Labor Relations Commons^™

Statedata: The National Report On Employment Services And Outcomes, John Butterworth, Allison Cohen Hall, Frank Smith, Alberto Migliore, Jean Winsor, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Daria Domin

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Policy shifts over the past 20 years have created an agenda for sustained commitment to integrated employment for individuals with disabilities. But despite these clear intentions, unemployment of individuals with disabilities continues to be a major public policy issue. Labor force statistics for December 2010 indicate that 28 percent of working-age adults with disabilities are employed, compared with 70 percent of people without disabilities. Labor force data also indicate that workers with disabilities have experienced significantly higher levels of job loss and hardship during the recession of the late 2000s. For people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), the disparity …

Working Alone: Protecting And Building Solidarity In The Workplace Of The Future, Charley Richardson

Labor Resource Center Publications

This paper explores the foundations of solidarity in the workplace and the challenges to building solidarity in the modern day workplace. The author identifies eight workplace trends that are increasing individual isolation and destroying workplace-based social networks. After comparing two models of social networks, the author suggests specific steps workers and unions can take to protect solidarity at work.

Analysis Of The Administration Of Human Resources: Prepared For The Ipswich Town-School Coordination Committee, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

The Town of Ipswich, acting for its Town-School Coordination Committee, contracted with the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston to undertake a review of the Human Resources (HR) management, Recreation Department programming, and the Information Technology needs of the Town and School Department. The review was undertaken to assess how collaborative approaches might enhance the effectiveness of each of these municipal functions. The Collins Center has published a report on each of these topics. The overall Project Manager was Senior Associate Richard Kobayashi. The HR report was prepared by Collins Center Associate …

The Utility Of Trouble: Leveling The Playing Field: Giving Municipal Officials The Tools To Moderate Health Insurance Costs, Robert L. Carey

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

According to the research, Boston could have reduced its 2010 health premiums by between 15.6 and 17.1 percent, for a savings of between $41.4 and $45.4 million by joining the state’s Group Insurance Commission, more widely known as the GIC. The City is unable to join the GIC, however, without first receiving 70% union approval, according to state law. This requirement and the associated tradeoffs involved are a major barrier to municipal participation in the GIC. Several cities and towns including Boston have called for cities and towns to have the same ability as the state to design health insurance …

Issues In Developing A Common Framework On Informal Employment, Françoise Carré, James Heintz

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper has been written to stimulate discussion on the definition and measurement of informal employment in developed economies. Much has been written on the definitions of informal employment and the informal sector in the context of developing countries, and these definitions have been applied in collecting and analyzing data from labor force, multi-purpose household, and enterprise surveys. It is less common that the recommendations and techniques for measuring informal employment and informal sector have been applied in developed countries.

In high-income economies, it is more common to speak of ‘nonstandard’ or ‘atypical’ employment. The two concepts of ‘informal employment’ …

Case Studies: Employment Data Systems: Florida's Agency For Persons With Disabilities, Allison Cohen Hall, Jean Winsor, John Butterworth

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The increasing emphasis on government accountability at the state and federal levels has increased interest in and use of outcome data. Moreover, research has found that high performing states in integrated employment generally have a clear and visible data collection system that provides individual outcome data (Hall et al, 2007). But what are the most important elements in designing and using a system? Stakeholders have raised questions regarding creating effective data collection systems, identifying variables with the most utility for influencing policy, and using data as a strategic planning tool. This series is intended to shed light on the successes …

Immigrant Workers In The Massachusetts Health Care Industry: A Report On Status And Future Prospects, Ramon Borges-Mendez, James Jennings, Donna H. Friedman, Malo Hutson, Teresa Eliot Roberts

Center for Social Policy Publications

Given the vital picture of foreign-born health care workers, this study has the following objectives:

1. To document the labor market position of foreign-born workers in the sector at various levels (national, statewide, sub-regional) including patterns of occupational concentration during the last decade or so, prospects for occupational mobility, wages, geographic concentration, employment by type of establishment (hospitals, community health centers, etc.) and workforce development opportunities;
2. To document, whenever possible, the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of foreign-born workers in the sector, including country of origin and gender among others;
3. To document the qualitative contribution of foreign-born workers in the health care …

Brokering Up: The Role Of Temporary Staffing In Overcoming Labor Market Barriers, Françoise Carré, Brandynn Holgate, Helen Levine, Mandira Kala

