Migration,the Urban Informal Sector,and Earnings in the Philippines*

This study investigates several issues pertaining to the urban informal sector and cityward migration in Philippine cities. The analysis of cross-sectional national demographic data reveals the four major patterns. First, the pattern of migrants' participation in the urban labor market varies greatly between male and female migrants. The widely held notion that migrants tend to enter the urban occupational structure through the informal sector seems to apply mainly to female migrants. Second, the informal sector must not be identified with urban poverty. Our data suggest that informal economies provide a wide range of income opportunities and that there is a great deal of overlap between formal- and informal-sector workers' incomes. Third, the effects of rural background and informal sector involvement seem to vary between Manila and the secondary cities. Fourth, sectoral boundaries do not seem to constitute a significant mobility barrier, but, due to the general lack of occupational mobility opportunities in Philippine cities, only a small proportion of those working in the informal sector are likely, to move out of it.     

A review of the non-auditory effects of noise on health

This paper reviews epidemiological studies, human experimental studies, and animal research on the non-auditory effects of noise on health. The following topics are covered: vegetative responses (e.g., blood pressure, digestion), biochemical effects, excretion of catecholamines, sleep, physical illness, subjective annoyance, and mental health. Combined effects of noise and other occupational health hazards on physiological functioning and health are also reviewed. Overall, the results suggest that there are non-auditory health effects. However, these require confirmation in prospective, longitudinal studies with interventions reducing noise levels.     

On-shift and daily variations in self-report and performance measures in rotating-shift and permanent night nurses

An intensive study was conducted of the influence of type of shift system, type of shift, and time-into-shift on a battery of on-shift and daily measures obtained from 61 female nurses over a 28-day period. Thirty-two rotating-shift nurses and 28 permanent night nurses recorded data on a hand-held computer at the start and end of each day, and every 2-h during their shifts. The measures included a sleep diary, self-ratings of mood, workload, and personal disruption, and two cognitive performance tasks. These results suggest that the permanent night nurses were no worse off and for some measures were actually better off than the rotating-shift nurses after controlling for differences in age and shiftwork experience; the night-shift was problematic for the rotating-shift nurses but so was the early shift; mood deteriorated and reaction time got slower over the course of the night-shift but extra long responses (which may correspond to lapses of attention) and rated workload were lower on the night-shift. The relatively large number of consecutive night-shifts worked by the rotating-shift nurses, the uneven distribution of workload between shifts, and the long night-shift may have contributed to these results.     

Climatic change and migration from Oceania: Implications for Australia,New Zealand and the United States of America

It is possible that climatic change may stimulate population movements as people turn to migration as one strategy of adaptation. This paper attempts to assess possible migration flows which may occur, in response to climatic shifts over the next thirty years, from small island states in the south-west Pacific ocean region to the United States, Australia and New Zealand. It is argued that the small island states appear vulnerable to climatic change, with low coral atolls being most at risk. Adverse impacts of climatic change will be one extra pressure on small island states, many of which are already struggling to cope with sustainable management of their natural resources and with the demands of their rapidly growing populations for education, housing and employment. The migration strategy is likely to entail significant medium-term health, psychological and social costs for some Pacific island migrants as they try to move or cope with life in western industrialised societies.     

Delinquent Career-Lines: A Conceptual Link Between Theory and Juvenile Offenses*

Theories of delinquent behavior have failed to adequately explain the seeming lack of specialization or development in the delinquent careers of chronic offenders. The extent to which delinquents specialize in their criminal careers is unclear because of inadequacies in two related areas: the offense typologies or classifications used and the failure to consider in the analysis the entire sequence of crimes. It is argued that both of these areas can benefit from utilization of the “career-line” metaphor from occupational literature. The arrest histories of a sample of 767 juveniles were analyzed with a technique—variance centroid scaling—desirable for the classification or scaling of crime. Four dimensions were discovered. An analysis of 62 careers in the sample reveals that three forms of “developmental” careers are prevalent: careers that move (1) from burglary to serious crimes against persons, (2) from status offenses to auto theft, and (3) from all crimes to drug use. The implications of these results are discussed for issues of specialization and diversity in delinquent careers and the respecification of theories and intervention strategies.