After the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States faced one of the largest labor shortages in recent memory. In 2021, there were 11 million job openings compared to only 6.9 million people who are unemployed yet want to work – a gap of over 4 million workers. Millions of those available openings were skilled labor jobs, and ongoing labor shortages continue to raise many questions. Scholars have long debated the causes and effects of labor shortages, with competing theories and inconsistencies in methodology. This two-part study explores the roles of perceived job attractiveness and skilled labor training and their relationship to skilled labor employment. The first part looks at the national picture of the skilled labor gap, and the second part focuses more specifically on Ohio and Central Ohio. This research develops a model to examine the U.S. and Ohio employment of welders and machinists in the durable goods manufacturing industry to better understand the perceived labor shortages, how they have changed over time, and the influence of key variables. In contrast to popular opinion about the skilled labor gap, the analysis shows that wages and employment have been flat over the last 20 years even as training has increased. Additionally, the results show that these jobs are safer than ever while training and apprenticeships have trended upward. A geographic analysis of Central Ohio also identifies some barriers to work regarding access and infrastructure. These results contribute to scholarly research in labor economics and mesoeconomics. It informs policymakers and firms as to possible strategies to plan for and cope with shortages, such as altering human resource practices, considering diversity hiring strategies, engaging in apprenticeship programs, and developing relationships with post-secondary institutions. This research makes a clear contribution to human resource management theory and practice. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine relationships between gender and race, disability status, single parent status, and economically disadvantaged status of students enrolled in Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology advanced manufacturing skills programs. Furthermore, this study determined if there were significant relationships between race and disability status, single parent status, and economically disadvantaged status of students enrolled in Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology advanced manufacturing skills programs. Finally, differences in completion rates between female and male students as well as differences in completion rates between white and nonwhite students enrolled in Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology advanced manufacturing skills programs. Archival data from Fall 2014 were collected from the Office of Research and Assessment at the Tennessee Board of Regents for each student at the point of enrollment. Chi-square tests of independence were used to determine if significant relationships existed between demographic variables and completion rates. Significant relationships were found between gender and race where there more white females and males than nonwhite females and males. Significant relationships between gender and disability status were discovered where there were more students of both genders who were not disabled than were disabled. Significant relationships between race and single parent status were found in that more nonwhite students were single parents than white students. Significant relationships between race and economically disadvantaged status indicated more nonwhite students were economically disadvantaged than white students. Significant differences between gender and program completion rate were realized in that more males completed their programs of study than females. Finally, significant differences were discovered between race and program completion rate revealing more white students completed their programs of study than nonwhite students. However, there were no significant differences found between race and disability, between gender and economically disadvantaged status, and gender and single parent status.

A shortage of skilled craft labor in the North American construction industry has been an unfortunate cyclic trend since the late 1980s. This shortage has been reported and discussed frequently by numerous past studies in the context of construction industry. The 2008 U.S. recession was at least one period when the craft shortage temporarily improved, as witnessed by spikes in construction unemployment rates above 20% due to the work slowdowns. However, the current economic recovery period is once again experiencing craft shortages in some sectors of the U.S. construction industry. Although the past literature provides wealth of information about influence of craft labor shortage on construction project, less attention has been given to quantifying the impact of craft labor availability on construction project performance. The primary contribution of this study to the body of knowledge is to fill the gap in existing literature by quantitatively modelling and elucidating the influence of craft labor availability on construction project performance as measured by safety, schedule, productivity and cost. Data from 97 construction projects completed in the U.S. and Canada between 2001 and 2014 were collected from two data sources. A number of t-tests and regression analyses were conducted in both databases to examine the significance of the influence of craft labor shortage on construction project performance. The primary analysis shows that projects that experienced craft shortages underwent significant higher growth in cost overrun, time overrun, safety incident and also lower productivity compared to projects that did not. Further analysis on two databases returned the following models: 1) a Poisson regression model that demonstrates a positive exponential relationship between increased craft worker recruiting difficulty and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Total Number of Recordable Incident Cases per 200,000 Actual Direct Work Hours (TRIR) on construction projects. 2) a statistically significant correlation between increased craft recruiting difficulty and lower project productivity and higher schedule overruns 3) a multiple regression models that demonstrate a relationship between increased construction cost overrun with two variables of increased actual cost and increased craft staffing difficulty. These models are intended to be used by project management team to perceive the risk that skilled craft labor variability poses on project safety, productivity, time, and cost performance. In addition, understanding the level of impact that craft shortages are having through robust statistical analyses is a first step in developing the motivation for industry leaders, communities, and construction stakeholders to address this challenge.

