables. The findings are inconsistent, however, and leave unanswered many questions concerning both the nature and magnitude of the relationship. AIMS OF THE STUDY: A recently available worksite-based data set is analyzed to explore the relationship between symptoms of emotional and psychological problems and employee absenteeism and earnings among employees at a large US worksite. METHODS: The analysis was based on data collected through a random and anonymous survey of workers at a large US manufacturing worksite. Two measures of absenteeism are combined - days absent during the past 30 days due to sickness or injury and days absent during the past 30 days because the employee did not want to be at work - to create both a dichotomous (i.e., ever absent) and a continuous (i.e., number of days absent) absenteeism variable. Annual earnings were measured as personal earnings from the primary job. Various statistical models were tested to determine the independent and joint (with alcohol and illicit drug use) relationship between symptoms of emotional problems and labor market variables. RESULTS: The analysis consistently finds that workers who report symptoms of emotional/psychological problems have higher absenteeism and lower earnings than otherwise similar coworkers. This finding is robust to model specification and to the inclusion of comorbid conditions such as alcohol and illicit drug use. DISCUSSION: This study contributes new information to the literature in this area by estimating the effects of emotional/psychological symptoms on two important labor market variables: absenteeism and earnings. Several specifications of the absenteeism and earnings equations were estimated to test the independent effect of emotional symptoms and the joint effects of emotional symptoms and other comorbid conditions. The results suggest that employers should consider the productivity losses associated with workers' mental health when designing worksite-based programs such as employee assistance programs (EAPs). LIMITATIONS: Unlike national surveys of households or individuals, the sample does not include unemployed individuals or those outside the labor force. Therefore, the decision to participate in the labor market can not be modeled. In addition, the study relies on voluntary self-reported survey data that may suffer from underreporting of substance use and emotional symptoms. Although respondents were repeatedly assured about confidentiality, if underreporting does exist, it may be more acute than in household surveys because respondents may be more worried about job loss if they self-report drug or alcohol use at the worksite. CONCLUSIONS: All four measures of emotional symptoms had a positive and statistically significant relationship with absenteeism and a negative and statistically significant relationship with personal earnings. These findings were robust across all specifications, even when the effects of other potentially confounding factors (i.e., alcohol and drug use variables) are included. In addition, the number of days intoxicated and cigarette use in the past year appear to be significantly related to earnings even after controlling for emotional symptoms. Finally, the explanatory power of the models is relatively high for cross-sectional data, especially for the earnings regressions. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVISION AND USE: The findings from this worksite suggest that employers might do well to reassess the priorities of their EAPs and consider directing more of their resources to diagnosing and assisting employees with emotional and psychological distress. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICY FORMULATION: It is strongly suggestive that mental health status is related to absenteeism and earnings for employees at this worksite. However, most employer-based programs and policies are designed to dissuade the use of alcohol and illicit drugs by workers (e.g., employee drug and alcohol testing) rather than addressing other employee behaviors and problems. IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Numerous opportunities are present to collect similar data from other worksites and settings to determine whether these models and results are robust.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Are unions an anachronism?

The labor movement in the United States has its roots deep in the soil of worker discontent over grueling working conditions, low pay, and indifference of bosses, who profited from others' sweaty labor. As more and more grubby jobs are replaced by technological innovations, as work becomes more abstract and everyone wears a white shirt, and as managers schooled in motivation theory and humane ideals of participation replace the owner-bosses of yesterday, what role will the unions have left to play? The author of this article, who has been in both the labor force and management, explores what the changes in the labor market will be in the future and what these changes will mean for labor-management relations. He does not conclude that there is no role for unions-only that it will be very different and that to survive unions will have to tackle new issues in the workplace. That adaptation will affect management's stance as well.

Labor Unions↗
PubMed2007

Trends and problems of solid waste management in developing countries: a case study in seven Palestinian districts.

