scholarly journals Austria: target country for care workers despite increased anti-migration policies

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Falkenbach
Keyword(s):  
Workforce Planning ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Rapid Review ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Private Households ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Eastern European Countries

Abstract Background Austria is facing workforce shortages in long-term care making the country an important destination for migrant care workers, particularly from Eastern European countries. Many of them are working in low-status positions as carers in 24-hours care, although they are often qualified professionals. These 24-hour care positions are often in private households with no regulated workplace safety or standard minimum salaries. Despite this steady flow of migrant carers, shortage of nurses and carers in the country persists and is likely to increase. Methods A rapid review of available data and research was undertaken. Results The migration of nurses to Austria has played a significant role for many years, as the training of certified nurses within the country has only risen marginally. The annual inflow of foreign trained nurses reached a high in 2016 as did the number of 24-hour care workers, most of which are women. The recent cuts by the government towards family allowances for children not living in Austria will hit this population hard. Current anti-migration policies thus take the risk of reducing the numbers of migrant carers, although the government does not have a plan in place on how to fill the gaps and develop more effective health workforce planning and management. Conclusions Growing nationalism, a government pushing towards stricter migration laws and a restrictionist policy stance of unions relative to migrants, all create new threats to a health system heavily dependent on migrant carers.

scholarly journals DIRECT CARE WORKERS EMPLOYED BY PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS: A DISTINCT LABOR FORCE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S702-S702
Author(s):  
Christopher M Kelly ◽  
Jerome Deichert ◽  
Lyn Holley
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Home Health Care ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Direct Care Workers ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Private Households ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The U.S

Abstract Purpose: This study tracks the growing number of direct care workers (DCWs) employed by private households and describes the differences between this often ignored labor force and DCWs employed by agencies. Design and Methods: Data were from the 1% Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) of the 2000 and 2017 American Community Survey (ACS). Logistic regression was used to compare demographic and employment characteristics of DCWs employed by private households and DCWs employed by agencies, which include outpatient care centers, home health care services, and individual and family services. Results: Between 2000 and 2017, the number of DCWs employed by private households in the U.S. increased 32% and the majority of this growth was since 2007. Compared to DCWs employed by agencies, DCWs employed by private households were more likely to be over age 65, white, unmarried, have higher educational attainment, be more likely to be in poverty, receive health insurance from Medicare or direct-pay. DCWs employed by private households were less likely to be under age 25, nonwhite, Hispanic, speak a language other than English, work year-round and full-time, receive health insurance from an employer or through Medicaid, and have a disability. Implications: DCWs employed by private households represent a small, but growing proportion of the long-term care (LTC) workforce in the U.S. Further, these workers are distinct within the LTC workforce. This has important implications both for DCWs and for families, particularly those with limited LTC options due to location, financial resources, family support, or other factors.

Austrian centre-right coalition faces difficult future

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reform Programme ◽  
The Government ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Constitutional Changes

Significance The government consists largely of newcomers and politicians with dubious links to the far right. It embarks upon a five-year reform programme for Austria which is thin on detail but could lead to radical changes. Impacts A tougher stance on migrants and asylum seekers could foster a wider reluctance in some EU states to accept refugees. Major constitutional changes are unlikely as the government would need the support of the SPOe or the small Neos party. Any extreme right-wing tendencies will concern Brussels and Israel, which will keep a close eye on the government. Austria will be an unpredictable ally, sometimes siding with Macron and at other times favouring alliances with Eastern European countries. The SPOe’s loss of office could lead to changes in personnel and programmatic position.

Prosecuting high-level corruption in Eastern Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Popova ◽  
Vincent Post
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Government ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Behavior

Do Eastern European courts effectively constrain politicians and uphold the rule of law? Criminal prosecution of grand (high-level) corruption can further the central principle of equal responsibility under the law by demonstrating that even powerful political actors have to submit to the laws of the land. This article introduces the Eastern European Corruption Prosecution Database, which contains entries for all cabinet ministers (927 in total) who served in a government that held office in one of seven post-Communist Eastern European countries since the late 1990s. The systematic data collection reveals that Bulgaria, Romania and Macedonia consistently indict more ministers than Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Poland; Slovakia has barely indicted anyone. We aim to start a research agenda by formulating hypotheses about which countries will see more corruption prosecutions and which ministers’ characteristics would make them more likely to face the court. We use the database to begin testing these hypotheses and find some evidence for several associations. We find no strong evidence that EU conditionality or membership raises the profile of the grand corruption issue or leads to more indictments. Party politics seems to affect the frequency of corruption indictments more than the structure and behavior of legal institutions. Indictment rates are lower when a former Communist party controls the government and individual ministers from junior coalition partners are more vulnerable to indictment than other ministers. The existence of a specialized anti-corruption prosecution or a more independent judiciary do not seem to lead to the indictment of more ministers on corruption charges. Finally, we discuss avenues of future research that our database opens, both for the analysis of country-level and individual-level variation.

