Population growth trends in India: 1991 census

The decennial census counted the total population of India at 843.931 million as of the sunrise of March 1, 1991. The total is 160.6 million higher than that of a decade earlier in 1981. The actual census count exceeded by 45 million the official projections for 1991 based on the 1971 census. However, the official projections for the same year based on the 1981 census fell short by 7.6 million only. Most of the observed differences are explained by the slower decline in the fertility levels. The population growth ratepeaked during 1971–81, perhaps in 1972–73 (based on the Sample Registration Scheme data). The average annualexponential growth rate declined marginally to 2.11 per cent (4.5%) after having remained at a plateau for the previous two decades of 1961–71 and 1971–81. At this point in time, the fertility and mortality trends indicate that India will reach the replacement level fertility [Net Reproductive Rate of Unity] by the years 2010–2015. It can be said with a greater degree of certainty that the official target of reaching the replacement level fertility by the year 2000a.d. will not be reached. Based on the 1991 census results, it can be said that India will reach the billion mark by the turn of the century. The World Bank projects a population of 1,350 million by the year 2025a.d., and a stationary population of 1,862 million by the year 2150a.d., assuming that the replacement level fertility [Net Reproductive Rate = 1] in India is reached about the year 2015a.d.     

Welfare states and social mobility: How educational and social policy may affect cross-national differences in the association between occupational origins and destinations

Cross-national differences in the association between origins and destinations correspond to differences in both welfare regime type and access to post-secondary education. Socialist and social democratic welfare regimes foster a weaker origin–destination association than liberal, corporatist, or mixed regimes do. Nations with better-educated labor forces tend to also be the nations where the association between origins and destinations is weakest. Furthermore, the social and educational policy interact so that the tendency for educational access to lower the origin–destination association is most pronounced in the liberal welfare setting where the association would otherwise be greatest. Greater access is not necessarily associated with greater equality of opportunity, and we find very weak evidence that equality of educational opportunity itself is a direct influence on equality of occupational opportunity (even though nations that have a strong origin–education association also have a strong origin–destination association).     

The association between husbands’ and wives’ labor market positions in the Netherlands

This study describes (1) the association between husbands’ and wives’ employment statuses and occupations in the Netherlands, (2) establishes possible trends in the association, and (3) explores to what extent the association can be attributed to educational homogamy. We use 12 waves of the Dutch Labor Force Survey (1994–2006), and use log-linear models to analyze the associations between the labor market positions of spouses. Overall, we find positive associations, implying that favorable positions are accumulated within households. For couples with children, the association between spouses’ employment status is negative, which means that they divide paid labor. Over birth cohorts, the association between spouses’ employment statuses becomes stronger, and between spouses’ occupational success remains stable. Education is an important contributor to the occupational association, but still half of the association between spouses’ success cannot be attributed to spouses’ education.     

Receptivity Attitudes and the Occupational Attainment of Male and Female Immigrant Workers

This paper seeks to extend assimilation scholarship by focusing on the impact ofimmigrant receptivity attitudes. We test the hypotheses that receptivity attitudestoward immigrants held by citizens of metropolitan and regional labor marketswill have a direct impact, and/or interact with the educational human capital ofimmigrants, in explaining the occupational attainment of male and female immigrantworkers. Multi-level modeling is used to test the impact of aggregated immigrantreceptivity attitude measures, derived from the General Social Survey, which arespatially merged with immigrant worker human capital, individual-level assimilation,and area labor market indicators to predict managerial/professional and service/laboroccupation attainment of immigrant workers from a merged 1995–97 CurrentPopulation Survey data file. The results provide support for the receptivity attitudesthesis with statistically significant effects on service and labor attainment, but showminimal effects on managerial and professional occupational attainment. The keyreceptivity dimensions affecting occupational attainment are native-born citizens'attitudes concerning the impact of immigrants on American society, and attitudeson English-only language policies. The results show no systematic support for thereverse causation hypothesis that the occupational patterns of immigrants determinethe immigrant receptivity attitudes of citizens.     

Occupational status scores: Changes introduced by the inclusion of women

This paper examines the impact of women’s labor force participation on occupational scores by comparing occupational status scores based on the characteristics of the 1970 male labor force with a set of occupational status scores based on the characteristics of the total 1970 labor force. Although the two sets of scores are highly correlated, important differences are found in the scores for specific occupations as well as for major occupational groups. Using the traditional list of 12 major occupational categories, we find that the positions of clerical workers and craftsmen are reversed when status scores are derived from data on all incumbents in the labor force rather than on male incumbents alone. The paper suggests that, with the increased participation of women in the labor force and the concomitant change in the sex composition of the work force, the traditional approaches to the measurement of occupational status based solely on male incumbents may no longer be valid for examining the occupational hierarchy of contemporary American society.     

