Life after higher education : the diversity of opportunities and obstacles in a changing graduate labour market

From the latter part of the twentieth century and onwards progressively rapid industrial restructuring, technological change and globalization have changed the parameters of employment. Governments’ assessments of the skills required for economic growth and development have driven higher education investment and expansion policies in the UK, as they have internationally. Looking across OECD countries, it has recently been estimated that an average of 40 per cent of young adults are likely to complete undergraduate (tertiary Type-A) education during their lifetime, with graduation rates in European countries ranging from half or more in Finland, Iceland, Poland and Russia to less than a quarter in Belgium, Greece, Estonia (OECD, 2014). Higher education (HE) has become a global industry – part of the ‘knowledge economy’ that it serves – and this is reflected in increasing education-led migration and mobility – both of EU and overseas students to study in UK and of UK students to study overseas

Introduction: changing lives and new challenges

How is women's employment shaped by family and domestic responsibilities? This book, written by leading experts in the field, examines twenty five years of change in women's employment and addresses the challenges facing women today. This book offers an innovative analysis of how global changes including new migration processes, educational expansion, transnational labour markets, technological advances, and the global economy affect women's labour market experiences. It tackles issues relevant for future change, including gender inequalities and ethnic diversities and confronts such contentious questions as what work-life balance means? This book provides new empirical research that advances our understanding of the challenges posed by women's employment in our changing society and draws out the policy lessons that could improve economic and social well-being

SOC(HE)-Italy: a classification for graduate occupations

This paper presents an application to the Italian labour force of the British SOC(HE)2010 classification for graduate occupations, thereby creating a statistical tool for exploration of the Italian graduate labour market. In order to achieve this goal, the classification is replicated, using methodology that differs slightly to take account of differences in existing Italian data, to construct SOC(HE)-Italy. This classification allocates each of the official 800 Italian occupational categories to four groups distinguishing between ‘graduate’ and ‘non-graduate’ groups on the basis of their relative levels of knowledge and skills requirements. It is then validated using the Rilevazione Continua sulle Forze di Lavoro (RCFL ISTAT) data and the AlmaLaurea (AL) data and used to analyze changes in the Italian occupational structure that occurred before and after the financial crisis that took place in 2008. We also compare the Italian structural trends in the graduate labour market with similar trends in Britain. This analysis reveals that the decrease in the utilization of highly qualified labour in the Italian labour market started before the beginning of the ongoing recession, which contradicts the findings of analyses reported in earlier literature

Hard lessons for lifelong learners? age and experience in the graduate labour market

The expansion of the higher education system and widening access to undergraduate study has led to growing diversity within the graduate labour supply, including increasing numbers who studied for their degrees as mature students. Analysis of graduates entering the labour market prior to the major expansion in the early 1990s indicated that those over the age of 30 had considerably more difficulty than younger graduates in accessing the career opportunities for which their education had equipped them. Is this still the case for more recent graduates? Drawing on a major qualitative and quantitative study of a class of graduates who completed their undergraduate degree courses in 1995, this paper explores early career development and employment outcomes according to age at graduation. Although we find considerable diversity among all age groups, mature graduates were more likely than their younger peers to experience difficulty in accessing appropriate employment, had a lower rate of earnings growth and expressed higher levels of dissatisfaction with their jobs. © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Why are older adults more at risk as pedestrians? a systematic review