scholarly journals Local loops and micro-mobilities of care: Rethinking care in egalitarian contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 593-599
Author(s):  
Lise Widding Isaksen ◽  
Lena Näre
Keyword(s):  
Eastern European ◽  
Care Provision ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
Organization Of Care ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Local Complexity ◽  
The World ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Local Loops

This introduction to the Special Issue Local loops and micro-mobilities of care: Rethinking care in egalitarian contexts argues for the importance of analysing local organizations of care. This is a necessary addition to current scholarship which has focused on the globalization of care. Yet, in many parts of the world, such as the Northern and Eastern European countries, on which this issue focuses, care provision continues to be mainly local and migrant care workers are complementary. Nevertheless, the daily organization of care can be as complex as in the global care chains. To address this local complexity, we propose two concepts: the notion of local care loops and care as patchwork. The concept of local care loops is a sensitizing one that emphasizes routine, daily practices and micro-mobilities of care that create loops around daily practices of care. Patchwork refers to practices that are simultaneously routinized activities but that are also changing from day to day, depending on the available resources and constraints (of time, money, and caregivers), as well as the local geographies and distances that need to be connected in the loops. The introduction also presents the six articles that make up this Special Issue. The articles identify similarities and differences in processes related to the commodification of childcare and transforming gender ideologies in post-socialist and social-democratic welfare societies.

scholarly journals The Impact of Transformational Changes on the Socio-Economic Conditions of the Rural Population. An Example of Poland

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 403
Author(s):  
Iwona Bąk ◽  
Katarzyna Wawrzyniak ◽  
Maciej Oesterreich
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Population ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Agricultural Enterprises ◽  
The People ◽  
Education Levels ◽  
The Government ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Impact

The aim of the article is to show that in rural areas, with particular emphasis on former state-owned farms, which were created as a result of changes in the forms of land ownership, mainly in Central and Eastern European countries, the economic situation of households is still worse than in the areas where there were no State Agricultural Enterprises (PGR). Research in Poland served as a case study. Selected methods of descriptive statistics and multivariate comparative analysis were used in the analyses. The results presented in the study at different levels of aggregation (voivodeships, poviats, and communes) allowed the identification of the regularities in the situation of rural areas. Among the beneficiaries of social assistance, most of the people live in rural areas and have a high unemployment rate; the problem of unemployment especially concerns those areas where the rural population with lower education levels predominates. Moreover, in former state-owned farms, the total disposable income per person is lower than in other areas, and the funds from the government program “Rodzina 500+” constitute a significant contribution to household budgets.

scholarly journals L’evoluzione del sistema di governo della Macedonia del Nord fra instabilità strisciante e transizione permanente (The evolution of the government system of Northern Macedonia between “slithering” instability and permanent transition)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Ratto Trabucco
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
The Political ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Government Action ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Presidential System ◽  
The Government ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Hybrid Regime

La Macedonia del Nord è un caso peculiare all’interno dell’ex Jugoslavia e nel processo di adesione all’UE per le ben note implicazioni geopolitiche: la minoranza albanese e la denominazione, ambedue solo recentemente superati. Emerge tuttavia un sistema di governo semipresidenziale non dissimile da quello degli altri Paesi dell’Europa centro-orientale, che, trascendendo il classico modello di Duverger, si connota per una predominanza della centralità parlamentare opposta al Capo dello Stato senza significativi poteri costituzionali. Solo un Presidente con una forte personalità sembra essere in grado di influenzare l’azione di governo, attraverso il suo potere di magistrato di influenza e persuasione. D’altro canto, il decennio del Primo Ministro nazionalista Gruevski è stato caratterizzato dall’autoritarismo con un regime ibrido ovvero democrazia illiberale. Pertanto, le condizioni politiche, istituzionali, storiche e interetniche del Paese non favorirono l’evoluzione del sistema semipresidenziale verso un modello a “Presidente forte”. Northern Macedonia is a typical example of instability within the former Yugoslavia due to the well-known geopolitical implications: the Albanian minority and the denomination, both of which have only recently been overcome. However, a semi-presidential system of government emerges that is not dissimilar from other Central-Eastern European countries, which, transcending the classic Duverger model, is characterized by a predominance of parliamentary centrality opposed to the Head of State without significant constitutional powers. Only a President with a strong personality appears to be able to influence government action, through his power as a magistrate of influence and persuasion. Otherwise, the nationalist Gruevski’s Prime Minister decade was characterized by authoritarianism with a hybrid regime or an illiberal democracy. Thus, the political, institutional, historical and interethnic conditions of the country did not, therefore, favor the evolution of the semi-presidential system towards a “strong President” model.

