Service Sector (service + sector)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting


Selected Abstracts


Intersectoral Labor Mobility and the Growth of the Service Sector

ECONOMETRICA, Issue 1 2006
Donghoon Lee
One of the most striking changes in the U.S. economy over the past 50 years has been the growth in the service sector. Between 1950 and 2000, service-sector employment grew from 57 to 75 percent of total employment. However, over this time, the real hourly wage in the service sector grew only slightly faster than in the goods sector. In this paper, we assess whether or not the essential constancy of the relative wage implies that individuals face small costs of switching sectors, and we quantify the relative importance of labor supply and demand factors in the growth of the service sector. We specify and estimate a two-sector labor market equilibrium model that allows us to address these empirical issues in a unified framework. Our estimates imply that there are large mobility costs: output in both sectors would have been double their current levels if these mobility costs had been zero. In addition, we find that demand-side factors, that is, technological change and movements in product and capital prices, were responsible for the growth of the service sector. [source]


Precarious Work and Economic Migration: Emerging Immigrant Divisions of Labour in Greater London's Service Sector

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2009
LINDA MCDOWELL
The aim of this article is to assess the connections between the continued expansion of forms of insecure work and the impact of rising numbers of economic migrants employed in UK labour markets. It shows how competition between foreign-born workers for jobs in the UK is currently being recast by changes in the jobs available, in forms of precarious labour market attachment and by new patterns of migration into the UK since EU expansion in 2004. The article documents the ways in which migrants with different sets of social characteristics (nationality, gender and skin colour) and different sets of legal entitlements (legal citizenship, EU membership and entitlement to residence) are differentially placed in their competition for some of the poorest jobs in the British economy, drawing on an empirical study of the migrant divisions of labour emerging in two significant sectors in the service industries. It concludes by arguing that new and deeper divisions are emerging between foreign-born workers in the UK. Résumé Cet article vise àévaluer les rapports entre l'essor constant de formes de travail précaire et l'impact des migrants économiques en nombre croissant employés sur les marchés du travail britanniques. La concurrence entre les travailleurs d'origine étrangère pour des emplois au Royaume-Uni subit actuellement une mutation du fait de l'évolution des postes disponibles, sous des formes d'intégration précaire au marché du travail et selon de nouveaux modèles d'immigration depuis l'élargissement de l'UE en 2004. À partir d'une étude empirique sur les divisions du travail qui se dessinent chez les migrants dans deux importants secteurs de l'industrie des services, l'article met en évidence les manières dont les migrants réunissant différentes caractéristiques sociales (nationalité, genre et couleur de peau) et différentes habilitations légales (citoyenneté, ressortissant de l'UE et droit de séjour) se placent différemment dans la compétition pour certains des postes les plus médiocres de l'économie britannique. Il apparaît en conclusion que des divisions nouvelles et plus profondes apparaissent entre les travailleurs d'origine étrangère au Royaume-Uni. [source]


Can services lead to radical eco-efficiency improvements?

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2003
a review of the debate, evidence
Eco-efficient services, or sustainable product,service systems, are a popular topic in discussions on sustainability and eco-efficiency. In these discussions, ,service' actually refers to many different things. It may refer to the role of the service sector in the economy, or to a new business strategy, or to the service (utility) provided by a product. Furthermore, the discussion on eco-efficient services has been linked to concepts such as the ,new', ,experience' or ,customized' economy. The article analyses the central arguments and evidence put forth in the discussion on eco-efficient services. The findings address questions occupying policy-makers, managers and researchers: how relevant are eco-efficient services in environmental management, and what might be the next steps in exploring their potential? Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