Center for Social Policy Publications

Alternative Staffing Organizations (ASOs) are social-purpose businesses created by community-based organizations and national nonprofits to “broker up” job seekers, starting with temporary assignments and forming bridges to better jobs. Funded by the C. S. Mott Foundation, the Alternative Staffing Demonstration examined four ASOs around the country for a three-year research project, with 18 months of close monitoring, exploring, and assessing the ASO model. The Center for Social Policy studied how ASOs structure the services they provide, handle day-to-day management issues, and sell their services. We found the ASO model was variously adapted to generate short-term employment, build work experience, provide …

Nepali Female Migrants And Informalization Of Domestic Care Work: Service Or Servitude?, Shobha Hamal Gurung

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

Nepali female migrants are among the fastest-growing immigrant workforces in the South Asian community, particularly in service and domestic work in big cities of the United States. However, there has not until now been a study investigating the work experiences of Nepali immigrants/migrants employed in the service and domestic sectors in these cities. This article investigates the work experiences of Nepali female migrants who work in service and domestic/child care work in Boston and New York, focusing on examining the type and nature of women's work, labor practices, work and living conditions, women's experiences and views about their work, and …

Gaming In Massachusetts: Can Casinos Bring 'Good Jobs' To The Commonwealth?, Marlene Kim, Susan Moir, Anneta Argyres

Labor Resource Center Publications

This study examines the quality of jobs in the United States gaming industry and analyzes enabling legislation in five states that have legalized gaming. The authors find that the gaming industry -- particularly the unionized sector of the casino hotel industry -- provides good jobs with good wages and benefits for workers with less than a high school degree. The authors conlcude that workforce development efforts in Masschusetts must include strategies to address improving the quality of entry-level jobs.

Work-Based Social Support In The United States: Limits And New Possibilities, Heather Boushey, Chris Tilly

Center for Social Policy Publications

The U.S. social policy framework has always relied on private employers to fill in the gaps for workers, rather than the state. U.S. workers have neither a strong social safety net outside of the labor market, nor an extensive social welfare structure supporting the labor market. For the most part, adequate provision of social benefits depends critically on employers’ voluntary adoption of support policies. For example, the U.S. has neither a universal health plan nor a requirement that employers provide health insurance coverage; the U.S. public system of old-age pensions is work-based, and that public system falls short unless supplemented …

An Overview Of The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards At The Bottom Of America’S Labor Market, Annette Bernhardt, Heather Boushey, Laura Dresser, Chris Tilly

Center for Social Policy Publications

When we talk about the “gloves-off economy,” we are identifying a set of employer strategies and practices that either evade or outright violate the core laws and standards that govern job quality in the U.S. While such strategies have long been present in certain sectors, such as sweatshops and marginal small businesses, we argue that they are spreading. This trend, driven by competitive pressures, has been shaped by an environment where other major economic actors—government, unions, and civil society—have either promoted deregulation or been unable to contain gloves-off business strategies. The result, at the start of the 21st century, is …

Building Trades Apprentice Training In Massachusetts: An Analysis Of Union And Non-Union Programs, 1997-2007, Anneta Argyres, Susan Moir

Labor Resource Center Publications

This study provides an analysis and comparison of the efficacy and sustainability of union and non-union building trades apprentice training programs in Massachusetts. The authors analyzed several outcome variables including total enrollment levels and completion rates; enrollment and completion rates for minorities, women and other non-traditional populations; and program size and sustainability. Based on the findings, the authors offer recommendations to the Massachusetts Division of Apprentice Training.

Sharing The Costs, Reaping The Benefits: Paid Family And Medical Leave In Massachusetts, Randy Albelda, Alan Clayton-Matthews

Labor Resource Center Publications

This report provides an analysis of the costs and benefits associated with Massachusetts Senate President Robert Travaglini's proposed family and medical leave insurance program (April 2006). The authors developed a simulation model to estimate the employer and employee wage costs when employees take paid and unpaid family and medical leaves, and they use this model to compare the current costs with those predicted under the Travaglini proposal.

For information about how the authors estimated the costs of the program and the specifics about their model, please follow the link below to "IWPR/LRC Paid Family and Medical Leave Simulation Model," originally …

Pushing The Integrated Employment Agenda: Case Study Research In Washington State, Jean Winsor, Allison Cohen Hall, John Butterworth, Dana Scott Gilmore

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

This is the second in a series of publications highlighting findings from case studies in three states—New Hampshire, Washington, and Colorado—that are recognized as high performers in integrated employment. These products are intended to be a practical resource for states as they work to help people with disabilities obtain and maintain gainful employment.

