Thursday, March 31, 2005
Tweet[IWS] New! MONITORING Freedom of Association TRAINING PROGRAM May 23 through 25, 2005 in New York City
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
[Please pass this information to others who may benefit from knowing about it].
Monitoring Freedom of Association Training Program
May 23 through 25, 2005 in New York City
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/international/Programs/seminars/default.html
[excerpts]
What Is the Goal?
This program aims to prepare participants for practical application of freedom of association principles in the field of labor standards monitoring. The overall goal is to build an understanding and knowledge base for Strategic Monitoring in this most difficult area of labor standards monitoring compared with, for example, monitoring for child labor or for health and safety standards.
Strategic monitoring creates a system for instilling best practices on freedom of association to get it right from the start and to correct practices that got it wrong. Strategic monitoring aims to protect and advance workers' freedom of association while maintaining growth, productivity, investment, and employment goals.
Full participants in this path breaking program will receive a certificate of completion and a set of materials for permanent reference. This certificate in international standards on freedom of association will serve as a mark of rigorous training and development in the international labor standards field. It will be an asset to anyone moving in a career trajectory related to labor standards.
Who Should Attend?
- Labor standards monitors who work for independent monitoring organizations
- Corporate social responsibility staff and investment fund screeners involved in corporate codes of conduct
- Trade unionists responsible for international affairs and labor rights
- Advocates from human rights organizations and other non-governmental organizations that deal with workersrights and labor standards
- Government and international organization officials involved in labor standards matters
- Business and labor journalists
What Will the Program Cover?
Key questions: Freedom of association is an abstract concept; how does it relate concretely to workersright to organize and to what the ILOs core labor standards declaration calls the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining?What are the rules and the institutions that apply them? How do monitors get below surface appearances to discern whether workers are truly free to organize and whether genuine collective bargaining is taking place? Where and how are 'complaints' raised and dealt with?
Critical national and regional features
Key questions: What is the freedom of association 'landscape' in Latin America, Asia and other regions? What are the essential single-country distinctions?
Country and industry-based case studies
Key questions: What are indicators of violations? What are the most common problems? What are unusual problems? How are problems addressed and resolved?
International business strategies, structural and market issues, and best practices related to labor
Key questions: How can respecting workers freedom of association create marketplace advantage for firms and countries? What are potential risks and liabilities?
Case studies of trade union and NGO strategies and campaigns on labor standards in developing countries
Key question: How do these important social actors seek to accomplish their goals?
Contact Us
For more information please email Robin Remick at rjr4@cornell.edu or phone (607) 254-2950.
AND MORE...including REGISTRATION INFORMATION.....
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] BEA: PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS: FEBRUARY 2005 [31 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS: FEBRUARY 2005 [31 March 2005]
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2005/pi0205.htm
or
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2005/pi0205.pdf
[full-text, 13 pages]
or
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2005/pi0205.xls
[spreadsheet]
and
Highlights at
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2005/pi0205_fax.pdf
Personal income increased $33.2 billion, or 0.3 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
increased $29.6 billion, or 0.3 percent, in February, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $46.6 billion, or 0.5 percent. In January, personal
income decreased $250.6 billion, or 2.5 percent, DPI decreased $255.6 billion, or 2.8 percent, and PCE
increased $4.7 billion, or 0.1 percent, based on revised estimates.
AND MUCH MORE...including TABLES....
