Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to provide a portrait of direct care workers who provide care to the elderly. Despite the importance of worker retention for organizations and their patients, little has been done to understand how the family and community life of the direct care worker impacts her ability to maintain her position in the workforce. Therefore, this paper is part of a larger research project that will fill a research void between characteristics of the workplace, demands placed by family responsibilities and economic stability in the lives of direct care workers. In particular, we are interested in understanding how family situations, community resources and organizational supports impact the retention of low-income female workers in direct care worker occupations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The Impact of Welfare
Reform on Academic Outcomes
Parental Workforce Participation, Welfare Receipt, and Children’s
Academic Outcomes In this paper, we will examine how changes in the
welfare system brought about by the 1996 Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) have affected parental
report of children’s academic outcomes. PRWORA put into place the
Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) program, which was intended to
increase welfare recipients’ workforce participation and decrease their
welfare receipt. These TANF policies, including the 30-hour-per-week
work requirement and 60-month time limit, have led to a nationwide
decrease in the welfare rolls of 56 percent between 1993 and 2000 (U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Thus, the 1996 welfare
reform has generally been heralded as a great success.
In spite of the overwhelming public support for welfare reform, many of
its consequences remain as of yet unknown. For example, we have yet to
find out the kinds of effects that the reform will have on the children
of current and former welfare recipients. Applying the life-course
perspective to the families, the principle of “linked lives” states
that the lives of the parents and children “are lived interdependently,
and social and historical influences are expressed through this network
of shared relationships” (Elder, 1998, p. 4). Thus, policies aimed at
recipients’ workforce participation and welfare receipt will inevitably
affect the recipients’ children as well. We hypothesize that a number
of TANF policies, including the 30-hour-per-week work requirement, may
affect children’s academic and behavioral outcomes through their impact
on parents’ workforce participation and welfare receipt. We also
theorize that parents’ workforce participation and welfare receipt will
have differential affects on children according to their age, with
younger children being more impacted by changes in family income due to
parent’s workforce participation and welfare receipt and adolescents
being more impacted by the amount of time parents spend at work.
Sample, Method, and Findings The data to be used in this study are
taken from the first two waves of the Illinois Families Study (IFS), a
longitudinal study of 1362 respondents who were receiving TANF in the
State of Illinois during September, October, and November of 1998. Our
findings show that children whose parents transitioned from not working
in Wave 1 to working in Wave 2 were significantly more likely to be
achieving academically – receiving A’s and B’s – at Wave 2. Parental
employment at Wave 2 was not found to be a positive factor in all
cases, however. We found that children whose parents were employed in
both waves were significantly less likely to receive A’s and B’s at
Wave 2 than were children whose parents transitioned from not working
to working. We also found that receiving welfare during Wave 2 had a
positive relationship with receiving A’s and B’s at Wave 2, which
suggests that welfare payments may be a protective factor for families.
We argue that parental employment may be beneficial for children’s
academic achievement, particularly if families are able to continue
receiving welfare benefits.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: USAID’s Primary Education Project (PEP) in Macedonia, managed by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) seeks to: a) improve the quality of instruction in Macedonia’s elementary schools and b) increase employment skills in youth.

In Macedonia, many young people fail to find jobs because of the mismatch of their skills with labor market’s needs. The Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) is concerned that few students are opting to attend vocational schools focusing on technical subjects such as electronics and mechanics - key skill areas for modern industry.

The subject of Technical Education exists in Macedonian schools but is inappropriate for the 21st Century. In particular, there are no links between the use of ICT and practical skills in electronics and mechanics.

In partnership with local and US organisations, PEP provided equipment for model 21st century technology labs in schools. Existing computers are used with computer control kits developed by PEP, as well as with donated robotics equipment.

PEP works with schools to make the technology labs attractive learning environments, attracting both male and female students. To ensure sustainability and commitment, PEP works with the MoES, municipalities, business, schools and NGOs as contributing partners.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding the impact of workforce diversity on labor market outcomes. We argue that to understand the impact of workforce diversity, we must consider the effects of power, status, and numbers, or in other words, the distribution of valued and scarce resources, the relationships among people and groups, and the compositional effects of the unit (whether work group, job, occupation, firm, or society). We then discuss the mechanisms that generate and reproduce these dimensions of inequality and explain how they contribute to allocation decisions and evaluative processes that then lead to labor force outcomes, including attitudes, behaviors, and material and psychic rewards. [110]

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Sociologists often go into their field hoping to conduct research that will have an impact in their communities, and the study of occupations is one area of research that is particularly relevant to policymakers and industry professionals. Researchers have documented substantial gender inequality in several fields, including science and technology. These findings are then utilized by practitioners to propose and create programs that will promote greater gender equality. This paper utilizes surveys administered to 432 IT professionals in 2000-2001 to examine the current state of gender equity in a segment of the IT workforce in Massachusetts and the impact of women’s participation in a career-change program on their IT careers. Information gathered from the surveys regarding men’s and women’s salary and position, their job satisfaction & job tasks, and their education and training histories revealed few gender differences, though some significant differences remain in salary and position in the organization. Additionally, significant differences were found between women who had participated in the program and women who had not. The authors argue that it is possible to create gender equity in the IT workforce and to create a program to address gender equity that has a positive impact.