scholarly journals Job Insecurity: A Comparative Analysis between Migrant and Native Workers in Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 4159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu ◽  
Bowe ◽  
Milner ◽  
Li ◽  
Too ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Skill Level ◽  
Migrant Status ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Native Workers ◽  
Level Data ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Occupational Skill

Job insecurity is a modifiable risk factor for poor health outcomes, and exposure to job insecurity varies by population groups. This study assessed if job insecurity exposure varied by migrant status and if the differences varied by gender, age, educational attainment, and occupational skill level. Data were from wave 14 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. The outcome was job insecurity. Exposure was migrant status defined by (1) the country of birth (COB), (2) the dominant language of the COB, and (3) the number of years since arrival in Australia. Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusting for gender, age, educational attainment, and occupational skill level. These covariates were also analysed as effect modifiers for the migrant status–job insecurity relationships. Migrant workers, especially those from non-English speaking countries (non-ESC-born), experienced higher job insecurity than Australia-born workers; however, these disparities disappeared after 11+ years post-arrival. The migrant status–job insecurity relationships were modified by educational attainment. Unexpectedly, the disparities in job insecurity between non-ESC-born migrants and Australia-born workers increased with increasing educational attainment, and for those most highly educated, the disparities persisted beyond 11 years post-arrival. Our findings suggested that continuing language skill support and discrimination prevention could facilitate migrant integration into the Australian labour market.

scholarly journals Differential Exposure to Job Stressors: A Comparative Analysis Between Migrant and Australia-Born Workers

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 975-989
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Liu ◽  
Steven J Bowe ◽  
Allison Milner ◽  
Lin Li ◽  
Lay San Too ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Job Complexity ◽  
Migrant Status ◽  
Job Stressors ◽  
Decision Authority ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Job Stressor ◽  
Skill Discretion

Abstract Aims Previous studies have suggested that migrants have higher exposures to psychosocial job stressors than native-born workers. We explored migrant status-related differences in skill discretion/job complexity and decision authority, and whether the differences varied by gender, age, and educational attainment. Methods Data were from Wave 14 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. A total number of 9031 persons were included in the analysis. Outcomes included skill discretion/job complexity and decision authority. Exposure included migrant status defined by (i) country of birth (COB), (ii) the combination of COB and English/Non-English dominant language of COB, and (iii) the combination of COB and years since arrival in Australia. Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusting for gender, age, and educational attainment. These covariates were also analysed as effect modifiers of the relationship between migrant status and job stressor exposure. Results In the unadjusted analysis, only migrant workers from Non-English-speaking countries (Non-ESC-born) had significantly lower skill discretion and job complexity than Australia-born workers (−0.29, 95% CI: −0.56; −0.01); however, results from fully adjusted models showed that all migrant groups, except migrant workers from Main-English-speaking countries, had significantly lower skill discretion and job complexity than Australia-born workers (overseas-born workers, −0.59, 95% CI: −0.79; −0.38; Non-ESC-born, −1.01, 95% CI: −1.27; −0.75; migrant workers who had arrived ≤5 years ago, −1.33, 95% CI: −1.94; −0.72; arrived 6–10 years ago, −0.92, 95% CI: −1.46; −0.39; and arrived ≥11 years ago, −0.45, 95% CI: −0.67; −0.22). On the contrary, the unadjusted model showed that migrant workers had higher decision authority than Australia-born workers, whereas in the fully adjusted model, no difference in decision authority was found between migrant workers and Australia-born workers. Effect modification results showed that as educational attainment increased, differences in skill discretion and job complexity between Australia-born workers and Non-ESC-born migrants progressively increased; whereas Non-ESC-born migrants with postgraduate degree showed significantly lower decision authority than Australia-born workers. Conclusions This study suggests that skill discretion and job complexity but not decision authority is associated with migrant status. Migrants with high educational attainment from Non-English-speaking countries appear to be most affected by lower skill discretion/job complexity and decision authority; however, differences in skill discretion and job complexity attenuate over time for Non-ESC-born migrants, consistent with an acculturation effect. Low skill discretion and job complexity, to the extent that it overlaps with underemployment, may adversely affect migrant workers’ well-being. Targeted language skill support could facilitate migrant integration into the Australian labour market.

scholarly journals 682Do job stressor—mental health relationships vary by migrant status? An Australian comparative analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Liu ◽  
Anthony LaMontagne ◽  
Steven Bowe ◽  
Lin Li ◽  
Lay San Too
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Migrant Status ◽  
Effect Modifier ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Decision Authority ◽  
Job Stressor ◽  
Skill Discretion

