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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2001

Mike Simpson, Nick Taylor and Joanne Padmore

Supported employment enterprises (SEEs) are commercial enterprises that provide meaningful, gainful employment, training and development opportunities for people with a…

Abstract

Supported employment enterprises (SEEs) are commercial enterprises that provide meaningful, gainful employment, training and development opportunities for people with a disability. Hence, SEEs are run specifically to provide employment. SEEs, with the exception of Remploy, represent a unique sector of SMEs owned and run by local authorities and charities. The Supported Employment Procurement and Consultancy Service (SEPACS) provides SEEs with per capita funding for disabled employees, capital grants for premises and equipment, grants for marketing research, business advice and performance monitoring. SEPACS is part of the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE). This paper presents some case studies of SEEs in the Yorkshire area. The work explains the complex dificulties facing these organisations and illustrates the different approaches used to cope with these situations. Many SEEs are under threat of closure or radical change in their function as employers of disabled people. This work investigates these issues through selected illustrative case studies. The general weakness of marketing strategies and plans in these organisations is highlighted and related to the impact of SEPACS and local authority policies and practices. This work establishes the important role that marketing strategies and plans could have in ensuring the future survival and growth of these companies.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 August 2020

Mmaduabuchukwu Mkpado and Ndidiamaka Sandra Mkpado

Lucrative employment in agriculture is fundamental to poverty alleviation in Africa. The paper examined employment along gender, impact of materials and proportion of female…

Abstract

Purpose

Lucrative employment in agriculture is fundamental to poverty alleviation in Africa. The paper examined employment along gender, impact of materials and proportion of female employment in African agriculture.

Design/methodology/approach

Time series econometrics was employed in the framework of production function analysis involving 36 years of data.

Findings

Results show that world labour in agriculture decreased from 49.77 to 40.04% but increased from 12.43 to 16.94% in Africa. World female employment in agriculture ranged from 40.56 to 42.81% and from 40.40 to 43.02% in developing economies, but decreased from 40.39 to 36.08% in developed economies. Total agricultural labour in Africa was negatively and significantly related to agricultural gross production index number (APIN).

Research limitations/implications

Interaction of cattle stock and females employed in agriculture was positive and significant at pooled African values. Interaction of irrigation facilities and female labour was positive and significant in West Africa. Interaction of cattle stock and total labour in Southern Africa had negative relationship with APIN. Interaction of total labour and irrigation had negative relationship with APIN in Africa. Insufficient agricultural facilities in terms of cattle stock and irrigation infrastructure for the populace exist. It recommends increased investments to expand irrigated lands and livestock.

Practical implications

African governments need to use good political will to effect the needed transformation in agriculture. It is possible for agriculture to offer lucrative employment to both males and females in less developed world as in developed economies.

Originality/value

The paper noted very limited agricultural facilities in terms of cattle stock and irrigation facilities for the populace engaged in agriculture. It recommends investments to expand irrigated lands and livestock.

Details

African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-0705

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 April 2020

Ronald Bachmann, Rahel Felder and Marcus Tamm

This paper analyses how the employment histories of cohorts born after World War II in Germany have changed. A specific focus is on the role of atypical employment in this context.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper analyses how the employment histories of cohorts born after World War II in Germany have changed. A specific focus is on the role of atypical employment in this context.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses data from the adult cohort of the National Educational Panel Study and presents descriptive evidence on employment patterns for different cohorts. In addition, a sequence analysis of employment trajectories illustrates key aspects related to the opportunities and risks of atypical employment.

Findings

Younger cohorts are characterised by acquiring more education, by entering into employment at a higher age and by experiencing atypical employment more often. The latter is associated with much higher employment of women for younger cohorts. The sequence analysis reveals that the proportion of individuals whose entry into the labour market is almost exclusively characterised by atypical employment rises significantly across the cohorts. Moreover, a substantial part of the increase in atypical employment is due to the increased participation of women, with part-time jobs or mini-jobs playing an important role in re-entering the labour market after career breaks.

Originality/value

The most important contribution of this article to the existing literature lies in the life course perspective taken for different birth cohorts. The findings are of great interest to the general debate about the success of the German labour market in recent decades and its implications for individual labour-market histories, but also about rising income inequality at about the same time.

