Three Lumps of Coal for the Working Poor

A Montana Public Radio Commentary by Evan Barrett. Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications: Missoulian, December 31, 2013 Montana Standard, February 7, 2014

Worlds of working poverty : Cross-national variation in the mechanisms that lead to poverty among workers

The objective of this paper is to distinguish between different types of working poverty, on the basis of the mechanisms that produce it. Whereas the poverty literature identifies a myriad of risk factors and of categories of disadvantaged workers, we focus on three immediate causes of working poverty, namely low wage rate, weak labour force attachment, and high needs, the latter mainly due to the presence of children (and sometimes to the increase in needs caused by a divorce). These three mechanisms are the channels through which macroeconomic, demographic and policy factors have a direct bearing on working households. The main assumption tested here is that welfare regimes strongly influence the relative weight of these three mechanisms in producing working poverty, and, hence, the composition of the working-poor population. Our figures confirm this hypothesis and show that low-wage employment is a key factor, but, by far, not the only one and that family policies broadly understood play a decisive role, as well as patterns of labour market participation and integration.

Alleviating Working Poverty in Postindustrial Economies

In order to identify the main social policy tools that can efficiently combat working poverty, it is essential to identify its main driving factors. More importantly, this work shows that all poverty factors identified in the literature have a direct bearing on working households through three mechanisms, namely being badly paid, having a below-average workforce participation, and high needs. One of the main purposes of this work is to assess whether the policies put forward in the specialist literature as potentially efficient really work. This is done in two ways. A first empirical prong provides an evaluation of the employment and antipoverty effects of these instruments, based on a meta-analysis of four instruments: minimum wages, tax credits for working households, family cash benefits and childcare policies. The second prong relies on a broader framework based on welfare regimes. This work contributes to the identification of a typology of welfare regimes that is suitable for the analysis of working poverty, and four countries are chosen to exemplify each regime: the US, Sweden, Germany, and Spain. It then moves on to show that the weight of the three working poverty mechanisms varies widely from one welfare regime to the other. This second empirical contribution clearly shows that there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to the fight against working poverty. But none of this is possible without having properly defined the phenomenon. Most of the literature is characterized by a "definitional chaos" that probably does more harm than good to social policy efforts. Hence, this book provides a conceptual reflection pleading for the use of a very encompassing definition of being in work. It shows that "the working poor" is too broad a category to be used for meaningful academic or policy discussion, and that a distinction must be operated between different categories of the working poor. Failing to acknowledge this prevents the design of an efficient policy mix.

The Seafarer as the "Worthy Poor"

The paper examined the transition from elite, secular marine societies to evangelical efforts to reach the working poor seafarer.

Explanation of the views of the Society for Employing the Poor : with the constitution and by-laws; and an extract from the report of the managers, for the first three months, and a list of subscribers' names.

Shoemaker

Poverty in Israel

The paper deals with poverty within Israel. Against the background of the history of pre-state Israel and the developments after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 the historical roots of Israeli poverty are analyzed. Thus the ‘socialist’-Zionist project, ethnic exclusion, religious and intra-Jewish ethnic lines of conflict as well as the Bedouins, Druzes and Israeli Arabs as ‘specific’ Israeli citizen are discussed. Despite the economic growth in Israel since 2003 ‘the majority of Israeli wage earners (over 60percent) earned less than $1,450 a month last year’ (Goldstein 2007, p. 1). In 2004 1.3 million Israelis lived below the poverty line, a number which in 2005 increased to more than 1.5 million Israelis. In spite of growing economic prosperity the proportion of families belonging to the working-poor, i.e. families with at least one family member in paid employment, increased from 11.4 percent in 2004 to 12.2 percent in 2005. The percentage of poor families in the working population increased from 40.6 percent to 43.1 percent. Nearly 60 percent of the ‘working-poor’ were working fulltime (Sinai 2006a, Shaoul 2006). 42 percent of Israeli Arab families are living below the poverty line. The average wages are less than half the wages of Ashkenazi Jews. Every second Israeli Arab child lives in poverty. When in 1996 to 2001 the unemployment rate of the Jewish Israelis increased by about 53 percent, the unemployment rate of the Arab Israelis increased by 126 percent (cf. Shaoul 2006). 80 percent of Israelis regard themselves as poor. 23 percent of the pensioners are living below the poverty line. Poverty among children increased in 1988 to 2005 by about 50 percent. Approximately one fifth of all under-age children (714.000) in Israel are suffering from hunger (cf. Shaoul 2006). 75 percent of the poor families cannot afford medicine and 70 percent are dependant on food donations (cf. Sinai 2005b). Nearly one third of the Holocaust survivors are living in poverty. Some of the Holocaust survivors get $ 600,- per month from the German government, whilst other Holocaust survivors receive only $ 350,- per month from the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Holocaust survivors that immigrated to Israel after 1953 (who amount to 70 percent of the Holocaust survivors in Israel) only receive the general national pension. Nearly 20 percent of the Holocaust survivors are at the present time 86 years and older, 70 percent are older than 76 years. (cf. Medina 2007, p. 1) They are not entitled to a supplementary payment or to compensation. But the problematic economic situation of the Holocaust survivors is neither new information nor an unknown fact. As a result of the precarious situation several are in need of the help of welfare organizations, because they cannot afford to some degree their necessary medicine.

