East Midlands FRESA targets project

Reviewed employment and skills targets in use by organisations in the East Midlands in order to inform the development of targets for the East Midlands Framework for Employment and Skills action (FRESA). Established target development process later adopted by emda for 2006 RES. Developed criteria for applying to future selection of economic performance monitoring metrics - especially for skills, based on extant best practice, such as the Treasury's 'Green Book'

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

The supernatural characters and powers of sacred trees in the Holy Land

This article surveys the beliefs concerning the supernatural characteristics and powers of sacred trees in Israel; it is based on a field study as well as a survey of the literature and includes 118 interviews with Muslims and Druze. Both the Muslims and Druze in this study attribute supernatural dimensions to sacred trees which are directly related to ancient, deep-rooted pagan traditions. The Muslims attribute similar divine powers to sacred trees as they do to the graves of their saints; the graves and the trees are both considered to be the abode of the soul of a saint which is the source of their miraculous powers. Any violation of a sacred tree would be strictly punished while leaving the opportunity for atonement and forgiveness. The Druze, who believe in the transmigration of souls, have similar traditions concerning sacred trees but with a different religious background. In polytheistic religions the sacred grove/forest is a centre of the community's official worship; any violation of the trees is regarded as a threat to the well being of the community. Punishments may thus be collective. In the monotheistic world (including Christianity, Islam and Druze) the pagan worship of trees was converted into the worship/adoration of saints/prophets; it is not a part of the official religion but rather a personal act and the punishments are exerted only on the violating individual

The New Deal for Lone Parents A review of evaluation evidence; a summary of evidence from the monitoring and evaluation of NDLP

See 3737.640 for full reportAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3737.642(51) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

The New Deal for Young People, two years on

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:3737.642(41) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

(Non)participation in the labour market : alternative indicators and estimates of labour reserve in United Kingdom regions

In the context of the continuance of mass high unemployment in the United Kingdom and considerable debate concerning the 'real level' of unemployment, the authors of this paper go beyond the official unemployment rate by focusing on the development of alternative indicators of labour reserve in the regions of the United Kingdom. They show how, on a step by-step basis, successively 'broader' indicators of labour reserve (more specifically, those on government training schemes, various categories of those conventionally defined as economically inactive who would like a job, and those in part-time work because they could not find full-time employment) may be derived by means of data from the Labour Force Survey. They then go on to outline the key features of regional variations in the scope for additional labour-force participation. As labour supply is a dynamic concept, and the utilisation of the labour reserve implies transitions from unemployment and nonemployment to employment, selected information on transitions between labour-market states and on the previous economic circumstances of the unemployed is presented. Some key features of the broad regional geography of those categorised as in employment, but 'on the margins' of the labour reserve, are highlighted also. Finally, the implications for policy of substantial labour reserves in many regions in the United Kingdom are explored