ICI identified “high-performing” states based on the following criteria: the percentage of citizens served by the state’s mental retardation/developmental disabilities agency that participate in integrated employment, and the rate of growth in integrated employment.

In 2003, a team of ICI researchers conducted face-to-ace interviews with state and …

Massachusetts Marine Trades Workforce Assessment 2005, Dan Hellin

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

In 2005, a partnership between the South Coastal Workforce Investment Board, the Massachusetts Marine Trades Association, Massasoit Community College and the Urban Harbors Institute (UHI) of the University of Massachusetts Boston, developed and distributed a survey focused on the status, needs and future challenges faced by marine businesses in the South Coastal region of Massachusetts. The Urban Harbors Institute analyzed the responses and prepared this report to present the results.

The overall aims of the 2005 Marine Trades Workforce Assessment Survey were: to determine the extent of the marine industry’s labor needs in the South Coastal region of Massachusetts; to …

Case Studies Of Local Boards And One-Stop Centers: Creative Involvement Of Community-Based Disability Organizations At One-Stop Career Centers, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Heike Boeltzig

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) facilitates partnerships among organizations for more coordinated service delivery to all job seekers. Although the state Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency is the only disability agency or program that is a mandated partner under WIA, community-based disability organizations (CBOs) can also work with One-Stop Career Centers to enhance their capacity to support customers with disabilities. Through case study research, the Institute for Community Inclusion identified several models of involvement between CBOs and One-Stops. These models illustrate that organizations can be creative in developing their partner roles to meet the needs of both their staff and their …

Case Studies Of Local Boards And One-Stop Centers: Strategies For Maximizing Staff Competence When Supporting Job Seekers With Disabilities In One-Stop Career Centers, Allison Cohen Hall, Sheila Fesko

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Since states began implementing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, One-Stop Career Centers have had to address the challenges of serving all customers seeking services, including job seekers with disabilities. To meet this challenge, many local One-Stops have demonstrated commitment to and progress towards creating innovative practices that positively affect access for job seekers with disabilities in the workforce system. The following brief is offered as a tool for local workforce systems to help achieve meaningful employment outcomes for job seekers with disabilities. This brief is part of a series of products offering practical solutions for Local Workforce Investment …

Case Studies Of Local Boards And One-Stop Centers: Tackling Fiscal Issues, Heike Boeltzig, Allison Cohen Hall

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) established a network of One-Stop Career Centers by integrating different employment and training services into one comprehensive workforce investment system. Within this environment, One-Stop partners are mandated to collaborate to create a seamless service delivery system that enhances access to services and improves employment outcomes for all individuals, including those with disabilities. WIA's intent was to establish local workforce development systems that would respond to their areas' specific needs with unique solutions and creative partnerships. In addition to service delivery, WIA encourages One-Stop partners to share in the operating costs of the One-Stop …

Case Studies Of Local Boards And One-Stop Centers: Levels Of Involvement Of State Vr Agencies With Other One-Stop Partners, Sheila Fesko, Doris Hamner

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) emphasizes coordination and collaboration for better service delivery between state departments of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and other One-Stop partners. Although WIA's requirements for VR participation are clear, the parameters of this partnership are flexible and depend on a variety of factors within each state and local system. Defining the role of VR has had its challenges, as is the case for many partners in the WIA system. However, there are numerous examples of VR agencies working creatively to establish effective partnerships that positively influence services for job seekers with disabilities in the One-Stop system. The …

Case Studies Of Local Boards And One-Stop Centers: Underutilization Of One-Stops By People With Significant Disabilities, Doris Hamner, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) identifies individuals with disabilities as among the constituencies to be served by One-Stop Career Centers. Due to a variety of factors, including lack of an overall One-Stop data collection system, no clear way to identify disability in the system, and non-disclosure of disability by many customers, it is difficult to ascertain the exact level of One-Stop usage by people with disabilities. However, existing data sources and anecdotal evidence indicate that people with disabilities underutilize One-Stops. The number of people with disabilities that use One-Stops seems to be lower than what would be expected based on …

Economic Engagement: An Avenue To Employment For Individuals With Disabilities, William Kiernan, John Halliday, Heike Boeltzig

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

The role that employment has played for persons with disabilities over the past several decades has moved from one of no engagement in the workforce to a realization that persons with disabilities can work and are interested in working. The shrinking workforce has increased employers' interest in looking at the full range of potential workers, including those previously considered unemployable. The growing economy—coupled with the declining birth rate, the increase in technology and supports for a diverse workforce, and the increasing expectation that all persons should be provided with the opportunity to work—has led to a new view of individuals …