El empleo de bajos ingresos en la Argentina : Caracterización regional entre 2003 y 2010

Este artículo se ocupa del empleo de bajos ingresos (EBI), entendiéndose por tal al trabajo asalariado cuya remuneración se sitúa por debajo de determinados umbrales. Los umbrales considerados aquí fueron el Salario Mínimo Vital y Móvil y la mitad del ingreso promedio de los trabajadores asalariados de jornada completa. Con datos de la Encuesta Permanente de Hogares de la Argentina para el período 2003-2010, se ha determinado la magnitud del EBI, las diferencias entre las ciudades cubiertas por la encuesta, la asociación del EBI con otras variables y, por último, sus microdeterminantes. Entre las conclusiones más relevantes se pueden mencionar las siguientes: el EBI afecta, en todo el país, a un rango que va del 16 al 26 de los trabajadores asalariados; es muy dispar por ciudad de residencia; está fuertemente asociado a la incidencia del trabajo no registrado; y, a pesar del fuerte aumento de la registración entre 2003 y 2010, no ha cedido en la misma proporción que la informalidad.

El empleo de bajos ingresos en la Argentina : Caracterización regional entre 2003 y 2010

Este artículo se ocupa del empleo de bajos ingresos (EBI), entendiéndose por tal al trabajo asalariado cuya remuneración se sitúa por debajo de determinados umbrales. Los umbrales considerados aquí fueron el Salario Mínimo Vital y Móvil y la mitad del ingreso promedio de los trabajadores asalariados de jornada completa. Con datos de la Encuesta Permanente de Hogares de la Argentina para el período 2003-2010, se ha determinado la magnitud del EBI, las diferencias entre las ciudades cubiertas por la encuesta, la asociación del EBI con otras variables y, por último, sus microdeterminantes. Entre las conclusiones más relevantes se pueden mencionar las siguientes: el EBI afecta, en todo el país, a un rango que va del 16 al 26 de los trabajadores asalariados; es muy dispar por ciudad de residencia; está fuertemente asociado a la incidencia del trabajo no registrado; y, a pesar del fuerte aumento de la registración entre 2003 y 2010, no ha cedido en la misma proporción que la informalidad.

El empleo de bajos ingresos en la Argentina : Caracterización regional entre 2003 y 2010

Este artículo se ocupa del empleo de bajos ingresos (EBI), entendiéndose por tal al trabajo asalariado cuya remuneración se sitúa por debajo de determinados umbrales. Los umbrales considerados aquí fueron el Salario Mínimo Vital y Móvil y la mitad del ingreso promedio de los trabajadores asalariados de jornada completa. Con datos de la Encuesta Permanente de Hogares de la Argentina para el período 2003-2010, se ha determinado la magnitud del EBI, las diferencias entre las ciudades cubiertas por la encuesta, la asociación del EBI con otras variables y, por último, sus microdeterminantes. Entre las conclusiones más relevantes se pueden mencionar las siguientes: el EBI afecta, en todo el país, a un rango que va del 16 al 26 de los trabajadores asalariados; es muy dispar por ciudad de residencia; está fuertemente asociado a la incidencia del trabajo no registrado; y, a pesar del fuerte aumento de la registración entre 2003 y 2010, no ha cedido en la misma proporción que la informalidad.

Arbeit und Armut : ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte sozialer Ideen /

Examines the influence of labor systems and wage theory on the theory and practice of public welfare in classical times, feudal and mercantile England, the Ricardian era, and modern times, with emphasis on the "working poor" and Ricardo's wage theory.

