Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 1984. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

The research described in this thesis is an attempt to understand the changing nature of redundancy, chequered working lives and unemployment in modern Britain. It focuses in particular on the ways in which a specific group of industrial workers and their families have perceived, mediated and reacted to the upheavals redundancy has caused in their lives. Section I deals with the history of the research; the problems associated with qualitative work and argues the case for a critical neo- Veberian methodology, as opposed to a general reliance on neo-Marxist perspectives in sociology. Section II examines economic and social change in contemporary Britain, paying particular attention to the recent histories of B. S. C. and South Yorkshire. Section III analyses the various effects of redundancy and unemployment on the nation, the local area, the family and the individual and those factors which can assist in pro-active responses to job loss. Some suggestions for the development of a social-psychology of redundancy et alia are made. The main findings deal with the experiences of these families, which are discussed within a life course perspective and include an examination of the many variables which can influence people's behaviour in these situations such as: class; age; occupation; gender; and political and religious consciousness. Family level variables are critically important, in particular the differing degrees of equality within particular marriages and households. The final section makes a conscious effort to link together the 'public issues' and 'private troubles' of redundancy et; alia. These are qualitatively different from those of earlier periods in the Twentieth Century and provide a challenge to sociologists and policy makers, who have not come to terms with their impact. This research indicates that neo-Marxism cannot adequately explain these phenomena. Some suggestions are made for a Critical Humanism, drawing on the best of sociology's diverse images of the social world, as a means of understanding the macro and micro-social realities of redundancy, chequered working lives and unemployment in the 1930's.

The purpose of this research was to examine the characteristics of interaction in romantic relationships that enable partners to effectively deal with significant stressors to their relationship. These characteristics were identified through the development of a measure of interpersonal resilience in romantic relationships. The dissertation consisted of three phases: Phase one solicited from communication experts their perceptions of the communication characteristics that encourage resilient patterns of stress management in romantic relationships. This feedback was evaluated and organized into categories. Phase two sought to identify underlying dimensions of the categories, and to statistically validate the most important characteristics of communication contributing to resilient outcomes. Communication experts were asked to rate forty items addressing the various categories of communication characteristics generated in part one. Their data were factor analyzed, and reduced to a list of twenty-eight items that made up the initial Interpersonal Resilience in Romantic Relationships (IR3) measure. The final part of the this research, phase three, validated the role that IR3 dimensions play mediating the effects of a significant stressor, in this case job loss, on relationship outcomes of quality, satisfaction, and commitment. / text

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<p>Personalnedskärningar är ett resultat av det pågående oroliga arbetsmarknadsläget. Flera aktörer jobbar idag med servicetjänsten omställning vilket är en hjälp för arbetsgivare att hantera nedskärningar och övertalighet genom att få uppsagda medarbetare att komma vidare i ny sysselsättning. Trots en lågkonjunktur har omställningsarbetet visat på uppnådda lyckade resultat. Studien undersöker och sammanställer individers upplevelse av att genomgå ett omställningsprogram samt undersöker vilka faktorer som har betydelse för individers hantering av stressen i denna påfrestande arbetslivsrelaterad förändring. Tillämpningen av problemfokuserad coping undersöktes bland 71 deltagare som genomgått omställning i antingen kommunal eller privat sektor. Resultatet visade att deltagarna tillämpade problemfokuserad coping i relativt lika stor utsträckning oavsett yrkessektor. För den privata sektorn framstod slutligen ålder som mest betydelsefull copingprediktor, medan utbildningsnivå och selfefficacy hade störst betydelse för copingen bland deltagarna från kommunal sektor. Studien ger upphov till tankar om copingens roll i omställningsprocessen samt motiverar fortsatt forskning inom detta spännande arbetslivsområde</p>

Personalnedskärningar är ett resultat av det pågående oroliga arbetsmarknadsläget. Flera aktörer jobbar idag med servicetjänsten omställning vilket är en hjälp för arbetsgivare att hantera nedskärningar och övertalighet genom att få uppsagda medarbetare att komma vidare i ny sysselsättning. Trots en lågkonjunktur har omställningsarbetet visat på uppnådda lyckade resultat. Studien undersöker och sammanställer individers upplevelse av att genomgå ett omställningsprogram samt undersöker vilka faktorer som har betydelse för individers hantering av stressen i denna påfrestande arbetslivsrelaterad förändring. Tillämpningen av problemfokuserad coping undersöktes bland 71 deltagare som genomgått omställning i antingen kommunal eller privat sektor. Resultatet visade att deltagarna tillämpade problemfokuserad coping i relativt lika stor utsträckning oavsett yrkessektor. För den privata sektorn framstod slutligen ålder som mest betydelsefull copingprediktor, medan utbildningsnivå och selfefficacy hade störst betydelse för copingen bland deltagarna från kommunal sektor. Studien ger upphov till tankar om copingens roll i omställningsprocessen samt motiverar fortsatt forskning inom detta spännande arbetslivsområde

