Compensating wage differentials for workplace accidents: Evidence for union and nonunion workers in the UK

This article measures compensating wage differentials for job risks for union and nonunion workers. Job risk is made endogenous to avoid a selectivity bias arising if more able people choose safer jobs. We find that this adjustment has a considerable effect on the union group, raising their fatal risk premium above that of non union workers. This implies that there is more variation in unmeasured ability in the unionized group, and that job risk is an inferior good. The fact that unionized workers are also found in safer jobs might therefore be attributable to their greater wealth, rather than to greater“knowledge” in the unionized plant. The estimated statistical value of a life is £8.8 million in 1990 prices for union workers, with nonunion workers about 20% lower.     

Assessment processes in social work with children at risk in Sweden and Croatia

The aim of this article is to compare Swedish and Croatian social workers' assessments and protection of a 4-year-old child exposed to risk in its own family. The data were collected from 87 Croatian and 72 Swedish social workers by means of a questionnaire, which incorporated a vertical vignette. Effects of the participant's country of residence were investigated with respect to: (i) risk assessments; (ii) perception of the main problems; (iii) tolerance of corporal punishment; (iv) judgements about appropriateness of interventions. The results suggest that Croatian social workers have a more child-protective approach than their Swedish colleagues. Swedish social workers have a more supportive approach than Croatian social workers. Despite fundamental similarities in assessments between the countries, significant differences were found in preferred interventions. The Swedish social workers were more in favour of keeping the child at home with the support of social services. The Croatian social workers were more in favour of removing the child from home by means of a care order. This might primarily be attributed to the differences in availability of family support services and to different discourses in Sweden and Croatia.     

An Exploratory Analysis of Seven Child Welfare Workers who Confused SIDS with Child Maltreatment Fatalities: A Brief Research Report

Abstract

Previous research shows that child welfare workers (CWWs) have low levels of knowledge of risk factors for child maltreatment fatalities. Further, these gaps in knowledge leave CWWs with misconceptions about causes of deaths and the characteristics of the perpetrators. This brief research report focuses on CWWs’ gaps in knowledge with regard to CMFs and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and explores the socio-demographic characteristics of seven workers who confused fatal child maltreatment and SIDS. These workers were experienced professionals—who were in their middle-age, mid-career, and well-educated—and had been trained in how to recognize risk factors for CMFs. Implications for training and collaboration with other professionals are discussed, as well as the need for research to evaluate training efficacy.     

On the Measurement of Job Risk in Hedonic Wage Models

We examine the incidence, form, and research consequences of measurement error in measures of fatal injury risk in U.S. workplaces using both Bureau of Labor Statistics and National Intitute of Occupational Safety and Health data. Of the various measures examined the NIOSH industry risk measure produces implicit value of life estimates most in line with both economic theory and the mode result for the existing literature. Because we find non-classical measurement error that differs across risk measures and is not independent of other regressors, innovative statistical procedures need be applied to obtain statistically improved estimates of wage-fatality risk tradeoffs.     

Are there rewards for language skills? Evidence from the earnings of registered nurses

The existing empirical evidence on whether U.S. labor markets reward workers for second-language skills is meager and conflicting. Employing data from the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses in 2000 and 2004, this study reexamines the positive bilingual–earnings relationship found in the most current research on this topic. We test the relationship using alternative models that explain the wages earned by nurses. The advantage of this approach is that it permits an assessment of how sensitive the results are to changes in the variables used in the model. We find the evidence of a positive bilingual effect on earnings to be mixed. The relationship is sufficiently frail that statistically significant results eventually dissolve as more precise occupational characteristics are included in the wage equation. Moreover, using more current data, we find no evidence of a wage premium paid to nurses for second-language skills. We offer possible explanations for this lack of evidence within this specific occupation.     