Intersectoral Labor Mobility and the Growth of the Service Sector

ECONOMETRICA, Issue 1 2006
Donghoon Lee
One of the most striking changes in the U.S. economy over the past 50 years has been the growth in the service sector. Between 1950 and 2000, service-sector employment grew from 57 to 75 percent of total employment. However, over this time, the real hourly wage in the service sector grew only slightly faster than in the goods sector. In this paper, we assess whether or not the essential constancy of the relative wage implies that individuals face small costs of switching sectors, and we quantify the relative importance of labor supply and demand factors in the growth of the service sector. We specify and estimate a two-sector labor market equilibrium model that allows us to address these empirical issues in a unified framework. Our estimates imply that there are large mobility costs: output in both sectors would have been double their current levels if these mobility costs had been zero. In addition, we find that demand-side factors, that is, technological change and movements in product and capital prices, were responsible for the growth of the service sector. [source]


Toward a hybrid model for usability resource allocation in industrial software product development

HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 3 2007
Colleen M. Duffy
The organizational aspects of user-centered software development in a financial services company are presented. The financial services industry sector is one of the industrial sectors to embark on the development of computer software as a consumer product. The nature of business in the service sector predisposes it to encounter difficulties in developing software aimed at meeting customer demands. Lack of familiarity and experience with the product design and implementation processes, as well as reliance on usability for acceptance, are major obstacles encountered. Difficulties, insights, and lessons learned regarding organizational ergonomics issues faced by a user-centered design group are provided, and a hybrid resource distribution model is proposed to guide other service sector companies in their future software development efforts. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 17: 245,262, 2007. [source]


How the ,customer' influences the skills of the front-line worker

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005
Anne Mcbride
Previous research illustrates how managers use the ,customer' in the service sector to develop roles and determine requisite skill sets. This article uses the evaluation of a recent workforce modernisation initiative in the NHS to provide insights into the manner in which the patient has played an increasing role in the construction of skills in healthcare. It indicates how public-funded healthcare in the NHS contains similar tensions and contradictions to service work in consumer capitalism. Although the patient is not in a position of authority, the desire of some workers to address fully the physical and psychological needs of the patient (or embodied customer) leads them to develop skills and roles that management may find hard to resource within current budgets. [source]


,McJobs', ,good jobs' and skills: job-seekers' attitudes to low-skilled service work

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005
Colin Lindsay
This article focuses on unemployed job-seekers' attitudes towards entry-level jobs in three areas of the service sector , retail, hospitality and call-centre work. The article examines whether job-seekers are reluctant to pursue these opportunities, and provides an analysis of the motives of those ruling out service work. A range of potential barriers is discussed, including the extent to which job-seekers perceive the service economy as offering only so-called ,McJobs', low-skilled, low-paid jobs with few opportunities for development. However, the article also focuses on perceived skills mismatches, with some job-seekers arguably over-qualified for entry-level service jobs, while others consider themselves to lack the necessary ,soft' skills. The analysis is based on interviews with 220 unemployed people in Glasgow. The article concludes that policy action may be required to encourage job seekers to consider a broader range of vacancies and to provide tailored training in partnership with service employers. On the demand side, service employers must address the need for entry-level positions that offer realistic salaries, decent work conditions and opportunities for progression and development. [source]


HR strategy and competitive advantage in the service sector

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 3 2003
Peter Boxall
While taking its cue from studies of high-performance work systems in manufacturing, this article examines theory and research on the potential for HR advantage in the service sector, building directly on recent studies of market segmentation and HR strategy in the sector. The article uses these studies, along with strategic management theory, to put forward a new typology of market characteristics, competitive dynamics and HR strategy in services. Three broad types of competition, ranging from mass market to knowledge-intensive services, are identified. This framework helps the article to explore the issue of whether competitive differentiation through human resources is possible only in high-skill areas such as professional services. It argues that opportunities for HR advantage are broader; they exist where quality and/or knowledge are important in competitive strategy. However, seeing the opportunity is not the same as achieving the result. Service firms that identify and pursue these opportunities face the problems of building and maintaining barriers to imitation, and of managing the ,politics of appropriation'. [source]


The determinants of export performance: A review of the research in the literature between 1998 and 2005

