Structural consequences of cyclical change for marginal group employment

In Sweden and many other countries, young people and immigrants are facing increasing difficulties in finding employment. We suggest that the decline in employment prospects for marginal groups to a significant extent can be explained by skill upgrading and over-education. In two recent papers focusing on youth and immigrants, respectively, we find support for these hypotheses. The present paper examines how the long-term evolution of youth male employment is linked to cyclical economic change, and in particular to recessions. We base our empirical analyses on data from 31 OECD countries, 1970 to 2018. A basic hypothesis we aim to test is whether the distribution of cyclical points around the line of long-run evolution of general employment has a vertically asymmetrical pattern with respect to marginal employment, such that the relative employment rate of marginal groups declines more in economic downturns (recessions) than it rises in economic upturns. If this asymmetry occurs systematically (repeatedly) over extended periods of time, cyclical change will have structural effects. We find support for this hypothesis based on our analysis of youth male employment. We suggest that two kinds of mechanism are at work in the interaction between cyclical and structural change. The first mechanism is operating from the structure to the cycle: low-skill jobs become increasingly unviable economically, but only slowly and gradually until a marked loss in general demand triggers significant employment decline tilted toward low-skill jobs. Restructuring of work organizations in the wake of the recession makes the return of low-skill jobs in the recovery less than complete. The second kind of mechanism operates in the other direction, i.e., from the cycle to the structure: the rate of educational expansion typically accelerates in recessions. This will in turn speed up the rate of over-education which tends to have a negative impact on marginal employment. We provide descriptive empirical evidence indicating that both these mechanisms are indeed active. In sum, recessions accelerate upward shifts in the skill structure that in turn depress the labor market prospects of male youth, with both links in the chain being of a lasting rather than temporary kind.

Slowing Economic Growth and Falling Production in EU

The author examines the problems of economic growth of the EU in the period before the coronavirus pandemic, as well as during the 2020 economic crisis and gradual recovery. It is argued that the decrease in 2017‒2019 was caused by a number of long-term reasons, i.e. slow technological renewal of production base and narrowing of trade surplus due to loss of competitive advantages over producers from Southeast Asia. The author analyses the mechanics of pandemic’s impact on EU production volume, caused by decline in general demand and supply of goods and services. The EU economic policy is viewed as an appropriate instrument to protect citizens and companies from bankruptcy. It is outlined that the recovery will stem not from the economic policy, but from countering the pandemic with vaccines and sanitary restrictions. The author forecasts that economic growth rates in the region will slow down due to the reasons that emerged before the pandemic. Moreover, the growth will be negatively affected by the current EU policy of greater use of clean energy and technologies that preserve the environment, but inflate the production costs.

Regional Public Relations: A New Frontier of Growth in India’s Public Relations Landscape

India - a land of vast cultural & linguistic diversity, where ‘word of mouth’ plays a crucial role in building brands. Public Relations have strongly emerged as an indispensable function for protecting and enhancing reputation. With 70% population of the nation living within the rural or semi-urban geographies, and nearly 34% of the same, annually migrating to urban cities in search of a better livelihood and employment, the role of regional Public Relations becomes more intrinsic to "Integrated Communications and Marketing strategies” for brands. The research paper attempts to understand the following: a) Evolution of consumer consumption and engagement through the lens of regional Public Relations in India. b) Introduction of the concept of G-LO-RI: Global – Local-Regional. c) Challenges faced by professionals/ agencies. The research aims to emphasize the need and importance of regional Public Relations. With the help of in-depth interviews and secondary data, the research will deduce the opportunities and scope to grow in this unorganized and untapped regional territories pan India. The research paper has considered variables - demographic factors, purchasing power, access and dissemination of information and news, effects of social channels and influencers, regional content consumption patterns, and urbanization. The qualitative study of these factors aims to share an outlook and future of regional Public Relations in India. As per existing information available at the time of drafting this research paper, there was no such material or reporting evidence in the context of the role and relevance of regional Public Relations in India. This research paper aims to highlight the current ecosystem, gaps, and key findings and showcase the importance, growth, and challenges of regional Public Relations in India. Interpretations/Implications: This study found that the Regional Public Relations industry has grown multi-folds in the past two decades. There have been many contributing factors instrumental towards this growth size, scale, and reach. This study included a mix of national public relations agency professionals and regional Public Relations agency owners/founders. They shared their journey and explained the concept, growth and evolution, agency revenue model, team size, opportunities, and challenges on the whole. The level of growth is varied region-wise, while Western, Northern, and Southern regions are hot spots of growth of regional Public Relations business, Eastern and North-East region remain a potential growth market. It was also observed that the affiliate model or the associate model of business is prevalent in the industry. The upcoming trends and practices were also discussed with the participants. The agencies have relied heavily on traditional media for a long time, but there is a gradual shift towards creating more digital content, which is data-driven. In due course of the study, it was evident that industry spending differed from one region to another. FMCG, followed by Automobile and Telecom, were the front runners in spends on regional Public Relations, Government and Education sectors have also caught up. The variation is observed due to the general demand and supply rule and socio-cultural factors, including language, customs, lifestyles & values, playing a crucial role. The researcher also came across some looming challenges that the industry currently faces, and recommendations have also been shared at the end of this paper.

