Between 2000 and 2011, the United States suffered the loss of manufacturing jobs 6 times faster than the rate in the 20 years prior. North Carolina ranked first in manufacturing employment in 1992; however, in 2012 it ranked fourth. The loss of manufacturing jobs created a trend away from manufacturing industries to services industries. The purpose of this study was to explore strategies that nonmanufacturing managers use to facilitate the transferable skills of displaced manufacturing workers to nonmanufacturing industries. To address the problem, a purposeful sample of 3 nonmanufacturing managers in service industries was obtained from a major manufacturing city in North Carolina. The human capital theory was used as a conceptual framework. Data for this case study were collected from face-to-face, semistructured interviews and review of company documents. Data were coded and analyzed using a qualitative analysis software to identify recurring themes. The 4 prominent themes that emerged were: (a) characteristics that displaced manufacturing workers possessed for employment in service industries, (b) workers' willingness to obtain training and education, (c) managers' specific strategies, skills, and experience for hiring displaced manufacturing workers, and (d) workers' transferable skills. The findings from this study could contribute to social change by defining strategies nonmanufacturing leaders could use to identify and transfer skills from displaced manufacturing workers to nonmanufacturing labor sectors, thereby introducing transferable skills for diverse labor sectors for increasing employment and increasing the standards of living for employees and families.

High-quality hospitality education is important to bring to international locations because it is a foundation for business and tourism. An international network of hospitality schools (HS) has a problem of convincing faculty to relocate to international locations, which limits expansion efforts and the quality of faculty available at less desirable locales. The purpose of this correlation study was to investigate the relationship between varies workplace factors that faculty expect to be of the highest quality, allowing senior management to ensure relocations. The theoretical foundation that grounded this study was Authors' expectancy theory, which stipulates that what people expect to occur drives their behavior; in this study, the behavior in question was the decision to relocate or not. The research questions concerned the correlations between faculty ratings of current workplace factors and faculty ratings indicating the quality they expected each workplace factor to show at a relocation site. Approximately 180 faculty members of HS answered an anonymous online survey. The survey was rated using 2 scales indicating how true each workplace item was in the current location and how high quality each workplace item was expected to be. Correlation analysis was conducted for each of the survey items to determine if there was a relationship between the faculty's ratings of their current position and what they expected in a relocation. The study found that feedback on work results was highly valued by participants wherever their workplace was located. The study may promote positive social change by supporting the school's capability to provide a workplace environment in compromise locations that attract and retain hospitality faculty, ultimately benefiting students in the globalizing world of education.

In the health and human service industry, employee turnover affects business practices and causes disruption of the lives of vulnerable individuals with intellectual disabilities receiving support. Using a human capital conceptual framework perspective, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used to increase employee retention. The criteria for participation included organizational leaders from 3 Pennsylvania human service agencies that supported individuals with intellectual disabilities, tracked employee turnover for at least 2 years, and developed strategies to increase employee retention. Organizational leaders volunteered to participate and the first 3 organizations meeting the criteria were selected. Data collection included semistructured telephone interviews with organizational leaders, in addition to a review of company policies and turnover data. The interviews were transcribed and participants were asked to member check the draft findings. Constant comparison analysis occurred to analyze collected data. The findings included that the human capital theory alone did not inform retention strategies. Reoccurring themes included retention strategies that focused on developing the organization's intellectual capital through development of human capital, structural capital, and relational capital. Organizational leaders could develop intellectual capital to reduce employee turnover costs, increase employee productivity, create a stable life for the individuals in need of support, and develop relationships with the community where integration occurs. The implications for positive social change include the potential to reduce employee turnover to organizational leaders from Pennsylvania agencies supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities.