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 4 2008
Carlos M.P. Sousa
Considerable attention has been paid to the determinants of export performance. However, despite this research effort in identifying and examining the influence of such determinants, the literature is characterized by fragmentation and diversity, hindering theory development and practical advancement in the field. This paper attempts to review and synthesize the knowledge on the subject. As a result, this study reviews and evaluates 52 articles published between 1998 and 2005 to assess the determinants of export performance. The assessment reveals that: (a) more studies have been conducted outside the USA; (b) the majority of the studies focus on manufacturing firms, with relatively few studies examining the service sector; (c) the majority of the export studies continue to focus on small to medium-sized firms; (d) there is a continuous increase in the sample size; (e) despite the problems that may arise from the use of single informants, it seems that none of the studies reviewed here collected data from more than one informant in the firm; (f) an increasing number of studies have been using the export venture as the unit of analysis; (g) the level of statistical sophistication has improved; (h) the use of control and moderating variables in export performance studies has increased; (i) more studies have started to include the external environment in their models, including domestic market characteristics; and (j) market orientation as a key determinant of export performance emerges in this review. Finally, conclusions are drawn, along with some suggestions for further research. [source]


Migration and Policies in the European Union: Highly Skilled Mobility, Free Movement of Labour and Recognition of Diplomas

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 1 2001
João Peixoto
This article evaluates the relationship between highly skilled mobility (especially by individuals with university-level degrees) and migration policies. Data from the European Union (EU) and Portugal (in particular) provide the empirical basis of the research. EU policies regarding the free circulation of individuals which aim to build the "common market" for economic factors (including labour) are reviewed, as are the more specific recognition of diplomas policies for professional and academic purposes, and recent levels of international mobility in both the EU and Portugal. The article also enumerates the main obstacles that, from a political and legal or social and cultural perspective, explain the low mobility revealed by those figures. Obstacles include the broad denial of citizenship rights; the necessity of assuring a means of sustenance; linguistic and technical exigencies for diploma recognition; the social attributes of work (more explicit in the service sector); and the institutional nature of national skilled labour markets. The main exception to the low mobility rule , movements of cadres in the internal labour markets of transnational corporations , together with flows in other multinational organizations, are also reviewed. In these, migrations are relatively exempt from political constraints and, significantly, avoid the recognition procedures adopted by the EU. In other words, it seems that the entry of highly skilled individuals in a transnational corporation, and not their citizenship in a Europe without frontiers, is what enables them to achieve effective mobility. [source]


Brazil: Drug Trafficking in the Federal State of Rondônia

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 169 2001
Christian Geffray
This article describes some of the main social and political consequences of the emergence of the cocaine trade in Brazilian Amazonia, taking as an example the state of Acre. Drug trafficking, which concerns all sections of society, has, like other illegal networks, become an alternative to the rubber industry, which has been in crisis since the 1980s. Its implications differ, however, in the northern and southern parts of the state. In the latter, especially in the capital, Acre, the development of a local market of urban consumers is closely connected to police corruption and the illegal use of violence by law enforcement agencies. In the former, where machinery for the social redistribution of illegal income seems to be more effective, the cocaine trade is contributing to a degree of prosperity, thanks in particular to recent growth in the service sector. While violence is, comparatively speaking, less necessary as a guarantee of social control in that region, the control exercised by drug barons and business people over the executive branches of the state means that political life as a whole is criss-crossed by relationships forged in the criminal world. [source]


The Drug Trade, the Black Economy, and Society in Western Amazonia

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 169 2001
Roberto Araújo
This article describes some of the main social and political consequences of the emergence of the cocaine trade in Brazilian Amazonia, taking as an example the state of Acre. Drug trafficking, which concerns all sections of society, has, like other illegal networks, become an alternative to the rubber industry, which has been in crisis since the 1980s. Its implications differ, however, in the northern and southern parts of the state. In the latter, especially in the capital, Acre, the development of a local market of urban consumers is closely connected to police corruption and the illegal use of violence by law enforcement agencies. In the former, where machinery for the social redistribution of illegal income seems to be more effective, the cocaine trade is contributing to a degree of prosperity, thanks in particular to recent growth in the service sector. While violence is, comparatively speaking, less necessary as a guarantee of social control in that region, the control exercised by drug barons and business people over the executive branches of the state means that political life as a whole is criss-crossed by relationships forged in the criminal world. [source]


