Low-wage employment in Portugal: Social dimension and recent evolution

Low-wage employment is one of the main origins of poverty and social exclusion in Portugal, along with low pensions granted to elder citizens. In this paper our aim is to provide a first approach of the social dimension of low-wage employment in Portugal, analysing its incidence and profile among regions, sectors, professions, skill levels and gender. This decomposition analysis will stress the most important factors underlying the phenomenon. At a first stage we shall study wage structure and wage inequality evolution in the last decade. The incidence and evolution of low wages and minimum legal wages will be compared whith average wages, in order to evaluate the situation of the low payed vis a vis the other better paid workers. We proceed analysing low-wage decomposition by the criteria mentioned above, taken separately and in interaction, to identify the main determinants and the cumulative effects of these factors in the explanation and evolution of low wages. The main data set available is "Quadros de Pessoal" (Data base of worker characteristics provided by firms) from the MESS ( Employment and Social Security Ministry). In this study we will use directly this data base. Other statistical sources will also be used for complementary aspects. We must say that the data on these area of research are still insufficiently developed in Portugal, and that, in consequence, socio-economic knowledge on low-wage employment as a mechanism of social exclusion is still incipient. Low-wage are but one of the dimensions of social exclusion, closely related with poverty as insufficient economic resources, and is often associated with other dimensions of social exclusion in the labour market, such as unemployment vulnerability and job instability. The crucial role in this triad - low-pay, unemployment, job instability - is played by skill levels, which are particularly low in our country, as we?ll try to demonstrate. Social exclusion must however be analysed at the family unit. As long as income is concerned, wages are far the most important source, particularly for low income active families, and the ?low skills - low pay - low income? chain seems to be the major determinant of social exclusion. The evidence about this mechanism can be found in recent data on Family Budgets.

Job Insecurity and Youth Emancipation: A Theoretical Approach

In this paper, we propose a theoretical model to study the effect of income insecurity of parents and offspring on the child's residential choice. Parents are partially altruistic toward their children and will provide financial help to an independent child when her income is low relative to the parents'. We show that first-order stochastic dominance (FOSD) shifts in the distribution of the child's future income (or her parents') will have ambiguous effects on the child's residential choice. The analysis identifies altruism as the source of ambiguity in the results. If parents are selfish or the joint income distribution of parents and child places no mass on the region where transfers are provided, a FOSD shift in the distribution of the child's (parents') future income will reduce (raise) the child's current income threshold for independenceAltruism; Emancipation; Job security; Option value

Job Insecurity and Children's Emancipation

The age at which children leave the parental home differs considerably across countries. We present a theoretical model predicting that higher job security of parents and lower job security of children may delay emancipation. We then provide aggregate evidence which supports this hypothesis for 12 European countries. We also give microeconometric evidence for Italy, the single country for which we have access to household-specific information on job security and coresidence. It is a very interesting case to study since, in the late 1990s, approximately 75 per cent of young Italians aged 18 to 35 were living at home and they had only a 4 per cent probability of emancipation in the subsequent 3 years. We show that this probability would have increased by 4 to 10 percentage points if their fathers had gone from having a fully secure job to becoming unemployed for sure.emancipation, job security, option value

Imagery and long-slit spectroscopy of the Polar-Ring Galaxy AM2020-504

Interactions between galaxies are very common. There are special kinds of interactions that produce systems called Polar Ring Galaxies (PRGs), composed by a lenticular, elliptical, or spiral host galaxy, surrounded by a ring of stars and gas, orbiting in an approximately polar plane. The present work aims to study AM2020-504, a PRG with an elliptical host galaxy, and a narrow and well defined ring, probably formed by accretion of material from a donor galaxy, collected by the host galaxy. Our observational study was based on BVRI broad band imagery as well as longslit spectroscopy in the wavelenght range 4100--8600\AA, performed at the 1.6m telescope at the Observat\'orio do Pico dos Dias (OPD), Brazil. We estimated a redshift of z= 0.01683, corresponding a heliocentric radial velocity of 5045 +/-23 km/s. The (B-R) color map shows that the ring is bluer than the host galaxy, indicating that the ring is a younger structure. Standard diagnostic diagrams were used to classify the main ionizing source of selected emission-line regions (nucleus, host galaxy and ring). It turns out that the ring regions are mainly ionized by massive stars while the nucleus presents AGN characteristics. Using two empirical methods, we found oxygen abundances for the HII regions located in the ring in the range 12+log(O/H)=8.3-8.8 dex, the presence of an oxygen gradient across the ring, and that AM2020-504 follows the metallicity-luminosity relation of spiral galaxies. These results support the accretion scenario for this object and rules out cold accretion as source for the HI gas in the polar ring

