Paths of the vocational training graduates: Estimation of a multi-state model using a stationary Markov chain.

Located at the hinge of education and employment, vocational training is supposed to provide profiles adapted to the labour market requirements. However, Moroccan graduates of vocational training often find it difficult to fit into the labour market. Indeed, according to the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, only 63% of the graduates in 2006 succeeded in integrating the working environment. Yet, this rate hides several realities and is likely to overestimate integration since it does not take into account some crucial variables in the analysis of professional integration, namely the duration of employment, the precariousness of employment, etc. Studies about the paths of vocational training graduates realized periodically (every two years) since 1987 by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training aim, by virtue of their longitudinal aspect, to analyze the stability and the evolution of these graduates employment as well as their behaviour. In other words, these studies seek to answer some questions about the dynamics of youth employment in the labour market. This work aims to model the transitions of vocational training graduates using a retrospective calendar recalling their professional situation starting from the date of obtaining the diploma (2002) until the date of the survey (2006). Our model uses a transition process generated by a homogeneous, stationary and ergodic Markov chain for the graduates state space. We propose to explain the transitions from one state to another, via a multivariate logistic link, through variables which can influence between-state transitions. This leads that the processual variables explain these transitions. To estimate the parameters of our model, we use an iterative method of unconstrained nonlinear optimization: Conjugate Gradient "CG”. The stationarity of the Markov chain and the estimation of the transition matrix allow us to compute labour market indicators used to describe the behaviour of young graduates as well as their professional mobility.llabour market, transitions, vocational training, Markov chain, "CG” Method, Morocco

Ensuring the right to education for Roma children : an Anglo-Swedish perspective

Access to public education systems has tended to be below normative levels where Roma children are concerned. Various long-standing social, cultural, and institutional factors lie behind the lower levels of engagement and achievement of Roma children in education, relative to many others, which is reflective of the general lack of integration of their families in mainstream society. The risks to Roma children’s educational interests are well recognized internationally, particularly at the European level. They have prompted a range of policy initiatives and legal instruments to protect rights and promote equality and inclusion, on top of the framework of international human rights and minority protections. Nevertheless, states’ autonomy in tailoring educational arrangements to their budgets and national policy agendas has contributed to considerable international variation in specific provision for Roma children. As this article discusses, even between two socially liberal countries, the UK and Sweden, with their well-advanced welfare states and public systems of social support, there is a divergence in protection, one which underlines the need for a more consistent and positive approach to upholding the education rights and interests of children in this most marginalized and often discriminated against minority group

Corrections, Health, and Human Services: Evidence-based Planning and Evaluation

This report is the product of an Inter-Ministry initiative within British Columbia\u27s Provincial Government, and is designed to promote integrated planning, delivery, and evaluation of services to reduce the risk that people with substance use and mental disorders become unnecessarily involved with the corrections system. The BC ministries partnered in this project include the BC Ministry of Health, BC Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and the BC Ministry of Employment & Income Assistance

El Estado de las cooperativas de consumo: un enfoque de abajo hacia arriba

Este trabajo parte de la duda sobre la continuidad y el futuro de las cooperativas de consumo. Para ello, realiza un análisis estadístico de la evolución de la Economía Social y sitúa, dentro del contexto VICA, a las cooperativas de consumo, con una perspectiva escalar que permite tener una visión territorial de Andalucía, España y Europa. Apoyado en el método científico inductivo (análisis descriptivo), la investigación traza la evolución y la situación actual de las cooperativas de consumo, abriendo un debate sobre el estrenado decrecimiento de estas empresas de Economía Social. Las principales derivaciones señalan una situación crítica y una desvinculación del ámbito local. Sin embargo, fuera del cuantitativismo, en las redes sociales, se observa un fortalecimiento de los valores del cooperativismo de consumo que podría abrir una nueva vía de crecimiento.This paper starts from the doubt about the continuity and the future of the consumer cooperatives. To do this, it carries out a statistical analysis of the evolution of the Social Economy and situates, within the VICA context, the consumer cooperatives, with a scalar perspective that allows having a territorial view of Andalusia, Spain and Europe. Based on the scientific inductive method (descriptive analysis), the research describes the evolution and the current situation of the consumer cooperatives, opening a debate about the first decline of these enterprises of Social Economy. The main conclusions show a critical situation and a disconnection from the local scope. However, outside of quantitative, in social networks there is a strengthening of the values of consumer co-operatives that could open a new path of growth

Sri Lanka Country Profile

[From Introduction] This country study for Sri Lanka is part of the ILO project \u27Employment of People with Disabilities – the Impact of Legislation\u27 which aims to enhance the capacity of national governments in selected countries of Asia and East Africa to implement effective legislation concerning the employment of people with disabilities. Starting with a systematic examination of laws in place to promote employment and training opportunities for people with disabilities in selected countries of Asia and the Pacific (Australia, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Japan, India, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Thailand), the project sets out to examine the operation of such legislation, identify the implementation mechanisms in place and suggest improvements Technical assistance is provided to selected national governments in implementing necessary improvements. The country study outlines the main provisions of the laws in place in Sri Lanka concerning the employment of people with disabilities. A brief review of the implementation of the legislation is also provided, insofar as this was possible, based on a survey of documentary sources, a study by an in-country consultant and feedback from Sri Lankan delegates to a Project Consultation held in Bangkok, 17 January 2003. It may be read in conjunction with the regional overview prepared for this Consultation \u27Employment of People with Disabilities– the Impact of Legislation (Asia and the Pacific). Project Consultation Report, Bangkok 17 January\u27, ILO 2003

Labor Rights Report: Morocco

[Excerpt] This report examines the labor rights situation in Morocco. The labor rights taken into consideration include those rights defined as “core labor standards” by Section 2113 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 3813(6)): the right of association; the right to organize and bargain collectively; a prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsory labor; a minimum age for the employment of children; and acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health. Because of the emphasis in the Trade Act on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor, we have broadened the discussion not only to include minimum age for employment of children but also the effective elimination of the worst forms of child labor

National Working Conditions Surveys in Europe: A Compilation

[Excerpt] Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) has been measuring working conditions across the European Union for the past 20 years. It is a unique instrument for better understanding the quality of work and employment and the factors influencing it. Eurofound is committed to improving further the quality of the EWCS and strengthening its relevance for Eurofound’s tripartite stakeholders. Some of the most important sources of information for the development of the EWCS questionnaire are the national surveys on working conditions. This compilation is a follow-up of a study of working conditions surveys commissioned by Eurofound in 2006 which covered both national and transnational working conditions surveys (Eurofound, 2007). The main goals of this inventory are to: update the background information on existing national working conditions surveys; create a source of basic information from national working conditions surveys related to methodologies, quality control procedures, fieldwork and findings; provide a practical resource for researchers, policymakers, social partners and others with a professional interest in working conditions