Work, Economy and Organizations Commons^™

Increased Reliance On Wives As Breadwinners During The First Year Of The Recession, Kristin Smith

Carsey Publications

Among low-income families, the wages of employed wives account for the majority of family earnings, according to this Carsey brief. The analysis finds that in 2008, women contributed 56 percent of total family earnings, up from 51 percent in 2007. Also, husbands' education level and race are factors in how much wives contribute to family earnings.

Analysis Of Mammoth Cave Pre-Park Communities, Matthew Brunt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Before the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park, this area was home to numerous communities, each with a sense of identity. To prepare for the creation of the National Park, all residents living within these communities were relocated, and many of these communities were lost to the passage of time. Today, public memory of these lost communities is being fostered by the descendents of the pre-park area.

Through the use of a Historical Geographic Information System, 1920 Edmonson County manuscript census data, and statistical analysis, the demographic composition of these lost communities was explored. This project not only brought to …

Research Brief No. 2 - Models Of Earning And Caring: Trends, Determinants And Implications, Roderic Beaujot, Zenaida Ravanera, Jianye Liu

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

Families in Canada have undergone changes regarding the ways in which they earn a living and care for each other. Data taken from Statistics Canada time use surveys of 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2005 show changes in the average number of hours of paid and unpaid work completed by men and women.

Mountain Monitor-3rd Quarter 2009, Brookings Mountain West

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Nationwide, the recession is technically over. Or at least that is the view of most economists. They note that real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) finally expanded in the third quarter of 2009, growing at a 2.8 percent annual rate after four consecutive quarters of contraction. They point to a significant slowing of job losses in November, rising housing prices, and a slight downtick in unemployment as other positive signs. Their conclusion: Economic recovery is at last underway. And yet, the pace of renewal seems tentative and its geography patchy. Most notably, the aggregate national story of recovery and expansion …

Worker Control As A Facilitator In The Match Between Education And Jobs, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This article examines the relationship between worker control and subjective underemployment among workers who have more education than is needed for entry into their jobs (credential underemployment). Results indicate that social and technical controls are related to a greater sense of education–job matching. Workers who have credential underemployment are less likely to report subjective underemployment (underutilization and lack of fit between education and job) if they have higher levels of workplace control. This article contains implications for job design and the role of employers and managers in fostering the utilization of their workforces.

Policy Brief No. 1 - Cognitive Function, Aging And Paid Work, Laurie M. Corna, David Haardt

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

In the context of an aging population and aging workforce, we consider the relationship between cognitive function and paid work. Cognitive function is maintained for most adults as they age, and there is evidence of a positive relationship between stimulating and engaging work environments and both levels of cognitive function and their maintenance over time. At the same time, irregular and long work hours are associated with poorer cognitive outcomes. However, the relationship between paid work and cognitive function is complex; education and training as well as health status are also related to cognitive function and work. We discuss implications …

Data Note: Job Seekers With Disabilities At One-Stop Career Centers: An Examination Of Registration For Wagner-Peyser Funded Employment Services From 2002 To 2007, David Hoff, Frank A. Smith

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 established a nationwide system of public employment services, known as the Employment Service. Wagner-Peyser funds are a primary source of funding for the services of One-Stop Career Centers that provide employment services available to all people, including people with disabilities. This data note examines trends on a national and state-by-state basis in the number and percentage of job seekers who self-identified as having disabilities who register for Wagner-Peyser Employment Services.

Train Hard, Win Easy: Running On The Periphery In Rural Kenya: The Last Shall Be First, Jordan Apfeld

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Past years have proven Kenyans dominant in the sport of athletics. Today, runners from the Rift Valley win more major middle- and long-distance running events than those from any other nation in the world. Although athletics is not the most lucrative of sports, modern marketing has resulted in creating a sport with various financial incentives. These include prize money, sponsorships, and the opportunity for a new life. However, runners from rural agricultural backgrounds find it very difficult to translate their athletic talent into dollars at the finish line. This study examines the economic prospects for young male runners from Kapsabet …

Conflicting Loyalties: Changing Roles And Relations Of Labor Unions In Vietnam, Jan Slezak

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As labor unions in Vietnam become further divided from the political ideologies they arose from, it is important to examine how workers can become accurately represented in a system of changing markets, government and an economic movement towards the free-market system. As the role of the labor union changes and attempts to adapt into contemporary times, this study discusses and analyzes the opinions and actions of Vietnam’s citizens; from the worker’s most affected by the oncoming changes to those who take part it crafting and enforcing legislation on the issue. This study arrives at its answer by combining interviews, social …

La Ciada De La Industria Salmonera Y Las Consequences, Kyla Jacobs

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For almost fifteen years, the Chilean salmon industry grew at an unprecedented rate, cultivating the otherwise desolate tenth region of Los Lagos as territory of great economic prosperity. Home to several of the worlds largest salmon companies such as Marine Harvest and AquaChile, Puerto Montt and its surrounding towns were once the epicenter of salmon cultivation, making Chile the second largest producer of salmon in the world after Norway. Though with the official emergence of the ISA virus in 2007, numerous salmon companies were forced to shut down, propagating thousands of layoffs and consequently leading to a large blow in …