abstract: Evolutionary and economic theories of fertility variation argue that novel subsistence opportunities associated with market economies shape reproduction in ways that both increase parental investment per child and lower overall fertility. I use demographic and ethnographic data from Guatemala as a case study to illustrate how ethnic inequalities in accessing market opportunities have shaped demographic variation and the perceptions of parental investments. I then discuss two projects that use secondary data sets to address issues of conceptualizing and operationalizing market opportunities in national and cross-population comparative work. The first argues that social relationships are critical means of accessing market opportunities, and uses Guatemala household stocks of certain forms of relational wealth are associated with greater parental investments in education. The second focuses on a methodological issue in how common measures of wealth in comparative demographic studies conflate economic capacity with market opportunities, and how this conceptual confusion biases our interpretations of the observed links between wealth and fertility over the course of the demographic transition. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2019

abstract: Environmental regulations such as carbon taxation and air quality standards can lead to notable improvements in health outcomes and ambient air quality. However, these types of policies may have significant impacts on the labor market, in particular for workers in energy-intensive industries, especially if these workers have acquired specific human capital in those industries. This dissertation focuses on the general equilibrium consequences of environmental regulation on the labor market. Specifically, I examine costly reallocation of workers between sectors, the welfare effects of involuntary unemployment, and the heterogeneous effects of this policy on different types of workers. To this end, I develop a two-sector search model with sectoral human capital accumulation to explore the effects on the labor market of implementing a per unit of energy use carbon tax in the US. I separate the economy into a high-intensive sector (’dirty’) and a low-intensive sector (’clean’). I calibrate the model using 2014 U.S. data. I find that a carbon tax increases total unemployment by 0.06 percentage points, decreases the dirty employment rate by 2.1 percent, and increases the clean employment rate by 1.04 percent. Firms in the dirty sector adjust by decreasing the demand for high-skilled workers and increasing the number of vacancies in the low-skilled market / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Economics 2019

[pt] Esta tese estuda a interação entre escolaridade e mercado de trabalho a partir de um fenômeno ainda pouco explorado na literatura: a venda de milhares de diplomas de ensino médio e de graduação no Brasil. O primeiro capítulo descreve a nova base de dados construída, composta por milhares de diplomas de Ensino Médio (EM) da modalidade de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA), expedidos para pessoas que nunca concluíram seus estudos. A análise mostra que a compra do diploma resulta em ganhos salariais consistentes, com rendimentos 5 por cento a 8 por cento maiores em comparação com os indivíduos sem diploma de ensino médio durante o período de análise. Considerando apenas o seu custo pecuniário, estima-se que a compra de um diploma tenha uma taxa de retorno superior a 100 por cento, ou um valor presente entre dois e seis meses de salário. Esses resultados são consistentes com: (i) uma possível sinalização de habilidade em mercados com informações imperfeitas, (ii) aprendizagem assimétrica entre o empregador e outras firmas do mercado, ou ainda (iii) fenômenos de learning-by-doing. O segundo capítulo explora o mesmo banco de dados para investigar a acumulação de capital humano no EM-EJA. A análise mostra que os indivíduos que concluíram de forma regular o EM-EJA desfrutam de certo prêmio salarial em relação aos que não completaram o EM, mas não em relação àqueles que compraram diploma. Tomados em conjunto, os resultados dos dois primeiros capítulos indicam que os benefícios do EMEJA estão relacionados a um efeito-diploma e não à acumulação de capital humano. O último capítulo explora um novo banco de dados de diplomas universitários expedidos entre 2011 e 2016 que foram considerados irregulares e cancelados após investigação judicial. Apresentamos evidências preliminares sobre ganhos salariais e estabelecemos questões de pesquisa adicionais que podem ser estudadas com este banco de dados. De maneira geral, a tese reforça a importância dos diplomas como dispositivos de sinalização para o mercado de trabalho. / [en] This thesis studies different aspects of the interaction between education and labor market outcomes using a still largely unexplored phenomenon: the selling of thousands of high school and undergraduate diplomas in Brazil. The first chapter describes this new database, comprising thousands of Adult High School (AHS, or EJA in Brazil) diplomas sold for individuals that never really completed their degrees. Our analysis of the performance of these individuals in the labor market shows consistent wage gains of buying a diploma, with earnings 5 percent to 8 percent higher in comparison with individuals without a high school diploma during our period of analysis. Back-of-the envelope calculations considering the pecuniary cost of buying a diploma indicate a rate of return over 100 percent, or present value corresponding to two to six months of wages. We interpret this as potential evidence of alternative mechanisms: (i) signaling effects in a context of labor markets with incomplete information, (ii) asymmetric employer learning or (iii) learning-by-doing. The second chapter explores the same database to investigate human capital accumulation in real AHS. Initial investigation shows that individuals that completed AHS regularly enjoy a wage premium. However, compared to workers that merely bought diplomas, those who studied show no apparent advantage. Taken together, the results from the first two chapters indicate that the benefits from AHS are related to a pure diploma effect, and not to human capital accumulation. The third and last chapter explores a new database of fake college graduates between 2011 and 2016 who were exposed and had their degrees canceled following a large police investigation. We present preliminary evidence about wage gains and establish additional research questions that can be addressed with this database. As a whole, the thesis reinforces the importance of diplomas as signaling devices for the labor market.