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] OPM: Human Resources Line of Business, Business Reference Model, Target Business Processes [online 28 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Human Resources Line of Business [online 28 March 2005]
Business Reference Model
Target Business Processes
December 31, 2004
http://www.opm.gov/egov/brm-report.pdf
[full-text, 156 pages]
[excerpt]
The establishment of a clearly defined technical architecture and data standards will create the basis for solutions that are scaleable, modular and interoperable across a broad spectrum of users and uses. The Federal Government has the potential to strongly influence innovation and competition by establishing and maintaining high performance standards for its business and technical solution providers. The interoperable solutions will provide managers and executives across Government with improved tools to help agencies meet their strategic objectives. The solutions will also provide more efficient management of the automated information systems that support human resource activities. They will also allow agencies to transform their internal human resource focus from an emphasis on administrative processing to strategic planning support for agency leadership and increased customer service and counseling for managers and employees.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Discuss Peace Efforts at ILR Event [24 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Israeli, Palestinian leaders discuss grassroots peace efforts at ILR event [24 March 2005]
By Linda Myers
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/05/3.24.05/ILR_grassroots_peace.html
On March 14, an Israeli and a Palestinian told an audience about their joint work toward peace in the Middle East, in a setting more commonly used for solving workplace conflicts.
"Civil Diplomacy: Mechanisms for Dialogue and Change" took place at the New York City offices of Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The focus of the evening's discussion was the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and how to work toward peace through non-institutional means.
The featured speakers were retired Israeli admiral Ami Ayalon, the former director of Shin-Bet (the Israeli security agency), and Palestinian Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. The co-sponsors were the ILR School's Institute for Workplace Studies, headed by McKelvey-Grant Professor Samuel Bacharach, and the school's Institute on Conflict Resolution, which promotes alternative methods of workplace dispute resolution.
"Since a chance meeting in London, Ayalon and Nusseibeh have been working actively together and share a common voice in the pursuit of peace among Israelis and Palestinians," said Bacharach, the evening's host. In June 2003, the two men began the People's Voice, an Israeli-Palestinian civil initiative aimed at creating public support for a permanent peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, explained Bacharach. Since then, more than a third of a million people (253,450 Israelis and 161,000 Palestinians) have joined the initiative, he noted.
Ayalon served in the Israeli navy for 33 years, rising from a volunteer commando to commander-in-chief (1992-1996). He was director of Shin-Bet under Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. He recently joined the Israeli Labor Party, with the aim of strengthening his country's leadership. Nusseibeh, a professor of philosophy at Al-Quds, was appointed president of the Arab university in 1995. Under his direction, the university has grown to include a medical and health sciences complex and a wide range of social-oriented academic programs and centers.
Both men spoke at length about their efforts to create a dialogue as well as their personal histories, then took questions from the audience of about 60 people, which included Cornell students, faculty and alumni and leaders from the business, public and religious sectors.
Seth Siegel, B.S. '74, ILR, J.D. '78, Law School, asked about the effectiveness of using a non-institutional framework to promote peace in the Middle East. Ayalon said grassroots democratic organizations such as theirs were essential to making progress toward peace. "Democracy needed in Israel and the rest of the Middle East is based on people organizing and making a difference," he said.
Nusseibeh stressed that the time is right for such initiatives. "If we don't do this now, we will continue to be in this messy situation, and once again, in 10 to 15 years someone will come up with a clever idea as to how to live together, but by then the two-state solution will be out of the question. I don't want to say it's now or never, but it should be done now."
"The intent of the evening was to do what Cornell does best," said Bacharach -- "that is, to educate and to enhance discourse." The program succeeded not only in bringing speakers from two opposing sides together, he said, but broadening the discourse with an especially diverse audience.
Bacharach learned about the People's Voice when he met Ayalon through mutual friends. He was prompted to bring the two men together before an ILR School audience when he realized that the issue of working through conflicts to achieve resolution was a mutual one, shared by the school and the speakers.
"Ayalon and Nusseibeh form an unlikely alliance," he said. "One is from a Romanian family affected by the Holocaust, the other from an established Palestinian family. However, both are strong patriots on behalf of their cause and share a common sentiment, which was best expressed by Professor Nusseibeh during the meeting: 'Leaders on both sides are often full of ideologies, and ideologies are nice sometimes, especially in books. But behind all that, what you really have is ordinary people who want to live ordinary lives. They want to send their kids to school, they want to develop themselves and to find this ordinariness as a human being, as much on the Israeli side as the Palestinian side.'"
