The Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES): psychometric properties of a new tool for epidemiological studies among waged and salaried workers

Background: Despite the fact that labour market flexibility has resulted in an expansion of precarious employment in industrialized countries, to date there is limited empirical evidence about its health consequences. The Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES) is a newly developed, theory-based, multidimensional questionnaire specifically devised for epidemiological studies among waged and salaried workers. Objective: To assess acceptability, reliability and construct validity of EPRES in a sample of waged and salaried workers in Spain. Methods: Cross-sectional study, using a sub-sample of 6.968 temporary and permanent workers from a population-based survey carried out in 2004-2005. The survey questionnaire was interviewer administered and included the six EPRES subscales, measures of the psychosocial work environment (COPSOQ ISTAS21), and perceived general and mental health (SF-36). Results: A high response rate to all EPRES items indicated good acceptability; Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, over 0.70 for all subscales and the global score, demonstrated good internal consistency reliability; exploratory factor analysis using principal axis analysis and varimax rotation confirmed the six-subscale structure and the theoretical allocation of all items. Patterns across known groups and correlation coefficients with psychosocial work environment measures and perceived health demonstrated the expected relations, providing evidence of construct validity. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence in support of the psychometric properties of EPRES, which appears to be a promising tool for the measurement of employment precariousness in public health research.

A qualitative study about immigrant workers’ perceptions of their working conditions in Spain

Background: Spain has recently become an inward migration country. Little is known about the occupational health of immigrant workers. This study aimed to explore the perceptions that immigrant workers in Spain had of their working conditions.Methods: Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study. Criterion sampling. Data collected between September 2006 and May 2007 through semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews, with a topic guide. One hundred and fifty-eight immigrant workers (90 men/68 women) from Colombia (n = 21), Morocco (n = 39), sub-Saharan Africa (n = 29), Romania (n = 44) and Ecuador (n = 25), who were authorised (documented) or unauthorised (undocumented) residents in five medium to large cities in Spain.Results: Participants described poor working conditions, low pay and health hazards. Perception of hazards appeared to be related to gender and job sector. Informants were highly segregated into jobs by sex, however, so this issue will need further exploration. Undocumented workers described poorer conditions than documented workers, which they attributed to their documentation status. Documented participants also felt vulnerable because of their immigrant status. Informants believed that deficient language skills, non-transferability of their education and training and, most of all, their immigrant status and economic need left them with little choice but to work under poor conditions.Conclusions: The occupational health needs of immigrant workers must be addressed at the job level, while improving the enforcement of existing health and safety regulations. The roles that documentation status and economic need played in these informants' work experiences should be considered and how these may influence health outcomes.

¿Es obligatorio interpretar la normativa española de origen interno sobre precios de transferencia según las Directices de la OCDE?

Este trabajo cuenta con financiación del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y del Fondo Social Europeo (ayuda BES-2008-003252)

Representar l’univers referencial: estratègies per a la visibilitat dels processos de socialització a la universitat

Sota el nom d’Univers de la Comunicació Audiovisual definim un projecte que té, com a element més significatiu, la representació visual d’un mapa conceptual format per les referències (autors, obres i conceptes) que tant el professorat com l’alumnat hem considerat més significatives del nostre camp d’estudi. L’ Univers... es defineix també com un espai a internet on podem trobar, a més del mapa conceptual, un espais de debat i un conjunt defitxes que interrelacionen el mapa amb les assignatures dels estudis.El projecte busca apropar i potenciar la participació de l’alumnat en el reconeixement ila lectura crítica del seu autors, obres i conceptes de referència, donant visibilitat al procés ifent-lo públic. Des de l’Univers... proposem una nova aproximació a la competència general descrita com a capacitat crítica de naturalesa multidisciplinària que doti a l’alumnat de capacitat derecerca acadèmica i aplicada. Entenem aquesta capacitació crítica com un procés que vadesenvolupant l’alumnat durant tot el grau. Procés que suposa, en una dimensió individual, assolir objectius com el reconeixement, localització i configuració d’un marc referencial propi, i que permet, en la seva dimensió col·lectiva, participar en la definició i concreció d’un marccomú. Amb aquesta aproximació busquem ubicar les competències generals en el centre del procés de socialització que suposa l’etapa de formació universitària, dotant-les d’un entorn propi que, alhora, es relaciona amb l’espai de les assignatures. El projecte Univers... ha estat desenvolupat pel Deganat i la Unitat de Suport a la Innovació Docent dels Estudis de Comunicació Audiovisual de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra durant el curs acadèmic 2006/2007.