There is a great interest in solving problems related to municipal solid waste (MSW) management in the Palestinian territory. However, few studies have been done to assess the extent of these problems and suggest the best alternative solutions. This study aims at assessing MSW conditions in the seven major districts in northern West Bank, Palestinian territory. The study focuses on comparing several MSW management elements (such as collection, budget, and disposal) in municipalities, village councils, and refugee camps in the studied districts and the problems faced by these institutions in handling the waste. It also provides information on MSW collection service availability and waste disposal practices in the districts studied. It was found that, although MSW collection service was available for 98% of the residents in the areas surveyed, no proper treatment or landfill procedure was followed for the collected waste in most of these areas. Instead, waste burning in open dumpsites was the most common practice. Moreover, due to inefficient collection of waste disposal fees from the residents, municipalities were forced to sometimes cut the collection service and reduce its labor force, especially in villages. The budget for MSW management was between 2% and 8% of the total budget of the municipalities studied, indicating a low priority for this issue.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1980

A general model of labor-market behavior of older persons.

Identifying the separate effects of age, time period, and birth cohort is of obvious importance in studies of the older population and especially critical in analyzing the labor-market behavior of the elderly. Age and the aging process in particular are fundamentally associated with changes occurring in earnings and incomes of persons at or near retirement. This article estimates and analyzes the separate effects of age, cohort, and period for some key labor-market variables, utilizing panel data from the Retirement History Study of the Social Security Administration, matched with social security earnings records. The analysis applies a strategy recently developed by the authors for estimating these separate effects from period-cohort means. The approach provides a solution to the well-known identification problem that has long been an obstacle in these studies. Integrated with the age-period-cohort analysis is a behavioral simultaneous model of labor-force participation, annual hours and weeks of work, threshold labor-supply quantities and reservation wages, wage offers, and asset holdings of older married men and women who are heads of households.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1983

Human communication needs and organizational productivity: the potential impact of office automation.

Much of what white collar workers do in offices is communication-related. White collar workers make up the majority of the labor force in the United States today and the majority of current labor costs. Because office automation represents more productive structured techniques for handling both written and oral communication, office automation therefore offers the potential to make organizations more productive by improving organizational communication. This article: (1) defines communication, (2) identifies the potential benefits to be realized from implementing office automation, and (3) offers caveats related to the implementation of office automation systems. Realization of the benefits of office automation depends upon the degree to which new modes of communication may be successfully substituted for traditional modes.

Automation↗
PubMed2006

Employer choices of family premium sharing.

In 1997, nearly two-thirds of married couples with children under age 18 were dual-earner couples. Such families may have a variety of insurance options available to them. If so, declining a high employee premium contribution may be a mechanism for one spouse to take money wages in lieu of coverage while the other spouse takes coverage rather than high wages. Employers may use these preferences and the size of premium contributions to encourage workers to obtain family coverage through their spouse. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of labor force composition, particularly the proportion of dual-earner couples in the labor market, on the marginal employee premium contribution (marginal EPC) for family coverage. We analyze data from the 1997-2001 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey--Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) List Sample of private establishments. We find strong evidence that the marginal EPC for family coverage is higher when there is a larger concentration of women in the workforce, but only in markets with a higher proportion of dual-earner households.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Head-to-cervix forces and their relationship to the outcome of labor.

The force (as distinct from pressure) between the fetal head and the maternal cervix during labor was measured for the first time in an attempt to improve the intrapartum prediction of progress in labor. The 50th percentile of the variables active pressure and active force and the mean uterine activity integral were compared with the cervical dilatation rate and delivery mode in 31 women. The 50th percentile of active force had the highest correlation with the cervical dilatation rate (r = 0.54) (50th percentile of active pressure, r = 0.43; mean uterine activity integral, r = 0.40). The 50th percentile of active force was significantly higher in women who achieved a vaginal delivery (mean +/- SD 45 +/- 21.2 g wt) than in those who underwent cesarean delivery for failure to progress (16.5 +/- 9 g wt). The 50th percentile of active force discriminated among modes of delivery as effectively as did the cervical dilatation rate. These results support the hypothesis that head-to-cervix force measurements may have clinical value in the management of labor.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed2006

Can they carry on working? Later retirement, health, and social inequality in an aging population.

