Impact of the Financial Crisis on Finance Sector Workers

[Excerpt] The purpose of this paper is to briefly review the background, causes, characteristics and trajectory of the ongoing financial and economic crisis; to define the financial services sector, its occupations and their educational requirements, as well as recent important trends; to provide a preliminary assessment of the impact of the crisis on finance sector jobs; and to give suggestions on possible policy responses to address the effects of the crisis on finance sector workers

A Violência no Local de Trabalho em Instituições de Saúde: Um Estudo Monocêntrico sobre Causas, Consequências e Estratégias de Prevenção

Introduction: Workplace violence is one of the main risk factors in the professional world. Healthcare workers are at higher risk when compared to other sectors. Our study aimed to characterize physical and verbal violence in a public hospital and to define occupational health prevention and surveillance strategies. Material and Methods: Single center observational cross-sectional study, carried amongst healthcare workers in a public hospital in Lisbon. A qualitative survey was carried out through six in-depth interviews. A quantitative survey was carried through questionnaires delivered to 32 workers. A significance level of 5% was accepted in the assessment of statistical differences. The Mann-Whitney test and the Fisher’s exact test were used to calculate p values. Results: The main results are: (1) 41 violence incidents were reported in the quantitative phase; (2) 5/21 [23.81%] victims notified the incident to the occupational health department; (3) 18/21 [85.71%] victims reported a permanent state of hypervigilance; (4) 22/28 [78.57%] participants self-reported poor or no familiarity with internal reporting procedures; (5) 24/28 [85.71%] participants believed it is possible to minimize workplace violence. Discussion: Workplace violence is favored by unrestricted access to working areas, absence of security guards and police officers or scarce intervention. The low notification rate contributes to organizational lack of action. The state of hypervigilance reported in our study reflects the negative effects of threatening occupational stressors on mental health. Conclusion: Our results show that workplace violence is a relevant risk factor that significantly impacts workers’ health in a noxious manner, deserving a tailored occupational health approach whose priority areas and strategies have been determined.Introdução: A violência no local de trabalho é um dos principais fatores de risco no mundo do trabalho. Os trabalhadores da saúde apresentam um risco superior. O nosso estudo teve como objetivo caracterizar a violência física e verbal num hospital público e definir estratégias de prevenção e vigilância em saúde ocupacional. Material e Métodos: Estudo observacional transversal monocêntrico, conduzido num hospital público em Lisboa com trabalhadores da saúde. Foi realizado um inquérito qualitativo com entrevistas em profundidade a seis trabalhadores e um inquérito quantitativo com questionários a 32 trabalhadores. Aceitou-se um nível de significância de 5% na avaliação das diferenças estatísticas. O teste de Mann-Whitney e o teste exato de Fisher foram usados para calcular os valores de p. Resultados: Os principais resultados são: (1) 41 episódios reportados na fase quantitativa; (2) 5/21 [23,81%] vítimas notificaram o incidente; (3) 18/21 [85.71%] vítimas reportaram estados de hipervigilância permanente; (4) 22/28 [78,57%] participantes não conheciam ou conheciam mal os procedimentos de notificação; (5) 24/28 [85,71%] consideravam possível minimizar o problema. Discussão: A violência é favorecida pelo acesso livre às zonas de trabalho, ausência de agentes de segurança e polícia ou falta da respetiva intervenção. A baixa notificação contribui para a ausência de medidas organizacionais. O estado de hipervigilância relatado reflete o efeito prejudicial da exposição a fontes de stress e ameaça. Conclusão: A violência no local de trabalho é um fator de risco relevante, com impacto negativo na saúde dos trabalhadores e merece uma abordagem individualizada no âmbito da saúde ocupacional, cujas áreas e estratégias prioritárias foram definidas neste estudo. Palavras-chave: Fatores de Risco Profissionais; Prevenção; Saúde Ocupacional; Trabalhadores da Saúde; Violência no Local de trabalho.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Report No. 24: Analysis of the Social Agendas

Study conducted for the European Parliament, Bonn 2010 (135 pages)

The Use of Flexible Measures to Cope with Economic Crises in Germany and Brazil

This study gives a comparative overview of labor market dynamics and institutional arrangements in Germany and Brazil with particular emphasis on industrial relations, wage setting, unemployment benefits, employment protection and vocational training. The paper shows that institutions determine the mode of adjustment to changing economic conditions and the role of standard vs. non-standard contracts. Whereas internal flexibility via shorter working time was a dominant mode of adjustment during the 2008-09 crisis in the German manufacturing sector, in Brazil such plant-level flexibility to avoid dismissals was less prominent.dismissal protection, working time, labor market flexibility, Germany, Brazil

Experimental Tests of Survey Responses to Expenditure Questions

This paper tests for a number of survey effects in the elicitation of expenditure items. In particular we examine the extent to which individuals use features of the expenditure question to construct their answers. We test whether respondents interpret question wording as researchers intend and examine the extent to which prompts, clarifications and seemingly arbitrary features of survey design influence expenditure reports. We find that over one quarter of respondents have difficulty distinguishing between "you" and “your household” when making expenditure reports; that respondents report higher pro-rata expenditure when asked to give responses on a weekly as opposed to monthly or annual time scale; that respondents give higher estimates when using a scale with a higher mid-point; and that respondents report higher aggregated expenditure when categories are presented in a disaggregated form. In summary, expenditure reports are constructed using convenient rules of thumb and available information, which will depend on the characteristics of the respondent, the expenditure domain and features of the survey question. It is crucial to further account for these features in ongoing surveys.expenditure surveys, survey design, data experiments

When trade unions succeed: cases of blocked liberalisation in the common market

Despite the generally accepted weakness of trade unions at the European Union level, an analysis of two high profile cases – the Services Directive and the Port Directive – shows that trade unions are able to mobilise effectively at the European level and, within constellations of actors, crucially impact EU decision making. In contrast to common claims that a lack of access to EU institutions makes such groups powerless, it is argued here that the exclusion of large opposing societal groups from consultations is neither a quick nor a sure fire recipe for dismantling opposition. On the contrary, it politicises the process and may lead to opposing groups mobilising in more contentious ways