Changing Patterns of the Floating Population in China, 2000–2010

Using data from the 2000 and 2010 Chinese population censuses and applying a consistent definition of migration, we examine changing patterns of China's floating population during 2000–2010. During the first decade of the twenty‐first century, there have been significant changes in China's floating population, as reflected in a continuing growth of interprovincial floating population and the growth of the floating population in China's western and interior regions, geographic diversification of destinations for the floating population, a major increase in interprovincial return migration, and significant improvement in education and occupational profiles among the floating population. We argue that these patterns are driven by domestic and international factors, including the newly released Labor Law, removal of agricultural tax, the western China development program, increased investment in education by the Chinese government, and the global financial crisis. We also discuss several challenges facing the floating population, which include limited educational opportunity for migrant children and inadequate housing and social welfare protection for the floating population.     

Occupational shifts across sex-type boundaries in the Swedish labour market

This study examines sex differences in employees’ patterns of mobility between occupations of different sex proportions between 2002 and 2003 and how occupational sex segregation in Sweden is influenced by employees’ occupational shifts. The empirical analysis is based on large-scale and nationwide data sets with a panel design. The results show that employees’ occupational shifts strengthen sex segregation across occupations, especially female ones. Moreover, when we compare employees who in 2002 were in occupations with a given sex proportion, employees shift towards more sex-typical occupations relative to employees of the opposite sex, and this is particularly true for women and older employees. The analysis also shows that whereas the outflow from occupations of certain sex proportions is sex-biased, the sex composition of the inflow of other employees is mostly equal in magnitude to the outflow, partly explaining why the level of overall occupational sex segregation remains almost unchanged between these 2 years.     

Proximate Population Factors and Deforestation in Tropical Agricultural Frontiers

Forest conversion for agriculture expansion is the most salient signature of human occupation of the earth's land surface. Although population growth and deforestation are significantly associated at the global and regional scales, evidence for population links to deforestation at micro-scales—where people are actually clearing forests—is scant. Much of the planet's forest elimination is proceeding along tropical agricultural frontiers. This article examines the evolution of thought on population–environment theories relevant to deforestation in tropical agricultural frontiers. Four primary ways by which population dynamics interact with frontier forest conversion are examined: population density, fertility, and household demographic composition, and in-migration.     

Socioeconomic integration and spatial residential patterns of immigrant groups in Canada

It is often assumed that the level of residential segregation of ethnic and racial groups can be used as a measure of their socio-economic integration into a society. This paper using Canadian census data for the period 1981–1991 questions this assumption and goes to show that the trends in residential segregation need not parallel the trends in socio-economic integration. Socio-economic integration is measured by indices of dissimilarity in the occupational composition and residential segregation by indices of dissimilarity in the population distribution. The study shows that while residential segregation of ethnic groups has remained fairly constant during the decade, occupational segregation has declined significantly. It concludes that while residential segregation may persist due to voluntary or involuntary causes, minority groups have been occupationally mobile. Unlike the case of Blacks in the United States, the study concludes that public policy concerns that spatial segregation of an ethnic group will result in relative deprivation in terms of socio-economic integration may not always be valid in Canada.     

Trends in Occupational Segregation by Gender 1970–2009: Adjusting for the Impact of Changes in the Occupational Coding System

In this article, we develop a gender-specific crosswalk based on dual-coded Current Population Survey data to bridge the change in the census occupational coding system that occurred in 2000 and use it to provide the first analysis of the trends in occupational segregation by sex for the 1970–2009 period based on a consistent set of occupational codes and data sources. We show that our gender-specific crosswalk more accurately captures the trends in occupational segregation that are masked using the aggregate crosswalk (based on combined male and female employment) provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Using the 2000 occupational codes, we find that segregation by sex declined substantially over the period but at a diminished pace over the decades, falling by only 1.1 percentage points (on a decadal basis) in the 2000s. A primary mechanism by which segregation was reduced was through the entry of new cohorts of women, presumably better prepared than their predecessors and/or encountering less labor market discrimination; during the 1970s and 1980s, however, occupational segregation also decreased within cohorts. Reductions in segregation were correlated with education, with the largest decrease among college graduates and very little change in segregation among high school dropouts.     

