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Article
Publication date: 29 April 2020

Oluwatimilehin Peter Adesoye and Abimbola Oluyemisi Adepoju

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the food insecurity status of the working poor households in south west Nigeria.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the food insecurity status of the working poor households in south west Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

International Labour Organisation poverty line, Household Food Insecurity Access Scale as well as the Ordered Logit model were used to identify the factors influencing the food insecurity status of the working poor households in south west Nigeria.

Findings

The study revealed that more than half of the respondents were working poor households, with more than four-fifths of them being food insecure. Income irregularity, savings and level of education had major roles to play in the food insecurity status of working poor households.

Social implications

Employment has always been considered as a route out of poverty and food insecurity. However, the intensity of poverty among working households should be considered in the design and development of policy and programmes, targeted towards workers. Laws should protect the right of workers against non-payment of salaries, advantages of family planning should be emphasised, social security allowance should be provided to serve as an alternative source of income during emergencies and more investment made in education.

Originality/value

This paper attempts to bridge the knowledge gap in the empirical link between employment, poverty and food insecurity. Particularly, its application to the working households.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2019-0589

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 47 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 August 2021

B.A.K.S. Perera, K.I. Ridmika and M.K.C.S. Wijewickrama

The construction industry (CI) is known for heavy workloads and long working hours. Consequently, quantity surveyors (QSs) find it difficult to integrate work with life. Thus, the…

Abstract

Purpose

The construction industry (CI) is known for heavy workloads and long working hours. Consequently, quantity surveyors (QSs) find it difficult to integrate work with life. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the causes and consequences of poor life management (LM) in both female and male QSs working for contractors at construction sites and strategies that would improve the LM of the QSs.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a mixed research approach by conducting semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey to identify the significant causes and consequences of poor LM in QSs and strategies that would improve the LM of the QSs. Manual content analysis and mean weighted rating (MWR) were used to analyze the collected data.

Findings

Heavy workloads are the most significant cause of poor LM in QSs. The study found that male QSs are highly addicted to substance use and that female QSs lose sleep because of poor LM. Teamwork is the most significant strategy that would enhance the LM of both female and male QSs working at sites.

Originality/value

The traditional work–life balance refers to the harmony between work and non-work lives of an individual. LM is associated with five spheres of life: work, family life, health, social life and spiritual life. Given that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have focused on LM, this study becomes significant because it identifies the causes and consequences of poor LM of QSs working in the CI and the strategies that would enhance the LM of the QSs.

Details

Construction Innovation , vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2015

Paul Sergius Koku and Sharan Jagpal

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the plight of a particular segment of the poor – the working poor – in the USA relative to their exclusion from traditional…

2503

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the plight of a particular segment of the poor – the working poor – in the USA relative to their exclusion from traditional financial markets and their patronage of the payday loan market; and to propose a framework that offers guidance to law makers in making laws/crafting policies that help the working poor gain better access to credit.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper that reviews the literature on the payday loan market and uses its findings to propose a strategy to ameliorate the plight of the working poor.

Findings

The study integrates the findings of studies on the payday loan market with theories of corporate social responsibility. Using these findings the authors develop a framework that can guide policy makers in making policies that address the exclusion of the working poor from financial markets.

Research limitations/implications

As a conceptual paper based on theories, the study does not provide empirical validation. The paper develops a framework that could guide policy makers as they consider legislation to address the financial exclusion of the poor, particularly with regard to payday loans.

Practical implications

The paper proposes a policy framework to solve the “debt treadmill” problems of the working poor.

Social implications

The consequent improvement of the financial conditions of the working poor improves society in general.

Originality/value

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first marketing paper that has proposed a structural framework to address the exclusion of the working poor from the credit markets.

Details

International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 33 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-2323

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 August 2016

Anna Carmella G. Ocampo and Melissa Lopez Reyes

A positive perception of work helps counteract the stress and psychological loss because of non-optimal working conditions. This paper aims to hypothesize two pathways through…

Abstract

Purpose

A positive perception of work helps counteract the stress and psychological loss because of non-optimal working conditions. This paper aims to hypothesize two pathways through which social-psychological resources in the workplace contribute to positive work perception: one pathway is direct and the other is through the mediating mechanism of youth’s internal resource.

Design/methodology/approach

Filipino working youth from a government program for out-of-school poor youth, or working students enrolled in a free night high school, completed pertinent scales of the Multicontext Assessment Battery of Youth Development.

Findings

Co-workers’ endorsement of work values and their joint exercise of resilience-building skills build youth’s positive work perception. Youth’s personal initiative contributes to their positive work perception by its direct influence and also by its mediating mechanism.

