Necessity and challenges of nature conservation

Nature conservation is the preservation of resources that are produced naturally for example wild animals and plants, ecosystem and biodiversity especially from the effects of human activities for example exploitation and industrialization. Nature conservation is necessary in protecting the biodiversity for example to prevent animal species from endangering or extinct, protection for natural ecosystem and human’s freshwater sources for drinking purposes. Moreover, nature conservation is important in maintaining a long-life natural environment as well as an environment that is sustainable towards development. However, nature conservation is not an easy task as it requires a lot of manpower as well as money. Therefore, nature conservation is challenging as well. The challenges of nature conservation include human’s overpopulation, global warming and overharvesting. Human’s overpopulation is one of the most challenging factors that influences the practice of nature conservation

Subject: International

Compiled by Susan LaCette.International.pdf: 820 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Aging and Economic Growth: Issues Relevant to Singapore

The paper studies the effects of the changing age and education composition of the labour force on productivity growth in Singapore. The quality change of workers from aging and education is measured through a quality index. Quality change through education is the key driving force for the productive performance of the labour force. On the other hand, the growth in the labour quality of workers by age, and hence, its contribution to labour productivity growth is falling. To moderate the impact of the aging labour force on productivity growth, greater efforts to raise the educational profile of the labour force and to re-train older workers are required.

Pension systems in East Asia and the Pacific : challenges and opportunities

With the recovery from the recent crisis, countries of the East Asia and Pacific region are rethinking their financial, and social policy, including old-age protection. Population aging, in combination with ongoing urbanization, and economic transformation, will place increasing pressure on traditional family care arrangements. Coverage under formal pension systems is generally low, and the absence of social safety nets for the needy elderly, poses risks in the face of breaks in the economic growth path. In addition to common systemic challenges, formal old-age income support systems confront issues specific to their design type: 1) The national provident fund, and social security systems with reserve funds, have demonstrated problems with investment policy, and performance, governance and management. 2) In the established market economies, social security systems are fiscally unsustainable in the long run, and often have a weak benefit-contribution link. 3) These types of systems encounter additional problems in transition economies, including low contribution collection from previously socialized enterprises. Options addressed by the paper involve the adoption of an integrated view on retirement income provision, averting fiscal un-sustainability, and, integrating public, and private sector pensions. Additionally, moving toward a multi-pillar structure with prudent coverage extension, and, fostering financial markets, to allow decentralized pension funds management, are also suggested.Health Economics&Finance,Public Sector Economics,Pensions&Retirement Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform

Discrimination, labour markets and the Labour Market Prospects of Older Workers: What Can a Legal Case Teach us?

As governments become increasingly concerned about the fiscal implications of the ageing population, labour market policies have sought to encourage mature workers to remain in the labour force. The ‘human capital’ discourses motivating these policies rest on the assumption that older workers armed with motivation and vocational skills will be able to return to fulfilling work. This paper uses the post-redundancy recruitment experiences of former Ansett Airlines flight attendants to develop a critique of these expectations. It suggests that policies to increase older workers’ labour market participation will not succeed while persistent socially constructed age- and gender- typing shape labour demand. The conclusion argues for policies sensitive to the institutional structures that shape employer preferences, the competitive rationality of discriminatory practices, and the irresolvable tension between workers’ human rights and employers’ property rights

Trade unions and collective bargaining

The authors assert that changing world markets and new technologies are driving industrial restructuring. The ability of developing countries and the new transitional economies to compete in the global marketplace will depend on their ability to transform industrial relations policies involving trade unions and collective bargaining so that they promote flexibility in the workplace and encourage the formation and effective use of human resources. History has shown, they say, that there are certain key moments of transition in industrial relations systems. After that time, systems get set and are hard to modify. Often these key moments are the result of legislative changes (such as the National Labor Relations Act and the emergence of public sector unions after the burgeoning of public sector legislation in the United States). Sometimes they are the result of key historical or economic junctures (such as the postwar reconstruction in Japan and Germany, and independence movements in the developing world). Recent pressures for structural change in the developing world present an opportunity for major transitions in industrial relations. Drawing on the Japanese and German experiences, as well as experiences in the developing world, the authors focus on lessons that can be applied in guiding this transformation. Workers participation in decisionmaking, they contend, is critical for bringing about the essential popular acceptance of changes that will come with industrial restructuring. It is also important to coordinate and integrate industrial relations policy with other social, legal, economic, and educational policies. The education system, for example, should not be overproducing college graduates when there is an undersupply of unskilled and skilled workers.Labor Management and Relations,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Standards,Politics and Government,Work&Working Conditions

Globalization and Decent Work, Options for Panama

An analysis of economic trends in Panama, including the effects of trade liberalization and poverty on employment and child labor

Determinants of Preference for Contingent Employment

This paper explores the determinants of preference for contingent employment using a national probability sample of temporary workers and independent contractors. A multi-level model of preference and multivariate analyses indicate that the opportunity cost of contract work, number of job opportunities, prior experience, human and financial capital, access to health benefits, prior experience, and work-family factors predict preference for contingent employment. These results are moderated by gender and by type of contingent work arrangement. Temporary workers differ from independent contractors and men differ from women with respect to which factors are associated with preference. The implications for organization human resource policy and social policy are discussed

Forecasting the labour market by occupation and education: Some key issues

In this paper, we focus on two key characteristics of ROA’s forecasting approach of the labour market by occupation and education. These concern the use of the gap approach, and the substitution of education programmes within occupations. We show that the gap between supply and demand constitutes a useful and informative concept, which can be justifiably used as long as too little is known about the adjustment process in the labour market. Then we discuss the structure of the substitution process, mainly focusing on substitution as a result of the initially expected gaps between supply and demand. We distinguish between active substitution, resulting from supply-demand mismatches for the education programme concerned, and passive substitution, which is due to spillover effects from supply-demand mismatches for other education programmes. Passive substitution between education programmes is included in the forecasts when the final gaps between supply and demand are calculated. Recent ROA forecasts are used to illustrate the meaning of the various substitution processes for expected labour demand and the gaps between supply and demand. We find that omitting substitution demand from the forecasting model results in future labour market prospects that are generally too pessimistic for the higher educated.education, training and the labour market;