La ‘deslocalización’ masiva de vehículos: límites a la elección y al cambio de domicilio en la gestión del impuesto sobre vehículos de tracción mecánica

Análisis y propuesta de solución contra la “deslocalización” masiva en algunos municipios de vehículos de sociedades para ahorrar en el Impuesto sobre Vehículos de Tracción Mecánica.

La introducción del inglés en la docencia y su influencia en los contenidos de las asignaturas de Derecho Financiero y Tributario

A pesar de que numerosos juristas (jueces, notarios, registradores de la propiedad...) puedan desarrollarsu carrera profesional sin necesitar conocer lenguas extranjeras, el dominio del inglés es una competenciaimprescindible para desarrollar una carrera profesional como jurista en los principalesdespachos de abogados españoles, en empresas multinacionales o en organizaciones internacionales.Así pues, es lógico que en el actual contexto del espacio europeo de educación superior los nuevosestudios de Grado promuevan el dominio de esta competencia introduciendo el inglés en la docencia.En el ámbito particular del Derecho Financiero y Tributario ello no resulta frecuentemente posible ya quefundamentalmente se estudia el ordenamiento jurídico español y por lo tanto las fuentes se encuentrandisponibles únicamente en castellano. Sin embargo, existen varias estrategias que permiten introducir elinglés en la docencia, aunque sea de forma parcial y afectando ligeramente a los contenidos tradicionalesde las asignaturas. Una posibilidad consiste en tratar cuestiones de Derecho Comparado en lasactividades que se desarrollan en las asignaturas centradas en el Derecho español. Otra posibilidadconsiste en impartir la asignatura de Fiscalidad Internacional en inglés, si bien ello requiere reformularsu contenido y centrarlo en los principios generales en vez de en la normativa española que regula latributación de supuestos de hecho con elementos internacionales. A pesar de que la introducción delinglés en la docencia plantee un importante reto tanto para el alumnado como para el profesorado, entendemosque es algo necesario en los tiempos actuales.

Recursos sobre protección de los derechos de la mujer en Internet

Con el objetivo de contribuir a salvaguardar los derechos fundamentales de las mujeres, hemos realizado este trabajo en el que intentamos recoger de la manera más exhaustiva que permita un medio tan voluble y cambiantecomo internet, los recursos existentes en la red sobre la Protección de los Derechos de la Mujer, y de esta manera facilitar el acceso a los mismos. La intención que ha guiado desde un principio a la elaboración de estaobra ha sido proporcionar un recurso de información práctica a aquellos profesionalesque desarrollan tareas relacionadas con la protección de los derechos de la mujer, así como a cualquier otra persona interesada o que necesite estar informada sobre esta temática. Así pues, el objetivo que nos hemos marcado no ha sido otro que el dedesarrollar una guía que permita a sus usuarios/as encontrar en internet aquellas direcciones sobre Derechos de la Mujer que facilitan un contenido sustancial e interesante.

Do women in female-dominated occupations exit the labour market more? Evidence from Italy, Spain, Denmark and the UK

Literature on sex occupational segregation has typically focused on the micro and macro determinants of it, on mobility patterns over the life course, on implications of segregation and mobility for gender inequalities. Rarely the link between sex-type occupations and women’s risk of labour market interruptions over family formation has been explored. In this piece of work we shall analyse whether women who are working in the female-dominated, male-dominated or integrated occupations have more or less chances to remain attached to the labour market, controlling for qualifications, class, sector and contract positions. By drawing from ECHP, and comparing Italy, Spain, Denmark and the UK, we shall in particular see whether such connection varies across countries with different institutional and cultural configurations.We find that, ceteris paribus, only in the UK the sex-composition of an occupation matters: women in female occupations are more likely to move to inactivity than women in mixed or male occupations. In the other countries considered the main cleavages lie elsewhere. In Italy what matters most is the sector of employment (public vs. private). In Spain the sector is relevant too, but also social class and the type of contract held (permanent vs. temporary). In Denmark women’s transitions to inactivity are largely independent of human capital and job characteristics.

