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D.Litt. et Phil. / Job loss, unemployment and the associated deterioration of mental health are world wide concerns, however, for South Africa with a reported unemployment rate of 33.1% of the economically active population (South African Institute of Race Relations, 2001), it is a crisis of immense proportion. The reason frequently quoted for job loss in the formal sector is the fierce global competition which forces organisations to re-engineer, re-structure, reorganise, realign and inevitably, retrench employees. Reports of these events appear frequently in the media, however, do we understand the cost to the retrenched or unemployed worker in terms of human dignity, family cohesion, physical and mental health, and how this impacts on the social fabric of our society? The present study, using a qualitative methodology, derived from a constructivist paradigm, explores the inner life, the emic perceptions of a sample of eight unemployed participants. The study is strongly contextualised in that the participants are mid-career adults, previously employed in the formal (corporate) sector for more than twenty years of their working life and have been, subsequently, unemployed for six months or longer. The sample included adult men and one woman of Indian and White racial groups; they had all worked within the International Freight, Shipping and Logistics Industries. In addition, from this rich source of information counselling recommendations are offered. These guidelines may be useful (through a process of reconstruction with the client) to promote development, enhance coping skills, and improve the psychological and physical health of the unemployed person. The major theme that emerged from the interviews was of chronic stress and panic as the dislocated worker attempts to survive and cope with decreasing resources; the intrapersonal experiences related were of declining self-esteem, depression, anxiety and loss across all levels of life which are impacted by a major crisis such as unemployment. There is, in addition, the ‘devastating’ effect on family members. The coping behaviour, the resources available to the individual and the coping strategies utilised are discussed. The meaning of work and its contribution to mental health, self-actualisation and self-esteem is indeed defined when work which was taken for granted is no longer available. Job loss and retrenchment will continue in the formal sector as long as globalisation forces South African business organisations to compete in the international arena, however, “before we ruthlessly decide to retrench we must consider human suffering, the potential longer term consequences for this country’s people. We must start to put the human back in this global race” (Swanepoel, 1999, p. 11). Human service interventions based on sound theory and empirical findings are urgently required for the benefit of the unemployed and organisations are encouraged to carry out their social responsibility to their most valuable resource – their employees. Career counsellors have a role to play as change agents for equality, and career interventions such as outplacement programs or counselling services are necessary to address the mental health of the unemployed.

During recent years unemployment insurance has come to be recognized as an automatic stabilizer in the economy. This implies that unemployment insurance programmes operate so as to automatically dampen both economic expansions and contractions. In Canada, however, little empirical research aimed at determining the magnitude of this dampening effect has been undertaken. In an attempt to fill this void, this study makes an empirical assessment of the effectiveness of Canada's unemployment insurance programme as an automatic stabilizer. To do this the period 1950-1965 was broken down into its component periods of economic expansion and contraction. This period was chosen to reflect modern postwar economic conditions. The component periods consisted of three downswings and four upswings. Three techniques were then employed to determine the countercyclical role of the programme during each of the seven periods. Firstly, the change in national income during each period was compared to the changes in unemployment insurance benefits and contributions during the same periods. From this was obtained a measure of the portion of any change in national income offset by compensatory changes in benefits and/or contributions. Secondly, using the same periods, a simple multiplier model was employed to determine what portion of any potential change in national income was prevented by the unemployment insurance programme. For both of these techniques both historical data and data adjusted to remove the effect of changes in the programme were used. And thirdly, a correlation analysis was employed to determine whether benefits and contributions were directly or inversely associated with the level of economic activity. The results of this study indicate that Canada's unemployment insurance programme has performed creditably as an automatic stabilizer during periods of economic contraction. The benefit component of the scheme has been almost totally responsible for this effectiveness. Moreover, the efficacy of the programme during downswings has doubled in recent years - increasing from a compensatory effect of about 14% of the change in national income during the contraction of 1953-1954 to one of about 27% of the change in national income during the contraction of 196O-I961. The programme has been relatively less effective as an automatic stabilizer during periods of economic expansion. However, during the last two upswings a significant compensatory effect was experienced. The magnitude of this effect lay between 10% and 17% of the change in national income during the expansion of 1958-1960 and between 5% and 8% of the change in national Income during the upswing of 1961-1965. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

