<p>The study examines the participation of African immigrants in the South African labour force with the central question revolving around whether the immigrants create jobs through the establishment of their own businesses or take jobs from the locals. Analytical frame work used in this study includes descriptive statistics, chi-square test for association and standardized residuals, two-way analysis of variance and logistic regression. Demographic, locational and socio-economic characteristics were studied using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Two-factor analysis of variance was used to examine the differences on average in the African immigrants&rsquo / participation in the labour force, while logistic regression was used to investigate the effect of some demographic characteristics on employment and work status.</p>

<p>This study employs the Human Capital Theory (HCT), which postulates that the education of women is positively related to the likelihood of their labour force participation, in order to investigate quarterly dynamics in the labour force. This approach is an advancement of knowledge gained from previous studies such as Serumanga-Zake and Kotze (2004) and Ntuli (2004) who investigated the annual dynamics in FLFP. Investigating quarterly dynamics in FLFP is prudent as the market economy is very dynamic particularly at a point when the world economy is experiencing recession. Data for the study are extracted from the 2008 Quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa. Logistic regression analysis modeling was employed with the dependent variable, FLFP, as a binary outcome. Other variables controlled in the analysis are gender, population group, age, marital status, education status, sector, main industry, main occupation and province. The results show that there is association between education status and FLFP status. Findings from this research are expected to contribute to the knowledge about trends in FLFP in South Africa and aid in planning of interventions aimed at improving the status of women as one of the critical steps in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.</p>

This thesis consists of three papers on the economics and structure of Swedish families. Paper [I] examines the determinants of children’s educational achievement in Sweden. Special attention is given to the labour market work by mothers and fa-thers in terms of its influence on the educational outcome of their children, measured as grade point average (GPA) in compulsory as well as upper secon-dary school. The results show that there is a positive relationship between paren-tal income and GPA. Regarding the number of hours worked in the labour mar-ket, the results differ between mothers and fathers. Having a mother that works less than full time has positive effects on the child’s grades throughout the schooling of the child, whereas significant effects of the hours of work that the father puts in are found during upper secondary school only. Paper [II] explores the role of financial surprises and match quality in the disso-lution of relationships. The analysis is carried out both for surprises in the short term earnings and surprises in the long-run earnings capacity. It is found that positive surprises in short term earnings have a destabilizing effect for a rela-tionship. Generally, a negative surprise in long-run earnings capacity for males has a destabilizing effect. However, if it is combined with a female positive sur-prise, the effect is stabilizing. Commitments become more stable the older the spouses are at the start, and if young children are present. Paper [III] studies the role of unemployment in the dissolution of relationships by applying a two-step estimation method to an extensive data set, which con-tains information about young Swedish males and females. Unemployment is recognized as endogenous in the separation decision, and the results show that the effect of unemployment on separation is biased when unemployment is as-sumed to be exogenous in the separation equation. The probability of separation is found to be increasing with male unemployment, while female unemployment decreases the probability of dissolution.

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<p>The study examines the participation of African immigrants in the South African labour force with the central question revolving around whether the immigrants create jobs through the establishment of their own businesses or take jobs from the locals. Analytical frame work used in this study includes descriptive statistics, chi-square test for association and standardized residuals, two-way analysis of variance and logistic regression. Demographic, locational and socio-economic characteristics were studied using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Two-factor analysis of variance was used to examine the differences on average in the African immigrants&rsquo / participation in the labour force, while logistic regression was used to investigate the effect of some demographic characteristics on employment and work status.</p>

<p>This study employs the Human Capital Theory (HCT), which postulates that the education of women is positively related to the likelihood of their labour force participation, in order to investigate quarterly dynamics in the labour force. This approach is an advancement of knowledge gained from previous studies such as Serumanga-Zake and Kotze (2004) and Ntuli (2004) who investigated the annual dynamics in FLFP. Investigating quarterly dynamics in FLFP is prudent as the market economy is very dynamic particularly at a point when the world economy is experiencing recession. Data for the study are extracted from the 2008 Quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa. Logistic regression analysis modeling was employed with the dependent variable, FLFP, as a binary outcome. Other variables controlled in the analysis are gender, population group, age, marital status, education status, sector, main industry, main occupation and province. The results show that there is association between education status and FLFP status. Findings from this research are expected to contribute to the knowledge about trends in FLFP in South Africa and aid in planning of interventions aimed at improving the status of women as one of the critical steps in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.</p>