Revisiting the welfare state system in the Republic of Korea

INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 2 2008
Yong Soo Park
Abstract The Republic of Korea's welfare system has undergone radical institutional expansion since the 1990s, largely as a consequence of the financial crisis of 1997. In spite of these changes, public social expenditure remains extremely low , particularly with regard to all other OECD countries , with the result that the overall social insurance system and social welfare service sector remain underdeveloped. Thus, the current welfare system can best be characterized as a residual model, in that state intervention as a provider of welfare remains highly limited and the family and the private market economy play the central roles in offering a social safety net. This situation is largely the legacy of the so-called ,growth-first' ideology, which has remained the dominant approach favoured by the majority of the country's political and economic decision-makers since the period of authoritarian rule (1961-1993). The adoption of Western European-style neo-liberal restructuring, implemented following the 1997 financial crisis, has also played a role. [source]


Staff Activity in Supported Housing Services

JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 4 2002
David Felce
Background Variation in staff performance between small community housing services indicates the need for research on the factors which predict high-quality care. Methods The associations between service sector, staffing levels, staff characteristics, internal organization or working practices, non-institutional milieu, and staff activity and the nature and extent of staff attention to residents were explored in a study of 10 statutory, 10 voluntary and nine private sector community housing schemes. Results There were few significant differences between sectors after differences in resident abilities were taken into account. Higher staff to resident ratios predicted greater resident receipt of attention and assistance but also a lower proportion of time during which each member of staff was directly concerned with residents. A greater range in resident ability predicted lower resident receipt of attention and assistance. A higher proportion of qualified staff was not shown to be a positive attribute but greater prior experience was associated with staff spending more time directly concerned with residents, less time doing ,other' activity and residents receiving more assistance. Measures of the internal organization and non-institutional milieu of the settings were not strongly related to staff activity. Conclusions The findings are consistent with previous research that there are diminishing marginal returns associated with increasing staff. Size of residence was unimportant. Links between service organization and staff performance require further research but retaining experienced staff appears to be important. As resident receipt of attention and assistance was unrelated to their adaptive behaviour level, there is a need to find ways to ensure that staff support matches the needs of residents better. [source]


Productivity Growth, Efficiency and Outsourcing in Manufacturing and Service Industries

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 1 2003
Almas Heshmati
This paper is a survey of recent contributions to, and developments of, the relationship between outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in manufacturing and services. The objective is to provide a thorough and up,to,date survey that provides a significant discussion on data, as well as on the core methods of measuring efficiency and productivity. First, the readers are introduced to the measurement of partial and total factor productivity growth. Different parametric and non,parametric approaches to the productivity measurement in the context of static, dynamic and firm,specific modelling are discussed. Second, we survey the econometric approach to efficiency analysis. The issues of modelling, distributional assumptions and estimation methods are discussed assuming that cross,sectional or panel data are available. Third, the relationship between outsourcing and productivity growth in manufacturing and services is discussed. The correspondence between a number of hypotheses and empirical findings are examined. Examples of varieties of relevant empirical applications, their findings and implications are presented. Fourth, measurement of inputs and outputs in manufacturing and services are discussed. Finally, to promote useful research, a number of factors important to the analysis of outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in the service sector are summarised. [source]


The Direct Material Inputs into Singapore's Development

JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
Niels B. Schulz
Because human population and socioeconomic activity are both increasingly concentrated in cities, an improved understanding of the environmental consequences of urbanization is needed. A 41-year annual time series of direct material flows was compiled for Singapore, representing a case of fast, export-driven industrialization. Results show that the spectacular economic growth of Singapore by a factor of 20 was associated with a similar expansion of domestic material consumption (DMC). DMC remained closely coupled to economic activity, increasing from below 4 tonnes per capita annually in 1962 to more than 50 tonnes annually in 2000. Despite economic structural changes and a growing service sector, no significant improvements in overall material productivity have been observed. [source]


