Temporary workers in Canada: a multifaceted program

"This article highlights important developments in the character of temporary worker flows to Canada between 1973 and 1985 through the use of unpublished data and new measures for analyzing this data. The number of employment authorizations are converted to person years to indicate the overall labor market impact of temporary worker flows and this measure is employed in an analysis of unpublished data from Employment and Immigration Canada. The analysis reveals that a significant and growing proportion of employment authorizations are exempted from governmental procedures which link the admission of temporary workers to the Canadian labor market." Reasons for these exemptions and policy implications are discussed     

Establishing evaluation indicators on the population knowledge,attitudes, practices and skills (KAPS) of secondary school teachers and students in the Philippines

This study was conducted to establish evaluation indicators to be used as a basis in evaluating the integration of the population education program (POPED) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports within the Philippine 2ndary school curriculum. Questionnaires were used to determine existing knowledge, attitude, practice and skills (KAPS) of 3,136 high school students and 490 teachers, and data was analyzed for significant relationships between KAPS concerning POPED and demographic characteristics, exposure to population information sources, type of school attended, and exposure to POPED. KAPS and teaching method determine KAPS of the student. Data indicate that 81% of teachers had integrated POPED into the curriculum; only 19% of these had attended training on POPED. 93% utilized a lecture-discussion method in teaching POPED. Knowledge tests given to students and teachers were the same, covering demography, family size, age at marriage, responsible parenthood, use-effectiveness of methods, and population and development. Teachers performed better than students in questions on knowledge; on attitude statements teachers showed a slightly more favorable attitude towards POPED issues, most favorable to responsible parenthood, and least favorable to age at marriage. Mean preferred age at marriage (25) and mean desired number of children (3) was the same for teachers and students; teachers desired wider child spacing than students (3.3 years vs. 2.7 years). 84% of teachers used or wanted to use a family planning method, 76% of students felt they would use a method after marriage. Factors useful in predicting KAPS of teachers and students on POPED are: region of residence, age, sex, educational level, marital status, grade average, type of school, and exposure to various sources of POPED information.     

A survey of the family planning work done in Dongguan County

The total fertility rate of women of childbearing age of Dongguan County in China has been decreasing gradually from 5.9 during the period following the liberation in 1949 to 2.05 in 1982. In order to encourage young couples to implement the policy of family planning consciously, the people's government of Dongguan county decided in July 1980 that all cadres and employees in county towns who received 1-child certificates would be exempted from house rent of 45 square meters from the time they get their certificates and would be allocated a living space of a 2-children family until their children reached age 16. It also stipulated that every couple could enjoy 1 month's holiday every year for 3 years and during the holiday, their salary, bonus and rate of attendance would not be affected. Because women bear less children today, they are relieved from heavy household chores and become the main working force in collective production. As a result, the development of town-run enterprises was stimulated and the total industrial output value of these enterprises increased. The average monthly salary of each female worker is about 100 yuan. In 1984, the average income per capita of the country rose to 649.2 yuan. The implementation of family planning work has eased the tension in the education field. Previously, because of the large number of school-age children in rural areas, teachers had to teach 2 classes. In the past 4 years, great emphasis was laid on intellectual investment. During this period, 2351 schools were built and several fundraising projects were implemented. Since 1981, more than 200 new running water projects were built, and new public services have been developed, including old age homes.     

Late fertility decline in the Netherlands: The influence of religious denomination,socioeconomic group and region

Both published results from the 1930, 1947, 1960 and 1971 censuses and unpublished ones are used to examine the influence that religious denomination, socio-economic group and region exerted on the fertility of marriages contracted between 1876 and 1959. A theory formulated by Lesthaeghe and Wilson on the relation between modes of production and secularization and the pace of fertility decline in Western Europe offers — in combination with van Heek's views on the special position of Dutch Roman Catholicism — a starting point for an explanation of why the fertility decline of Roman Catholics, self-employed and agricultural labourers lagged behind.     

EXPERIMENTS WITH THE MIDDLE RESPONSE ALTERNATIVE IN SURVEY QUESTIONS

A series of experiments shows (1) that people are significantlymore likely to select the middle response alternative on anissue when it is explicitly offered to them as part of the questionthan when it is omitted; (2) that merely mentioning that thereis a middle alternative, in the preface to the question, makesit more likely that respondents will select it, even thoughit is not offered to them as an explicit choice; (3) that theorder in which the middle alternative is presented in the question—inthe middle or last position—can make a significant differencein the results, but that a "recency bias" does not occur invariably,or consistently; and (4) that people who select a middle responsealternative when it is offered would not necessarily answerthe question in the same way as other respondents if forcedto choose sides on the issue.     

Asia's population and development in retrospect and prospect

By 1989 Asia's population will reach 3 billion. That Asia's countries can change the course of population development has been shown by China, whose population growth rate has decreased to 1.2%. 58% of the world's population in 1985 was Asian, and 53% of it was concentrated in 11 Asian countries, of which 37.6% was accounted for by India and China. Asia's population density is 3 times the world average, and the number of persons sustained by a square kilometer of land in Asia is 2.5 times the world average. Asia's population is young (median age 20.3), which means a high dependency burden, a large number of women of childbearing age, and low quality of life, as measured by infant mortality, life expectancy, and literacy. Rapid population growth ensures a low rate of development. Asia's goals are to achieve a 1% growth rate by year 2000, zero population growth and replacement level by 2015 for East Asia and 2020 for South Asia. The World Bank estimates that Asia's population will not stabilize until the end of the 21st century, by which time it will have reached 6 billion. Asia must find a way of achieving both population control and economic development. 5 recommendations are made to the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD): 1) that the AFPPD sponsor the activities of "the Day of 3 billion"; 2) that seminars and conferences on population be held among Asian nations; 3) that high-fertility countries adopt late marriages, few births, and programs for maternal and child health; 4) that organizations for family planning be strengthened and given the resources to upgrade the status of women; and 5) that international cooperation in the area of population be intensified.     

Intra-industry diversification effects under firm-specific contingencies on the demand side

How do firm-specific, demand-related factors influence the relationship between intra-industry diversification (IID) and performance? Recent findings regarding the performance effects of IID depict a complex picture with curvilinear relationships and several contingencies. However, firm-specific contingencies on the demand side have remained unexplored. We analyze how IID relates to firm performance (market share) in the German automotive industry using panel data between 1999 and 2008. We specifically focus on a firm's high-quality brand image as a demand-side contingency. We find support for our hypotheses of complex curvilinear relationships as well as for moderating effects of brand quality. Our results have significant theoretical implications for the IID literature.     

The relationship between presenteeism and job satisfaction: A mediated moderation model using work engagement and perceived organizational support

Research on presenteeism has largely focused on its prevalence, determinants and consequences on the health of both employees and organizations. To date, few studies have examined the influence of presenteeism on workers’ attitudinal and motivational responses. Based on the Effort–Recovery Theory, this study evaluates the mediating effect of work engagement in the relationship between presenteeism and job satisfaction. Building on previous work, this study also proposes to consider perceived organizational support as a moderator of the work engagement–job satisfaction relationship. Presented in the form of a mediated moderation model, the results of bootstrapped regression analyses show three main results. First, presenteeism is negatively associated with work engagement and job satisfaction. Secondly, work engagement is one of the factors through which presenteeism influences job satisfaction. Thirdly, perceived organizational support moderates the association between work engagement and job satisfaction so that, at a low level of work engagement, feeling supported by the organization makes a difference on job satisfaction. Overall, this research is part of the limited number of studies that have focused on the interplay existing between presenteeism and its consequences in terms of job attitudes.