Research limitations/implications

The cross-sectional survey of this study does not allow for a definitive temporal progression from resources to positive work perception as does a longitudinal study.

Social implications

For poor working youth, the threats of a financially bleak future can be tempered by an attitude that recognizes work not only as financially necessary but also as beneficial to one’s growth. The social-psychological resources in the workplace and the youth’s emerging personal initiative jointly contribute to a positive perception of work.

Originality/value

The current research shifts the focus of analysis from disadvantageous employment conditions to the affective and motivational aspects of employment and uses the conservation-of-resources theory to plot the flow of resources from the workplace to the worker.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 28 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 April 2022

Faharuddin Faharuddin and Darma Endrawati

The study’s first aim is to estimate the scale of working poverty using a nationwide household survey. The second aim is to answer the following research questions: is working

3814

Abstract

Purpose

The study’s first aim is to estimate the scale of working poverty using a nationwide household survey. The second aim is to answer the following research questions: is working enough to escape poverty, and what are the determinants of working poverty?

Design/methodology/approach

The focus is on working people in Indonesia who have per capita household expenditure below the provincial poverty line. The determinant analysis used logistic regression on the first quarter of 2013 Susenas microdata.

Findings

The study found that the scale of the working poverty problem is equivalent to the scale of the poverty, although the in-work poverty rate is lower than the poverty rate in all provinces. The logistic regression results conclude that the three factors, namely individual-level, employment-related and household-level variables, have significant contributions to the incidence of the working poor in Indonesia.

Practical implications

Some practical implications for reducing the incidence of working poverty are increasing labor earnings through productivity growth and improving workers' skills, encouraging the labor participation of the poor and reducing precarious work. This study also suggests the need to continue assisting the working poor, particularly by increasing access to financial credit.

Originality/value

Research aimed at studying working poverty in Indonesia in the peer-reviewed literature is rare until now based on the authors' search. This study will fill the gap and provoke further research on working poverty in Indonesia.

Details

Journal of Economics and Development, vol. 24 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1859-0020

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 December 2020

Birgitta Jansson and Lovisa Broström

There is ongoing debate amongst in-work poverty researchers as to how to answer the question “who is counted as in-work poor?” and how to define the minimum size of work that…

1650

Abstract

Purpose

There is ongoing debate amongst in-work poverty researchers as to how to answer the question “who is counted as in-work poor?” and how to define the minimum size of work that should be used to determine a “working threshold”. The purpose of this paper aims to contribute to this debate by testing five different definitions of a “working threshold” and discussing their implications when testing the different measurement outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), including the total population registered as living in Sweden for each year from 1987 to 2017. All calculations are on a yearly basis and in fixed prices (2017). The data set used is based on linked administrative data retrieved from Statistics Sweden and the software used is SAS 9.4.

Findings

Results show how in-work poverty trends differ by measurement approach. The two definitions with the lowest income thresholds are found to include a very heterogenic group of individuals. The development of in-work poverty in Sweden over 30 years show decreasing in-work poverty during the first decade followed by an increase to almost the same levels at the end of the period. In-work poverty in Sweden has transformed from being female-dominated in 1987 and the typical person in in-work poverty 2017 is a male immigrant, aged 26–55 years.

Practical implications

This methodological discussion might lead to a new definition of who is a worker amongst the in-work poor, which could consequently affect who is counted as being in in-work poverty and lead to new social policy measures.

Originality/value

This is, to the authors' knowledge, the first time different definitions of work requirement used to define in-work poverty have been tested on a data set including the total population and over a period of 30 years.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 48 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 March 2021

Xavier Bartoll-Roca and Albert Julià

Social inequalities in mental health can be captured by occupational situation and social class stratification. This study analyzes the adequacy of a classification of work and…

Abstract

Purpose

Social inequalities in mental health can be captured by occupational situation and social class stratification. This study analyzes the adequacy of a classification of work and employment conditions and an adaptation of the Goldthorpe social class scheme in relation to mental health in Barcelona, Spain.

Design/methodology/approach

Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (CA) on working and employment conditions were used to empirically construct distinctive working groups. Through 2 logistic regression models, we contrasted the association between mental health and (1) the cluster of employment and working conditions (with 4 categories: insiders, instrumental, precarious and peripheral workers), and (2) a standard Spanish version of the Goldthorpe social class scheme. The performance of the 2 models was assessed with Akaike and Bayesian information criteria. The analyses were carried out using the Barcelona Health Survey (2016) including the labor force population from 22 to 64 years of age.