That sentiment, representing the speakers' common voice, left the participants with more than a thread of hope, said Bacharach.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] BLS: New! LOCATION QUOTIENT CALCULATOR web tool for LOCAL AREA COMPARISONS [30 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Location Quotient Calculator
http://data.bls.gov/LOCATION_QUOTIENT/servlet/lqc.ControllerServlet
Explanation
http://data.bls.gov/help/def/lq.htm#location_quotient_application
The Location Quotient Calculator is a tool on the BLS website that creates, on demand, tables of private sector employment data, by industry, as measured by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program. The calculator allows the ready comparison of relative employment levels in the United States, states, counties, and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).
AND MORE.....
Press Release-
Location Quotient Calculator [30 March 2005]
New BLS Web Tool Allows Local Area Comparisons
http://www.bls.gov/cew/cewlq.htm
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has added a powerful new tool for labor market analysis to its web site services: the <http://data.bls.gov/LOCATION_QUOTIENT/servlet/lqc.ControllerServlet>Location Quotient Calculator. The new calculator generates location quotients, a measure that is familiar to regional labor economists as a way to readily compare the industrial activity levels among different areas of the country. In general, location quotients are ratios that compare the concentration of a resource or activity, such as employment, in a defined area to that of a larger area or base. For example, location quotients can be used to compare State employment by industry to that of the nation; or employment in a city, county, metropolitan statistical area (MSA), or other defined geographic sub-area to that in the State. The new BLS location quotient calculator uses a timely data source that is especially rich in comprehensive industry and area detail BLS's Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW).
With just a few quick selections from the BLS Web form, the user can specify a base or reference area (usually the United States as a whole) and a base or reference industry (usually the private sector, all industries), where industries are classified on a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) basis. The user may choose up to three geographic areas to be compared to the base area and may choose numerous industries to be compared to the base industry. Users may choose standard industry lists, such as the NAICS SuperSector, Sector, or SubSector levels, or they may select any number of broad or narrowly defined NAICS industries for analysis. This innovative use of QCEW data allows for focused, detailed industry study at the desired geographic level.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] BLS: REGIONAL AND STATE EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT: FEBRUARY 2005 [31 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
REGIONAL AND STATE EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT: FEBRUARY 2005 [31 March 2005]
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm
or
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/laus.pdf
[full-text, 17 pages]
and
Supplemental Files Table of Contents
http://www.bls.gov/web/laus.supp.toc.htm
Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in
February. All four regions and 43 states and the District of Columbia
recorded unemployment rate shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less from
January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor
reported today. Over the year, jobless rates were down in 35 states, up
in 13 states and the District of Columbia, and unchanged in 2 states. In
February, the national unemployment rate edged up to 5.4 percent. Nonfarm
payroll employment increased in 41 states over the month.
Regional Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)
The Northeast registered the lowest unemployment rate in February, 4.9
percent, while the Midwest had the highest rate, 5.8 percent. Jobless
rates in all four regions were about unchanged over the month. The West
and Northeast recorded over-the-year unemployment rate declines of -0.8
and -0.7 percentage point, respectively. The jobless rates in the South
and Midwest were little different from those of February 2004. (See
table 1.)
Among the nine geographic divisions, the lowest unemployment rates in
February were reported in the Mountain and New England divisions, 4.6 per-
cent each; South Atlantic, 4.8 percent; West North Central, 4.9 percent;
and Middle Atlantic, 5.0 percent. The East North Central division had the
highest unemployment rate, 6.2 percent, after posting an increase of 0.3
percentage point from January. Rates in the remaining eight divisions were
about unchanged over the month. The largest over-the-year unemployment
rate declines were reported in the Middle Atlantic and Pacific divisions
(-0.8 percentage point each) and the Mountain division (-0.7 point). The
New England and West South Central divisions registered smaller declines
(-0.5 and -0.3 percentage point, respectively).
AND MUCH MORE...including TABLES....