Objective To explore factors that could explain why older adults are more at risk at the roadside. Background The physical and psychological health benefits of walking have been well-established, leading to the widespread promotion of walking amongst older adults. However, walking can result in an increased risk of injury as a pedestrian at the roadside, which is a greater risk for older adults who are overrepresented in pedestrian casualty figures. Method Relevant databases were searched up to January 2020. All peer-reviewed journals that presented data on healthy older adults and some aspect of road crossing or roadside behavior were included. A total of 142 papers were assessed and 60 met the inclusion criteria. Results Identified papers could be grouped into three areas: crossing at a designated crossing place; crossing with no designated crossing place; perceptions or behaviors. Conclusion Multiple individual (attitudes, perceived behavioral control, walking time, time-to-arrival judgments, waiting endurance, cognitive ability), task (vehicle size, vehicle speed, traffic volume), and environmental (road layout, time of day, weather) constraints influence road crossing in older adulthood. Application Accessibility of designated crossing areas needs to be addressed by ensuring sufficient time to cross and nonrestrictive waiting times. Signalized crossings need to be simplified and visibility increased. Where there is no designated crossing place, a reduction in speed limit alongside the provision of pedestrian islands to provide “pause” places are needed. Educational-based programs may also help ensure safety of older adults where there is no designated crossing place

The lived experience of crossing the road when you have Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD): the perspectives of parents of children with DCD and adults with DCD

Pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable groups at the roadside, furthermore, previous research has demonstrated perceptual-motor limitations in individuals with DCD which may put these individuals at even more at risk in the context of road crossing. However, it is unclear whether this is the lived experience of these individuals at the roadside. Furthermore, difficulties with road crossing and safety have been found in other neurodevelopmental disorders but the impact this might have on an individual with co-occurring difficulties is unknown. Therefore, we utilised a questionnaire to survey the lived experience of adults with DCD and parents of children with DCD with the specific objectives of describing behaviours exhibited by adults and children with DCD (the latter reported by parents) at the roadside and to determine the how these individuals perceive road crossing actions. For each of these we compared different co-occurrence groups. We also had one final objective which was not focussed on road crossing but more on the general perception of accidents and unrealistic optimism. Individuals with co-occurrences which have previously been linked to unsafe crossing behaviours (i.e. ADHD, ASD and LD) reported a greater regularity of dangerous looking behaviour (forgetting to look, running without looking) and visibility (crossing between cars, crossing when you can’t see), these adults and the parents of these children were seemingly aware of the risky nature of these behaviours. When asked ‘why’ crossing ability might be different, perceptual and motor difficulties alongside heightened awareness of risk and lowered awareness of risk were all cited by participants. Unrealistic optimism was not an explanation for the risky behaviour in adults with DCD and in fact, these adults demonstrated a clear understanding of the likelihood of accidents. The findings of this study suggest that road crossing is perceived to be more challenging for both children and adults with DCD and this needs to be taken into account when considering remediation for this group

The Carina Nebula and Gum 31 molecular complex: II. The distribution of the atomic gas revealed in unprecedented detail

We report high spatial resolution observations of the HI 21cm line in the Carina Nebula and the Gum 31 region obtained with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The observations covered $\sim$ 12 deg$^2$ centred on $l= 287.5\deg,b = -1\deg$, achieving an angular resolution of $\sim$ 35 arcseconds. The HI map revealed complex filamentary structures across a wide range of velocities. Several "bubbles" are clearly identified in the Carina Nebula Complex, produced by the impact of the massive star clusters located in this region. An HI absorption profile obtained towards the strong extragalactic radio source PMN J1032--5917 showed the distribution of the cold component of the atomic gas along the Galactic disk, with the Sagittarius-Carina and Perseus spiral arms clearly distinguishable. Preliminary calculations of the optical depth and spin temperatures of the cold atomic gas show that the HI line is opaque ($\tau \gtrsim$ 2) at several velocities in the Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm. The spin temperature is $\sim100$ K in the regions with the highest optical depth, although this value might be lower for the saturated components. The atomic mass budget of Gum 31 is $\sim35 \%$ of the total gas mass. HI self absorption features have molecular counterparts and good spatial correlation with the regions of cold dust as traced by the infrared maps. We suggest that in Gum 31 regions of cold temperature and high density are where the atomic to molecular gas phase transition is likely to be occurring.Comment: 20 pages, 1 table, 16 Figures, Accepted for Publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journa