Social exclusion is a multi-dimensional concept, but for most people an important component of social inclusion is work, meaning paid employment. The harshest form of social exclusion is imprisonment. Yet prisoners are required to work, which raises the question of the relationship between prison work and social exclusion or inclusion. Historically the purposes of prison work have been shifting and various, and in recent decades have been the subject of confusion and ambivalence. Empirical research on prison work in the 1990s suggests that underlying the confusion is the tension between opposing pressures: for social inclusion and social exclusion. In some respects prison work resembles normal work, and some prisoners receive training leading to qualifications which should help them get employment on release. Yet in other respects the prison's requirements to keep the workers captive and to maintain the system prevent inmates' work and training from being a socially inclusive experience. Other matters, like the funding of prisoners' training, reinforce a sense that prisons are separate from the rest of society. Efforts by the Prison Service since the Woolf Report to make prison regimes aid inmates' rehabilitation, i.e. their eventual social inclusion, have been hamstrung by the reappearance of three constraints which dogged progress in former years: an increasing prison population, preoccupation with security, and lack of money. These have arisen from public and political pressure for the social exclusion of offenders. Since 1997 the Labour government has initiated wide policies to promote a more inclusive society, has shown interest in restorative justice, and has given prisons more money for constructive regimes. Yet Labour has also endorsed measures which perpetuate offenders' social exclusion, like the Crime (Sentences) Act and the proposal to allow employers to demand criminal record certificates from all job applicants. Thus the conflict between pressures for social inclusion and social exclusion continues, and the tension is well illustrated by the issues surrounding prison work.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

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Migrant workers' inequality generates many social issues like Why Migrant workers' children spend more tuition in cities than urban workers' ones since they are all Chinese? As workers in cities shared with the same workload and hours, why migrant workers can only obtain low wages, less job offers and exclusion from social security? In the circumstance of financial crisis, why migrant workers are the first to be unemployed? These long-standing issues always cause social concern and accordingly become motives for the study. The article not only describes migrant workers' livelihood, but also aims at the comparative study between them and urban workers. The finding demonstrated migrant workers are relatively weak upon wages, employment opportunity, their children 's education level and social welfare. Such unfair treatment could be attributed to migrant workers' identity problems¡Bhighly variable labor market and incomplete policy implementation. China 's economy and related policy changes yearly since its reform and opening-up policy, however, they are not fully consider migrant workers factor. Besides, limited with its self-interest, local government's policy implementation shows discrepancy from central counterpart's intention. With vicious circle potential which might affect society in many aspects, government should focus on migrant workers' unfair treatment improvement. The research finding could benefit reader's comprehensive understanding upon migrant workers' core issues. Furthermore, China government's solution could be meaningful references for the improvement of Taiwanese business's migrant workers treatment and Taiwan government's foreign-labor policy.

This thesis investigates literacy in prison-based employment training provided by Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE), a Government Training Establishment, in New Zealand. The descriptive case study aims to provide an understanding of literacy in CIE. It does this by combining existing research with information gained from participant observation and staff and prisoner interviews at the Central Kitchen and the Print Shop at men’s prisons in Wellington. The thesis suggests that engagement with literacy in these CIE workplaces depends on whether it is safe or suitable to participate in workplace literacy activities; whether there is an opportunity to participate (including access to specialised support services like literacy programmes); and whether prisoners are interested in or see benefits from participating. For CIE to be more effective – both in providing a base for meaningful employment and lifelong learning – employment training needs to be offered in areas in which prisoners are interested, in tandem with embedded support services like literacy and numeracy training programmes.