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] Census: 2003 State and Local Government-Retirement Systems [31 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Census Bureau
2003 State and Local Government-Retirement Systems [31 March 2005]
http://www.census.gov/govs/www/retire.html
The State and Local Government Employee-Retirement System survey provides revenues, expenditures, financial assets, and membership information for public employee retirement systems. Data are shown for individual retirement systems as well as at the national, state, and local level. State and local government employee retirement systems are an important component of the Nation`s government sector.
In fiscal year 2003, the nation's 2,657 state and local government employee-retirement systems in the nation held nearly $2.2 trillion in cash and investment holdings. Nongovernmental securities accounted for 77 percent of their total holdings, while government securities comprised 10 percent of the total.
The 218 state government employee-retirement systems had 12.5 million active members, while the 2,439 local government systems had 1.7 million. A total of 6.4 million people received $122.3 billion in benefit payments based on retirement due to age, disability or rights of survivorship.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] GAO: Unemployment Insurance: Information on Benefit Receipt. GAO-05-291, March 17, 2005 (online 31 March)
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Unemployment Insurance: Information on Benefit Receipt. GAO-05-291, March 17, 2005 (online 31 March)
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-291
or
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05291.pdf
[full-text, 39 pages]
[excerpt]
In summary, we estimate that about 38 percent of workers born between
1957 and 1964 received UI at least once between 1979 and 2002, with
almost half of these individuals receiving UI benefits more than once (see
fig. 1). Another 39 percent of this age group of workers were eligible to
receive UI benefits at least once but never did so. Nine percent of all
workers in this age group are estimated to have been unemployed at least
once but never eligible for UI benefits, mostly because of the conditions
under which they separated from their jobs, such as leaving a job to look
for other employment. The remaining 15 percent were employed at least
once and subsequently never unemployed.
As this baby boom group aged, its members experienced fewer UI-eligible
unemployment spells but were more likely to receive UI benefits during
these spells. Late baby boom workers had the greatest number of UIeligible
unemployment spells around the time of the recessions of the
early 1980s, when most were beginning their working careers. Over time,
the number of UI-eligible unemployment spells declined. This is not
surprising, given changes in the overall economy and age-related changes
for individuals, such as increasing levels of education, training, work
experience, and job tenure, that made their employment more stable and
made them less likely to become unemployed. Although these workers had
more unemployment when they were younger, higher proportions of those
who became unemployed when they were older (up to age 45) received UI
benefits. More specifically, at ages 18 to 20, 15 percent of those eligible
received UI benefits; at ages 36 to 45, the rate of receipt was 30 percent.
Regarding UI receipt by industries and occupations, we found that rates
varied.
We provided a draft of this report to officials at the Department of Labor
for their technical review and incorporated their comments where
appropriate.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] 2005 Foreign Trade Barriers Report [30 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
2005 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers [30 March 2005]
http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2005/2005_NTE_Report/Section_Index.html
[Use this URL to find individual country reports in pdf]
or
http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2005/2005_NTE_Report/asset_upload_file383_7446.pdf
[full-text, 684 pages]
The 2005 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) is the twentieth in an annual series that surveys significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports. The report provides, where feasible, quantitative estimates of the impact of these foreign practices on the value of U.S. exports. Information is also included on actions taken to eliminate barriers.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Tweet[IWS] BLS: OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK QUARTERLY ONLINE Winter 04/05, vol.48, no. 4 [29 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Occupational Outlook Quarterly Online [29 March 2005]
Winter 2004-05
Vol. 48, Number 4
Job outlook for people who don't have a bachelor's degree
Roger Moncarz and Olivia Crosby
http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2004/winter/art01.pdf
[full-text, 12 pages]
Job outlook for college graduates
Jill N. Lacey and Olivia Crosby
http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2004/winter/art02.pdf
[full-text, 14 pages]
Getting back to work: Returning to the labor force after an absence
Elka Jones
http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2004/winter/art03.pdf
[full-text, 13 pages]
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
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Monday, March 28, 2005
Tweet[IWS] MDRC:MARRIAGES LESS STABLE for DISADVANTAGED ADULTS [28 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
MDRC
Fast Fact
Marriages Are Less Stable for Economically Disadvantaged Adults
http://www.mdrc.org/area_fact_17.html
Economically disadvantaged adults are just as likely to marry as their more advantaged counterparts, but their marriages are substantially more unstable. Through their 20s, economically disadvantaged adults are actually more likely to marry than advantaged adults. By age 30, the proportion who have ever married is very similar. In contrast, the difficulty of staying married increases substantially with levels of economic disadvantage. For example, the probability of divorcing or separating in each year after first marriage is consistently higher for women from less affluent neighborhoods. This pattern holds true when economic disadvantage is defined as low family income or education level.