scholarly journals Between Migrant Care Work and New Occupational Welfare Tools: Changing Home Care Arrangements in Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 5511
Author(s):  
Georgia Casanova ◽  
Mirko Di Rosa ◽  
Oliver Fisher ◽  
Giovanni Lamura
Keyword(s):  
Home Care ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Rapid Review ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Care Workers

Austerity measures on services provision, introduced due to recent economic crises, have stimulated the search for innovative welfare solutions, including options that are not directly or entirely funded by public sources. In Italy, recent legislation has promoted the development of occupational welfare (OW) measures, aimed at strengthening the supply of services to support employees with informal (elder) care responsibilities. This paper aims to describe how the newly introduced OW schemes might innovate existing care arrangements, by identifying their impact on the different actors involved in home care provision (care recipients, family carers, home care service providers and migrant care workers), as well as at a macro level in terms of promoting social innovation. The international relevance of the Italian case comes from the fact that it is one of the more representative familistic care regimes, largely characterized by home care provided by informal carers and migrant care workers (MCW). The importance of Italian OW schemes is increasing, and in 2018 their presence in company-level bargaining agreements grew by more than 15%. A rapid review of the literature and expert interviews allowed us to describe the complex Italian OW schemes system, and to identify the positive implications of their application for the country’s long-term care (LTC) context, underlining what makes these measures a clear example of “social innovation” likely to have a future positive impact on home-based care in Italy.

scholarly journals Mapping Young NEETs Across Europe: Exploring the Institutional Configurations Promoting Youth Disengagement from Education and Employment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Luise Assmann ◽  
Sven Broschinski
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Central Eastern ◽  
Employment Education ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
High Level

AbstractOver the past decade, the number of young people neither in employment, education, or training (NEET) has reached a seriously high level in many European countries. Previous studies have illustrated the heterogeneity of this group and that they differ considerably across Europe. However, the reasons of these cross-country differences have hardly been investigated so far. This study explores how the rates of different NEET subgroups are conditioned by various institutional configurations by applying fuzzy-set Quantitative Comparative Analysis for 26 European countries using aggregated EU Labour Force Survey data from 2018. The analysis reveals that institutional causes of being NEET are as diverse as the group itself. Thus, high levels of young NEETs with care responsibilities are found in countries with a lack of family-related services in conjunction with weak formalised long-term care as it is true in mostly Central Eastern European countries. In contrast, high rates of NEETs with a disability are prevalent mainly in Northern European countries where generous and inefficient disability benefit schemes exist that create false incentives to stay away from the labour market. Finally, high proportions of unemployed and discouraged young NEETs are found in those countries hit hardest by the crisis and with high labour market rigidities, low vocational specificity, and a lack of active labour market policies like in the Southern and some Central Eastern European countries. The results illustrate that young people face very different barriers across Europe and that country-specific measures must be taken to reduce the number of NEETs in Europe.

scholarly journals Navigating Pandemic Responsiveness in an Acute Care Setting: A Community Hospital’s Operational Experience with COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse McLean ◽  
Cathy Clark ◽  
Aidan McKee ◽  
Suzanne Legue ◽  
Jane Cocking ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acute Care ◽  
Capacity Planning ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Workforce Planning ◽  
Workplace Safety ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Operational Experience ◽  
Field Hospital ◽  
Term Care

Abstract Background To ensure continuity of services while mitigating patient surge and nosocomial infections during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, acute care hospitals have been required to make significant operational adjustments. Here, we identify and discuss key administrative priorities and strategies used by a large community hospital located in Barrie, Ontario to manage COVID-19. Methods Guided by a qualitative descriptive approach, we conducted a thematic analysis of all COVID-19-related documentation discussed by the hospital’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) during the first pandemic wave. We solicited operational strategies from administrative leaders to construct a narrative for each theme. Results Seven recurrent themes critical to the hospital’s pandemic response emerged: 1) Organizational Structure: a modified EOC structure was adopted to increase departmental interoperability and situational awareness; 2) Capacity Planning: Design Thinking guided rapid infrastructure decisions to meet surge requirements; 3) Occupational Health and Workplace Safety: a multidisciplinary team provided respirator fit-testing, critical absence adjudication, and wellness needs; 4) Human Resources/Workforce Planning: new workforce planning, recruitment, and redeployment strategies addressed staffing shortages; 5) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): PPE conservation required proactive sourcing from traditional and non-traditional suppliers; 6) Community Response: local partnerships were activated to divert patients through a non-referral-based assessment and treatment centre, support long-term care and retirement homes, and establish a 70-bed field hospital; and 7) Corporate Communication: a robust communication strategy provided timely and transparent access to rapidly evolving information. Conclusions The hospital benefited from an interconnected command structure that focused on inter-operability, communication, novel administrative tools, and community partnerships.

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