Interview With Willie Williamson, Lisa Duke

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 79 minutes

Oral history interview of Willie Williamson by Lisa Duke

Mr. Williamson begins by describing his childhood in Grenada, Mississippi, one of nine children, playing baseball and attending Sunday school, and growing up in the Jim Crow South. He recalls how he first learned of Apartheid through a food drive for South African refugees where they learned of the efforts to expel South Africa from the United Nations, which persuaded him and his wife to become involved. He explains how this led him and others to establish the National Anti-Imperialist Movement for Southern Africa Liberation (NAIMSAL). He describes …

Interview With Rosetta Daylie, Sarah Bonkowski

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 71 minutes

Oral history interview of Rosetta Daylie by Sarah Bonkowski

Rosetta Daylie begins by recounting her childhood on the South Side of Chicago, raised by a politically active family. She recalls her initial work in food service at the Illinois Visually Handicapped Institution. She explains how she was working for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a trade union of public employees, when she learned about the anti-Apartheid movement and the Illinois Labor Network Against Apartheid (ILLNAA. She describes her work with ILLNAA and the Coalition of Black Trade Labor Unionists, the Shell boycott …

Interview With Tim Wright, Jonathen Vogel

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 69 minutes

Oral history interview of Tim Wright by Jonathen Vogel

Tim Wright was involved in activism and the Anti-apartheid movement since college. He tells of when, while attending UCLA, he was involved in the divestment movement to prevent universities from cooperating with the African regime. He describes his time working as a research assistant with Angela Davis and their time in Angola, South Africa to learn more about the conflict first-hand, where he met Prexy Nesbitt, who became a close colleague. Wright describes his time working with Harold Washington and his administration, taking part initially as a volunteer …

Interview With Mary Scott Boria, Pamela Birchard

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 92 minutes

Oral history interview of Mary Schott Boria by Pamela Birchard

Mary Scott Boria begin by detailing her childhood as the daughter of a divorced, interracial couple in the 1950s. She explains how at the age of 14, she packed a suitcase and joined her mother in Chicago where she participated in the Civil Rights Movement, joining the NAACP and, later, the Black Panther Party while in college. She recalls joining the Chicago Committee in Solidarity with Southern Africa (CCISSA) in the 1980s, working toward the divestment of the Apartheid government, participating in demonstrations, helping put together newsletters, …

Interview With Lisa Ann Brock, Amanda Anderson

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 96 minutes

Oral history interview of Lisa Ann Brock by Amanda Anderson

Dr. Brock was born and raised in Glendale, Ohio. She holds a BA in history from Howard University and a doctorate in history from Northwestern University. She has spent most of her life involved in social justice activism and higher education. She was the founding Academic Director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College for ten years. She currently works as a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) consultant.

Interview With Njoki Kamau, Christian Tulp

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 96 minutes

Oral history interview of Njoki Kamau by Christian Tulp

In this interview, Njoki Kamau Kamau recalls her childhood in Kenya under British colonialism and during the Mau Mau rebellion. She explains the Kukuyu traditions of her childhood and the effects the rebellion had on her family. She recalls her first experiences with racism in the United States and her struggles at Northwestern University. She explains how her childhood under colonialism dramatically influenced her later activism. She then explains how her participation in the divestment movement began with conversations with Dennis Brutus, a Northwestern professor from South Africa, …

Interview With Cheryl Johnson-Odim, Carrie Armbruster

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 57 minutes

Oral history interview of Cheryl Johnson-Odim by Carrie Armbruster

Johnson-Odim describes her introduction to South African Apartheid in junior high school through her music teacher, S. Carol Buchanan, who was good friends with the musical director for Harry Belafonte. After auditioning and being chosen to sing on his album, “The Streets I’ve Walked,” Belafonte took Johnson and the other singers to watch South African Boot Dancers, who later went to teach the students about the apartheid regime in South Africa. She describes how her involvement in the civil rights of African Americans and the rights of women …

Interview With Funeka Sihlali, Renell Schubert

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 92 minutes

Oral history interview of Funeka Sihlali by Renell Schubert

Ms. Sihlali begins by describing her childhood in King William’s Town when the Apartheid regime was instituted, living in government housing with her family in a single-room house with no bathroom, sharing a toilet with four other households. She explains having to learn the customs which were different from that in her home, for example, to look at African elders was a sign of disrespect, but outside of the home, she had to learn to make eye contact with white people to keep them from seeing her as …

Interview With Cheryl Graves, Guadalupe Santoyo

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 88 minutes

Oral history interview of Cheryl Graves by Guadalupe Santoyo

Ms. Graves first describes her childhood on the South Side of Chicago, raised with an awareness of social justice and activism, amongst a close extended family. She recalls her educational experiences, attending an integrated high school, her initial struggles in college, and her eventual career path. She explains how she became involved in the anti-Apartheid movement after law school while providing legal assistance to union workers, eventually joining CIDSA (Coalition for Illinois Divestment from South Africa). She elaborates on the actions they took to demand divestment from South …