Findings

Wide inequalities were found in mental health with both class schemes. The empirical class scheme was more effective than the Goldthorpe social class scheme in explaining mental health inequalities. In particular, precarious and peripheral workers in the MCA-CA analysis, together with unemployed workers, emerged as distinctive social groups apparently masked within the lower social class in the standard scheme. When using the standard scheme, the authors recommend widening the scope at the bottom of the social class categories while shrinking it at the top as well as considering unemployed persons as a separate category to better represent mental health inequalities.

Social implications

The working poor appear to report at least as much poor mental health as unemployed persons. Policies aimed at more inclusive work should consider job quality improvements to improve the mental well-being of the labor force.

Originality/value

Our study examines the utility of social classes to explain mental health inequalities by comparing an empirically based social class to the Spanish adaptation of the Goldthorpe classification.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 48 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 January 2018

Talat Islam, Ishfaq Ahmed and Ghulam Ali

This study aims to investigate the effects of ethical leadership on employee’s bullying and voice behavior, considering poor working conditions, organizational identification and…

5603

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effects of ethical leadership on employee’s bullying and voice behavior, considering poor working conditions, organizational identification and workload as mediating variables.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaire survey design was used to elicit responses of 564 nurses from hospitals located in various cities of Pakistan.

Findings

Analysis through structural equation modeling proved that ethical leadership has a positive and significant impact on both organizational identification and voice behavior, but a negative and significant impact on workload, poor working conditions and bullying at the workplace. Furthermore, organizational identification, poor working conditions and workload proved to be partial mediators.

Originality/value

The study adds value to the limited literature on ethical leadership, bullying and voice behavior in nursing. Additionally, organizational identification, workload and poor working conditions have not previously been examined as mediators.

Details

Leadership in Health Services, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1879

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 December 2019

Ioana Alexandra Horodnic and Colin C. Williams

In recent years, there has been a concern that employers are falsely classifying employees as self-employed to evade collective agreements and labour laws (e.g. minimum wages…

Abstract

Purpose

In recent years, there has been a concern that employers are falsely classifying employees as self-employed to evade collective agreements and labour laws (e.g. minimum wages, working time legislation and protection in case of redundancy), and the result is that these dependent self-employed suffer poorer working conditions. The purpose of this paper is to provide an extensive evaluation of the working conditions of those in dependent self-employment compared with the genuine self-employed.

Design/methodology/approach

To do so, data are reported from a 2015 European Working Conditions Survey of 35,765 workers in 28 European Union member states.

Findings

Of the 4.3 per cent of the working population found to be in dependent self-employment, the finding is that they have similar working conditions to the genuine self-employed in terms of their physical and social environment and intensity of work. However, they have poorer job prospects and less ability to use their skills and discretion than the genuine self-employed. In terms of the working time quality, meanwhile, the finding is that they have better conditions than the genuine self-employed. Therefore, this analysis uncovers the need for a more nuanced understanding of the relative working conditions of the dependent self-employed.

Research limitations/implications

If the working conditions of the dependent self-employed are to be tackled, evaluation is now required of whether the current policy approaches, such as developing a hybrid category of employment with legal rights attached, address the specific working conditions that are worse for the dependent self-employed.

Originality/value

This is one of the few papers which provides an extensive evaluation of the working conditions of those in dependent self-employment in the EU28.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 January 2007

Philip Young P. Hong and Shanta Pandey

The purpose of this study is to examine the individualistic and the structural nature of human capital and its relationship with poverty.

2016

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the individualistic and the structural nature of human capital and its relationship with poverty.

Design/methodology/approach

An examination was made of the individual and the interaction effects of three dimensions of human capital (education, training, and health), gender, race, and underemployment on poverty status, after controlling for the direct effect of these variables. The sample included working‐age individuals in the USA taken from the 1996 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

Findings

The results show that among the human capital variables, postsecondary education is a particularly important factor associated with poverty among women and minorities. Job training, on the other hand, worsened the economic situation for non‐Whites. For individuals with less than post‐secondary education, the combined effect of training participation and health status significantly reduced the likelihood of being poor. Underemployment consistently moderated the effects of human capital, gender, and race on poverty status. Interestingly, underemployed women were less likely to be poor compared to those with more secure jobs. Women with training were more likely to be poor when they were underemployed compared to being in good jobs. This same relationship held true for minority groups with training having greater likelihood of being poor when they were underemployed.

Originality/value

This study provides an empirical validation of human capital as the structurally vulnerable attributes that are disproportionately distributed in the labor market for many American poor.

Details

Equal Opportunities International, vol. 26 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0261-0159

Keywords

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