This study conducts a qualitative and quantitative analysis of various issues resulting from the construction market growth after the moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8 earthquake on April 25, 2015 in Nepal. The market growth resulted labor shortage and eventually increased workplace injuries and safety issues in Nepal. The qualitative analysis consists of a review of past studies, a review of occupational safety and health (OSH) information from three construction projects in Nepal, and a semistructured questionnaire. The semistructured questionnaire was sent to the experts for review, and was finalized to conduct the survey. The quantitative analysis consists of questionnaire survey distribution among construction stakeholders and descriptive analysis of the responses. The survey was conducted online and onsite. A total of 280 valid responses from contractors, supervisors, and laborers were received and analyzed. The results and analysis identified several challenges in the reconstruction and recovery efforts including a shortage of laborers, lack of adequate safety measures in construction sites, potentially avoidable injuries resulting from the lack of trainings and safety measures, and lack of proper enforcement of building codes and acts.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine (1) the size of the Saudi Arabian manpower shortage in light of the Second Development Plan, (2) the number of skilled and semi-skilled workers that will be graduated from vocational and technical programs during the plan period, and (3) the factors that explain the major causes of the labor shortage problem. In order to accomplish these objectives, the study has considered two questions: (1) Is there a consistency between the manpower needs of skilled and semi-skilled workers and the vocational and technical training programs' output? (2) What are the major factors that explain the labor shortage in Saudi Arabia?

Die kumulative Dissertation setzt sich aus drei Publikationen und zwei Working Paper zusammen, welche unter dem Thema „Reflections on Corporate Social Responsibility in China“ subsummiert werden. Die Art der Umsetzung von CSR in China wird auf verschiedenen Ebenen analysiert: 1) in großen, gelisteten Unternehmen, 2) in kleineren und mittleren Unternehmen. Ferner wird der potentielle Einfluss chinaspezifischer Phänomene, wie der Mangel an Wanderarbeitern und die Verlagerung von Produktionsbetrieben, auf die Umsetzung von CSR untersucht. Das Ziel ist, die Determinanten zu betrachten, welche das Ausmaß und die Gestalt von CSR Maßnahmen in chinesischen Firmen beeinflussen. Die Artikel sind inhaltlich mit einander verbunden und zu einem Gesamtwerk integriert. Es werden verschiedene Forschungsmethoden angewandt, wie Webseitenanalyse, leitfadengestützte Interviews, Entwicklung eines Einflussfaktorenmodells und Szenarioentwicklung, um die Forschungsfragen der einzelnen Artikel zu beantworten. / This cumulative dissertation is a compilation of three publications and two working papers which are summarized under the topic ‘Reflections on Corporate Social Responsibility in China’. The way of CSR realization in China is analyzed on different levels: 1) large and listed companies, and 2) small and medium-sized companies. Further, the potential influence of recent nation-specific phenomena in China, shortage of migrant workers and relocation of production facilities, on CSR practices are analyzed in this doctoral thesis. The objective is to consider determinants which influence the extent and shape of CSR measures in Chinese firms. The articles are contextually linked and combined into one complete work. In the course of this dissertation, a variety of different research methods such as website analysis, semi-structured interviews, influencing factor model and scenario development are applied in order to answer the respective research questions of the individual papers.