The purpose of this thesis was to apply economic theories in order to have the opportunity to understand and form an idea of whether immigration has an impact on the economic growth of OECD countries. This study includes four different theories, the Solow model, Borja’smodel, modern institutional economics and Romers’ model where the study is based on these models combined with variables able to explain and perceive how immigration together with four other important variables has an impact on growth in these countries. The variables in addition to immigration and growth that this study decided to use are the level of education in the labor market, asylum-seeking migrants, public expenditure and labor market participation.The aim of this paper is to highlight the empirical connections between these factors as immigration is a controversial topic. This thesis question was therefore very topical and interesting and can thus be answered with the fact that immigration has a positive connection with the OECD countries’ economic growth.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Nurse managers and the teams of registered nurses they lead play a major role in the provision of healthcare outcomes nationally. Nursing leadership models have evolved with contemporary society and have shifted from hierarchical models to those based on interactive relationships. Traditional study of nurse managers and registered nurses has focused on human capital (acquired knowledge, skills, and experience). However, nurse managers and registered nurses must utilize human capital through a network of social relationships or social capital in order to produce positive healthcare outcomes. Little is known about human capital and social capital in nurse managers and registered nurses in the provision of healthcare outcomes. The purpose of this dissertation was to improve our understanding of the importance of human capital and social capital in nurse managers and the nurses. Specific aims included: 1) to explore and describe the concepts of human capital and social capital and to explore if human capital and social capital vary by individual characteristics/human capital attributes (such as education level or years of experience) or by organizational characteristics (such as hospital size or unit type); 2) to examine if human capital and social capital were related; and 3) to explore whether human capital and social capital were related to turnover intent and job satisfaction in a sample of nurse managers and registered nurses. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional survey of 64 nurse managers and 1139 registered nurses in a 15 hospital healthcare system was conducted. Measures included human capital, social capital, individual characteristics, organizational characteristics, turnover intent, and job satisfaction. The four major findings of this study were: 1) nurse manager human capital is acquired primarily through experience in the role, 2) nurse manager human capital is positively related to social capital, 3) nurse manager and registered nurse social capital varies by individual and organizational characteristics, and 4) social capital is positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to turnover intent. This dissertation provides the foundation for further research and targeted interventions for development of human and social capital of nurse managers and registered nurses.

Masters of Commerce / From 194 7-1994, South Africans were ruled under apartheid - a racially discriminatory political and economic system. As the name itself implies, apartheid is an Afrikaans name meaning "apartness". The provision of education in South Africa during this regime was poor, particularly for the African (black) population and most especially those living in homelands. This led to under-investment in human capital development particularly in the rural areas which resulted in, low levels of skills that have persisted till today. This has hindered those lacking the required skills to obtain lucrative employment and earning prospects. This study aims at investigating the impact of a household head's educational attainment level on the poverty status of the household in South Africa with case study of Limpopo province.

The aim of the thesis is to project and verify a model focused on assessment of human capital management in relation to company efficiency in selected sector – banking in Czech Republic. The model is projected in the following steps. Main areas of human capital management which are significant in terms of the relevant sector are identified by synthesis of the findings arising from preliminary research. Relevant variables are identified according to main areas. The degree of significance variables is established by a questionnaire survey. Subsequently, the number of variables is reduced by using statistical methods in order to preserve the original information. The last step is the presentation of the model proposal. Subsequently, the model is verified.