Designing A Pre-Apprenticeship Model For Women Entering And Succeeding In The Construction Trades, Susan Moir Scd, Elizabeth Skidmore

Labor Studies Faculty Publication Series

It has been over a quarter century since the Carter administration set a goal of increasing the number of women working in the construction industry to 6.9% of the workforce. It is often overlooked that the stated intent of this policy initiative was for women to make up 25% of construction workers by the year 2000 (Eisenberg, 1999). While some isolated projects have met or exceeded the 6.9% target, the number of women working in the construction trades nationally increased in the first few years after 1979, but leveled off at under 3% in the early 1980’s and has stayed …

Alternative Job Brokering: Addressing Labor Market Disadvantages, Improving The Temp Experience, And Enhancing Job Opportunities, Françoise Carré, Joaquín Herranz, Jr., Dorie Seavey, Carlha Vickers, Ashley Aull, Rebecca Keegan

Center for Social Policy Publications

Alternative staffing is a key form of labor market intermediation worthy of consideration alongside that provided by other community-based job placement programs. Furthermore, an examination of alternative staffing services underscores the essential role that supports to employment play in job-brokering for workers who are disadvantaged in the labor market because these are businesses that tend simultaneously and daily to the two sides of the work relationship (worker-client and customer business). Much can be learned from their experiences about the expertise and resources required to effectively broker jobs for these kinds of workers—expertise and resources that could be necessary if public-sector …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Focus On Leadership, Sheila Fesko, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Allison Cohen Hall

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The workforce development system has undergone significant change in the past five years, including the development and implementation of new partnerships. Maintaining the integrity of services and conducting major organizational change has been a challenge for local, state, and federal leaders. Some states have a limited vision of how this new workforce system can operate and the ways in which their customers can benefit from the new partnerships. Other states, however, have embraced the challenge put forth in the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and have built on previous collaborations or begun new initiatives. This publication discusses some of the challenges …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Focus On Merging Cultures, Allison Cohen Hall, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Sheila Fesko

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The implementation of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) requires major organizational change for employment, training, and disability agencies. The initiative emphasizes coordination, collaboration and communication among organizations for better service delivery. At this time, states are developing systems that will enable them to address the needs of all customers, including those with disabilities, who are seeking employment. Traditionally, service systems have required that consumers and their families who need a variety of services be able to negotiate the culture and language of multiple agencies. With the new WIA legislation, this task is now being required of the agencies themselves. In …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Focus On Co-Location, Sheila Fesko, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Allison Cohen Hall

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Seamless service delivery means that a customer receiving services can move between two or more agencies with limited disruption. Seamless services have not been accomplished when a customer must take a cross-town bus to travel from one agency to another. To address this issue, many One-Stop career centers are looking into how staff from their partner agencies can physically share space. This can range from a single staff person from an agency working in the Center on specific days of the week (itinerant staffing) to all staff from that agency working there on a full-time basis (full co-location). Staff report …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Focus On Accessibility, Sheila Fesko, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Allison Cohen Hall

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Universal access is a central tenet of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and mandates that One-Stop Career Center (One-Stop) services be accessible for individuals with disabilities. Partnerships between Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and workforce development agencies have increased awareness about the importance of service accessibility and states have been responding to this issue in their planning and service delivery. This brief highlights the innovative strategies states have used to make their One-Stops better able to support job seekers with disabilities. This brief is part of a series of products offering practical solutions for state and local entities as they implement the …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Focus On Involving Customers With Disabilities, Sheila Fesko, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Allison Cohen Hall

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Although it is uniformly accepted that customers with disabilities should be involved in the process to create a new workforce system under the mandates of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), anecdotal evidence suggests this to be more rhetoric than reality. Currently One-Stop Career Centers, workforce boards, and states are struggling with how to solicit and incorporate this important input into the planning process. The following is offered as a tool to help involve customers with disabilities as One-Stop centers are developed. This brief is part of a series of products offering practical solutions for state and local entities as they …

From Paper To Action: State-Level Interagency Agreements For Supported Employment Of People With Disabilities, Deborah Metzel, Susan M. Foley, John Butterworth

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Over the past decade there has been an increasing national emphasis on the participation of individuals with disabilities in the labor force. This concern was recognized through Executive Order No. 13078 signed by President Bill Clinton in March 1998, establishing the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. The Task Force was charged with a mission "to create a coordinated and aggressive policy to bring adults with disabilities into gainful employment at a rate that is as close as possible to that of the general adult population" (Section 1 (c)). Legislation and policy changes have also been directed …