Emigration and living standards in Ireland since the Famine

Ireland experienced dramatic levels of emigration in the century following the Famine of 1845–1849. The paper surveys the recent cliometric literature on post-Famine emigration and its effects on Irish living standards. The conclusions are that the Famine played a significant role in unleashing the subsequent emigration; and that emigration was crucial for the impressive increase in Irish living standards which took place during the next 100 years.Revised version of a paper read at the ESF Research Conference on Migration and Development, Aghia Pelaghia, Crete, Greece, October 7–12, 1994. I am grateful to Cormac Ó Gráda, Jeffrey Williamson and Klaus F. Zimmermann for comments and suggestions, and especially to three anonymous referees, as well as Tim Hatton and Alan Taylor who suggested the quantitative exercise to be found towards the end of Sect. 3.     

Two Thomases: Dublin Castle and The Quality of Life in Victorian Ireland

Administration of Ireland in the nineteenth century was carried out, principally, by three senior officials who were appointed by the current Prime Minister in London, and who served at his pleasure. There were two periods, 1835–1840, and 1853–1869, when Ireland was served by two outstanding men, Thomas Drummond and Thomas Larcom. Both men were trained as military engineers, and were well acquainted by both their membership in the Corps of Royal Engineers and by their shared participation in some projects of the civil government. Their paths to high office were different; Drummond distinguished himself by his skill at technology, and Larcom achieved wide recognition through his imaginative service in the mapping of Ireland. In their periods of service, these two Sappers further distinguished themselves by the quality and selflessness of their of their work. Improvement of quality in the life of the Irish people is documented by presentation of social indicators data from the period 1831–1871.     

Population policy in India

The financial allocations made for the family planning program in India since the early 1950s suggest that a very high priority is attached to population control policy. At the current rate of exchange, the public sector investment will have been over 5.3 billion U.S. dollars by the end of the Seventh Five Year Plan, 1985–1990. It is claimed that over 85 million births have been averted over the last three decades. The number of couples currently protected by the various contraceptive methods, as of March, 1987, is estimated to be 55 million, or 41.4% of the 132.6 million eligible couples with wives 15–44 years-old.The long-term goal of the national population policy is to attain replacement level fertility (approximately 2.3 children) per couple by the turn of the century, implying a crude birth rate of 21 and a death rate of 9 per 1,000 persons. In view of very slow progress in the reduction of the crude birth rate, particularly in the Hindi-speaking populous states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana, the target for the country as a whole is most likely to be reached by 2010–2015 A.D.The observed stalled decline in the crude birth rate between 1975 and 1984 at the national level is analyzed in terms of changing age-sex composition, marital status, set-back to the family planning efforts, and other factors.The long-term projections indicate a national population of 996 million by the year 2,000 A.D., and 1,336 million in the year 2030 A.D. Further, for the very long run, a stationary population of 1.7 billion is hypothesized for India in the middle of the 22nd century.The data analyzed in this paper was collected in 1986 at the Delhi School of Economics through the courtesy of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Calgary/New Delhi. Appreciation is expressed to both institutions and to Drs. P.P. Talwar, M.K. Premi, K.B. Pathak, and Dr. Ashish Bose. Please direct correspondence to Dr. Chaudhry, Department of Political and Economic Science, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7K 5L0.     

Global QUALITY OF LIFE (QOL), health and ability are primarily determined by our consciousness. Research findings from Denmark 1991–2004

Objective: To explain the global quality of life (QOL) from 2000 indicators representing all aspects of life. Design and setting: Two cross sectional population studies, one prospective cohort study and one retrospective cohort study. Participants: (1) Representative sample of 2500 Danes (18–88 years), (2) 7222 members of the Copenhagen Perinatal Birth Cohort 1959–1961 (31–33 years), (3) 9.006 mothers and their 8820 children born in Copenhagen 1959–1961, (4) 746 Danes (55–66 years). Main outcome measures: Global QOL measured by SEQOL (self evaluation of QOL) containing eight global QOL measures: Well-being, life-satisfaction, happiness, fulfilment of needs, experience of temporal and spatial domains, expression of lifes potentials and objective factors. Results: 2000 associations; strongest between QOL and health, ability, the personal philosophy of life, the relationships to oneself, the partner and friends; weakest between QOL and 1000 early life factors, 1000 life events and 100 objective factors like income. Conclusions: Quality of life is associated with personal health and attitude towards life, rather than objective factors, life style, or life events. We conclude that QOL can be developed independently and thus be used as medicine.     