Abstract Background Migrants may be more likely to experience occupational health inequities (OHIs) than native-born workers due to higher occupational exposure, higher vulnerability to exposure-associated health impacts, or both. This study explores migrant status-related differences in vulnerability to job stressor exposures in terms of mental health in Australia. Methods Data were from wave 14 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. Migrant status was defined by country of birth (COB), the dominant language of COB, and the years since arrival in Australia. Job stressors included skill discretion, decision authority, and job insecurity. Mental health was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory-5 score (MHI-5). Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusting for gender, age, and education. Migrant status was analysed as the effect modifier of job stressor—mental health relationships. Results As expected, skill discretion and decision authority were positively, while job insecurity was negatively associated with the MHI-5 score. However, there was no statistical evidence of migrant status acting as an effect modifier of job stressor—mental health relationships even though the dominant language of COB and years since arrival in Australia have been taken into account. Conclusions The magnitudes of job stressor—mental health relationships do not differ between migrant workers and Australia-born workers. Key messages Differential exposure rather than differential vulnerability is a more important mechanism for generating occupational mental health inequities between migrants and Australian-born workers. Reducing job stressor exposures could reduce the OHIs among migrant workers in Australia.

scholarly journals Maternal education and early childhood education across affluent English-speaking countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 016502542199591
Author(s):  
Robert L. Crosnoe ◽  
Carol Anna Johnston ◽  
Shannon E. Cavanagh
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Relative Advantage ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Country Level ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Nationally Representative

Women who attain more education tend to have children with more educational opportunities, a transmission of educational advantages across generations that is embedded in the larger structures of families’ societies. Investigating such country-level variation with a life-course model, this study estimated associations of mothers’ educational attainment with their young children’s enrollment in early childhood education and engagement in cognitively stimulating activities in a pooled sample of 36,400 children ( n = 17,900 girls, 18,500 boys) drawn from nationally representative data sets from Australia, Ireland, U.K., and U.S. Results showed that having a mother with a college degree generally differentiated young children on these two outcomes more in the U.S., potentially reflecting processes related to strong relative advantage (i.e., maternal education matters more in populations with lower rates of women’s educational attainment) and weak contingent protection (i.e., it matters more in societies with less policy investment in families).

scholarly journals Normative Data for a Tablet-Based Dual-Task Assessment in Healthy Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Lussier ◽  
Kathia Saillant ◽  
Tudor Vrinceanu ◽  
Carol Hudon ◽  
Louis Bherer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Normative Data ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Coefficient Of Variability ◽  
French And English ◽  
Task Assessment ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Objective The objective of this study is to provide normative data for a tablet-based dual-task assessment in older adults without cognitive deficits. Method In total, 264 participants aged between 60 and 90 years, French and English-speaking, were asked to perform two discrimination tasks, alone and concurrently. The participants had to answer as fast as possible to one or two images appearing in the center of the tablet by pressing to the corresponding buttons. Normative data are provided for reaction time (RT), coefficient of variation, and accuracy. Analyses of variance were performed by trial types (single-pure, single-mixed, dual-mixed), and linear regressions assessed the relationship between performance and sociodemographic characteristics. Results The participants were highly educated and a large proportion of them were women (73.9%). The accuracy on the task was very high across all blocks. RT data revealed both a task-set cost and a dual-task cost between the blocks. Age was associated with slower RT and with higher coefficient of variability. Men were significantly slower on dual-mixed trials, but their coefficient of variability was lower on single-pure trials. Education was not associated with performance. Conclusions This study provides normative data for a tablet-based dual-task assessment in older adults without cognitive impairment, which was lacking. All participants completed the task with good accuracy in less than 15 minutes and thus, the task is transferable to clinical and research settings.

scholarly journals The Return to English in a Non-English Speaking Country: Russian Immigrants and Native Israelis in Israel

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Lang ◽  
Erez Siniver
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Host Country ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Acquisition ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Russian Immigrants ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Low Levels

Abstract Using a unique sample of Russian immigrants and native Israelis, we examine the return to English knowledge. Panel and cross-section estimates of the return to English are substantial for highly educated immigrants and natives. Hebrew and English language acquisition contribute to immigrant/native earnings convergence, but most convergence is explained by other factors. While immigrants with low levels of education do not benefit from knowing English, native Israelis may. Conditional on occupation, English and Hebrew acquisition are largely orthogonal. Therefore earlier work on the importance of knowledge of the host-country language (Hebrew) is not significantly biased by unmeasured English knowledge.

scholarly journals Job Quality In The Micro And Small Business Sector In Ethiopia: Evidence From Firm-Level Data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berihu Assefa Gebrehiwot
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Small Enterprises ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Micro And Small Enterprises

Abstract Using a large dataset from the 10 largest cities in Ethiopia, this paper studies what entrepreneurial characteristics and attributes contribute to quality job creation in the micro and small enterprises (MSE) sector. We measure job quality in two ways – i) using wage and contract, and ii) health and occupational safety variables. We find that micro and small enterprises that create quality jobs tend to be operated by highly educated and experienced entrepreneurs. This highlights the role of human capital in quality job creation and poverty reduction. Further, we find that micro and small enterprises that create quality jobs tend to be larger in size and managed by professionally recruited managers.

scholarly journals Blacks’ Diminished Health Returns of Educational Attainment: Health and Retirement Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. e000212
Author(s):  
Shervin Assari
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Education Level ◽  
Education Quality ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Retirement Study ◽  
Hispanic White