Theoretical Aspects and Features of the Tourism Industry in the Context of its Information Support and Financial Design

Tourism is a promising and important sector of the national economy that improves and diversifies people's lives by providing them with good recreational, educational, cultural, religious, economic, educational, environmental, humanitarian, communication, holistic and health services as well as meeting the relevant needs. The article thoroughly describes the theoretical aspects and reveals the features of the functioning of tourism companies, in particular, and the tourism industry in general. Demand for a tourist product is the number of ordered services that tourists want and can pay for at a certain price level. The offer of tourist products is the number of offered tourist services that the travel agency wants and can provide. The average costs of a travel agency — is the cost of a particular type of travel service, which depends on the average and marginal productivity of investment in tourism. These arguments are intended to help practitioners take real and effective steps to improve the development of the tourism business, expand its sphere of influence, effective financial design and information support. Information technologies and software in the modern information society and knowledge economy are an important key driver of the progress of science, technology and current economic practice from the microeconomic environment to the megaeconomic level. The tourism industry must participate in this progressive trend. The versatility of information technology and software allows you to calculate, forecast and analyze demand, supply, pricing, optimal allocation of available resources, structure and dynamics of average and marginal costs, as well as average and marginal return on investment, development of financing projects and more. Information technologies and software contribute to the significant facilitation of the choice of tourist routes, modeling of various situations both for tourist companies and for tourists themselves. It is proved that financial design in the tourism business is a very important element of its development and largely depends on the level of implementation and application of information technology and software. It has been found that programming and information processing technologies allow to develop optimal financial projects with minimal errors. Thus, the dynamics of average and marginal costs, the trend of marginal and average productivity, unexpected losses are prevented, funds for the development of intellectual capital, expansion and improvement of production capacities, efficient, careful and rational use of tourist and recreational tourism are calculated with approximate real accuracy.

Alternatives in Education—Rat and Mouse Simulators Evaluated from Course Trainers’ and Supervisors’ Perspective

Simulators allow the inexperienced to practice their skills prior to exercise on live animals. Therefore, they bear great potential in overcoming the dilemma between the present demand for high-quality practical training involving live animals whilst implementing the 3R principle according to the Directive 2010/63/EU. Currently, one mouse and six rat simulators are commercially available. As data on their impact are lacking, this project aimed at providing an overview of the awareness, implementation, and methodical and practical satisfaction provided by 35 course trainers and supervisors of laboratory animal training courses for mice and rats regarding the simulators available. Although simulators facilitate training of relevant techniques and relatively high awareness of them seemed to be present, their implementation is currently very low, possibly due to lack of meeting the respondents’ demands. Thus, this study revealed the overall approval of simulator training and general demand for user-optimized, realistic, and financially affordable simulators and, hence, indicates a strong impulse for new developments strengthening the 3Rs as a benefit to all animals used in research.

Evaluation of sustainability assessment tools for road construction projects applied on an asphalt road rehabilitation project in Germany

The increasing awareness of the need for sustainable development in road construction and the growing number of different assessment tools worldwide has led to a general demand for a tool specific to the German market with its current environment and regulations. This thesis briefly reviews the overall development of the sustainability concept and then applies different tools for the evaluation of road constructions using the example of a small rehabilitation project in Germany. Further, a brief overview of the existing international and European standards and guidelines will be given, followed by a more detailed description of the Swiss method NISTRA, the application of the British asPECT, the Canadian Athena Pavement LCA and the French SEVE. Partly limited access to the tools and the small amount of available data due to the project size has led to rather limited results and it remains to be seen if a bigger project and a better access would result in a more sophisticated outcome. It can therefore be concluded that the sustainability evaluation tool for small rehabilitation projects specific to Germany would need a more simplified handling and structure then what is currently available.

Evaluation of sustainability assessment tools for road construction projects applied on an asphalt road rehabilitation project in Germany

The increasing awareness of the need for sustainable development in road construction and the growing number of different assessment tools worldwide has led to a general demand for a tool specific to the German market with its current environment and regulations. This thesis briefly reviews the overall development of the sustainability concept and then applies different tools for the evaluation of road constructions using the example of a small rehabilitation project in Germany. Further, a brief overview of the existing international and European standards and guidelines will be given, followed by a more detailed description of the Swiss method NISTRA, the application of the British asPECT, the Canadian Athena Pavement LCA and the French SEVE. Partly limited access to the tools and the small amount of available data due to the project size has led to rather limited results and it remains to be seen if a bigger project and a better access would result in a more sophisticated outcome. It can therefore be concluded that the sustainability evaluation tool for small rehabilitation projects specific to Germany would need a more simplified handling and structure then what is currently available.

Stakeholder engagement to ensure the sustainability of biobanks: a survey of potential users of biobank services

Biobanks are important infrastructures facilitating biomedical research. After a decade of rolling out such infrastructures, a shift in attention to the sustainability of biobanks could be observed in recent years. In this regard, an increase in the as yet relatively low utilisation rates of biobanks has been formulated as a goal. Higher utilisation rates can only be achieved if the perspectives of potential users of biobanks—particularly researchers not yet collaborating with biobanks—are adequately considered. To better understand their perspectives, a survey was conducted at ten different research institutions in Germany hosting a centralised biobank. The survey targeted potential users of biobank services, i.e. researchers working with biosamples. It addressed the general demand for biosamples, strategies for biosample acquisition/storage and reasons for/against collaborating with biobanks. In total, 354 researchers filled out the survey. Most interestingly, only a minority of researchers (12%) acquired their biosamples via biobanks. Of the respondents not collaborating with biobanks on sample acquisition, around half were not aware of the (services of the) respective local biobank. Those who actively decided against acquiring biosamples via a biobank provided different reasons. Most commonly, respondents stated that the biosamples required were not available, the costs were too high and information about the available biosamples was not readily accessible. Biobanks can draw many lessons from the results of the survey. Particularly, external communication and outreach should be improved. Additionally, biobanks might have to reassess whether their particular collection strategies are adequately aligned with local researchers’ needs.