Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Strengthening The Southern Nevada Workforce Pipeline, Katie M. Gilbertson

Policy Briefs and Reports

This report analyzes the Southern Nevada employment ecosystem by utilizing occupational clusters recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor. The first section examines occupations in the tourism industry using three occupational clusters: hospitality and leisure; arts, audio/video technology and communications; and the transportation, distribution, and logistics. Next, this report utilizes the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance’s 2022 Workforce Blueprint to identify the top 15 in-demand occupations for Southern Nevada and occupational clusters. A case study of the MGM College Opportunity Program (COP) is presented to demonstrate an existing workforce training program that promotes upward mobility of leisure and hospitality employees …

Executive Summary- Social Protection In Egypt: Mitigating The Socio-Economic Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Vulnerable Employment, Dina Makram-Ebeid, Amr Adly, Nadine Sika, Hania M Sholkamy, Samer Atallah

Faculty Journal Articles

This is the executive summary of an interdisciplinary project between the fields of development economics, political economy, labor sociology, development anthropology and public health. It reviews the social protection available to vulnerable employees and their households in Egypt and suggests ways to adapt them in light of the COVID 19 pandemic. The research focuses on four areas a) employment security b) social assistance c) health insurance d) gendered mitigations. The project will map the impact of the crisis on vulnerable employees and their households and propose policy interventions to alleviate the socio-economic effects of the pandemic through the publication of …

Comparative Analysis Of State Policies For Former Foster Youth, Erin A. Watkins

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This research is a comparative analysis of state policies aiding former foster youth in their transition into adulthood. This research looks at policies in the areas of housing, education, and employment. The objective of this research is to see what state policies are effective in aiding their former foster youth in their transition into adulthood. Effectiveness is evaluated by the National Youth in Transition Database data and Annie E. Casey Foundation data, looking specifically at rates of homelessness, rates of enrollment or attendance in school, and rates of part-time or full-time employment. Results found that the three states analyzed (Illinois, …

Attrition In A Holistic Job Skills Training Program: A Qualitative Study, Jeaniece Silas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today thousands of individuals and families are unemployed or underemployed and are seeking ways to combat poverty and become employed. One way that individuals seek to gain employment is by attending job skills training and adult education programs. However, there are barriers that hinder those individuals from successfully completing the programs. The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of applicants of a nonprofit job skills training program called FaithWorks and explore the reasons why applicants were not able to continue and, or complete the program. This study was conducted, through qualitative interviewing of four participants (N=4) utilizing …

Multi-System Collaboration: Supporting Individuals From Pre-Employment Through Employment And Community Engagement Across The Life Course, Rie Kennedy-Lizotte, Adam Sass, Jeanine Zlockie, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

In concert with the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) identified potential topical areas for policy white papers that influence employment outcomes and services for individuals served by state intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) agencies. This is the third white paper in a series of five.

The Triple Bind Of Single-Parent Families: Resources, Employment And Policies To Improve Wellbeing, Rense Nieuwenhuis, Laurie C. Maldonado

Faculty Open-Access Books

Editors: Rense Nieuwenhuis and Laurie C. Maldonado

Authors are listed in order of appearance in text. Author/Editor details at time of book publication.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book presents evidence from over 40 countries that shows how single parents face a triple bind of inadequate resources, employment and policies, which in combination further complicate their lives.

This book - multi-disciplinary and comparative in design - shows evidence from over 40 countries, along with detailed case studies of Sweden, Iceland, Scotland, and the UK. It covers aspects of well-being that include poverty, good quality jobs, the middle class, …

Public Actors In Private Markets: Toward A Developmental Finance State, Robert Hockett, Saule Omarova

Saule T. Omarova

The recent financial crisis brought into sharp relief fundamental questions about the social function and purpose of the financial system, including its relation to the “real” economy. This Article argues that, to answer these questions, we must recapture a distinctively American view of the proper relations among state, financial market, and development. This programmatic vision – captured in what we call a “developmental finance state” – is based on three key propositions: (1) that economic and social development is not an “end-state” but a continuing national policy priority; (2) that the modalities of finance are the most potent means of …

Unemployment In Richmond, Virginia, John V. Moeser

Poverty in Metropolitan Richmond

Data for the charts, tables, and maps are the most recent from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, Five-Year Estimates. Five-year estimates are used rather than one-year or three-year estimates in order to reduce the margin of error. All slides about each of the localities include data about race.

Employment In Henrico County, Virginia, John V. Moeser

Poverty in Metropolitan Richmond

Data for the charts, tables, and maps are the most recent from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, Five-Year Estimates. Five-year estimates are used rather than one-year or three-year estimates in order to reduce the margin of error. All slides about each of the localities include data about race.

Employment In Hanover County, Virginia, John V. Moeser

Poverty in Metropolitan Richmond

Data for the charts, tables, and maps are the most recent from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, Five-Year Estimates. Five-year estimates are used rather than one-year or three-year estimates in order to reduce the margin of error. All slides about each of the localities include data about race.

Employment In Chesterfield County, Virginia, John V. Moeser

Poverty in Metropolitan Richmond

Data for the charts, tables, and maps are the most recent from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, Five-Year Estimates. Five-year estimates are used rather than one-year or three-year estimates in order to reduce the margin of error. All slides about each of the localities include data about race.

Unemployment In Metropolitan Richmond Including Localities, John V. Moeser

Poverty in Metropolitan Richmond

Data for the charts, tables, and maps are the most recent from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, Five-Year Estimates. Five-year estimates are used rather than one-year or three-year estimates in order to reduce the margin of error. All slides about each of the localities include data about race.

