M.Comm. / Henry Ford once said: "work does more than get us our living; it gets us our life..." Taking this to heart, unemployment is one of the biggest problems facing the South African social and economic environment and is in many cases the cause of violence, poverty and crime. The unemployment rate for South Africa for the year 2000 is 37.7%, one of the highest in the world and is primarily the result of high population growth, low economic growth and outdated technology. Despite the highest growth in GDP since 1996, 3% for the year 2000, the loss in jobs increased from 1.9% for 1999 to 2.7% for the year 2000. Nearly all sectors suffered job losses in the period March 1996 to March 1999. Thus, currently more jobs are lost than being created in a jobless growth economy. All over the world job creation and job creation programmes are receiving more attention. But business, government and labour are looking at this issue from different angles. In order to create jobs all of the parties mentioned need to simulate their energies and work together. Therefore the National Economic Forum (NEF) set out to allocate funds to viable job creation programmes in the provision and maintenance of urban and rural infrastructure and the enhancing of skills. The goal of the study was to research the potential of these job creation programmes to create jobs and to evaluate the success of current job creation programmes in combating unemployment. The study also sets out to show that certain development initiatives could be promoted by these projects. At the end of the study guidelines are offered which are seen to be crucial to the success of job creation programmes. The main conclusions reached through the research were that job creation programmes create jobs for thousands of workers over the long and the short run using labour intensive methods to provide infrastructure in urban and rural areas. These projects create sustainable jobs by coordinating the demand for better infrastructure as well as the commercial demand for waste products. The goal of these projects - to combat poverty in rural and urban areas by asset creation, training and to provide single parents, youth and the disabled with a lifeline - is what makes these projects worthwhile. But the most important spin-off of job creation programmes is that previously unemployed people are becoming economically active and independent, learning basic life skills while becoming self-confident and employable. Of the many guidelines presented the most crucial one for the success of such a programme is a clear goal, focus and vision. For one thing is certain, job creation programmes creates jobs. And South Africa needs jobs urgently. Therefore in the words of Thomas Carlyle: "Blessed is he who has found his work. Let him ask no other blessedness."

M.Cur. / The objective of this research is to explore and describe how the wife of a husband who suffered job loss, experiences this situation. In a country like South-Africa, where the unemployment rate ( 41,8% according to the expanded definition ) is very high and there doesn’t seem to be a solution, the wife of a unemployed husband faces considerable stress and increasing demands on a physical and psychological level. The wife of a husband who has suffered job loss, experiences problems regarding all the dimensions of human being. Her life becomes a struggle for survival from day to day. All this can give rise to mental problems. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, contextual research study has been undertaken to describe how the wife experiences it when her husband lost his job and to describe guidelines for psychiatric nurse practitioners to support these women. All the participants were residents of Pretoria and Midrand and their husbands had suffered job loss during the past year. Data was gathered through one-on-one in-depth interviews and analysed according to Tesch’s method of open coding. A qualitative exploration of these interviews showed that these wives appear to experience severe reactions on their physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions. A majority of these wives took full emotional responsibility for the whole family and suppressed her own needs and emotions. It then happened that they were confronted by the question: why do I live? This is worsened by the fact that the husband’s functioning is usually inadequate because of this trauma. This situation may have a negative impact on the couple’s relationship and on the development of their children. Guidelines were developed to emphasize the characteristics that the psychiatric nurse practitioner needs to help these women find some meaning in life. Community-involvement, support-groups and marriage-counselling are part of the guidelines to facilitate these women’s mental health. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made in the hope that this study will be integrated into future research.

Magister Commercii - MCom / South Africa is characterised by its high and persistent level of unemployment, in particular among the youth. The high youth unemployment is attributed to various reasons, ranging from their lack of work experience, skills mismatch to employment and wage rigidities. The South African government proposed the youth wage subsidy to be implemented in 2011, with the primary aim of solving the youth unemployment problem. This study starts by providing a literature review on the youth labour market trends since the transition; it emerged that there is a lack of studies focusing exclusively on how youths fare in the labour market. Next, the demographic and educational attainment characteristics of the youth narrow labour force, employed and narrow unemployed are analysed under the narrow or strict definition, using the 1995-1999 October Household Surveys (OHSs), the 2000-2007 Labour Force Surveys (LFSs) and the 2008-2011 Quarterly Labour Force Surveys (QLFSs). With regard to unemployed youths, it is found that they are more likely to be blacks, without Matric and have never worked before. The main causes of youth unemployment are then discussed in detail, before the thesis moves on to examine the various active and passive labour market policies that could help to address the youth unemployment problem. The possible pros and cons of the youth wage subsidy, one of the active policies and the focus of this study, are discussed in greater detail. In particular, the claim by institutions such as COSATU that the introduction of the subsidy would lead to elderly workers (who are not subsidised) being replaced by the youth workers (who are subsidised) is not entirely correct, as these two groups of workers could be complementary instead of substitutes, and the introduction of the subsidy programme could result in an increase of demand for both elderly and youth workers. It is concluded that, although the youth wage subsidy could be one of the feasible solutions to stimulate demand for youth labour, it is not sufficient to address youth unemployment. It needs to be complemented by the other policies, such as a job search subsidy (targeting discouraged work seekers) and public employment programmes (e.g. Expanded Public Works Programme); but it is most important to note that these policies could only be fully effective if the root causes of youth unemployment are addressed by the government.

