Do Apprenticeships Increase Youth Employability in Romania? A Propensity Score Matching Approach

The paper aims to bring together two main current research interests: youth employability on the one hand, and use of econometric techniques in order to evaluate the impact of different policy measures, on the other hand. The topic of youth employability is very actual for Romanian labour market, as early school-leaving and the rate of youth not in employment, education or training are among the highest in EU and show no sign of going to decrease significantly on medium and long term. Work-based leaning, as apprenticeship or internship programs are lately promoted as efficient measures to address both the need for a better school-to-work transition, as well as a better education-job match. The paper provides some insights regarding the youth experience of apprenticeship in Romania and empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that work-based programs could increase youth employability. The empirical findings where obtained through a counterfactual approach, by applying the propensity score matching technique on a sample of respondents selected from the Flash Eurobarometer 378 dataset. Our results confirm a low but positive impact of apprenticeships on youth employment in Romania. Also, the analyses confirm that apprenticeships address more to low educated young persons, so the impact of the programs is even more relevant as could be an effective measure for increasing youth employability of disadvantaged youth

PROGRESS IN THE ADAPTIVE FORECAST MANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS

ABSTRACT In times of economic instability a cautious and adaptive forecast management is greatly needed. There is the risk of consuming the resources in order to achieve specific objectives that have no market and, implicit, the risk of bankruptcy. Practically, in any given time the decision makers need to have alternative evolution strategies for different evolution hypothesis of the business environment. The authors come to meet these by developing an interactive system of assisting adaptive forecast management for economic organizations

Wage inequalities in Romania under successive adjustments in minimum wage levels

In this paper we aim to identify some of the most relevant wage determinants observable at micro level and try to explain wage inequalities through the use of Mincer equations. The case of Romania is discussed for the year 2014. Because of data availability issues, the methodological framework relied on ordered logit models. Moreover, because of the two successive increases in the minimum wage levels, the paper analyses the changes occurring quarterly during Q1 2014 – Q4 2014 upon the individuals odds of moving forward to a higher decile of the wage distribution. Both social-demographic and economic characteristics are investigated

Net earnings trends in the EU countries

The purpose of this paper consists in analysing the ante- and post-crisis economic trends of the real net earnings in the EU countries by building several econometric models. A Hierarchical cluster analysis was applied in order to classify the 27 EU countries in two distinct groups, based on a set of labour market indicators. The econometric results were consistent with the economic theory and indicated that GDP growth rate, foreign direct investment, trade openness and remittances have a positive effect on earnings, while unemployment rate’s impact is negative. Several particularities were also noticed when studying the two EU country clusters. Then numerical simulation was used for a short-term prediction of earnings

Effectiveness of Intermittent Hypoxia–Hyperoxia Therapy in Different Pathologies with Possible Metabolic Implications

Intermittent oxygen therapy (IHT), initially used in the hypoxic administration variant, has been shown to be effective in various pathologies studied, from cardiopulmonary to vascular and metabolic pathologies and more. IHT used to prevent and treat various diseases has thus gained more and more attention as the years have passed. The mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects have been investigated at multiple biological levels, from systemic physiological reactions to genomic regulation. In the last decade, a new method of intermittent oxygen therapy has been developed that combines hypoxic and hyperoxic periods. They can be applied both at rest and during physical exercise, hence the specific indications in sports medicine. It has been hypothesized that replacing normoxia with moderate hyperoxia may increase the adaptive response to the intermittent hypoxic stimulus by upregulating reactive oxygen species and hypoxia-inducible genes. This systematic literature review is based on the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis”—“PRISMA”—methodology, the widely internationally accepted method