Poverty, Employment, & Median Household Income In Metropolitan Richmond, John V. Moeser

Poverty in Metropolitan Richmond

Data for the charts, tables, and maps are the most recent from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, 2009-2013, Five-Year Estimates. Five-year estimates are used rather than one-year or three-year estimates in order to reduce the margin of error. All slides about each of the localities include data about race.

Bankruptcy And Economic Recovery, Thomas H. Jackson, David A. Skeel Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

To measure economic growth or recovery, one traditionally looks to metrics such as the unemployment rate and the growth in GDP. And in terms of figuring out institutional policies that will stimulate economic growth, the focus most often is on policies that encourage investment, entrepreneurial enterprises, and reward risk-taking with appropriate returns. Bankruptcy academics that we are, we tend to add our own area of expertise to this stable— with the firm belief that thinking critically about bankruptcy policy is an important element of any set of institutions designed to speed economic recovery. In this paper, written for a book …

Research Approach Exploring Integrating Employment And Family Policy: Review Of Policy Objectives For The Population Policy White Paper In Taiwan, Chih-Lung Huang

Chih-lung Huang

One of the main purposes of the Population Policy White Paper in Taiwan is to seek solutions to the baby bust trend. Through strengthening family policy, the Population Policy White Paper in Taiwan tries to satisfy the need for a balance between work and family for women. However, the need is not only concerned with the baby bust problem, but also about the institutional and structural problems on culture and welfare systems under the conventional male breadwinner model. This article will explain the reason why the issue of work and family life balance should consider gender equality. Through the dual …

The Social Security Student Benefit Program And Family Decisions, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

In 1965 Congress established the Social Security Student Benefit Program which provided benefits for children of deceased, disabled or retired workers, who were enrolled in college full—time and were not married, up until the semester they turned age 22. The program grew to be a major financial aid program; at its peak in FY 81 it represented about 20% of all federal outlays on student assistance for higher education. The program was terminated for students newly entering college as of May 1, 1982. Somewhat surprisingly, in contrast to the debate that accompanies most social programs, debate over the student benefit …

Employment Generation And Poverty Alleviation In Developing Economies, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] We know well that the East Asian economies have achieved higher economic growth rates than those in any other region of the world and that production for world markets has featured as a hallmark of the East Asian successes. This paper has three purposes: first, to present comparative data showing that the rates at which employment opportunities improve and poverty is reduced mirror countries' differential growth experiences; second, to examine differences in labour market institutions, demonstrating that those in East Asia have similarities more likely to lead to higher output performance and shared improvements in living conditions; and third, …

Sonomaworks A Community Health And Welfare Program Evaluation: Moving People From Welfare Dependence To Employment And Independence, Peter Wales

Ned Wales

SonomaWORKS was a ‘welfare to work’ program that was evaluated through grant funding from the US Department of Justice in the late 1990's. The outcomes from the research show some indication of success in moving long term welfare dependant families into full time and part time work. The core objective of this community services program was to improve the quality of life of the participants and encourage participation in the workforce. This policy approach along with other economic rationalisation incentives have been duplicated in other parts of the world in recent years. The evaluation findings on this program highlight the …

Lone Mothers And Welfare-To-Work Policies In Japan And The United States: Towards An Alternative Perspective, Aya Ezawa, Chisa Fujiwara

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper compares recent efforts to reduce lone mothers' reliance on cash assistance and support their increased participation in the workforce and economic independence in Japan and the United States. Similar to reforms introduced in the U.S. in 1996, lone mother policies in Japan have been subject to a series of cuts leading to the introduction of time limits and work-related programs in 2002. In this paper, we examine the character of recent welfare reforms in both countries and their implications for lone mothers' welfare and economic independence. Based on Japan's experience and recent lessons from the U.S., we show …

Moving Target: The Dilemma Of Serving Massachusetts Poor Families, Randy Albelda

New England Journal of Public Policy

While Community Action Agencies’ original mission of serving the poor has changed little over the last three decades, government commitments to the poor, the population of poor individuals and families, and women’s economic expectations have changed considerably. This article documents the trends in family structure, women’s employment patterns, and poverty policies in Massachusetts between 1970 and 2000. The increase in poor, single-mother families and poverty policies that emphasize employment present dynamic challenges for Community Action Agencies (and others who serve the poor), but also create some new organizing opportunities.

The Economic Impact Of Human Services Agencies On The Pioneer Valley Region: An Analysis Of Expenditures And Jobs, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The Center for Economic Development, working in concert with the Human Service Forum, assessed the expenditure and job multipliers for the human service industry on the Pioneer Valley region. The study consists of three parts: 1) detailed assessments of expenditures for six human service providers that helped shape a survey of jobs and expenditures; 2) a follow-up survey was sent to 110 agencies with a response rate of 53% and ; 3) the subsequent application of job multipliers, developed by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, to the information in order to assess the total impact of jobs in the …

Poverty Amid Renewed Affluence: The Poor Of New England At Mid-Decade, Andrew M. Sum, Paul E. Harrington, William B. Goedicke, Robert Vinson

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines the problem of poverty in New England during the current period of economic prosperity. Major trends in the size and composition of the poor population within the region are analyzed. Striking changes in the relative incidence of poverty have occurred among families in New England. As the economy has moved toward full employment, poverty rates among husband-wife families in the region have fallen sharply. In contrast, female-headed families in New England have not benefited substantially from recent rapid increases in employment opportunities. The result has been a persistent trend toward the feminization of poverty in New England. …