Although a relationship between womens work and use of child care is well-established, little is known about womens beliefs about who (family or society) is responsible for this care. Using data from a province-wide survey, path analysis determined how beliefs about caregiving predict womens decisions to work or use child care, at different stages of family life. Overall, Albertans believe caregiving is a social responsibility, particularly urban Albertans and women. Womens social beliefs about caregiving predict working for women with preschool and school-age children, and women without children under 14, but do not directly predict use of care at all. Social beliefs are predicted by more education (women with preschool and school-age children) and more children (women with school-age children). The results of this study are presented using an ecological framework, and confirm that beliefs about caregiving should be considered in future studies of womens labour force participation. / Family Ecology and Practice

This thesis investigated patterns in, and perceptions of, labour force participation (LFP) amongst a group of mothers with dependent children. A mixed-methods (i.e. questionnaires, interviews and documentary evidence), single case study approach involving a series of three studies, was utilised, involving employees and ex-employees from the Queensland University of Technology. Using questionnaire data (N = 283), Study One explored the predictive value of seven structural (age of youngest child, education, childcare costs, wages, partner's income, number of children and social security payments) and four attitudinal (attitudes towards working mothers, sex-role attitudes, attitudes towards exclusive maternal care and career salience) factors, in a hierarchical logistic regression model using full-time / part-time work status as the dependent variable. Associations between these factors and hours worked, were also tested for a sub-sample of women with under school aged children (N = 112). Results showed that the factors leading to greater LFP for both samples were having older children, less access to social security payments and more liberal attitudes towards working mothers. Lower levels of partner's income also predicted full-time status for the larger sample and more liberal attitudes towards exclusive maternal care was associated with hours worked for women with under school aged children. Study Two explored the way in which women with under school aged children describe the influences, benefits and trade-offs associated with their LFP decisions. Analysis of data from interviews with a sub-sample of women from Study One, indicated four major categories of issues influenced LFP decisions and/or contributed to benefits or trade-offs following on from those decisions. These categories included financial issues, personal independence, work-related issues and value of maternal care. The salience of this issues varied across groups of at-home, part-time and full-time working mothers. The most important consideration for at-home women was the emphasis on caring for their children themselves, as opposed to using familial or formal childcare. Part-time women appeared to be the most satisfied with their work and parenting arrangements, because they could fulfil their roles as wives and mothers, but also benefit from spending autonomy and competence, by engaging in paid work. Full-time women reported greater opportunities in the workplace than part-time women, although they experienced substantial ambivalence about their full-time status. This conflict was ameliorated by the availability of flexible work and when partner's had reduced working hours. Based on the salience of work-related factors reported in Study Two, Study Three explored the degree of consistency between the espoused values evident in organisational work-family policy documentation and women's reported experiences of these policies (N = 24). For example, options such as flexible work arrangements and part-time work appear to promote values related to balance and integration of the work and family spheres. However, interview data suggests women's experiences of part-time work were inconsistent with assumptions about job commitment and career progression. The research extends the current understanding of the range of variables that influence maternal LFP and the processes by which LFP decisions are made. The findings are interpreted in light of a number of existing theoretical perspectives, as well as suggesting a preliminary model of decision-making that could be tested in other groups of women in future studies. The current research may also inform public policy on issues such as childcare and social security allowances and organisational human resource policy in terms of the implementation of work-family options.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The study examines the participation of African immigrants in the South African labour force with the central question revolving around whether the immigrants create jobs through the establishment of their own businesses or take jobs from the locals. Analytical frame work used in this study includes descriptive statistics, chi-square test for association and standardized residuals, two-way analysis of variance and logistic regression. Demographic, locational and socio-economic characteristics were studied using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Two-factor analysis of variance was used to examine the differences on average in the African immigrants; participation in the labour force, while logistic regression was used to investigate the effect of some demographic characteristics on employment and work status. / South Africa

Magister Scientiae - MSc / This study employs the Human Capital Theory (HCT), which postulates that the education of women is positively related to the likelihood of their labour force participation, in order to investigate quarterly dynamics in the labour force. This approach is an advancement of knowledge gained from previous studies such as Serumanga-Zake and Kotze (2004) and Ntuli (2004) who investigated the annual dynamics in FLFP. Investigating quarterly dynamics in FLFP is prudent as the market economy is very dynamic particularly at a point when the world economy is experiencing recession. Data for the study are extracted from the 2008 Quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa. Logistic regression analysis modeling was employed with the dependent variable, FLFP, as a binary outcome. Other variables controlled in the analysis are gender, population group, age, marital status, education status, sector, main industry, main occupation and province. The results show that there is association between education status and FLFP status. Findings from this research are expected to contribute to the knowledge about trends in FLFP in South Africa and aid in planning of interventions aimed at improving the status of women as one of the critical steps in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. / South Africa