Interview With Otis Cunningham, Danny Fenster

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 98 minutes

Oral history interview of Otis Cunningham by Danny Fenster

Mr. Cunningham begins by explaining what it was like growing up amidst the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago, witnessing the reactions to the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. He explains how he first became involved in activism for African liberation movements when he joined the African-American Solidarity Committee where he served on the editorial board of their journal and he elaborates on the work they did. He recalls the social gatherings that sprung up through the movement. He explains the complicated history and relationships …

Rural And Urban Children Have Lower Rates Of Health Insurance Coverage And Are More Often Covered By Public Plans, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Michelle L. Stransky

Carsey Publications

This Carsey brief looks at the geographic distribution of health insurance for children. Based on data from the 2008 American Community Survey, it includes such findings as one in ten children are still uninsured, insurance rates vary considerably by geographic area, and rural children are most likely to depend on public plans for their health care.

Creating And Responding To The Gen(D)Eralized Other: Women Miners’ Community-Constructed Identities, Kristen Lucas, Sarah J. Steimel

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

An analysis of interviews with mining families reveals that gender identity construction is a collaborative process that draws upon broader community discourses. Male miners and non-mining women created a generalized other for women as "unfit to mine" (i.e., women are physically too weak to mine, are easy prey, and are ladies who do not belong in the mines). Female miners responded with gendered discourses that distanced themselves from and linked themselves to the generalized other.

Regional Young Child Poverty In 2008: Rural Midwest Sees Increased Poverty, While Urban Northeast Rates Decrease, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

In 2008, America's recession affected poverty rates for children under age 6 unevenly, with rates in the rural Midwest rising significantly, while rates in northeastern central cities fell slightly. And in the rural South, where more than 30 percent of young children are poor, poverty rates for young children persisted at a very high rate. This is an analysis of American Community Survey data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Du Ponts In Kentucky: Louisville’S Central Park, The Southern Exposition, And An Entrepreneurial Spirit*, Timothy J. Mullin

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

* The du Pont family is large, and recurring names and nicknames often make it difficult to follow who’s who. The Lammot family is woven together with the du Pont family in a complicated thread, especially since Margaretta was a favorite name. Adding the Coleman/Moxham family only makes the complicated spider’s web of family relationships that much more difficult. For this purpose selected family trees are included as appendices.

Home Care Workers: Keeping Granite Staters In Their Homes As They Age, Kristin Smith

Carsey Publications

Using data from the New Hampshire Direct Care Workforce Survey, this brief shows that New Hampshire's demand for home-based care workers outpaces supply because its population is aging at a faster rate than the average. These workers play a critical role and face many challenges, including low pay, little or no paid time off, and lack of access to health insurance.

Surviving Your First Library Job Search, Or, An Explanation Of What I Had To Learn The Hard Way, Re-Produced Here, For You, So That You Are Not Driven To Drink As Well, Steven Hoover

Library Faculty Research

Searching for a library job can be a life-changing ordeal, but try not to let that bother you. The scars that it will leave on your psyche are likely to heal in time. When I was starting the job search process, I found that the professional literature had a lot to say about writing good cover letters and developing solid interview skills but not a lot of information about what searching for a job was really like on a daily basis. Hopefully, after reading this article, you have a little better sense of what to expect during your search, pick …

The Development Of An Unequal Social Safety Net: A Case Study Of The Employer-Based Health Insurance (Non) System, H. Luke Shaefer, Elizabeth D. Sammons

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The U.S. social safety net exacerbates labor market inequalities rather than ameliorating them. This paper traces this theme within an important historical case study: the emergence of the employer-based health insurance system. Employers became the dominant and tax-preferred provider of health insurance in the United States without any federal legislative action. Understanding how this happened may inform current reform efforts. This case study highlights two important factors. The first is path dependency, discussed by Skocpol (1992) and Pierson (2000). They argue that the ambiguous divisions of power and a pluralistic governance framework favor incremental processes of social policy formation in …

Family-Friendly Policies For Rural Working Mothers, Rebecca K. Glauber

Carsey Publications

For working parents, family friendly work policies like paid sick days, flexible time, or medical insurance can reduce work-family conflict and lead to less absenteeism and higher productivity. Working parents in rural America, however, have less access to these policies than their urban counterparts.

The State Of Working New Hampshire 2009, Allison Churilla

Carsey Publications

The issue brief finds that while New Hampshire workers have fared well compared with other New England states, wages have stagnated and full-time workers now form a smaller share of the labor force.

Making Biomass Pay: Obstacles And Opportunities, Gail Wells

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

Removing hazardous fuels to reduce the risk of wildfire has become a priority for land managers across the United States. Utilizing biomass taken from forests to cover the cost of fuel reduction is an attractive ideal. Effective utilization could also address important national challenges such as improving forest health, increasing domestic energy supplies, reducing carbon emissions, and revitalizing rural economies. However, getting woody biomass from the forest to the consumer is economically and logistically difficult, and efforts to make biomass utilization profitable have been disappointing so far. JFSP-funded researchers have found that, while there is no recipe for building a …