Details

Evidence-based HRM: a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-3983

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1995

L.M. Geddes

he role of employees in decision making within an organization hasdrawn increasing attention in the last decade as concern has focused onquality, e.g. quality circles, total…

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Abstract

he role of employees in decision making within an organization has drawn increasing attention in the last decade as concern has focused on quality, e.g. quality circles, total quality management. Explores some of the problems encountered by an employee when she made an overt effort to effect a change in her work schedule to facilitate medical care. What are the moral and legal responsibilities of management? How should an employee deal with the rewards of standing up for principles – the fear of reprisal; lesser assignments; the high cost of litigation; abandonment by friends and colleagues; innuendos by management and those closely allied with management; negative impact on career moves? What management procedures, policies, or practices can be developed to alleviate or avoid negatively perceived consequences to both the employee and management?

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2014

Ebony T. Jones

To provide an informative review of the gainful employment legislation proposed by the Obama Administration which seeks to reform higher education by making colleges and…

Abstract

Purpose

To provide an informative review of the gainful employment legislation proposed by the Obama Administration which seeks to reform higher education by making colleges and universities more accountable in their institutional practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides a thorough review of a breadth of recently published works and notice of proposed rulemakings (NPRMs) on gainful employment legislation providing a practical understanding of the proposed policy. The sources are sorted into the following sections: background of rulemaking proceedings, who are the students, proposed measures, challenges, policy recommendations, implications for practice, and future research.

Findings

An analysis of the information reviewed is presented providing policy recommendations that could potentially circumvent some of the challenges presented as well as satisfy the government’s need to hold institutions more accountable. Offered as an amenable solution to stakeholders is to better inform students about program outcomes, financial aid packages, and financial obligations to mitigate the need for regulation and for institutions to perform continuous evaluation of their programs to align with workforce needs.

Originality/value

This paper serves as an informative resource to college/university administrators, students, parents, and policymakers offering practical recommendations to achieve the goals of all stakeholders by employing approaches to better inform students in their decision making.

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2012

Elsadig Musa Ahmed

The purpose of this paper is to incorporate the spillover effects of trade on East Asian productivity, namely China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to incorporate the spillover effects of trade on East Asian productivity, namely China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Design/methodology/approach

This study attempts to fill in the gaps of previous studies by developing applications of extensive growth theory that shows the trade spillover effects on productivity growth of ASEAN 5 plus3. It further provides a meaningful statistical analysis in which, the first step of the estimation to get the coefficients of the explanatory variables that has been used by econometric approach. It can be restated here that in addition, a second step that plugs the parameters of the variables into the model in order to compute the contribution rates of productivity indicators including the calculation of the residual of the model (total factor productivity – TFP) and GDP contributions being used by growth accounting approach. The TFP is considered be trade spillover effects indicator that is showed the technology transfer to domestic firms and human capital skills upgrading.

Findings

The paper finds that there was a little contribution of exports and imports to TFP growth in these countries during all the periods of study. It confirms that high physical capital input growth resulted in high gross domestic product (GDP) contribution and low TFP contribution with insignificant technological progress experiences by most of these countries, with the exception of Japan and to some extent, South Korea.

Originality/value

In this respect, the trade spillover effects had transferred technology and developed human capital skills to a greater extent in the cases of Japan and Republic of Korea and their economies considered to be productivity driven economies.

Details

World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-5961

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1986

Gerda Lischke

The alternative sector still offers women substantial and meaningful advantages over the formal sector in employment. A project group, “Women in the Labour Market”, associated…

Abstract

The alternative sector still offers women substantial and meaningful advantages over the formal sector in employment. A project group, “Women in the Labour Market”, associated with the Department of Economics at the Freie Universität Berlin in 1983 set out to study the opportunities for women to acquire gainful employment within the alternative sector and to examine the choices offered and the quality of employment attained within the projects examined. Co‐workers of 22 different projects (eight all‐women and 14 mixed) in crafts/manufacturing, transport, retail, trade, service sector and social services in Berlin were interviewed. All projects consciously tackled problems arising with an uneven distribution or assignment of tasks and information by concrete actions. Some branches required a specialised qualification or training, others did not. Gender‐specific work divisions are still found. However, these issues are being positively addressed. Care is needed to avoid repressive and unchangeable structures. The limited ability to secure a viable subsistence is the greatest constraint to the expansion of the alternative sector. Incorporating work and home life is no longer important. In the long term, the crafts/manufacturing projects appear most promising economically but may offer only limited access to women. Trade and retail projects are more easily accessible.

