Building Social Dialogue over Training and Learning: European and National Developments

■ This article examines recent developments in social dialogue over vocational training and lifelong learning. The central concern is how to develop coherent European polices for increasing social partner influence in this domain, given the diversity of national systems of VET and structures of social dialogue across Europe. The study draws on a survey of 13 countries and concludes that despite these disparities, cross-national differences in social partner involvement are less than might be anticipated. Initiatives like the social partners' Framework of Actions are seen as pressures promoting convergence, but this is likely to occur paradoxically as a result of increasing diversity within member states

Changing perceptions: an analysis of long-term unemployment in five areas of Edinburgh

This report presents the findings of interviews carried out with long-term unemployed individuals (i.e. those unemployed for one year or more) residing in five areas of Edinburgh (North Edinburgh, South Edinburgh, Leith, Wester Hailes, and Craigmillar - each of these areas being affected by particularly high rates of long-term unemployment). 115 people were interviewed of which 81 (70 per cent) were males and 34 (30 per cent) females. A total of 91 respondents (approximately 79 per cent) were registered as unemployed and claiming Job Seeker's Allowance, and 24 (21 per cent) were not. Of the registered unemployed in our sample, 83 per cent were male. This compares with claimant count statistics that indicate that 88 per cent of the registered long-term unemployed in the targeted localities are male. Of our unregistered unemployed respondents, 58 per cent were male and 42 per cent were female. The average age amongst both men and women interviewed for the study was approximately 39 years. The average age of the registered, claimant unemployed was 40.1 years, whilst for unregistered job seekers it was 34.9 years

A Profile of the Long-term Unemployed in Five Areas of Edinburgh

This report presents the findings of interviews carried out with long-term unemployed individuals (i.e. those unemployed for one year or more) residing in five areas of Edinburgh (North Edinburgh, South Edinburgh, Leith, Wester Hailes, and Craigmillar - each of these areas being affected by particularly high rates of long-term unemployment). 115 people were interviewed of which 81 (70 per cent) were males and 34 (30 per cent) females. A total of 91 respondents (approximately 79 per cent) were registered as unemployed and claiming Job Seeker's Allowance, and 24 (21 per cent) were not. Of the registered unemployed in our sample, 83 per cent were male. This compares with claimant count statistics that indicate that 88 per cent of the registered long-term unemployed in the targeted localities are male. Of our unregistered unemployed respondents, 58 per cent were male and 42 per cent were female. The average age amongst both men and women interviewed for the study was approximately 39 years. The average age of the registered, claimant unemployed was 40.1 years, whilst for unregistered job seekers it was 34.9 years

Guest editorial: human capital, high involvement and well-being: assessing progress and advancing understanding

Human capital, high involvement and well-being: assessing progress and advancing understanding The motivation in proposing this special issue was to explore the links between human capital, high involvement work and well-being. In this overview, we review the state of the art of research on human capital, high involvement work and worker well-being drawing on the extant literature and seminal work from the foundations of classical economists to recent writings on human resource management (HRM)

Do remittances promote human development? empirical evidence from developing countries

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of remittances on human development in developing countries using panel data from 1980 to 2014 and to address the critical question of whether the increasing trend of remittances has any impact on human development in a broad range of developing countries. Design/methodology/approach: Usual panel estimates, such as pooled OLS, fixed or random effects model, possess specification issues such as endogeneity, heterogeneity and measurement errors. In this paper, we, therefore, apply dynamic panel estimates – System generalised method of moment (Sys-GMM) developed by Arellano and Bond (1991) and Arellano and Bover (1995). This estimator is able to control for the endogeneity of all the explanatory variables, account for unobserved country-specific effects that cannot be done using country dummies due to the dynamic structure of the model (Azman-Saini et al., 2010). Findings: The effect of remittances is statistically significant with positive coefficients in developing countries. The significant coefficient of remittances means that, holding other variables constant, a rise in remittance inflows is associated with improvements in human development. A 10 per cent increase in remittances will lead to an increase of approximately 0.016 per cent in human development. These findings are consistent with Üstubuci and Irdam (2012) and Adenutsi (2010), who found evidence that remittances are positively correlated with human development. Practical implications: The paper considers implications for policymakers to justify the need for more effective approaches. Policymakers need to consider indicators of human development and to devise public policies that promote income, health and education, to enhance human development. Originality/value: The question of whether remittances affect human development has rarely been subject to systematic empirical study. Extant research does not resolve the endogeneity problem, whereas the present study provides empirical evidence by utilising dynamic panel estimators such as Sys-GMM to tackle the specification issues of endogeneity, measurement errors and heterogeneity. The present study provides a benchmark for future research on the effect of remittances on human development

An experimental and theoretical investigation of the extent of bypass air within data centres employing aisle containment, and its impact on power consumption

A combination of laboratory experiments and a system model are used to carry out the first investigation into the potential for cold air to bypass IT equipment within data centres (DCs) employing aisle containment, and the effect of this bypass on DC electricity consumption. The laboratory experiments involved applying a differential pressure across commercially available server racks and aisle containment systems and measuring the resulting air flow. The potential to minimise bypass by sealing leakage paths and redesigning racks was investigated and quantified experimentally. A new system model is developed using a combination of manufacturer data, empirical relationships and experimental results to predict the impact of bypass on the power consumption of the various components of a DC's cooling infrastructure. The results show that, at typical cold aisle pressures, as much as 20% of the supplied air may bypass servers by finding alternate paths through the server rack itself. This increases the required flow rate from air conditioning units (ACUs). The system model predicts that: (i) practical measures undertaken to reduce this bypass could reduce total power consumption by up to 8.8% and (ii) excessive pressure differentials across the containment system could also increase power consumption, by up to 16%