The time budget in socio-demographic statistics

The paper describes a Polish time budget survey conducted in 1976 on a rotation sample of the whole (non-agricultural and agricultural) adult population. Different time budget indicators are presented and their linkages with other statistical data and usefulness for social policy formulation and evaluation are discussed. Some new time indicators, not used in previous surveys, are recommended. Usefulness of time budged surveys for assessing an account of labor force and investigating of the social distribution of labor time as well as leisure time is underlined. The possibility of using time budget data for analyses of the social distribution of some welfare outlays in the field of cultural participation and consumption is also indicated. The paper is concerned with some methodological problems and the applicability of time budget research, rather than a comprehensive presentation of survey results.     

Note on the Cramér-Rao inequality in the nonregular case: the family of uniform distributions

We consider the family of uniform distributions with range of unit length. The main result of this note asserts that the average variance of any unbiased estimator of the midpoint of the range is not less than (2(n+1))(n+2))^-1 and this lower bound is sharp. The proof is based upon a nonregular version of the Cramér-Rao inequality.     

Demographic characteristics,work complexity and economic setting as social status determinants

Various aspects of social standing are significantly, though differently, determined by demographic characteristics, by employment in different economic sectors and industries, and by work complexity. Various sectors and industries influence differently status achievement, and are characterized by different configurations of status determinants of their workforces. The public (government) sector is more meritocratic than the private one, as far as income is concerned. Also, the male achievement pattern seems to be more meritocratic, while the female pattern is more sensitive to transient influences. The indicators of socio-economic status, occupational prestige and income reflect separate dimensions of social standing. The indicators of work complexity with data, people and things are good predictors of individual's social position.     

Shorter hours wanted? A systematic review of working-time preferences and outcomes

Changes in working time have important economic, social and environmental implications. However, research on workers' preferences is highly fragmented across disciplines and journals. To overcome this, the present article provides a systematic review of the literature, analysing 173 studies. The study shows that working-time outcomes and mismatches are mostly studied in a small group of OECD countries, using survey data and statistical methods. The most clear and consistent results are about gender, care responsibilities and current working hours. Among professions, only the medical workforce receives substantial attention. Norms and preference formation are poorly understood, and more qualitative research is essential to understand how working-time reductions could spread.     

An Alternative to Transfer Function Forecasting Based on Subspace Methods

In the time series literature, recent interest has focused on the so-called subspace methods. These techniques use canonical correlations and linear regressions to estimate the system matrices of an ARMAX model expressed in state space form. In this article, we use subspace methods to forecast two series with the help of some exogenous variables related to them. We compare the results with those obtained using traditional transfer function models and find that the forecasts obtained with both methods are similar. This result is very encouraging because, in contrast to transfer function models, subspace methods can be considered as almost automatic.     

Convergence of non-linear functionals of smoothed empirical processes and kernel density estimates

We consider regularizations by convolution of the empirical process and study the asymptotic behaviour of non-linear functionals of this process. Using a result for the same type of non-linear functionals of the Brownian bridge, shown in a previous paper [4], and a strong approximation theorem, we prove several results for the p-deviation in estimation of the derivatives of the density. We also study the asymptotic behaviour of the number of crossings of the smoothed empirical process defined by Yukich [17] and of a modified version of the Kullback deviation.     

On multiple constraint skewed models

The Azzalini [A. Azzalini, A class of distributions which includes the normal ones, Scandi. J. Statist. 12 (1985), pp. 171–178.] skew normal model can be viewed as one involving normal components subject to a single linear constraint. As a natural extension of this model, we discuss skewed models involving multiple linear and nonlinear constraints and possibly non-normal components. Particular attention is devoted to a distribution called the extended two-piece normal (ETN) distribution. This model is a two-constraint extension of the two-piece normal model introduced by Kim [H.J. Kim, On a class of two-piece skew normal distributions, Statistics 39(6) (2005), pp. 537–553.]. Likelihood inference for the ETN distribution is developed and illustrated using two data sets.     

Immigrant Occupational Mobility: Longitudinal Evidence from Spain

This article examines the occupational mobility of immigrants between their countries of origin and Spain on the basis of one of the few surveys available internationally with longitudinal information on immigrant employment in home and host countries. The evidence shows that the occupational status of immigrants in the Spanish labour market is, in general, substantially worse than in their countries of origin. The severe loss of occupational status experienced by immigrants is explained by the combined effect of the intense initial downgrading they experience when entering the Spanish labour market and their very slow occupational progress during their stay in Spain. These findings are more in line with the segmented assimilation theory, which suggests a limited or blocked immigrant occupational mobility, than with the assimilation theory, which predicts a U shaped evolution in the occupational status of immigrants between their home and host countries. As a result, the Spanish case contrasts sharply with previous evidence for other advanced countries, which tends to support the assimilation perspective. Finally, the empirical evidence suggests that one of the elements impeding the occupational mobility of immigrants in Spain is the significant size of the secondary segment of the labour market, which restricts immigrants’ opportunities mainly to low-status occupations.     

Being a desirable migrant: perception and racialisation of Icelandic migrants in Norway

In the aftermath of the financial crisis that hit Iceland in October 2008, increased numbers of Icelanders migrated to Norway to seek employment due to difficult economic circumstances in Iceland. Using critical perspectives from postcolonial studies and critical whiteness studies, the paper explores how these Icelandic migrants in Norway make sense of their new position as economic migrants within a global economy characterised by a growing sense of precariousness, while past inequalities and racism continue to matter. We also examine how these migrants are perceived in Norwegian media, and how social discourses of Icelandic migrants reflect larger Norwegian debates on racism, desirability and cultural belonging. Media discourses in Norway and interviews with Icelandic migrants reveal a hierarchy of acceptability of migrants. Icelanders are positioned as highly desirable compared to other migrant groups due to the intersection of perceived racial belonging, nationality and class. Our discussion contributes, furthermore, towards a critical analysis of the category migrant, by exploring how the term immigrant (innvandrer/innflytjandi) is used in narratives of Icelandic migrants in Norway and in Norwegian media discussions, showing the negative and racialised connotations of the term immigrant and how its understanding is linked with vulnerable positions and discrimination.     

‘Are you gonna show this to white people?’: Chicana/o and Latina/o students’ counter-narratives on race,place, and representation

This article explores the recurring narratives on race, place and representation that emerged in the talk of Chicana/o and Latina/o sixth-graders at a middle school in East Los Angeles, California. Discourse analytic methods are used to closely examine how these narratives were constructed within the contexts of everyday classroom interactions. Drawing on the notion of counter-storytelling from critical race theory, the article highlights how these sixth-grade students articulated counter-narratives about who they were and what their community was like – often in direct opposition to what they perceived as white people’s stereotypical assumptions and misperceptions. It is argued that these narratives constitute a powerful and sophisticated critique of dominant narratives that frame working-class Chicana/o and Latina/o students in racist and pejorative terms. The article ends with a discussion of implications for understanding youth agency and the politics of representation.