Magistrates' Everyday Work and Emotional Labour

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 4 2005
Sharyn Roach Anleu
The concept of emotional labour describes the management of emotions as part of everyday work performance. Much of the research in this field has been in relation to jobs in the service sector where (mostly female) employees are required to shape their own feelings in order to make customers or clients feel at ease, comfortable or happy. There has been relatively little attention paid to the importance of emotional labour in professional occupations. This paper examines the emotional labour of magistrates in court. Magistrates must often regulate their own emotions and those of some court users, many of whom are not legally represented and who express a variety of emotions, including anger and distress, and experience social problems that may elicit emotions or emotional responses from the magistrate. The paper reports findings from interviews with over 40 magistrates throughout Australia and begins to address the significance of emotional labour for this branch of the judiciary. [source]


Nurse staffing levels revisited: a consideration of key issues in nurse staffing levels and skill mix research

JOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 6 2009
BSc (Hons), MARIA FLYNN RGN
Aim, This paper revisits the published evidence relating to how nurse staffing levels impact on patient, nurse and service outcomes and considers the implications of this body of research for nurse managers in their quest to determine optimum nursing numbers. Background, Within the context of the recognized global nursing shortage and particular local pressures within international health services, questions of appropriate nurse staffing levels and skill mix are once again becoming increasingly important. It would seem that the determination of optimum nurse staffing levels and skill mix is a central issue in relation to health service governance, service user involvement, as well as in the recruitment, retention and well-being of nursing staff across the service sectors. Methods, A review of published evidence was carried out, applying key principles of the systematic method, in order to facilitate the identification of current factors and issues in nurse staffing levels research. The review did not seek to address a specific research question. The search covered 10 years from 1998 to 2008 and identified more than 500 relevant papers, giving a wide international perspective. Key issues, The majority of research in the field relates to the acute service sector and there are considerable similarities in issues that transcend international boundaries. Much of the research focuses on the impact on patients and nurses of ,poor' nurse staffing levels. More recent studies have explored the impact of nurse staffing levels on the service organization itself. However, while there may be an association between models of nurse staffing and outcomes, there is insufficient evidence to establish a causal relationship between these factors. In this context it is perhaps time to reconsider how nursing outcomes are defined and measured. Implications for nursing management and conclusion, Nurse managers, commissioners of services and workforce planners need to be cognisant of key issues and analyses in the consideration of nurse staffing levels. Not least of these is the need for a healthy degree of caution regarding the supposed objectivity, scientific basis, or evidence base, for rational calculation of optimum nurse staffing levels. [source]


OUTSOURCING AS SEEN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010
OSCAR F. BUSTINZA
This article analyzes outsourcing from a knowledge-based perspective. We investigate how knowledge as an organizational resource and the capabilities to manage this knowledge affect the benefits of outsourcing. Our results indicate that the nature of the knowledge of the outsourced activity affects the success of outsourcing. We also analyze the way in which collaborative know-how (as a knowledge resource) and learning capability (as an organizational capability) affect outsourcing benefits. We then test the validity of this hypothesis by surveying organizations from the service sector. The results of the empirical study provide strong support for our assertion that knowledge management affects the results of outsourcing decisions. [source]


Analysis of corporate social responsibility in the service sector: does exist a strategic path?

KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 2 2008
Armando Calabrese
This paper proposes a strategic path managers might follow in order to optimise the outcome of the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. As a starting point, we analysed the practice of CSR and its impact within a service industry, namely the Italian banking sector. Our aim was to understand the impact of CSR on the service company both externally and within the company itself and consequently our research was conducted on two different levels. The corporate level considers CSR as it is perceived by top management, and the operational level takes into account the perspectives of the front line employees and customers. Analysis at the corporate level was carried out by means of a thorough examination of the social reports and Internet sites of the service companies concerned, whereas the front line was studied by administrating a structured questionnaire, issued both to employees and to customers in a sample of bank branches. The research demonstrates that service companies are in fact implementing CSR initiatives and that stakeholders have a considerable interest in such initiatives. However, should the CSR initiatives be used as a tool solely to improve the brand equity rather than to improve relationships with their main stakeholders (employees and customers), then a boomerang effect is produced whereby the stakeholders pinpoint the CSR initiatives as one of the main reasons for their discontent with the service company. Although top managers invest in CSR initiatives in order to increase the satisfaction of the stakeholders, should the main stakeholders be unsatisfied with the management of the service company core business, the CSR initiatives might be rendered rather ineffective. As a result, the CSR initiatives may be a sign of underlying rift between top managers and the front line employees within the company, which in turn might also damage the relationship between bank and its customers. The implications of the findings in this paper provide a managerial tool for use in the implementation of CSR. This tool dictates a specific path to be followed which also requires precise timing for its success. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Identifying Demand and Supply of Part-time Jobs Using Personnel Data.

LABOUR, Issue 4 2000
An Application to Italy
The percentage of part-time workers in Italy is very low compared with most European countries. In this paper we try to contribute to an explanation. We use data on the employees of a large Italian company operating in the service sector, and apply a particular econometric framework that allows identification of potential demand and supply. We find that demand and supply are potentially very large on average, but they are difficult to match at the individual worker/job level. The firm might observe a relevant employee's characteristics that are positively correlated with the employee's propensity to a part-time job but are negatively correlated with the profitability of that employee on that job. The firm might also use the revealed willingness to switch to a part-time job as a sign that the employee is likely to be unprofitable for the company. [source]


,BAUMOL'S DISEASE', PRODUCTION EXTERNALITIES AND PRODUCTIVITY EFFECTS OF INTERSECTORAL TRANSFERS

METROECONOMICA, Issue 3 2007
Claudio De Vincenti
ABSTRACT This paper presents a model that introduces in an unbalanced growth framework à la Baumol the hypothesis of an endogenous productivity growth due to a positive externality of the service sector on manufacturing productivity and a learning-by-doing process inside both sectors. The model shows that a policy aimed at keeping the ratio between outputs in the two sectors constant in real terms may improve the aggregate productivity performance of the economy, depending on the parameters' values. Then the model derives the dynamics of the intersectoral transfer which is necessary to keep the ratio between outputs constant, and verifies that the amount of the transfer turns out to be always lower than the output of the manufacturing sector, and only asymptotically approaches it. [source]


THE ASTONISHING REGULARITY OF SERVICE EMPLOYMENT EXPANSION

METROECONOMICA, Issue 3 2007
Ronald Schettkat
ABSTRACT An update of Victor Fuchs analysis shows an astonishing regularity of the relationship between per capita income and service industry employment. The two major theoretical hypotheses for the growth of the service sector, shifts in final demand towards services and the technological stagnancy of services, are then analyzed. Theories achieve simplicity and clarity from radical assumptions and it is therefore not surprising that empirically both dimensions are relevant. Shifts in final demand to services,especially of private consumption, however, gained importance over the last decades indicating a fundamental change of the division of labor: the marketization of household production, which is analyzed finally. [source]


Variation in part-time job quality within the nonprofit human service sector

NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 4 2009
Anna Haley-Lock
This article extends the growing literature on the quality of part-time employment to the domain of nonprofit human services, specifically grassroots organizations in which paid work is itself a relatively new reality. It addresses three central questions: How do part-time and full-time workers differ in their personal and household characteristics? How do part-time jobs differ in access to employment benefits from their full-time counterparts; and finally, How does benefits access vary among part-time job titles? These lines of inquiry are examined using data from the populations of nonprofit domestic violence programs and their employees in a large midwestern metropolitan area. Analyses of worker-level data reveal that part-time workers in these settings disproportionately live with children, are in committed relationships, and report a strong preference for employment that facilitates work-life balance; they are also less likely to be primary household wage earners. Analyses at the level of jobs suggest that employment benefits extended to part-time jobs are minimal compared to their full-time equivalents, but there are also striking variations among different part-time titles. The results offer insights into the nature of part-time work in these nonprofit human service settings and potential challenges for effective management. [source]