Background: Education level reduces the risk of health problems such as poor self-rated health (SRH), high body mass index (BMI), and depressive symptoms (DS). Marginalization – related Diminished Returns (MDRs), however, refer to smaller health benefits of socioeconomic status (SES) indicators particularly educational attainment for the members of racial minority groups such as non-Hispanic Blacks compared to the majority group (non-Hispanic Whites). It is not known, however, if MDRs also hold for middle-age and older adults over a long period of time.  Aims: The current study used a nationally representative data set to explore racial variation in the predictive utility of baseline education level on protecting people against poor SRH, BMI, and DS.  Methods: Data for this analysis were borrowed from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS 1992-ongoing), a nationally representative longitudinal study that followed 10,023 middle-aged and older adults (50+ years old) for up to 26 years. From this number, 1877 (18.7%) were non-Hispanic Black Americans, and 8,146 (81.3%) were non-Hispanic White Americans. Education level was the independent variable. We used cluster analysis to categorize individuals to low and high-risk groups (outcome) based on SRH, BMI, and DS over 26 years. Age and gender were the covariates. Race was the moderator.  Results: Overall, high education level reduced the odds of poor SRH, BMI, and DS over the 26 years of follow up. Interactions were observed between race and education on all three health outcomes indicating smaller protective effects of baseline educational attainment on poor health over time, regardless of the outcome.  Conclusions: In line with the MDRs, highly educated non-Hispanic Black Americans remain at high risk for poor health across domains, a risk which is unexpected given their education. The risk of all health outcomes, however, is lowest for non-Hispanic White Americans with highest education. Policies that exclusively focus on equalizing racial gaps in SES (e.g., education) may fail to eliminate the racial and ethnic health inequalities because of the racial inequalities in the marginal health return of education. Public policies must equalize education quality and address structural and environmental barriers that are disproportionately more common in the lives of non-Hispanic Black Americans, even at high education levels. Future research should test how contextual factors, segregation, labor market practices, childhood poverty, and education quality reduces the health return of education for highly educated non-Hispanic Black Americans.

4 The Educational and Occupational Skill Level of Industrial Workers

1981 ◽  
Vol 24 (5-7) ◽  
pp. 69-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Kotliar ◽  
S. Ia. Turchaninova
Keyword(s):  
Skill Level ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Occupational Skill

Silence and the Image of Helplessness: The Challenge of Tozen Union

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-78
Author(s):  
Reiko Shindo
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Foreign Workers ◽  
National Union ◽  
English Speaking

This chapter focuses on the Nambu Foreign Workers Caucus (FWC), the migrant workers' branch of the trade union, National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu (hereafter referred to as Nambu), and largely led by English-speaking migrants. It traces the events where the FWC split from Nambu, a trade union largely composed of Japanese-speaking members, to form a new union called Tozen. At the heart of the split was the question of silence. Many Nambu FWC members were troubled not only because they had been silenced by Japanese union members for their inability to speak Japanese, but also because their silence was linked to a sign of powerlessness. They were regarded as helpless victims, unable to act and speak on their own. By looking at Tozen's activities, the chapter also investigates how the union, driven by the need to make noncitizens audible, handles linguistic diversity among its members.

scholarly journals COVID-19-Related Mental Health Effects in the Workplace: A Narrative Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 7857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Giorgi ◽  
Luigi Isaia Lecca ◽  
Federico Alessio ◽  
Georgia Libera Finstad ◽  
Giorgia Bondanini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Social Perspectives ◽  
Work Related ◽  
The Future ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Activity Loss

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has deeply altered social and working environments in several ways. Social distancing policies, mandatory lockdowns, isolation periods, and anxiety of getting sick, along with the suspension of productive activity, loss of income, and fear of the future, jointly influence the mental health of citizens and workers. Workplace aspects can play a crucial role on moderating or worsening mental health of people facing this pandemic scenario. The purpose of this literature review is to deepen the psychological aspects linked to workplace factors, following the epidemic rise of COVID-19, in order to address upcoming psychological critical issues in the workplaces. We performed a literature search using Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus, selecting papers focusing on workers’ psychological problems that can be related to the workplace during the pandemic. Thirty-five articles were included. Mental issues related to the health emergency, such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and sleep disorders are more likely to affect healthcare workers, especially those on the frontline, migrant workers, and workers in contact with the public. Job insecurity, long periods of isolation, and uncertainty of the future worsen the psychological condition, especially in younger people and in those with a higher educational background. Multiple organizational and work-related interventions can mitigate this scenario, such as the improvement of workplace infrastructures, the adoption of correct and shared anti-contagion measures, including regular personal protective equipment (PPE) supply, and the implementation of resilience training programs. This review sets the basis for a better understanding of the psychological conditions of workers during the pandemic, integrating individual and social perspectives, and providing insight into possible individual, social, and occupational approaches to this “psychological pandemic”.

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