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青少年失業為全球性的問題，世界各國皆面對日趨嚴重的青少年就業危機，為了防止青少年的失業情形持續地惡化，世界各國皆擬定積極的政策來促進青少年就業的相關政策。而失業是一個綜合性的問題，再加上青少年有性質上的特殊性，所以對於青少年失業問題應以特殊性質的計畫來處理。 青少年失業可能會引發對總體經濟發展有負面的影響與增加社會成本負擔外，更嚴重者可會進一步地造成社會排除現象。而青少年為國家未來的重要資產，如何防範青少年失業與協助失業的青少年重回勞動市場的政策擬定，實為當務之急。 為了進一步提出一套有效促進青少年就業的政策，本研究嘗試透過文獻分析法以及比較法與世界各國之相關失業政策進行分析比較，以了解他國對於青少年就業促進的政策思維，以提供我國政策作為參考。再經由相關文獻的整理分析，發現目前我國教育訓練制度與青少年就業促進政策仍有許多可改進之處後。最後本研究嘗試進一步從研究結果與發現中提出建議，以作為未來政策修改的參考方向。

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Analyzing crimes through the scope of economics, this thesis explores the correlation between unemployment rate and crime rate, and other possible causes of surging crimes in China by using a fixed-effect regression model. Using provincial level panel data from 2000 to 2010, we did not find significant correlation between arrest rate and prosecution rate to unemployment rate. We found evidence that the Chinese government might intentionally controlled the unemployment rate at an artificially low and stable rate. Additionally, the set of ‘stern punishment’ campaigns during the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, causing a huge increase in arrest rate and police expenditure, could distort the overall trend of crime and unemployment. Moreover, we find a significant positive correlation between GDP per capita level, rural-urban income inequality and floating population to crime. Therefore, we recommend that the Chinese government should create social safety net that targets specifically at rural migrant workers. Not only that, reform and increase job opportunities in rural area is also urgent to close the income gap in rural and urban areas.

Although this study reveals the positions that the opposition parties took regarding unemployment, it is primarily concerned with unemployment as an internal political problem of the British Labour party.

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Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / This study took place in Bishop Lavis, a small community in Cape Town on the Cape Flats, Republic of South Africa. Stratified random sampling was used to select ten unemployed youths that resided in the area. The problem that prompted this investigation and that needed to be addressed was the high unemployment rate amongst the youth and how their aspirations and capabilities contribute to their state of well-being. This community is subjected to extreme poverty, inequality and gangsterism. This places a heavy burden on their ability to escape deprivation and the harsh realities of not ever being able to find a job. These inferior conditions in the community impact heavily on their quality of life. As the youths develop into maturity, their inability to enter the labour market deprives them of aligning their dreams, capabilities and aspirations to the new demands of the labour market. The study is based on the Capability Approach and it is used as an evaluative tool to assess the aspirations and capabilities of the participants. The objective of the study was to bring us closer to understanding how aspirations are developed and whether such aspirations can assist the youths in transforming their capabilities into a functioning. What we learned from this study was that the aspirations of youths failed to develop from an early age and their responsiveness to opportunities has to do with their value system and adaptation to their environment. This qualitative study required consent from the participants and ethical approval from UWC research structures. Through semi-structured interviews, information about the participants’ capabilities and aspirations were recorded and analysed. Based on this analysis and evaluation, new assessment model and assessment tools are proposed as an intervention strategy for policymakers.