Peer paradox: the tensions that peer relationships raise for vulnerable youth

The contribution peer relationships make to positive adolescent development is well recognized. Accordingly, peer problem measures typically assess youth with few age‐appropriate peers as having peer problems. Yet, youth facing high levels of personal and/or social adversity may reduce their association with antisocial peers as part of coping or risk mitigation strategies. While such strategies will result in higher scores on peer problem measures, they may also facilitate resilience and constitute a resource social workers can draw on in their work with youth. To test this proposition of peer adaptation as a risk mitigation strategy, mixed‐methods data relating to two groups of youth who were exposed to different levels of adversity were compared on a standardized peer problem measure and a range of risk measures. Qualitative interviews extended this data and explored vulnerable youth perceptions of social withdrawal as a coping strategy. Results from the survey and qualitative data indicated that a subgroup of youth facing high levels of adversity restricted association with antisocial peers to reduce their behavioural risks. However, without adequate support from adults in both formal support systems and youths' social ecologies to compensate for the loss of peer friendships, this strategy did not reduce behavioural risk in the medium term. The social withdrawal strategy also appeared to heighten mental health concerns for these youth. The implications of this finding for the development of policy and practice with vulnerable youth are discussed.     

Compensating wage differentials for fatal injury risk in Australia,Japan, and the United States

Our research infers the effects of institutionalized wage setting and lengthy worker-firm attachment by comparing estimated compensating wage differentials for fatal injury risk in Japanese, Australian, and U.S. manufacturing. Hedonic labor market equilibrium regressions for Japan reveal a statistically fragile compensating wage differential of 0% to 1.4% for exposure to the average fatality risk compared to employment in a perfectly safe workplace. Australian workers receive a statistically robust 2.5% estimated wage premium. Using new data on work-related fatalities, we find a 1% compensating wage differential in U.S. manufacturing that becomes more positive and statistically less significant as data are aggregated.     

Compensating Wage Differentials for Fatal and Nonfatal Injury Risk by Gender and Race

Our research examines risk compensation by gender and race using occupation, gender, and race specific fatal and nonfatal injury rates and a data set sufficiently large to produce accurate estimates across fairly narrow groups. The data provide strong evidence that men earn compensating differentials for both fatal and nonfatal injury risk and women earn compensating differentials for nonfatal injury risk. Female wage premiums for nonfatal injury risk exceed male wage premiums by a factor of more than three. Nonfatal injury risk compensation is widespread among the various demographic groups although largest for white women. Fatal injury risk compensation is more isolated with only white and Hispanic males earning significantly higher pay for greater amounts of fatal injury risk.     

Motivation and mission in the public sector: evidence from the World Values Survey

It is well-recognised that workers may have intrinsic—as well as extrinsic—motivations. Previous studies have identified that public sector workers typically have a higher level of intrinsic motivation, compared to workers in the private sector. This paper compares (measures of) intrinsic motivation among 30,000+ workers in the two sectors across 51 countries using data from the World Values Survey. We find that public sector workers exhibit higher intrinsic motivation in many countries, but that this is not a universal relationship. One possibility is that public sector mission may influence whether or not motivated workers choose to work in the sector. In support of this, we show that the level of (public) corruption—which plausibly affects mission—can explain some of the variation across countries in the proportion of motivated workers in the sector.     

同乡的力量：同乡聚集对农民工工资收入的影响

中国的城乡流动中存在同一籍贯或同一来源地的农村流动人口的就业聚集现象--“同乡聚集”。本研究使用2010年珠三角和长三角外来务工者调查的数据,采用倾向分数匹配和异质性干预模型等方法,考察了以籍贯为族群基础的同乡聚集对城市农民工经济收入的影响。研究发现,尽管同乡聚集者的收入优势受到异质性和自我选择机制的影响,但同乡聚集仍有助于提高农民工的工资收入。越倾向于同乡聚集的农民工,从同乡聚集中获得的收入回报越高。     

Burnout in Chinese social work: Differential predictability of the components of the Maslach Burnout Inventory

