Alternative job search strategies in remote rural and peri-urban labour markets: the role of social networks

This paper examines the importance of informal methods (especially social networking) to the job search strategies used by unemployed people. It compares three areas: a small rural town; a larger, more sparsely populated, remote rural area; and a centrally-located, peri-urban labour market. The analysis is based first on survey research undertaken with 490 job seekers across the study areas. Emerging issues were then followed up during a series of twelve focus groups. The survey research showed that job seekers in the rural study areas were significantly more likely to use social networks to look for work. However, those who had experienced repeated or long-term periods out of work, the unskilled and young people were significantly less likely to use such networks. Focus groups confirmed the perceived importance of social networking to the job search process in rural areas, in contrast to the more marginal role such methods appear to play in peri-urban settings. For many rural job seekers, formal job search activities conducted through Jobcentres were seen as largely symbolic, lacking the practical value of social networking. These results suggest that service providers seeking to assist unemployed people in rural areas need to address the problems faced by many disadvantaged job seekers who are currently caught between their lack of social network relations and the absence of local public employment service facilities in more remote communities

Transitions in welfare participation and female headship

This study uses data from the 1990, 1992, 1993 and 1996 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine how welfare policies and local economic conditions contribute to women's transitions into and out of female headship and into and out of welfare participation. It also examines whether welfare participation is directly associated with longer spells of headship. The study employs a simultaneous hazards approach that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity in all of its transition models and for the endogeneity of welfare participation in its headship model. The estimation results indicate that welfare participation significantly reduces the chances of leaving female headship. The estimates also reveal that more generous welfare benefits contribute indirectly to headship by increasing the chances that mothers will enter welfare. More generous Earned Income Tax Credit benefits are associated with longer spells of headship, non-headship, welfare participation and nonparticipation. Other measures of welfare policies, including indicators for the adoption of welfare waivers and the implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs, are generally not significantly associated with headship or welfare receipt. Better economic opportunities are estimated to increase headship but reduce welfare participation among unmarried mothers

An analysis of the social context of children’s weekend discretionary activity participation

Children’s discretionary activity, Children’s time-use, Multiple discrete continuous models, Weekend travel, Activity-based travel analysis,

Um estudo sobre as mães adolescentes Brasileiras A study on adolescent mothers in Brazil

O artigo analisa as mães-adolescentes, relacionando seus dados sociodemográficos com os rendimentos mensais dos domicílios onde vivem. Tratase de uma pesquisa quantitativa na qual se utilizaram dados secundários da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) de 2001 e de 2008. Consideramse mães-adolescentes aquelas que já haviam tido filhos nascidos vivos à época das pesquisas, que estão sendo estudadas no que tange a seu comportamento reprodutivo; frequência à escola; anos de estudo; condição no domicílio e condição de ocupação. Para observar a influência da origem socioeconômica sobre o comportamento reprodutivo das mães-adolescentes, bem como sobre os outros aspectos acima mencionados, estas foram desagregadas de acordo com o rendimento mensal dos domicílios onde viviam. Todas as informações sobre as mães-adolescentes foram comparadas com aquelas sobre as adolescentes na mesma faixa etária que não haviam tido filhos nascidos vivos, separadas em dois grupos etários: 15 a 17 e 18 a 19 anos.<br>This paper analyzes the adolescent mothers, relating their socio-demographic data with monthly income of households where they live. This is a quantitative study in which secondary data from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) from 2001 to 2008 were used. We deemed adolescent mothers those who already had children born alive at the time of the surveys, which are being studied in regard to their reproductive behavior, school attendance, years of study, household condition and condition of employment. To observe the influence of socio-economic background on the reproductive behavior of adolescent mothers, as well as on the other aspects mentioned above, these were grouped according to the monthly income of the households where they lived. All information about the adolescent mothers was compared with those of the adolescent girls the same age who had not had live births, separated into two age groups: 15 to 17 and 18 to 19 years