CHART....
Emerging federal initiatives seeking to support marriage have increased the need for improved information on low-income married couples. The fragility of marriages among disadvantaged couples provides one important rationale for rigorously testing new programs aimed at strengthening marriages in low-income families. High marital instability rates (and attendant risks for children) affirm that low-income couples indeed do face special challenges in their marriages.
Fast Fact from Married and Poor: Basic Characteristics of Economically Disadvantaged Married Couples in the U.S.Prepared by David J. Fein, Ph.D. of Abt Associates for the Supporting Healthy Marriage Project.
For more information, see-
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/393/workpaper.html
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] MDRC: STABILITY & CHANGE in CHILD CARE & EMPLOYMENT [28 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
from MDRC
The Next Generation Working Paper Series, No. 20
March 2005
Stability and Change in Child Care and Employment
Evidence from Three States
by Cynthia Miller
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/406/overview.html
or
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/406/full.pdf
[full-text, 38 pages]
Summary of Key Findings for Working Paper No. 20
In response to falling welfare caseloads and a new emphasis on self-sufficiency, policymakers have begun focusing on programs designed to increase employment retention. Former welfare recipients face a range of obstacles that might easily contribute to job instability, such as limited work experience, low education levels, and the challenges of working and raising children with a limited income. To what extent does unstable child care contribute to employment instability? This paper uses a unique data set consisting of over 3,500 women targeted for welfare-to-work programs in three states to examine child care stability and its association with employment stability among current and former welfare recipients.
Key Findings
* Child care use is fairly stable for this population. Most women in the sample who used care used it fairly consistently.
* Changing arrangements and using multiple types of care in a given month are more common than dropping care, but they do not seem to be indications of instability.
* Child care instability is associated with employment instability. However, the evidence suggests that much of child care instability is caused by employment instability and not the other way around. In addition, transitions out of child care happen fairly infrequently, indicating that they do not account for the majority of transitions out of work.
Conclusions and Implications
As more and more women move off of welfare and into work, it will be important to document and understand factors that either support or hinder their efforts to become self-sufficient. The findings here suggest that child care instability is one of those factors but not a major one. In this case, employment retention programs should continue to consider child care issues but would do best to also focus on additional barriers to keeping jobs, like low education levels and limited work histories. However, the findings do not suggest that child care instability should be ignored. Changing and dropping care, although not necessarily problems from an employment stability perspective, have been found to have negative effects on children.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] UNECE: STATISTICS for EUROPE & NORTH AMERICA Database
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
STATISTICS FOR EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
Statistical Division's database
<http://w3.unece.org/pxweb/database/STAT/databasetree.asp>
Statistical Division's database currently presents a structured set of economic indicators for countries of the UNECE region. The statistics provided by this service are the empirical basis for the Economic Survey of Europe and other analyses carried out by the Secretariat of the Economic Commission for Europe. Emphasis has been placed on making the data ready for international comparison and immediate analytical use, as well as on making them easy to find. Users may be particularly interested in the statistics on CIS and central and eastern European countries, which are difficult to find elsewhere in a single integrated database. Data are updated on a daily basis and the content will progressively be increased to cover more domains.