Life Domain Satisfaction: A Portugal–France Comparison

The study was aimed at replicating on a Portuguese sample the seven-factor model of life appraisal (physical autonomy, love life, family life, social life, occupational life, finances, and leisure life) that was suggested by Salvatore and Munoz Sastre Social Indicators Research 53:229–255 (2001). A sample of 1,111 Portuguese participants, aged 17–85, was presented with the Appraisal of Life Questionnaire. The “domain” model of life appraisal satisfactorily accounted for the data gathered on the Portuguese sample. Regarding finances and occupational life, Portuguese scores were lower than French scores. Regarding the occupational score and the leisure score, a clear linear decrease as a function of age was evidenced in the Portuguese sample. Finally, regarding the family score and the financial score, a non-linear relationship with age was found. An increase was observed from young adult age to adult age, and a decrease was observed from adult age to older age. A strong decrease in the physical autonomy scores among Portuguese females was also observed.     

The transition to parenthood in Puerto Rico: Occupational status and the timing of first births

This study examines the relationship between occupational status and fertility timing during a period of rapid development in Puerto Rico. Our fundamental hypothesis is that women with higher status occupations face greater opportunity costs than those with less valued jobs and therefore will be more likely to postpone parenthood until later ages than women without such high costs. We test this hypothesis using event history techniques with data from the 1982 Puerto Rico Fertility and Family Planning Assessment, an island-wide survey of women between the ages of 15 and 49. The analysis examines the effects of occupational status on the timing of first births, and finds strong support for the basic hypothesis, especially regarding the post-ponement of teen births. After the teen years, the effects are less pronounced. Overall, it appears that employment opportunities have played an important role in childbearing decisions in Puerto Rico.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Denver, Colorado, 30 April–2 May 1992.     

Sliders,visual analogue scales,or buttons: Influence of formats and scales in mobile and desktop surveys

ABSTRACT

In an experiment dealing with the use of personal computer, tablet, or mobile, scale points (up to 5, 7, or 11) and response formats (bars or buttons) are varied to examine differences in mean scores and nonresponse. The total number of “not applicable” answers does not vary significantly. Personal computer has the lowest item nonresponse, followed by mobile and tablet, and a lower mean score than for mobile. Slider bars showed lower mean scores and more nonresponses than buttons, indicating that they are more prone to bias and difficult in use. Sider bars, which work with a drag-and-drop principle, perform worse than visual analogue scales working with a point-and-click principle and buttons. Five-point scales have more nonresponses than eleven-point scales. Respondents evaluate 11-point scales more positively than shorter scales.     

Changing fertility rates in developed countries. The impact of labor market institutions

During the last two decades fertility rates have decreased and have become positively correlated with female participation rates across OECD countries. I use a panel of 23 OECD nations to study how different labor market arrangements shaped these trends. High unemployment and unstable contracts, common in Southern Europe, depress fertility, particularly of younger women. To increase lifetime income though early skill-acquisition and minimize unemployment risk, young women postpone (or abandon) childbearing. Further, both a large share of public employment, by providing employment stability, and generous maternity benefits linked to previous employment, such as those in Scandinavia, boost fertility of the 25–29 and 30–34 year old women.Financial help from a CRB grant from the University of Illinois is gratefully acknowledged. I would like to thank Carles Boix, Barry Chiswick, Carmel Chiswick, Evelyn Lehrer, three anonymous referees and seminar participants at ESPE 2000 (Bonn), Illinois Economic Meetings 2000 (Chicago), Simposi dAnalisi Economica 2000 (Barcelona), 2001 Winter meetings of the Econometric Society in New Orleans, ESPE 2001 (Athens), Braga (Portugal), University of Chicago, De Paul University, PAA 2002 (Atlanta) for helpful comments; Gosta Esping-Andersen for providing some data and Cristina Mora for excellent research assistance. Responsible editor: Junsen Zhang.     

Measuring the occupational segregation of Australia's indigenous workforce: A census-based analysis

This purpose of this paper is to describe the occupational status of Australia's indigenous population and measure the extent to which this differs from that of all other Australians. For this purpose, inter- and intra-occupational segregation indexes are calculated using 1986 Census data. This reveals for the first time the precise occupational mix which characterises the indigenous workforce. At the broad level of major occupations, there is some indication that the degree of employment segregation between indigenous and other Australians has decreased over time, although the lack of time series data based on consistent occupational classification renders this analysis inconclusive. At the more disaggregated occupational unit level, clear patterns of relative employment concentration and exclusion in particular occupations are in evidence with gender as a major differentiating factor. Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO)-linked occupational prestige scores are applied to the employment distributions as a basis for comparing socioeconomic status.