The Impact of the Internet in Six Latin American Countries

Access to the Internet has grown exponentially in Latin America over the past decade. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates that in 2009 there were 144.5 million Internet users in South America, 6.4 million in Central America, and 8.2 million in the Caribbean, or a total 159.2 million users in all of Latin America.1 At that time, ITU reported an estimated 31 million Internet users in Mexico, which would bring the overall number of users in Latin America to 190.2 million people. More recent estimates published by Internet World Stats place Internet access currently at an estimated 204.6 million out of a total population of 592.5 million in the region (this figure includes Mexico).2 According to those figures, 34.5 per cent of the Latin American population now enjoys Internet access. In recent years, universal access policies contributed to the vast increase in digital literacy and Internet use in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Whereas the latter was the first country in the region to adopt a policy of universal access, the most expansive and successful digital inclusion programs in the region have taken hold in Brazil and Chile. These two countries have allocated considerable resources to the promotion of digital literacy and Internet access among low income and poor populations; in both cases, civil society groups significantly assisted in the promotion of inclusion at the grassroots level. Digital literacy and Internet access have come to represent, particularly in the area of education, a welcome complementary resource for populations chronically underserved in nations with a long-standing record of inadequate public social services. Digital inclusion is vastly expanding throughout the region, thanks to stabilizing economies, increasingly affordable technology, and the rapid growth in the supply of cellular mobile telephony. A recent study by the global advertising agency Razorfish revealed significant shifts in the demographics of digital inclusion in the major economies of South America, where Web access is rapidly increasing amid the lower middle class and the working poor.3 Several researchers have suggested that Internet access will bring about greater civic participation and engagement, although skeptics remain unsure this could happen in Latin America. Yet, there have been some recent instances of political mobilization facilitated through the use of the Web and social media applications, starting in Chile when “smart mobs” nationwide demonstrated against former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet when she failed to enact education reforms in May 2006. The Internet has also been used by marginalized groups and by guerrillas groups to highlight their stories. In sum, Internet access in Latin is no longer a medium restricted to the elite. It is rather a public sphere upon which civil society has staked its claim. Some of the examples noted in this study point toward a developing trend whereby civil society, through online grassroots movements, is able to effectively pressure public officials, instill transparency and demand accountability in government. Access to the Internet has also made it possible for voices on the margins to participate in the conversation in a way that was never previously feasible. 1 International Telecommunications Union [ITU], “Information Technology Public & Report,” accessed May 15, 2011, http://www.itu.int/. 2 Internet World Stats, “Internet Usage Statistics for the Americas,” accessed March 24, 2011, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.htm 3 J. Crump, “The finch and the fox,” London, UK (2010), http://www.slideshare.net/razorfishmarketing/the-finch-and-the-fox.

Stressful working conditions and poor self-rated health among financial services employees

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between exposure to adverse psychosocial working conditions and poor self-rated health among bank employees. METHODS: A cross-sectional study including a sample of 2,054 employees of a government bank was conducted in 2008. Self-rated health was assessed by a single question: "In general, would you say your health is (...)." Exposure to adverse psychosocial working conditions was evaluated by the effort-reward imbalance model and the demand-control model. Information on other independent variables was obtained through a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed and odds ratio calculated to assess independent associations between adverse psychosocial working conditions and poor self-rated health. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of poor self-rated health was 9%, with no significant gender difference. Exposure to high demand and low control environment at work was associated with poor self-rated health. Employees with high effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment also reported poor self-rated health, with a dose-response relationship. Social support at work was inversely related to poor self-rated health, with a dose-response relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to adverse psychosocial work factors assessed based on the effort-reward imbalance model and the demand-control model is independently associated with poor self-rated health among the workers studied.

Carotenoids but not flavonoids are associated with improvements in spatial working memory in younger adults in a flavonoid-rich v. -poor fruit and vegetable intervention study

Findings from animal studies suggest that components of fruit and vegetables (F&V) may protect against, and even reverse, age-related decline(1,2) in aspects of cognitive functioning such as spatial working memory (SWM). Human subjects in vivo and in vitro studies indicate that anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and cell-signalling properties of flavonoids and carotenoids, non-nutrient components of F&V, may underpin this protective effect(3–5). The Flavonoid University of Reading Study (FLAVURS), designed to explore the dose-response relationship between dietary F&V flavonoids and CVD, enabled the investigation of such an association with SWM. FLAVURS is an 18-week parallel three-arm randomised controlled dietary intervention trial with four time points, measured at 6-weekly intervals from baseline. Low F&V consumers at risk of CVD aged 26–70 years were randomly assigned to high flavonoid (HF), low flavonoid (LF) or control group. F&V intake increased by two daily 80 g portions every 6 weeks, with either HF or LF F&V, in addition to each participant's habitual diet, while controls maintained their habitual diet. At each visit, participants completed a cognitive test battery with SWM as the primary outcome. The HF group showed significantly higher levels of urinary flavonoids than LF or controls at 12 weeks (P<0.001) as expected, but surprisingly only higher levels than LF at 18 weeks (P<0.01). The LF group showed higher levels of plasma carotenoids than the other groups at 18 weeks (P<0.001). No group differences were found for SWM overall, however, age-group sub-analyses (26–50 and 51–70 years of age) showed differences from 0 to 18 weeks for younger adults, with LF improving significantly more than the other two groups on SWM (P<0.05). As nutritional absorption is known to decrease with age, separate stepwise regressions were performed on the two age groups irrespective of dietary group, with urinary flavonoids and plasma carotenoids as predictors. For younger adults, improved SWM performance from 0 to 18 weeks was associated with higher carotenoid levels, β=0.28, t(55)=2.10, P<0.05, accounting for 7.5% of the variance, R2=0.075, F(1,54)=4.41, P=0.040. For older adults, no between-group SWM differences were found. Findings suggest that F&V-based flavonoids and carotenoids may provide benefits for cognitive function, and that carotenoids in particular may improve cognitive performance in SWM. Given that these benefits were restricted to younger adults, future work is needed to test the reliability of this finding, as well as determine the mechanisms by which age-dependent differences in F&V responsiveness occur.