Following developments in technological advancement and the ability to automate jobs in the 21st Century, the quantity and variety of jobs impacted by computerization has increased. Using data from the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS), this paper explores how demographic characteristics influence the probability of job computerization. I perform a linear regression and find evidence that differences in race, education, and gender significantly impact the probability of an individual’s occupation to be computerized. Specifically, Hispanics are the most at risk racial/ethnic group followed in order by blacks, Asians, and whites; increased education is associated with lower probability of computerization; and men are more susceptible to facing job automation than women.

This thesis analyses the effect of father’s job displacement on his children’s occupational and educational choices. I use Finnish administrative data covering years 1989-2020 and identify downsizing as well as closing workplaces to find exogenous job losses. Despite identifying negative and persistent effects on displaced fathers, the found impact on their children’s career choices are limited and sensitive. I estimate that a paternal displacement decreases the probability of following father’s educational path by 0.5 percentage points. No effects on occupational mobility or educational applications are found. I establish pro-cyclical displacement costs for fathers that, however, are not found to translate into differences in the effects on the next generation.

This study traced the history of the outplacement industry from 1960 to 1997 through the stories of seven outplacement firms, the three organizations that emerged from the industry and the changes that occurred in the design and delivery of outplacement services. The history was studied in the context of the changes that occurred in the social and economic environment that formed the American workplace between 1960 and 1997 and the subsequent impact those changes had on corporations, their employees and the outplacement industry. Outplacement has its roots in the job search counseling service designed and delivered by Bernard Haldane following WW II to assist veterans with their reentry into the post war workplace. In the 1960s, entrepreneurs expanded Haldane's service to include consulting with corporate managers on how to terminate employees, remove them from corporate payrolls and support their job search efforts until they found new positions. They called this service outplacement. The primary data for this study came from personal interviews with industry founders, leaders and practitioners, the archives of the AOCFI, industry newsletters and published materials. The study traced the changes that occurred in the reasons corporations purchased outplacement services and the affect those changes had on the way corporations bought and distributed outplacement services for their terminated employees. The study traced modifications outplacement firms made to their services in response to corporate demands and the affect those changes had on the future of the industry. The study traced the evolution of outplacement services from a personal consulting service to a new curriculum of learning resources from which corporate buyers of outplacement services selected services to meet the diverse learning needs of terminated employees. The study traced the growth and decline of the industry, the subsequent impact on the industry's trade, professional member and certification organizations and the difficulties those organizations experienced as they attempted to respond to their members changing needs. This study traces a history of the industry from the collected stories of industry founders, leaders, practitioners and industry archives and relates those stories to the rise and decline of the outplacement industry. / Ed. D.

In this dissertation, I use interview data to answer three questions concerning the deindustrialization of southwest and southside Virginia. First, how have Radford City, Montgomery County, Pulaski County, the City of Martinsville and Henry County been affected by plant closures and mass layoffs at the community level? Second, how have displaced workers and their households been affected by this loss of manufacturing jobs? And third, what survival strategies have displaced workers and their households employed as a result of being displaced? In carrying out this research, I engage with four theoretical discussions: (1) deindustrialization of the US South, (2) the impact of deindustrialization on local communities and economies, (3) the impacts of deindustrialization on workers, and (4) workers' strategies for coping with job loss. I argue that the strategies employed are influenced, shaped, and/ or constrained by regional resources, family structure, and previous experience(s) with job loss due to plant closures and layoffs. The findings from this research suggest that household survival strategies are based on four influential or motivating factors: (1) the presence of a spouse and/or children in the home, (2) having prior experience with being displaced, (3) use of personal networks, and (4) utilization of spouses' knowledge, skills, and abilities. At the community level, there are two major findings. First, there is a level of resilience in the worst affected communities that keeps them moving forward, if at a slower pace than desired. Second, deindustrialization does not affect all manufacturing communities the same way. Local economic profiles, local resources, and past ties to manufacturing matter both in the severity of impacts and the options for rebounding and/ or creating new economic identities. For these reasons and others, it is suggested that future research continue to focus on individual communities and localities which are working to identify good long term solutions to address changes due to large scale economic disruption. / Ph. D.