Thesis advisor: Matthew S. Rutledge / Thesis advisor: Christopher F. Baum / Social insurance programs exist in the United States to help workers maintain their standard of living across different states of the world. Examples include unemployment insurance, which aids workers through the state of being unemployed, and Social Security, which supports workers through the state of retirement. The three essays in this dissertation study how these types of social insurance programs alter the decisions workers make in the labor market. The first and third essays focus on unemployment insurance, where the first essay focuses on how different types of workers make decisions in the presence of unemployment insurance and the third essay studies how all workers respond to changes in the provision of unemployment insurance. The second essay examines how Social Security retirement income influences the decision of late-career workers to participate in the labor market. All three essays emphasize that the willingness of workers to pursue a job in the labor market relies upon the social insurance available to them outside of employment. Theoretical models of optimal unemployment insurance predict that the job search and savings behavior of unemployed workers will partially be determined by how long a worker expects to remain unemployed. Empirical evidence suggests, however, that workers often underestimate the duration of their unemployment spell. These biased beliefs about the duration of unemployment among unemployed workers should therefore affect their job search and savings behavior. To date, no reliable data have been used to empirically analyze to what degree biased beliefs would change the behavior of unemployment workers. In the first essay, titled 'Biased Beliefs and Job Search: Implications for Optimal Unemployment Insurance,' I use a novel dataset, the Survey of Unemployed Workers in New Jersey, to evaluate how biased beliefs vary across unemployed workers and how they influence the behavior of those workers. I find that overly-optimistic unemployed workers underestimate the duration of their unemployment, leading them to spend 26 percent less time searching for a job each week than those with a pessimistic bias. I also find that overly-optimistic unemployed workers have over $8,500 less saved at any given point during an unemployment spell. These results suggest that unemployed workers with an optimistic bias would benefit from an information "nudge" that encourages increased search effort and could lead to faster reemployment. The first essay demonstrates how workers respond to the presence of social insurance when they are still focused on rejoining the labor market. That is, it provides evidence on the intensive margin. However, it does not say anything about how it would influence a worker's desire to participate in the labor market at all, on the extensive margin. In the second essay, 'Do Late-Career Wages Boost Social Security More for Women than Men?,' Matthew Rutledge and I estimate the incentives for older workers to continue working during their retirement-age years when they could be collecting Social Security. Any worker who delays claiming Social Security receives a larger monthly benefit because of the actuarial adjustment. Some claimants - particularly women, who are more likely to take time out of the labor force early in their careers - can further increase their benefits if the extra years of work raise their career average earnings by displacing lower-earning years. This essay uses the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to earnings records to quantify the impact of women's late-career earnings on Social Security benefits relative to men's. The essay finds that the average gain in Social Security retirement benefits from working one additional year raises women's monthly benefits by 8.6 percent, of which 1.6 percent is from late-career earnings. These results suggest that, especially among women, there are additional benefits to delaying claiming and further increasing the retirement age. Through both of the first two chapters, the parameters outlining the social insurance program were held constant. In reality, the rules of a social insurance program can change over time. Motivated by this possibility, my third chapter, 'The Impact of Unemployment Insurance Extensions on Worker Job-Search Behavior,' explores how reservation wages and job search effort respond to extensions of unemployment insurance. Current economic theory predicts that reservation wages should rise following an extension of potential benefit duration, while search effort should fall. Previous papers in this literature focus on the end result, which is that UI extensions result in prolonged unemployment spells. Using the Survey of Unemployed Workers in New Jersey, and the UI benefit extension in the United States in November 2009, this paper identifies the worker behaviors that lead to prolonged unemployment durations. Employing hypothesis testing and event study analysis, this study shows there are lagged, significant increases in reservation wages and decreases in search effort following the benefit extension. The results suggest that an alternative model of job search is needed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Building. / For a long period of time, most built private sector clients in South Africa have been procuring the services of built professional consultants at risk. The concept of working at risk is also referred to as speculative work. It is not known and clear when the practice started or how it originated in South Africa but the practice takes place and appears to becoming increasing prevalent. This study is an exploratory study that investigates the concept of working at risk in detail and establishes the relationship between non-remuneration, motivation and performance when working at risk. The study was motivated by the fact that limited academic research has been done locally on the early phase of project delivery, which is considered a key stage of a project. Attention is generally drawn to the implementation phase and conclusions are drawn from this stage which could possibly impact on the early phase of the project. This study examines the general understanding of the concept by respondents and determines the relationship between payment, time and performance. Largely the academic research conducted on the implementation stage shows that the non-remuneration or non-payment of contractors affects their performance and existence. Similarities in general can be drawn from this. However, this study does not explore this approach as initial academic data on the subject is not readily available. The study is an exploratory study that collects qualitative data from experienced professionals that undertake risk work for their clients. Interviews conducted with the professionals produced valuable qualitative data on the concept and key findings were drawn from this input. The greater understanding of the practice can lead to a better understanding between parties, regulation of the practise, support for smaller firms and assist in building the economy of South Africa. The findings reveal that there is a common understanding of the concept and the non-payment of professionals over long periods whilst undertaking risk work does affect motivation levels and impedes performance, thereby supporting the findings of the literature.