In debates on pensions and retirement age, little attention has been paid to the relation between increased effective retirement age and the health of the older population. This article focuses on Britain at a crucial point in the past, when the reconstruction that followed recession in the late 1970s and early 1980s used previously accumulated pension and redundancy funds to pay off workers and make labor markets "flexible." Using secondary data analysis of surveys of the same nationally representative sample in 1984 and 1991, the author argues that, while early retirement and retirement at age 60 (women) and 65 (men) took many able-bodied people out of the labor force, every increase in retirement age would have faced diminishing returns. Moreover, unemployment and exit from the labor market were accompanied in most cases by a perceived decline in well-being. The findings suggest that retirement should be tapered, not abrupt. Finally, there was pronounced inequality in the aging process that would have led to a situation in which a uniform policy on later retirement deepened the disadvantage of those least able to fend for themselves. Accordingly, the present U.K. government should positively discriminate in favor of the disadvantaged at retirement by reinforcing the state pension.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2007

How do we measure shortages of dental hygienists and dental assistants? Evidence from California: 1997-2005.

BACKGROUND: The authors examined the labor market for registered dental hygienists (RDHs) and dental assistants (DAs) in California from 1997 to 2005 to determine whether there was a shortage in either market. METHODS: This analysis used economic indicators interpreted within an economic framework to investigate trends in labor force numbers and market-determined wages for RDHs and DAs. Rising inflation-adjusted mean wages indicated a labor shortage, while declining inflation-adjusted mean wages indicated a labor surplus. RESULTS: From 1999 to 2002, the wages for RDHs increased 48 percent and then stabilized, indicating a shortage had occurred, after which the market achieved equilibrium. Wages for DAs increased 13.9 percent from 1997 to 2001, but then declined from 2001 to 2005, indicating a shortage that then became a surplus. The market for DAs may not have stabilized. CONCLUSIONS: Wages increased for RDHs and DAs, suggesting that labor shortages occurred in both markets. The large supply response in the market for DAs resulted in wages declining after their initial rise. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Tracking the local labor markets for RDHs and DAs will enable dental professionals to respond more efficiently to market signals.

California↗
PubMed2004

Labor market experience, work organization, gender inequalities and health status: results from a prospective analysis of US employed women.

Women's labor force participation has increased dramatically over the past several decades. Although previous research has documented that a wide array of labor market characteristics affect health, more work is needed to understand how women are impacted by gender-specific employment patterns and exposures. We examine a cohort of 659 employed women from the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) study in the USA. Baseline and follow-up data collected 13 years apart are used to identify associations between demographic, labor market, work organization, and occupational gender inequality with four health outcomes: generalized distress, depressive syndrome, anxiety and fair or poor health. We also use gender-specific data on the workplace to create indicators of occupational gender inequality. We found wide gender inequalities in terms of pay and power in this sample of employed women. Financial strain was associated with all of our mental health outcomes with those reporting financial strain having increased odds of distress, depressive syndrome and anxiety for the 13 years prior to the interview. Workplace factors that were found to be associated with the four outcomes included experiencing a promotion or demotion in the 13 years prior to the interview; working at a large firm; and being a professional. Occupations where women compared to men had lower levels of job strain-domestic workers in private households, machine operator and transportation-showed increased risk for anxiety or fair/poor health. Our findings suggest that measuring the complexities of employment including promotion or demotion history, firm characteristics and even occupational gender inequality can yield important information about associations with health among women.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1981

[Continuously do a good job in planned parenthood work and fulfill this year's population target].

It has been a year since the CCP Central Committee issued an open letter to all CCP and CYL members on population control. In the past year, CCP and CYL members and the broad masses of people in our province have actively responded to the CCP Central Committee's call--1 child/couple. Over 1.7 million couples of childbearing age have applied for only-child certificates. Our province has scored great achievements in planned parenthood work. However, we must realize that new situations and new questions have arisen in planned parenthood work. 1st, the peak period of population growth in our province is from the late 1950s to the 1960s. Children born in this period are now entering the childbearing age. There soon will be a new peak population growth period. 2nd, because of the enactment of the new marriage law, the number of those married in the first 1/2 of this year doubled that of previous years. Responsibility systems in rural areas have pomoted development of productive forces. This is very good, but this has also stimulated population growth because people mistakenly think that more children mean more labor forces and more income. They begin to think of having more chidlren--especially sons. Some localities have lost control of population growth. The birth rate in rural areas has begun to climb quickly. If no measures are adopted immediately, our province's population will swell enormously. All the achievements scored in the 1970s will probably be spoiled, and we likely will again commit a historical error. As far as our province is concerned, planned parenthood is imperative. In 1949, our province's per capita farmland was 3 mu. At the end of 1980, it was only 1.49 mu. If no measures are adopted and the population keeps growing, the consequences will be serious.

Asia↗