Port wine characterisation and positioning in Portugal

Port wine is a fortified wine produced in the demarcated region of Douro. This region is situated in the northeast of Portugal, in the Douro hydrographical basin, surrounded by mountains that give it exclusive mesologic, climacteric and agrologic characteristics that enable the production of quality wines. Port wine is the most successful of all Portuguese wines throughout the years, home and abroad. This article aims at characterizing and analysing the positioning of the Port Wine brand in the context of Portuguese wine brands, and to define strategies for this brand. In order to achieve this, indicators and management tools such as SWOT Analysis, General Electric/McKinsey Matrix and Porter Generic Strategies were used. From the analysis it can be understood that the Port Wine brand occupies a favourable position in the wine market with an important role in the national economy, and as such it should be ever more promoted and its potential further reinforced abroad to make the most of its brand value and potential for the brand, the country and other national wines. JEL: M10; M30

Microeconometric evaluation of undergraduate students’ results a matching methodology application to a portuguese polytechnic

During the academic years of 2004/05 and 2005/06 a new teaching methodology, inspired in the Bologna’s Treaty, was implemented in one of the nine undergraduate programmes offered by the School of Technology and Management of Bragança (Portugal). The aim was to increase the positive results for the students, concerning the acquisition of knowledge and skills. To expose one undergraduate programme to a treatment – this is the teaching methodology - without expose the others created the conditions to a process of microeconometric evaluation that aims to quantify the causal effect of the exposition to the treatment. Following the lessons of the evaluation literature, the present paper adopts a propensity score matching methodology choosing as the interest parameter the average treatment on the treated (ATT). To compare only what is comparable, the evaluation was carried out on those subjects that were common among all the undergraduate programmes, like mathematics or statistics, or subjects that were common among the undergraduate programmes in the management’s scientific area, like accounting or marketing. Results show a positive effect of the treatment on those students who had been exposed to the teaching philosophy in 2004/05. Indeed the treated students present a bigger percentage of positive results comparing with the non treated colleagues. However, the results in terms of the grades’ quality are less obvious. Even if the treated students achieve a positive grade, this grade is often smaller than the grade achieved by the colleagues. Results for 2005/06 are not so clear

Importance and satisfaction of service quality offered by economics and administrative sciences faculty (QafQaz University) from the perception of students

The aim of this study is to evaluate the student`s satisfaction with the service quality and assess importance of different attributes in terms of student`s perception in the Economics and Administration faculty of the Qafqaz University. To perform study, survey method applied to collect the data and number of received valid questionnaires were 266. Descriptive analysis used to identify profile of respondents, also find satisfaction and importance degree for each attributes. To evaluate differences between groups, built association between variables, find relation between variables also to answer to the research hypothesis inferential analysis applied. The result showed that generally, the students are satisfied with service quality of Economics and Administration faculty and all attributes are important from the perception of student`s. The findings of study are useful in order to develop service quality in education industry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assimetrias regionais na região Norte de Portugal: uma análise de cluster

Portugal, como todos os restantes países do mundo é constituído por regiões heterogéneas. O aspecto económico só por si é insuficiente para a caracterização de um país ou região, pelo que se torna necessário analisar outros indicadores. O Norte de Portugal continental encontra-se dividido em 8 regiões (NUT III), regiões estas que diferem entre si originando assimetrias. As assimetrias regionais normalmente traduzem-se, em diferentes níveis de desenvolvimento económico e social, que poderá induzir a processos de vulnerabilidade das regiões levando a aplicação de políticas de desenvolvimento regionais incoerentes, com consequências preocupantes para a coesão social e territorial. Assim, com o presente artigo pretende-se quantificar, caracterizar e classificar as diferentes NUTS III, da região Norte de Portugal, aplicando uma análise de clusters no sentido de encontrar uma homogeneidade sócio-económica. Para tal, utilizaram-se diferentes indicadores que permitem caracterizar sócio e economicamente as NUT III, para os anos de 2004 e 2008. Dos resultados obtidos visualiza-se nitidamente 3 regiões diversificadas, diferenciadas e classificadas com distintos graus de desenvolvimento, sendo elas, “Regiões Menos Desenvolvidas”, “Regiões Desenvolvidas” e “Regiões Mais Desenvolvidas”. Esta classificação revela a “velha” assimetria regional vs interior. Pretende-se ainda com este estudo facultar dados que sejam úteis para a aplicação de políticas de desenvolvimento regionais coesas