Internationally comparable statistics (in US dollars where appropriate)
http://w3.unece.org/pxweb/database/STAT/2-ME/1-MECC/1-MECC.asp
* Macroeconomic overview by Country, Year and Indicator.
* GDP per capita (in US$) by Country, Expenditure, Year and Measurement.
* GDP (in US$) by Country, Expenditure, Year and Measurement.
* GDP: output approach (in US$) by Country, Activity, Year and Measurement.
Country statistics (in national currency where appropriate)
http://w3.unece.org/pxweb/database/STAT/2-ME/2-MECP/2-MECP.asp
* Macroeconomic overview by Country, Year and Indicator.
* GDP per capita by Country, Expenditure, Year and Measurement.
* GDP by Country, Expenditure, Year and Measurement.
* GDP: output approach by Country, Activity, Year and Measurement.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] AEI: ATTITUDES ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM (Updated 25 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) for Public Policy Research
AEI PUBLIC OPINION STUDY
ATTITUDES ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM (Updated 25 March 2005]
What do Americans think about the health of the Social Security system and proposals to reform it? This AEI Public Opinion Study looks at how different pollsters have approached the issue. It provides historical data and includes trends on aspects of the debate from major pollsters.
New Social Security Polls: March 21-25
http://www.aei.org/docLib/20050325_SOCIALSECURITY8.pdf
[full-text, 51 pages]
Several pollsters updated their questions on personal accounts this week. In the March 17 to 21 Pew poll, 44 percent favored "a proposal which would allow younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in private accounts, which might include stocks and bonds," down from 54 percent in December 2004. In the new poll, support barely outweighed opposition (44 to 40 percent). Pew reports that the more people say they know about the President's approach, the more opposed they are. The ABC News/Washington Post question, which has been asked since May 2000, shows more stability in attitudes and even a slight uptick in support since December. In their March poll, 56 percent supported "a plan in which people who chose could invest some of their Social Security contributions in the market," and 41 percent were opposed. In December 2004, those responses were 53-44 percent.
The President's approval ratings on handling Social Security are, in all but one recent poll, lower than his approval ratings on any other issue. The one exception to this pattern was provided by the new Newsweek poll which showed that fewer people approved of his handling of the deficit (29 percent) than approved of the way he was handling Social Security (33 percent).
While the President isn't doing well on the issue at this point, there is no evidence that Democrats in Congress are doing better. The Pew poll reports that approval ratings for the Democrats in Congress are slightly lower than for the Republicans (37 to 39 percent).
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] USAID: CUBA's LABOR MARKET FUTURE (December 2004)
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
THE FUTURE OF CUBA'S LABOR MARKET: PROSPECTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS (December 2004)
http://www.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNADA453.pdf
[full-text, 51 pages]
Prepared for the Cuba Transition Project (CTP)
Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies
University of Miami
By
Luis Locay
This publication was made possible through support provided
by the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, U.S.
Agency for International Development, under the terms of
Award No. EDG-A-00-02-00007-00. The opinions expressed
herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
[excerpt]
Executive Summary
Introduction
The Cuban labor force, shaped by the enormous changes that the
country has undergone since the Revolution, is very unproductive and relatively
well educated. These seemingly contradictory properties are normally
reconciled by attributing the low productivity to misuse of the labor
force by government planners. Under this interpretation, all that Cuba's
labor force needs to become productive is to be freed of the constraints
placed on it by the inefficient system of production in which it is currently
functioning. This study challenges that view.
The forces that shape the formation of skills in market economies
result in a strong relationship between education and earning potential.
Such a close relationship need not exist in Cuba, where the process of
skill formation has been very different. This study presents evidence that
the distribution of skills and occupations in Cuba are different from those
observed in market economies. To become productive, Cuba's labor force
will require not only an efficient work environment that rewards productivity,
but also will have to readjust its distribution of skills to be productive
in a future market economy.
Findings
This paper reports on the connection between wages and productivity,
points out changes in employment patterns in the 1990s, and compares
Cuba's distribution of occupations and postsecondary fields of study with
those of other more market-oriented Latin American economies.
