Improving Access to Apprenticeship: Strengthening State Policies and Practices

Describes state efforts to expand the apprenticeship model through outreach, recruitment, and subsidies to strengthen labor market-based education and skills development strategies. Discusses obstacles, lessons learned from states, and recommendations

Phases of Cost Cutting: Downsizing is Dead; Long Live the Downsizing Phenomenon

This downsizing research article presents a phase typology of job cutting which includes three distinct phases and three levels of argument. Conceptually, the paper draws heavily upon the seminal work of Littler and Gandolfi (2008) seeking to expand and update their 2008 Academy of Management (AOM) Conference paper. The paper culminates with a contemporary discussion of current downsizing practices showcasing that the strategy of downsizing has remained a popular restructuring method on a global scale.downsizing; cost cutting; phase; strategy.

ECONOMIC RENAISSANCE: THE MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIENCE

Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Job Polarization and the Flattening of the Price Phillips Curve

This paper shows that the change in the occupational composition of the labor market in favour of non-routine jobs -i.e. job polarization- flattens the price Phillips Curve (PC). Using data from the European Monetary Union and exploiting the fact that job polarization accelerates during recessions, we obtain two results. First, countries experiencing a bigger shift in the occupational structure during a downturn exhibit a flatter PC afterward. Second, the occupational shifts experienced during the Great Recession and the Sovereign Debt Crisis explain up to a forth of the flattening of the curve in the 2002-2018 period. We reconcile this evidence through a New Keynesian model with unemployment and search and matching frictions. Heterogeneity in the fluidity across segments of the labor market -i.e. differences in the separation and hiring rate across jobs- is the source of PC flattening

Trade crisis and recovery : restructuring of global value chains

The recent large and rapid slowdown in economic activity has resulted in even larger and more rapid declines in international trade. As world trade is set to rebound, this paper addresses three questions: (i) Will trade volumes rebound in a symmetric fashion as world economic growth rebounds? (ii) Will the crisis result in a change in the structure of trade, and in particular will it lead to a reversal of the pattern of more diversified sourcing and thus to a consolidation of global value chains? (iii) What policies can improve the prospects for developing country growth in the event that trade volumes do not rebound symmetrically and there is a consolidation of some global value chains?Economic Theory&Research,Currencies and Exchange Rates,Emerging Markets,Debt Markets,Trade Policy

Gazelles as Job Creators – A Survey and Interpretation of the Evidence

It is often claimed that small and young firms account for a disproportionately large share of net employment growth. We conduct a meta analysis of the empirical evidence regarding whether net employment growth rather is generated by a few rapidly growing firms – so-called Gazelles – that are not necessarily small and young. Gazelles are found to be outstanding job creators. They create all or a large share of new net jobs. On average, Gazelles are younger and smaller than other firms, but it is young age more than small size that is associated with rapid growth. Gazelles also seem to be overrepresented in services.Entrepreneurship; Firm Growth; Flyers; Gazelles; High-growth Firms; Job Creation; Rapidly Growing Firms

UK economic performance since 1997: growth, productivity and jobs

A common view is that the performance of the UK economy between 1997 and 2010 under Labour was very weak and that the current economic problems are a consequence of poor policies in this period. In this report, we analyse the historical performance of the UK economy since 1997 compared with other major advanced economies and with performance prior to 1997, notably the years of Conservative government, 1979-97. We focus on measures of business performance, especially productivity growth. This is a key economic indicator as in the long run, productivity determines material wellbeing - wages and consumption. Productivity determines the size of the 'economic pie' available to the citizens of a country

Commercial real estate and equity market bubbles: are they contagious to REITs?

This paper uses a regime-switching approach to determine whether prices in the US stock, direct real estate and indirect real estate markets are driven by the presence of speculative bubbles. The results show significant evidence of the existence of periodically partially collapsing speculative bubbles in all three markets. A multivariate bubble model is then developed and implemented to evaluate whether the stock and real estate bubbles spill over into REITs. The underlying stock market bubble is found to be a stronger influence on the securitised real estate market bubble than that of the property market. Furthermore, the findings suggest a transmission of speculative bubbles from the direct real estate to the stock market, although this link is not present for the returns themselves

Benchmarking the way cities and regions around the world are responding to the global recession

September 2009The Gauteng Provincial Government Department of Economic Department (GPGDED) approached the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) to provide them with a fast turn-around report that benchmarks sub-national responses to the economic crisis globally. The brief was to provide a review of what cities and regions are doing in response to the crisis in other parts of the world, and to emphasise the action side of the story – what is being done, rather than analysing the differing nature and impact of the crisis in different places.The report is filled not so much with specific recommendations as a suite of possible interventions that the Gauteng Provincial Government may wish to choose from and implement.For the Gauteng Provincial Department of Economic Developmen

SMME Performance—Results from a Longitudinal Study (2003-2012)

The small and medium enterprise sector is often purported to be a significant driving force within the modern economy. Over the last two decades various studies have concluded that creativity and innovation are influential factors that contributed significantly to job and wealth creation. The purpose of this study was firstly, to determine how SMMEs created jobs consistently over a ten year period. Secondly, the study aimed to determine customer, profit and sales growth as measures of business success. This study involved a longitudinal research design with a quantitative approach and a sample size of 117 participants. The pilot study started in 2003 with data obtained from 117 participants. 49% of these participants were still operational in 2012. 52% of these business owners prepared to provide data. The remainder of the 117 participants (represented by 51%) were untraceable and therefore, assumed to have failed. The performance parameters included the number of employees, customers, value of sales and profit. Our research clearly showed that when the economic situation is favourable, SMMEs create jobs and wealth, however, as soon as there is a downturn in the economy, both job and wealth creation is reduced