PAY SATISFACTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL OUTCOMES

PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
STEVEN C. CURRALL
Using multi level and multi method data, we investigated the relationship between pay satisfaction and outcomes at the organizational level of analysis. Individual-level survey data on pay satisfaction (including satisfaction with pay level, satisfaction with pay structure, satisfaction with pay raises, and benefits) were collected from 6,394 public school teachers. Organizational-level outcome data, both survey and archival, were collected from the 117 public school districts employing these teachers. With respect to its influence on organizational outcomes, pay satisfaction was positively related to school district-level academic performance and negatively related to average teacher intention to quit. We also explored the relationship between district-level union satisfaction and pay satisfaction, which was found to be positive. We discuss implications of our findings for for-profit companies that are knowledge based and human capital intensive (e.g., the service sector) and address possible future directions for research on pay satisfaction. [source]


Klimapolitik: Kyoto-Protokoll und Emissionshandel für CO2 -Zertifikate in der EU1

PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 3 2005
Wolfgang Ströbele
Also every economist knows that the institutional conditions and the rules of the game are important. This basic idea stood behind the introduction of a CO2 -emissions trading system within the European Community starting in 2005. Since the starting point is the Kyoto-protocol with its subset of relevant states involved and the rules agreed upon there, one must ask whether the EU CO2-trading system is really an instrument that helps to reach the Kyoto goals more efficiently. A positive answer to this question is very doubtful. The new European subsystem is only valid for CO2 while Kyoto knows six greenhouse gases, the EU trading periods are 2005,2007 and 2008,2012 while Kyoto is only relevant for the second period, the integration with all flexible instruments of Kyoto is not guaranteed from the beginning. The plants involved are power plants and plants with high energy intensity. Since the technological levels of these plants are rather similar in Europe, the difference in marginal abatement cost will not be large enough to offset the rather high transaction cost of the special EU system. Furthermore, the heating systems and small scale plants of industry are not included in the trading system. The same holds true for traffic, households and the service sector. Drawing a borderline between CO2 -policy there and the trading activities will cause inefficiencies. If CO2 -prices are high, the main incentive of the trading system will be a large shift from domestic production to production abroad without any CO2 -restrictions. Leakage-effects will then be dominant. With low CO2 -prices the special European bureaucratic system will not create enough efficiency gains to cover the trading system's cost. [source]


Teen workers' exposures to occupational hazards and use of personal protective equipment

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 10 2008
Carol W. Runyan MPH
Abstract Background Prior research indicates that working adolescents seek care for the toxic effects of on-the-job chemical and environmental hazard exposures. Methods This cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of 866 adolescent workers in the retail and service sector examines their exposures, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and training. Results Two-thirds of respondents were exposed to continuous, very loud noise, 55% to thermal hazards and 54% to chemical hazards. Few teens reported using any PPE, though those who had been trained reported somewhat higher usage. Conclusions Teens working in the retail and service sectors experience a variety of chemical, thermal, biologic and noise exposures. Efforts to eradicate such exposures need to be complemented by increased provision of PPE and appropriate training in their use by employers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 51:735,740, 2008. Published 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Labour Market Policy Developments in Japan: Following an Australian Lead?

THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 4 2005
Noel Gaston
In recent times, Japan has experienced a rapid expansion in its service sector, increases in casual and part-time employment and record unemployment. In addition, there has been an associated rise of freeters and NEETs,predominantly young workers with tenuous labour market attachment. While somewhat slow in initiating policy responses, the Japanese government responded to these structural changes by reforming its existing employment policies. In this article we argue that recent changes in the nature of Japan's labour market policies appear to have been driven by some of the same factors which led to the radical overhaul of Australia's own labour market policies. [source]


Canadian economic geography at the millennium

THE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 1 2000
TREVOR J. BARNES
Over the last quarter of a century the Canadian economy experienced a series of profound changes which have affected every level of society. They include new forms of flexible production, fundamental changes in regulation at all spatial scales, structural shifts away from manufacturing towards service sector activities, the rise of information technology (IT) and computerization at the workplace, the feminization of the labour market, and, what has become the leitmotif of the age, globalization. Such changes are intimately connected with geography. By that we mean not merely that they take on a geographical form, but that geography is pan of their very constitution. In this sense Canadian economic geographers are exactly in the right time and the right place to make use of their skills. Indeed, over the last five years there has been an explosion of literature by Canadian economic geographers on precisely these kinds of changes that are simultaneously both economic and geographical. In reviewing that literature the paper begins by situating Canada within its wider global setting, which we then follow by surveying the diverse writing around the three broad sectors that make-up the Canadian economy: the resource sector, the manufacturing sector, and the service sector. We conclude by highlighting two particular research themes within Canadian economic geography that have become especially germane over the late 1990s. The first is on new labour markets and forms of work both of which have been transformed during the last decade; and the second is on new forms of industrial innovation, which are clearly pivotal to the future well-being of the country for the next millennium. Au cours des vingt-cinq dernières années, l'économie canadienne a connu une série, de changements profonds qui ont affecté toutes les couches de la société. Ces changements comprennent les nouvelles formes de production flexible, les changements fondamentaux dans la réglementation à toutes les échelles spatiales, la mutation structurelle du secteur industriel au secteur tertiaire, la montée de la technologie de l'information (Tl) et l'informatisation sur le lieu de travail, la présence plus importante des femmes sur le marché du travail, et, ce qui est devenu le leitmotiv de notre époque, la mondialisation. De tels changements sont intimement liés à la geographie. Par la, nous ne disons pas simplement qu'ils prennent une forme géographique, mais que la géographie fait partie intégrante de leur constitution. Dans ce sens, les géographes-économistes canadiens arrivent, si l'on peut dire, au bon endroit au bon moment pour mettre leurs connaissances à profit. En effet, on assiste depuis les cinq dernières années à une recrudescence impressionnante des travaux de géographes-économistes canadiens portant, précisément, sur ces types de changements qui sont à la fois économiques et géographiques. En faisant le compte-rendu de cette littérature scientifique, cet article situe d'abord le Canada dans son contexte mondial plus large, passe ensuite en revue ce qui a étéécrit au sujet des trois grands secteurs qui forment l'économie canadienne: les secteurs primaire, secondaire et tertiaire. Nous concluons en mettant en relief deux thèmes de recherches de la géographie économique canadienne qui sont devenus particulièrement pertinents depuis la fin des années 1990. Le premier traite des nouveaux marchés du travail et des nouvelles formes de travail, qui ont tous deux subi des transformations au cours de la dernière décennie. Le second traite des nouvelles formes d'innovation industrielle, qui sont cruciales pour le bien-être futur du pays à l'aube du nouveau millénaire. [source]


Post-financial meltdown: What do the services industries need from us now?

APPLIED STOCHASTIC MODELS IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY, Issue 5 2009
Roger W. Hoerl
Abstract In 2008 the global economy was rocked by a crisis that began on Wall Street, but quickly spread to Main Street U.S.A., and then to side streets around the world. Statisticians working in the service sector are not immune, with many concerned about losing their jobs. Given this dramatic course of events, how should statisticians respond? What, if anything, can we do to help our struggling organizations survive this recession, in order to prosper in the future? This expository article describes some approaches that we feel can help service industries deal with aftereffects of the financial meltdown. Based on an understanding of current needs of the service industries, we emphasize three approaches in particular: a greater emphasis on statistical engineering relative to statistical science, ,embedding' statistical methods and principles into key business processes, and the reinvigoration of Lean Six Sigma to drive immediate, tangible business results. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]