1. The range of salaries in Cuba's public sector is very narrow and
does not seem to reflect adequately differences in productivity.
Private sector wages are far greater than those in the public
sector, overstating the difference in productivity between the two
sectors and contributing to public sector professionals abandoning
their professions for higher paying but lower skilled jobs,
where their skills depreciate.
2. The reforms of 1993-1994, designed to enable the regime to
survive the economic crisis caused by the loss of Soviet support,
led to a decline in public sector employment and the appearance
of a very restricted but significant private sector. Most of the
decline in government employment was accounted for by converting
state farms into cooperatives, increasing employment in
joint ventures between the government and foreign firms, and
allowing development of the true private sector-composed of
small farmers and the newly permitted self-employed.
3. Cuba's distribution of employment by industry and occupation
differ more from average distribution than do those of any other
Latin American country on which data is available. Cuba has the
lowest percentage of employment in wholesale and retail trade
and the second lowest in finance, insurance, real estate, and business
services. Cuba also has the highest percentage of professional,
technical, and administrative personnel but is relatively
light in clerical and service workers.
4. In terms of postsecondary enrollments by field of study, Cuba
also differed more than any other country from the average distribution.
Cuba had by far the highest percentage of majors in
education, health care, and physical education, which together
accounted for nearly 70 percent of postsecondary students in the
1990s. At the other end, Cuba had the lowest percentage of business
students. The sharp decline in postsecondary enrollments in
the 1990s, coupled with the high concentration in the three fields
mentioned above, means that in many important fields Cuba has
very few students.
5. Only one labor organization is allowed to represent Cuba's workers,
and it is widely seen as another instrument of state control.
The independent labor movement is severely limited by the government's
repressive measures, and its economic impact so far
appears negligible.
AND MORE.....
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
[IWS] NON-ENGLISH SOURCES of U.S. LAW [27 March 2005]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
from LLRX.com
Sources of United States of America Legal Information in Languages Other than English [Published March 27, 2005]
http://www.llrx.com/features/otherthanenglish.htm
By Mark E. Poorman
This detailed guide identifies a range of web resources, services and print publications available from state and federal government agencies, courts, and academic institutions.
Mark E. Poorman is an attorney licensed to practice law by the State Bars of Texas and California and a recent graduate of the University of North Texas, School of Library and Information Sciences with a Masters Degree in Law Librarianship and Legal Informatics. He credits Lynn K. Sanchez, Victoria Corona and Isabel Rivas, the director and staff of the Hon. Robert J. Galvan County Law Library, El Paso, Texas, where he interned with suggesting the need for more sources of legal information in languages other than English.
[excerpt]
Introduction
Sources for United States of America Legal information abound. The U.S. Constitution and Statutes are available from the <http://www.gpoaccess.gov/>Government Printing Office and annotated versions from West, Lexis and others. Online versions of these publications link to the Code of Federal Regulations, statutes, regulations and case law from all States as well as the Federal Courts. With the increasing number of state and federal statutes, regulations, reported cases, and access to unreported cases, the need for compellation and annotation has lead to many topical publications in formats ranging from advanced sheets, through electronic publications to hardbound books. Even with the recent consolidation in the U.S. legal publishing industry, the number of titles available on any jurisdiction, or legal topic, generally provide adequate coverage for any practice area. Yet, by in large, none of this vast store of legal information is readily available in any language other than English. The purpose of this article is to uncover the hidden sources for U.S. legal information in languages other than English and promote the publication of more readily accessible sources.
Justification
A justification for publishing sources of United States legal information in languages other than English appears appropriate in light of traditional beliefs about the U.S. legal system. The opinion, once held by many, was that English is the language of the U.S. and that all legal information should be published only in English. This view was supported by the theory that the United States is a melting pot in which ethnic and cultural characteristics are submerged and English is the common language, and dominant culture, of the U.S.
AND MUCH MORE.....
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