In this study, I examine the influence of unemployment insurance benefits on labour force participation, employment, and unemployment. Conclusions are developed concerning the consequences of the 1971 revision of the Canadian unemployment insurance programme, which differ from those of earlier writings in this field. My model estimates the proportions of the population in each labour force state (employment, unemployment, and "not in the labour force"). Each labour force state proportion is modelled as a function of the gross flows between the labour force states. This model resembles a Markov model and is similar to the model developed by Toikka (197 6). The decisions by employers and employees that generate the gross flows between labour force states are modelled as behavioural functions of economic variables. Unlike other studies, this study imposes strict consistency between equations due to the conservation of the population in the gross flows. Other studies have tended to be single equation models and the specification of the equations between studies and in one case, within a study, is not consistent. The model is estimated for ten age-sex populations. It is estimated using monthly' data for the period 1961 to 1975. The estimation method is Full Information Maximum Likelihood. Because the system of three equations is singular, one equation is redundant and may be dropped during estimation. Estimation is independent of which equation is dropped. This study brings evidence to support the position that different groups respond in different ways to changes in unemployment insurance. According to the model, prime age men are unresponsive to short-term fluctuations in incentives. Young and old men appear to reduce their labour supply when unemployment insurance benefits are increased. This is the net effect of changes in the gross flows between labour force states. The model suggests that the net labour force participation of women increases in response to increases in unemployment Insurance benefits. Men and women differ in their response to unemployment insurance in two additional ways. First estimated responses for women are generally greater than those for men. While women respond seasonally and non-seasonally to unemployment insurance, the response by men tends to be restricted to seasonal behaviour. These findings are consistent with earlier findings in that they suggest a general increase in unemployment and labour force participation due to increases In unemployment insurance. Although my findings suggest some unemployment insurance—induced quit behaviour, they do not suggest a decline in the aggregate level of employment. The dominant result in this study is that unemployment insurance Induces labour force participation, which places upward pressure on employment and unemployment. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Diese Diplomarbeit widmet sich den sozio-ökonomischen Konsequenzen der Arbeitslosigkeit in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Aufgrund der statistischen Daten von den Jahren 2007 bis 2011 wird der Stand des deutschen Arbeitsmarktes und Entwicklung der Arbeitslosigkeit im Laufe der Wirtschaftskrise. Im theoretischen Teil beschäftigt sich die Arbeit mit Definitionen der Begriffe: Arbeitsmarkt, Arbeitslosigkeit, Beschäftigungspolitik und soziale Folgen der Arbeitlosigkeit. Im praktischen teil analysiert siedie Entwicklung der Arbeitslosigkeit in Deutschland in der abgegrenzten Zeit 2007 - 2011. Als besondere Aspekte werden regionale Unterschiede im Rahmen des deutschen Arbeitsmarktes, problematiche Situation von Imigranten und Aplikation der Beschäftigungspolitikmaßnahmen im Kampf gegen Krise (vor allem Kurzarbeit) betrachtet. Die Diplomarbeit legt die Hypothese fest, dass der deutsche Arbeitsmarkt 2007 - 2011 durch verlaufende Wirtschaftskrise stark beeinflusst wurde und infolge dieser Tatsache die Arbeitslosigkeit gestiegen ist. Die soll sich dann negativ durch die Ausbreitung von sozial-pathologischen Merkmalen in der Gesselschaft ausgewirkt haben. Durch Analysierung der statistischen Daten hat sich die Hypothese in keinem von ihren Punkten bestätigt. Der deutsche Arbeitsmarkt hat sich als sehr...

Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2001. / My decision to research the youth unemployment is the high rate of unemployment that is increasing among black youths in South Africa. It has been seen that the problem of unemployment emerged long time ago. This is an important study where I have reviewed many factors responsible for high rate of unemployment. The purpose of this study was to find out the possible ways which can be applied to reduce this high rate of unemployment among black youths in KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa. In this study, two methods of data gathering were used. The primary source of data which consists of unemployed youths, employers, employees, and workers of the ministry of labour whom I interviewed with the aid of questionnaires and oral interview; and the secondary source of data which consists of data from ministry of labour, and library materials. The following findings emerged from this study: • Individuals who have a low standard of education are likely to be more unemployed. • Lack of government training schemes is responsible for the high rate of unemployment. • Nature and extent of the labour market is responsible for the high rate of unemployment. • Apartheid policy is responsible for high rate of unemployment. • The use of advanced technology like computer in all work environment in recent time is likely to contribute to the high rate of unemployment among the black rural youth. Since the issue of unemployment is a progressing problem, it is recommended that efforts must be made to reduce this high rate of unemployment. The government need to implement changes that will reduce this critical problem e.g. South Africa need to develop more training schemes as it is done in our neighbouring countries. The study does not claim to offer definitive answers about rate of unemployment, but it does seek to bring up possible ways or methods that can be applied in South Africa.

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Occupational Therapy Johannesburg, 2015 / Numerous factors influence the employment of people with chronic illness. At some point, these people withdraw from the labour market. This has both a direct and indirect cost to the person, their family and society as a whole. Aim: To explore the factors affecting sustained employment of people with chronic illness. A second component explored participants’ opinions regarding return to work in the future. Research Methods: The study was done in two phases: 1) The identification and validation of the research instrument; and 2) The administration of the research instrument. Descriptive statistics were utilised to analyse data obtained from the research instrument. Two sets of correlations were run to identify significant differences between the participants expecting to return to work and those who did not expect to return to work. Results: Descriptive statistics revealed no meaningful trend on self-reported factors. The Mann-Whitney U identified a number of significant differences between participants expecting to return to work and those who did not expect to return to work, in both personal and contextual factors. Conclusion: A broad range of factors were elicited regarding the barriers and accommodations required for sustained employment within both the personal and environmental constructs. Self-report questionnaires provided some useful information, but a broader understanding of the factors influencing work was obtained from a comprehensive interview. Significant differences were present between people expecting to return to work and those who did not expect to return to work regarding environmental and personal factors as well as factors supporting work.

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Many researchers have attempted to find a concrete link between unionization and unemployment. I use panel data regression and simultaneous equation regressions to determine the relationship between unionization and unemployment. Regressions were run on equations which featured private sector and public sector unionization. A separate regression featured public sector unionization but replaced private sector unionization with unionization in the construction industry and manufacturing industry. In all sets of the equation, the unionization variable was also accompanied by a corresponding location quotient, which measures industrial concentration. Both sets of equations also contain and interaction term which test the interaction between unionization and industrial concentration. The project produced surprising conclusions. I did not expect the unionization variable and the interaction term to produce different signs in front of their respective coefficients. This only applied to those results in which the unionization variable and interaction term was statistically significant. Also, in many equations the unionization variable proved to not be statistically significant. This can easily be seen in the equations which featured unionization of the construction industry. Another surprising result involves the minimum wage variable. Recently, scholars who study minimum wage have found no statistically significant effect of minimum wage on unemployment. Results I found support this conclusion and may shed light on the debate over minimum wage.