Burnout is a worldwide phenomenon among social welfare workers. This study examined how burnout affects student social workers and professional social workers. It first examined the construct validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory‐General Survey (MBI‐GS) scale, using data from two Chinese samples (848 student social workers and 748 professional social workers). The original three‐factor model was regarded as superior to other competing models. Investigation of the second‐order factor model indicated that exhaustion and cynicism are core components but that personal efficacy is not. The research also revealed the differential predictability of the three subscales of the MBI‐GS. Our expectation that differential patterns of effects could be predicted was largely supported. Professional efficacy plays a key mediating role in the relationship between student social workers’ professional identity and their satisfaction with fieldwork, while social workers’ cynicism is the main mediator in the relationship between their professional identity and turnover intention. Therefore, identifying at‐risk students and professional social workers to undertake appropriate intervention strategies that focus on both their professional identity and different dimensions of burnout may be an effective way to prevent students’ dissatisfaction and reduce social worker turnover.     

Working in the Social Services: Job Satisfaction, Stress and Violence

Correspondence to Professor Jan Pahl, Department of Social and Public Policy and Social Work, Darwin College, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury CT2 7NY. Summary A major survey of the social services workforce (Balloch etal., forthcoming), carried out in the Research Unit at the NationalInstitute for Social Work, has produced new data about sourcesof job satisfaction and about the incidence of stress and violence.The survey took place in five different local authorities inEngland, and interviews were carried out with 1276 individuals,selected from four groups of staff: managers, social work staff,home care workers and residential staff. The results suggestedthat those who work in the statutory, social services do experiencemore stress and violence than workers in other parts of thehealth and welfare services. However, different jobs presenteddifferent hazards. In general, home care workers were the mostsatisfied with their jobs, and were also the group least likelyto be stressed or to experience violence in the course of theirwork. By contrast, residential workers, especially those withmanagement responsibilities, were most at risk of both violenceand stress. Men were more likely than women to experience violence,while other groups with a higher than average risk of stressincluded younger members of staff, and managers and social workstaff responsible for elderly people.     

The Peltzman hypothesis revisited: An isolated evaluation of offsetting driver behavior

Nearly all of the previous investigations of driver behavior under varying safety conditions have only been able to evaluate the issue of offsetting driver behavior indirectly. Some studies note that engineering estimates of the aggregate improvements of automobile safety enhancements are substantively larger than economic estimates of the same effects. Others have found that non-occupants such as motorcyclists and pedestrians are under greater risk of incurring accidents when automobiles are made safer. Although these observations are consistent with the hypothesis that drivers respond to safety enhancements by driving less safely (having been instilled with a sense of greater protection provided by the safety improvements), they do not provide a direct evaluation of the relationship between driving environment and driver behavior. Thus, factors other than offsetting behavior may be generating these observed results. A few studies have tested the offsetting behavior hypothesis more directly, but only under highly specific safety conditions and narrow measures of driver behavior. This article undertakes an isolated analysis of driver behavior under varying safety conditions, with data which allows for more general changes to safety conditions and broader measures of driver behavior. Estimates obtained from the evaluation of individual accident reports lend support to the offsetting behavior hypothesis and imply that both aggressive behavior and nonaggressive (inattentive) driving behavior are likely to increase as the driving environment becomes safer.     

Ontario child protection workers' views on assessing risk and planning for safety in exposure to domestic violence cases

The use of standardized tools to assess risk for children is mandatory in the child protection sector in Ontario. Factors that can be used specifically to assess the risk of lethality in exposure to domestic violence (DV) cases, however, are largely missing from these tools. Using data from an online survey of 138 child protection workers in Ontario, the current study examines practitioners' risk assessment and safety planning practices with DV cases. Findings provide an overview of the frequency of risk assessment and management strategies within various environmental contexts (e.g., urban and rural) and populations (e.g., indigenous and immigrants/refugees). According to the practitioners sampled, assessing and managing risk are frequently and consistently completed across the province, although specific strategies and challenges vary. Although mandatory provincial child protection tools are commonly used, some workers report using other specific DV risk assessment tools to complement their own measurement of risk and planning for safety. Respondents emphasized the importance of working collaboratively with families and professionals in other sectors to address risk. Implications for future research include exploring the barriers and challenges of using DV‐specific risk assessments in child protection and factors contributing to these challenges as identified by practising child protection workers.     

