Equalities in Scotland’s Growth Economic Sectors: Final Report

Aims The purpose of the study was to examine equality issues in Scotland’s growth sectors since baseline research carried out in 2009, focusing on trends in the following protected characteristics: gender; age; disabilities; ethnic minorities; gender reassignment; marital and civil partnership status; maternity and pregnancy; religion and belief; and sexual orientation. Scotland’s growth sectors are identified as: creative industries; energy; financial and business services; food and drink; life sciences; tourism; universities; chemical sciences; construction; engineering; and ICT and digital technologies. Methods The methodology primarily consisted of analysis of a range of datasets, including the Annual Population Survey, (APS) to establish the representation of individuals with protected characteristic in each growth sector; the FAME database, to establish the representation of women, young people and older people among company directors; data from Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council on the supply of labour into the growth sectors from the protected characteristics, in terms of Modern Apprenticeship starts, college enrolments and university entrants; and key research published since 2010 on the representation of protected characteristics in the growth sectors and, where available, the factors that are driving this. Information was also collated from a small number of organisations that work with individuals with protected characteristics in order to supplement the desk-based research where there was no or limited data or literature available. Findings The report suggests that no overarching trends can be identified. The representation of individuals with some protected characteristics in the workforce is increasing, but it is declining for others. It also indicates mixed findings on a sector-by-sector basis, with sectors often making progress on the representation of some equalities groups within their workforce whilst experiencing a decline in others. The recession is highlighted as a key factor as, due to the issues faced by many protected characteristics in relation to the labour market, groups such as young people, disabled people and ethnic minorities have experienced disproportionate decreases in employment and increases in unemployment. The creative industries was found to be the sector that is most open to individuals with protected characteristics, while, with the exception of older workers, all groups were found to be underrepresented in the energy sector. Recommendations The report notes that, as the representation of individuals from equalities groups varies across growth sectors, there is a need to customise responses by sector. It is also suggested that in order that individuals from protected characteristics are able to access the good quality employment opportunities that the growth sectors offer, efforts must be made to tackle underrepresentation where it exists and that a key element of this must be to ensure better representation of individuals with protected characteristics on Modern Apprenticeships, and on college or university courses, that lead to careers in these sectors. The report argues that increasing the representation of protected characteristics within the sector is not sufficient, however, and efforts must also be deployed to tackling pay gaps, occupational segregation and the lack of progression into management and leadership roles

Back and forward to the future: an explorative study of public responses to urban groundwater contamination

The objective of this case study is to explore responses by residents confronted with groundwater contamination in their community. Using a mail-survey design, self-administered questionnaires were collected (N = 170) that included questions about risk perceptions, site-specific concerns and perceived neighbourhood problems. The results show that concerns about chemical risks (i.e. chlorinated solvents) are rather limited in comparison to the potential impacts of site-redevelopment and other neighbourhood problems. Accordingly, the results of logistic regression analyses indicate that place detachment is not significantly related to risk perception but rather to site-specific concerns such as a perceived decrease in property values on the one hand, and wider environmental stressors such as traffic congestion on the other. In turn, the latter chronic environmental conditions are closely intertwined with residents' views on the redevelopment of the contaminated site

Color-coordinate system from a 13th-century account of rainbows.

We present a new analysis of Robert Grosseteste’s account of color in his treatise De iride (On the Rainbow), dating from the early 13th century. The work explores color within the 3D framework set out in Grosseteste’s De colore [see J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 29, A346 (2012)], but now links the axes of variation to observable properties of rainbows. We combine a modern understanding of the physics of rainbows and of human color perception to resolve the linguistic ambiguities of the medieval text and to interpret Grosseteste’s key terms

Exploring the Philippine FTA Policy Options

The formation of free trade agreements (FTAs), both regional and bilateral, has been a worldwide trend in recent decades. With the failure of the two rounds of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the FTAs as a policy option have become even more attractive for many countries. The Philippines is no exception. Thus, engagement in FTAs is becoming a significant trade policy tool for the country. To derive the optimum benefits from it, though, the Philippines must define its FTA strategy. This Policy Notes outlines the possible key ingredients for such strategy.trade liberalization, East Asia FTA, Asian liberalization, free trade agreement (FTA), economic partnership agreement, regional trade agreement

A factor analysis approch to measuring European loan and bond market integration

By using an existing and a new convergence measure, this paper assesses whether bank loan and bond interest rates are converging for the non-financial corporate sector across the euro area. Whilst we find evidence for complete bond market integration, the market for bank loans remains segmented, albeit to various degrees depending on the type and size of the loan. Factor analysis reveals that rates on large loans and small loans with long rate fixation periods have weakly converged in the sense that, up to a fixed effect, their evolution is driven by common factors only. In contrast, the price evolution of small loans with short rate fixation periods is still affected by country-specific dynamic factors. There are few signs that bank loan rates are becoming more uniform with time

Parental Leave Policies in 21 Countries: Assessing Generosity and Gender Equality

This report examines the parental leave policies in 21 high-income nations and identifies five "best practices" for parental leave policies. The study shows that the U.S. has the least generous leave policies of the 21 countries examined in the report. The states exhibiting the five best practices include Finland, France, Greece, Norway, Spain, and Sweden

Local Labor Market Conditions and the Jobless Poor: How Much Does Local Job Growth Help in Rural Areas?

The employment outcomes of a group of jobless poor Oregonians are tracked in order to analyze the relative importance of local labor market conditions on their employment outcomes. Local job growth increases the probability that a jobless poor adult will get a job and shortens the length of time until she finds a job. After accounting for both the effects of personal demographic characteristics and local job growth, there is little evidence that the probability of employment or the duration of joblessness differs in rural compared with urban areas.employment, local labor markets, rural labor markets, rural poverty, unemployment, welfare reform, Labor and Human Capital,