Details

Equal Opportunities International, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0261-0159

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2023

Sridevi Yerrabati

A lack of sufficient gainful employment opportunities in developing countries means that those at the bottom of the income ladder resort to self-employment for survival. While…

Abstract

Purpose

A lack of sufficient gainful employment opportunities in developing countries means that those at the bottom of the income ladder resort to self-employment for survival. While self-employment equalises inequality by providing earning opportunities to such individuals due to the ease of entry, it also creates a competitive environment among the self-employed, consequently widening inequality. In light of this, the study aims to determine the optimal level at which self-employment narrows inequality.

Design/methodology/approach

Five-yearly average data from 72 developing countries covering 2000–2019 is used. Inequality measures include Gini, and self-employment includes total, male and female participation levels. The empirical analysis is based on the dynamic two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation approach, two-stage instrumental variables (2 SLS IV) approach and Sasabuchi (1980) and Lind and Mehlum (2010) test. Several robustness checks are used to validate the findings.

Findings

Prima facie, the study's findings suggest that self-employment equalises inequality in developing countries. The income-equalising effect can be seen, however, when the total, male and female self-employment levels are below the optimal of 54.22% of total employment, 52.50% of male employment and 54.19% of female employment, respectively. Inequality widens when self-employment exceeds these optimal levels. Further, the income-narrowing effect of self-employment is larger than its income-widening effect. When self-employment is below its optimal level, it reduces inequality 80 times more effectively than when it widens above the optimal levels. The corresponding figures for male and female self-employment are 90 and 52, respectively. Second, the income-equalising effects of self-employment are gender-specific.

Practical implications

Developing countries striving to achieve SDG 10 should limit self-employment to the above-mentioned levels. To this end, an inclusive approach to reducing inequality requires these countries to use selective and targeted policy interventions to create gainful employment opportunities for those above the identified optimal levels and eventually assist them in utilising these opportunities.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to determine the optimal levels at which self-employment equalises income in developing countries. As such, it makes novel contributions to both labour and development economics.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 50 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1998

Ron Coleman, Liz Ellis and Mike Smith

This paper is a discussion of how an organisation providing community support developed its employment strategy to focus on gainful employment, valued employment roles…

Abstract

This paper is a discussion of how an organisation providing community support developed its employment strategy to focus on gainful employment, valued employment roles, citizenship and human rights, from a traditional model with support/activity workers and sheltered employment, to social firms, employment development and supported employment at differing levels.

Details

A Life in the Day, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-6282

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2008

Gerhard Blickle and Alexander Witzki

The aim of the paper is to present the causes and manifestations of the changed conditions of work for employees since the 1990s with a particular focus on the situation in…

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to present the causes and manifestations of the changed conditions of work for employees since the 1990s with a particular focus on the situation in Germany. These changes are characterized by a higher demand for expertise and a lower protection against life risks for employees. The paper seeks to address some of the issues surrounding this.

Design/methodology/approach

The desire to realize an individual concept of personal identity in work life is argued to be the main driving force of individual career development. It is set in relation to new normative guiding principles of employment (protean career model, boundaryless career model, employability construct).

Findings

Empirical studies support the importance of an individual work identity concept for individual career development. The political and, more importantly, the economic situation in Germany, Europe and other parts of the world has dramatically changed since 1989. The prospective demographic changes in Germany until 2050 and their effects on the job market are also considered.

Originality/value

The paper describes the underlying causes for the changes in the conditions of employment and how these are manifested in the conditions of work, and it also presents empirical findings about the individual coping with career changes.

Details

Society and Business Review, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5680

Keywords

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