The Great Recession from December 2007 to June 2009 is associated with a dramatic weakening of the labor market from which the labor market is now only slowly recovering. The unemployment rate remains stubbornly high and durations of unemployment are unprecedentedly long. I use data from the Displaced Workers Survey (DWS) from 1984-2010 to…

United States economic courses of action--and inaction--are increasingly being based on the employment and unemployment figures put out monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Yet, the basic statistical concepts that are still used were fashioned during the Great Depression and do not take into account the very different conditions we…

Uses Marxist/feminist concepts to explain employment patterns among female workers in multinational maquiladoras (assembly plants) in northern Mexico. Concludes that maquiladoras have not alleviated regional unemployment for either sex, but have created a docile low-wage work force that includes a pool of surplus labor. Contains 48 references. (SV)

Using 1975 and 1976 data from the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study examines the significance of the 1975 recession for families with children under 18. This study attempted to ascertain what families with children were most susceptible to having an unemployed breadwinner in 1975 and why some family heads were more susceptible to…

Results of Surveys of graduates (based on the 1972 and 1973 classes) soon after receipt of a degree are used to document the existence of dramatic differences in level of vocational success achieved by the graduates of various curricular areas. Measures of vocational success discussed include unemployment rate, underemployment rate, incidence of…

Because female heads of families tend to have less continuity of employment than their male counterparts do, they are twice as likely to face unemployment without unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. If Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which is the primary income support program for impoverished single mothers and their children…

Both the literature and common beliefs suggest that unemployment increases family stress and child abuse. To test this idea, data were collected on monthly unemployment rate and number of child abuse complaints during 1978-91 in a rural county in the northwestern United States dependent on the lumber industry. Unexpectedly, the data showed that…

Although the need for psychological counseling for the unemployed has been recognized, the development of specific counseling strategies for this population has not been systematically addressed. The need for specific counseling intervention strategies for the recently and chronically unemployed was examined in a study of 25 recently unemployed…

Nine papers presented at the conference on Employment Statistics and Youth are presented. Focusing on the meaning of unemployment counts in the U.S., the first three papers are Measurement and Interpretation of Teenage Unemployment in the United States and Other Countries, by Beatrice Reubens; What Do Teenage Unemployment Statistics Measure?, by…

In the period since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act Blacks have continued to experience severe disadvantages relative to Whites in such areas as family stability, unemployment rates, average income, poverty rates, and dependence on government transfer payment programs. From the diverse statistical indicators of relative status two sharply…

A tentative theory of age-discrimination is indirectly tested through labor statistics concerning the duration of unemployment. After first reviewing the inadequacies and inapplicability of sex and race discrimination hypotheses derived from the conventional economic models, this analysis synthesizes statistical models of discrimination to explain…

A four-stage feminist research project investigating European Social Fund (ESF)-funded vocational training for unemployed women used the grounded theory approach. Stage 1 involved the formation of the research questions and design. Steps included the ontological, epistemological, and methodological positioning of the researcher. Stage 2 was the…

There has been a long-term rise in the relative share of the total number of workers engaged in producing intangible goods or services. Since 1967, this shift to employment in the service sector has been accommodated by a relative decline in manufacturing. Other trends that have taken place over the last decades and are likely to continue are…

Consequences of population turnaround for rural economic development are examined in a 9-county region of Northern Lower Michigan. Data from census reports and 374 usable responses to a questionnaire mailed to a random sample of property owners drawn from 1982 county tax assessment rolls were used to test competing hypotheses about rural…

This paper examines whether Hispanic Americans are more likely than Anglo Americans to view college education as a major component in job attainment. The study reviewed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and surveyed 86 undergraduate students at Texas A&M University. The college sample was fairly representative of the student…