Parental care time in four European countries: comparing types and contexts

The intensity of parental investments in child care time is expected to vary across families with different norms and time-constraints. Additionally, it should also differ across countries, since the abilities of parents to harmonize family and work vary by national context. In our opinion, however, this question remains inconclusive for two main reasons: 1) only some countries have been studied from a comparative approach; 2) previous studies have not paid enough attention to the analysis of how the conditional effects of education and employment affect parental investments.In this paper we used nationally representative time-use data from Denmark, Flanders, Spain and the United Kingdom (N=4,031) to explore how employment and education predict variations in child care time. IN Britain and Spain employment has a strong negative effect on fathers’ child care, but a weaker one in Flanders and particularly in Denmark. In contrast, maternal employment has a strong negative impact in all four countries. Education increases child care time significantly only among Spanish mothers and fathers, as well as British mothers. Nonetheless, we find that college-educated mothers under similar time-constraints increase substantially their expected child care time in Britain, Flanders and Spain; for fathers we find a more mixed picture. Routine child care activities are more sensitive to both maternal and paternal employment than interactive child care activities. Finally, we observe that working a public sector job generally increases a total time allocated to parental care, controlling for several demographic and socioeconomic variables.

Who benefits from parental leave in Spain? : a life course analysis

This paper analyses the extent to which individual and workplacecharacteristics and regional policies influence the use and duration ofparental leave in Spain. The research is based on a sample of 125,165people, and 6,959 parental leaves stemming from the ‘Sample ofWorking Life Histories’ (SWLH), 2006. The SWLH consists of administrative register data which include information from threedifferent sources: Social Security, Municipality and Income TaxRegisters. We adopt a simultaneous equations approach to analyse theuse (logistic regression) and duration (event history analysis) ofparental leave, which allows us to control for endogeneity and censoredobservations. We argue that the Spanish parental leave scheme increases gender and social inequalities insofar as reinforces genderrole specialization, and only encourages the reconciling of work andfamily life among workers with a good position in the labour market(educated employees with high and stable working status).

Where do I leave my baby? use and development of early childcare in Spain

Since the beginning of the 1990s, there has been a setady increase in childcare coverage for children aged 0-3 in Spain. The coverage has rised from 4 per cent in 1992 to 13.5 in 2004. Despite this positive trend, the supply of childcare services for under-3 is among the lowest in Western European countries.

Deferred effects of nursery school on adolescents' school performance in Spain

This research analysis the long-term effects of nursery school attendance before the age of three in Spain. The effects are measured when the individuals are adolescents and attend secondary school. The article deals with the controversy over the long-term effects of nursery school attendance and its potential effect on reducing inequalities and social exclusion. The results estimate a significant long-term effect of nursery school attendance on improving educational performance, although the beneficial effects are lower among adolescents residing in the lower status households.

Paternal involvement and children's developmental stages in Spain

How does fathering change across children’s developmental stages and how do these changes vary by educational levels and women’s employment? To investigate this, I use the „2003 Spanish Time Use Survey‟ (N = 2,941) for a sample of heterosexual couples with children of different ages. I differentiate between physical (i.e. feeding, supervising, putting children to bed) and interactive child care activities (i.e. speaking to, playing with, teaching the child). Fathers‟ education strongly influences how much fathers participate in physical care in families with preschoolers, a stage in which these activities are particularly important for children’s physical, social, and emotional development. For interactive care, a significant education gradient emerges when the youngest child is aged 3 to 5, when the acquisition of complex linguistic, conceptual, and social skills is critical for later school success. Mother’s employment significantly influences father’s physical child care with preschoolers. This suggests that empowering Spanish women to participate in the labor market promotes gender equity in the household division of child care.