A household survey of Helenvale Township in Port Elizabeth was conducted in order to gain an understanding of the strategies and activities that people in this poor community employ to sustain their livelihoods. The household profile, which entailed a survey of the household size, education levels and employment status was conducted. Dwelling units in terms of ownership, type, size, quality and building materials were also assessed. The income and expenditure of the Helenvale residents and community assets, as well as access to basic services were also assessed. The study found that the household size varied between 5 and 7 members. A more or less even distribution of the gender of household heads was noted, with 48 percent and 50 percent female male respectively. Among the HHs surveyed, no member had a higher qualification than Matric and quite a number were illiterate. Unemployment which stands at 54 percent was identified as the most serious problem plaguing Helenvale. A high level of home ownership (84 percent) was noted; of which 79 percent are formal dwellings and typically two-room structures of poor quality. Helenvale residents are largely dependent on child support grants as the major source of income. Casual jobs and disability grants are the other important sources of income identified. Human assets in the form of labour power are the most important assets that the community possesses. Physical assets are negligible, while financial ones are non-existent among all the respondents. Television and electric kettles are the most commonly owned appliances in the households. Basic services are readily accessible to the community, particularly water, health, refuse removal and sewage. Among the threats that the respondents identified, unemployment came to the fore as the biggest and major threat to households. Crime, teenage pregnancy and overcrowding are also considered as major threats, as are gangsterism and gambling violence. The study recommends the development of a long term plan for poverty alleviation. The creation of employment opportunities in the form of financing of small community projects which empower women and the youth is also recommended. All this should be underpinned by the expeditious delivery of housing.

The presented diploma thesis is aimed on the employment questions in the Olomouc region. The analytical part of this thesis is devoted to the description of current situation at the labor market in this region and consequentially several measures are suggested to contribute to the decrease of the unemployment rate.

No description available.

The unifying theme of the chapters presented in this thesis is how people who are not in paid work respond to the stigma of unemployment or the possibility of being regarded as (similar to the) unemployed. Although unemployment is a topic of continuing interdisciplinary interest, most of the extant psychological research has tended to focus on investigating those unemployed people who are officially registered as such. While such an approach is helpful, less research attention has been paid to the fact that there are many groups who are not in paid employment, such as stay-at-home mothers or students. There may be circumstances under which those people may be perceived as very similar to the unemployed. As a consequence, they may perceive a stigma of unemployment. In this thesis we develop this idea by conceptualising people who are not in paid employment in terms of their social identities. The primary goals of this thesis are twofold: first, to demonstrate that the stigma of unemployment not only impacts on the behaviour of registered unemployed people, but also on other people who are not in paid employment. Second, to demonstrate that people not in paid work respond to perceptions of stigma and the possibility of being seen as unemployed by using psychological strategies that are based on their group memberships. Therefore, this thesis investigates how social identification processes interact with perceptions of stigma to influence possible coping behaviour and well-being. In Chapter 1 we begin by reviewing the extant literature on unemployment and stigma. In Chapter 2 we introduce the social identity approach and illustrate how it can be applied to research on groups of people who are not in paid employment in a way that advances both fields. In Chapter 3 we develop the rationale of this thesis and outline a concept to investigate behaviour and responses of different kinds of people not in paid work. In Chapter 4 we present a survey study of unemployed people that supports the notion that they do perceive stigma impacting on their well-being. We present two experiments with university students in Chapter 5 aimed to investigate a threat of possible future unemployment. The findings demonstrate that future job prospects may impact on social identification with other students and well-being. In Chapter 6 we present two studies with stay-at-home mothers that provide evidence that stay-at-home mothers also perceive the stigma of unemployment, but cope with it in different ways than registered unemployed people and students. An experiment with stay-at-home mothers sought to investigate how an imposed unemployed identity affects their coping strategies and well-being. Both studies found support that an alternative identity of being a mother can be a powerful coping resource that is able to protect against negative effects of perceived stigma on well-being. Finally, in Chapter 7, we review and integrate our findings, discuss limitations, and consider theoretical and practical implications. In addition, we suggest new avenues for theoretical and practical work in the research fields of unemployment, stigma, and social identity. We conclude that, overall, the findings we present in this thesis point to the powerful role that stigmatisation and social identification processes can play in determining responses of people who are not in paid work.

No description available.

No description available.

The overall objective of the research was to study the job search of Hispanics. This included an assessment of unemployment duration, postunemployment wages, and reported minimum acceptance wages of Hispanics, distinguished by Spanish surname, compared to non-Hispanic whites, referred to as Anglos, to ascertain whether there may be personal or job market characteristics that explain observed differences. The differences that were examined indicate program changes and additional programs to make job search outcomes of Hispanics more like those of Anglos. Three models of job search under conditions of imperfect information were utilized. These models of expected unemployment duration, expected postunemployment wages, and actual minimum acceptance wages were run separately for Hispanics and Anglos and in pooled regressions with an ethnic dummy variable and ethnic interaction variables. Differences in slope and intercept coefficients were tested for statistical significance. The data were collected for the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefit Adequacy Study of the Arizona Department of Economic Security. This survey contains information relating to the job search and financial status of 3347 UI beneficiaries in Arizona. This study first focused on 110 Hispanics and 1031 Anglos who found new employment and subsequently on a randomly selected sample of 449 Anglos and 51 Hispanics that included individuals who did not accept reemployment during the survey period as well as those who did. Differences in job search outcomes between Hispanics and Anglos appeared to be caused by personal characteristics, specifically age, education, career choices, and method of coping with necessary and obligated expenses while unemployed. Supplemental programs that enhance the job search effectiveness of Hispanics are in order, including career counseling, programs that keep Hispanics in school longer, educating Hispanics about alternatives for coping with financial burdens while unemployed or programs to ease those burdens, and the adoption by the state of Arizona of a program whereby UI benefits increase with the number of dependents.