A Comparison of Child Fatalities by Physical Abuse Versus Neglect: Child,Family, Service,and Worker Characteristics

ABSTRACT

In the field of child welfare, attention has been given to risk factors for child maltreatment fatalities with little attention to the difference between children who die from abuse versus neglect. As part of a larger study, child welfare workers (n = 104) from 14 different states responded to an anonymous online survey that described the child, family, and case characteristics before death and worker characteristics/experiences before and after death. Results supported that prior to death, neglectful families presented with less risk than abusive families, in the areas of parent–child attachment, child behavior problems, and changes in household composition while reporting that they received more services. With regard to child welfare practice, workers did not report any differences in how they handled cases before death nor did they report differences in their posttraumatic stress symptoms at the time of the survey. These findings can be used as a springboard for future research that focuses on fatal maltreatment.     

Racial Differences in Labor Market Values of a Statistical Life

This article constructs measures of job fatality rates for black and white workers using information on job-related fatalities from 1992–1997. The fatality rates for black employees are somewhat greater than those for whites. Each of these groups receives significant compensating wage differentials for fatality risks, controlling for nonfatal risks and expected workers' compensation benefits. The implicit value of a statistical life is lower for black workers than for whites. These results in conjunction with evidence that blacks receive less annual compensation for fatality risks than do whites imply that black and white workers face different market offer curves that are flatter for blacks than for whites.     

Nurses' and Social Workers' Perceptions of Elderly Nursing Home Residents' Well-Being

The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between nurses' and social worker'perceptions of the well-being of elderly nursing home residents. Four-hundred and eight residents were rated by both nurses and social workers in three areas: cognitive functioning, depression and the social network. Results showed that there was a strong relationship between the nurses' and social workers' ratings on all measures in the three domains of functioning. However, differences between nurses' and social workers' ratings were found on several measures. Nurses consistently rated the residents as more impaired than social workers on all measures of cognitive functioning. Nurses also rated the residents as being less depressed, having a lower activity level and having less frequent social interactions than did social workers. In the area of the social network, social workers thought residents had more frequent contacts with staff. However, nurses rated the residents as being more intimate with staff and visitors. The practical implications of the results are discussed.     

The political participation of social workers: a comparative study

This article reports on a comparative study that examined the political participation of social workers in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, the state of New South Wales (excluding the Hunter region) in Australia, and New Zealand. Each of these contexts had roughly the same number of social workers, that is, approximately 1,200. It was found that social workers in New Zealand tended to be more politically active than their counterparts in New South Wales and KwaZulu-Natal, and the reasons for this are examined. In the process, New Zealand is presented as a case study of the way in which social work has responded to its political context. Finally, conclusions are drawn as to the engagement of social workers in the policy cycle and of the need for them to become more active politically.     

Disability insurance risks: The Argentinian case

This article analyses the risk of disability facing workers who contribute to the Argentinian Integrated Social Security System (Sistema Integrado Previsional Argentino— SIPA). Using administrative records as our source of data for the period 2000‐2006, the results indicate that 1.46 workers per 1,000 became disabled annually during that period. The risk of disability rates were higher for men than for women, but increased with age for both sexes. The risk of disability rates have also been broken down by pathology and social security scheme, taking the effects of age and sex into account. To conclude, international comparisons are presented.     

Does nurture matter: Theory and experimental investigation on the effect of working environment on risk and time preferences

Building upon the reference dependent preferences model, we develop a theoretical framework to examine the relationship between environment and preferences. To verify the model’s prediction, we use a combined artefactual field experiment and household survey data in Vietnam to investigate whether involvement is risky and has long-run targeted benefits, thereby causing fishermen to exhibit different risk and time preferences than workers in other occupations. Using a structural model approach, we integrate prospect theory and hyperbolic time discounting into a single framework, to simultaneously estimate and correlate the parameters of both risk and time preferences with other demographic variables. The key finding that fishermen are found to be less risk-averse and more patient than others asserts the theoretical prediction about the influence of the working environment on preferences.