Recent trends in job security and stability

In recent years, the popular press has led us to believe that downsizing and mergers are throwing unprecedented numbers of Americans out of secure jobs. In this paper, we survey current research that addresses these concerns, reconciling the sometimes disparate results of papers examining job tenure and separations, exploring the consequences of involuntary job loss, and reviewing research on trends in part-time, temporary, and contingent employment. There is no evidence of a dramatic change in job security over the last two decades. The various studies do not point to consistent losses in job security for any particular demographic group. Gina Franco, Noah Hochman, Charles Kaljian, Leah McKelvie and Christopher Thompson provided exceptional research assistance. The authors thank Robert Krol, Alec Levenson, and Elaine Reardon for their suggestions. Shirley V. Svorny is also an affiliated scholar at the Milken Institute.     

Evidence of a Housing Decision Chain in Rural Community Vitality*

Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore and explain the role housing plays in rural community vitality. Community vitality refers to economic strength and social well‐being. In spring 2002 we collected primary interview data from informants in 134 small rural communities in nine north‐central states and identified related secondary data from the U.S. census. We developed a structural‐equation‐path model, which supported a “housing decision chain” that influenced community vitality. Based on this research, local housing decisions do play an important role in community vitality. Strong local leaders use housing planning to secure funding to produce a change in the quantity of housing, which in turn positively influences community vitality. Housing inventory also mediated the effects of total population and percentage population change on community vitality, indicating that housing supply is a fundamental ingredient in community growth strategies. These findings support the conclusion that a combination of housing plans and strategies orchestrated by skilled, committed leadership strengthens rural communities. Heretofore the ling between housing and community vitality has not been investigated; evidence‐based data has been missing from the debate on viable rural community‐development strategies.     

Perceptions of suicide and their impact on policy,discourse and welfare

In recent years, there has been an increase in suicide rates throughout the Western world. However, psycho-social responses to the problem are limited, as is public awareness of suicide and its consequences. This article presents findings from a survey on public attitudes toward suicide in Israel. The survey was conducted among a representative sample, and examined the extent to which the problem is a public priority for developing interventions aimed at preventing and reducing the rates of suicide. The findings revealed that despite the prevalence of suicide in Israel, and even though many of the participants had been personally acquainted with the families of suicide victims, suicide still ranks low on the hierarchy of bereavement. The Israeli public is ignorant about suicide, and does not consider it a problem that calls for government intervention and accountability. The study highlights the need for social workers to play an active role as social agents in an attempt to change the social ‘bereavement pyramid’ perception and effect on government policy toward suicide.     

Corporate strategy and entrepreneurial vision

The author here describes her conception of strategic vision from the basis of which she has developed a successful business using information technology and a scattered work- force working from their own homes or from a neighbourhood work centre. She defines her term ‘corporate planning by vision’ and outlines its strengths and weaknesses.     

What If Hurricane Ivan Had Not Missed New Orleans?*

Author's Note: As I was developing the hypothetical situation depicting a devastating hurricane striking New Orleans, Louisiana, the disaster waiting to happen threatened to become a reality: Hurricane Ivan, a Category 4 hurricane (140 mph winds) fluctuating to a Category 5 (up to 155 mph winds), was slowly moving directly toward New Orleans. Forecasters were predicting a one‐in‐four chance that Ivan would remain on this direct path and would be an “extreme storm” at landfall. In reality, the storm veered to the north and made landfall east of Mobile Bay, Alabama, causing devastation and destruction well into the central Gulf shoreline and throughout the Southeast and the mid‐Atlantic states.     

Work Choices of Mothers in Families with Children with Disabilities

This study used a sample of single and married mothers with children under the age of 20 drawn from the 1992 and 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine one facet of the economic implications a child with disabilities brings to a family. Specifically, the choice of women with children to work full time, part time, or not at all was estimated as a function of individual and family characteristics, including the number and ages of children with disabilities. The presence of young children, with or without disabilities, has a significant negative influence on the work choice of both single and married mothers. However, once children enter elementary school, single mothers with disabled or nondisabled children and married mothers with nondisabled children are significantly more likely to enter the labor market or increase their labor market hours than are married mothers of school‐age children with disabilities.     

Mexican American women: impact of culture and education on work patterns

The lives of women of Mexican descent are being profoundly affected by their changing workforce participation. They are expected to make up the majority of the female workforce in service occupations by 2010. Based on the literature and personal clinical interactions two factors -- cultural values and education attainment -- consistently appear to have a strong impact on the occupational choices of Mexican American women. This article will explore the interdependence of work, culture, and education on women of Mexican origin.