Mobility attitudes and behaviours among young Europeans

an article by Noeleen Doherty, Michael Dickmann and Timothy Mills (Cranfield School of Management) published in Career Development International Volume 15 Issue 4 (2010)

Abstract
Purpose

The paper seeks to explore the career attitudes, motivations and behaviours of young people in initial vocational education and training (IVET) in Europe.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory web-based survey was conducted during the European year for mobility. Drawing on existing research on the motivators of international careers, it explored young people’s perceptions of barriers and incentives to mobility.

Findings

The study differentiates “natives” (those who did not go abroad) and “boundary crossers” (those who did). Cultural exposure, travel and a desire for adventure are key motivators. Counter-intuitively, those who chose not to go abroad are significantly more positive about the potential for professional development but are significantly more concerned for personal safety. Some maturational trends are apparent.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited to a “European-wide” perspective from a sample, which had access to the web survey. Further research could usefully explore differences in attitude and mobility behaviours within and across specific European countries.

Practical implications

Factors restricting boundary-crossing behaviour may be rooted in aspects of psychological mobility such as perceived benefits of the experience, self-confidence and risk aversion. This has practical implications for policy-makers and career development for early career foreign didactic experiences where support for placements may need to focus more on psychological mobility, an area currently under-researched.

Originality/value

This exploratory paper provides data to examine the mobility behaviours among young people in IVET, distinguishing between “natives” and “boundary crossers”. It presents an important attempt to more fully understand the dynamics of mobility attitudes and behaviours among young people.

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10 non-work-related items that I found fun or interesting

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate

The printing press was not at first used to make books. Rather, almanacs, calendars, municipal orders, indulgence certificates... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate

Tibet: a land where childlike monks and nuns smile softly all day long? A place of stillness, calm, and wondrous spiritual energy? Only in the romantic imagination... more

Spitball Warrior via the How-To Geek by Asian Angel
The object of the game is to choose a spitball warrior and let your enemies have it with as many spitballs as you can shoot in a limited time.
Play Spitball Warrior

via Arts & Letters Daily &ndash ideas, criticism, debate
Human evolution can help explain what goes on in fiction. At the same time, fiction can tell us about thought processes built by evolution itself... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Engrossing, energetic, and compelling, Van Gogh’s letters dramatise individual genius while throwing light on how the creative mind works... more
A friend and I saw this exhibition in Amsterdam. Wonderful!

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Louis Armstrong was, as Philip Larkin put it, “an artist of Flaubertian purity”. Beyond that, he was one of the nicest human beings ever to walk the earth... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
An extinct race of humans found in Africa had big eyes, child-like faces, and a high IQ – genius ancestors... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Just-so stories: unscientific yarn-spinning, mere guessing? Or a part of imaginative hypothesis building in science? David Barash explores a question too-long ignored... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
The idea of a "Native American city" till recently made no sense. Now we're finding out about the ghastly secrets of Cahokia, an ancient city on the Mississippi... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
What was it like to be one of the girls in Hugh Hefner's glamorous harem? "I may as well have lived in a convent"... more

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Sing a Song of Safety …

via Intute blog by Paul Meehan

Laboratory safety is a serious business, but that's not to say we can't have fun getting the message across – the students at UC Berkeley have done just that, with a musical video aimed at all levels of laboratory users.

If you ever wondered what might happen if you drop purple hair into a beaker of acid, this is the video for you …

The Safety Song

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Institutionalizing social entrepreneurship in regulatory space: ...

Reporting and disclosure by community interest companies

an article by Alex Nicholls (Said Business School, University of Oxford) published in
Accounting, Organizations and Society Volume 35 Issue 4 (May 2010)

Abstract

In 2005, the British parliament passed legislation to make available the first new legal form of incorporation in over a century: the Community Interest Company (CIC). This initiative represented an important element within a larger set of public policy measures that aimed to create a more enabling environment for the accelerated growth of social entrepreneurship and, specifically, social enterprises. In an exploratory study, this paper presents an analysis of the regulatory space within which the reporting and disclosure practices for CICs were negotiated.
Three elements within the regulatory space are identified as having explanatory value:

• regulatory boundaries that set and limit the terms of negotiation around regulatory practice;
• the key actors that engage in a process of negotiation around the establishment of actual practice; and
• the range of debate and conflicting ideas that inform regulatory negotiation and legitimating consensus.

The analysis suggests that a normative logic of light touch regulation was of particular importance within the wider UK policy context from within which CICs emerged and that the CIC Regulator acts as a mediator of disclosure information across multiple user constituencies.

Empirically, this paper draws upon a sample of 80 published CIC annual reports to consider two aspects of CIC reporting:

• the quantity of information provided; and
• the type of data presented.

These data demonstrate the limitations and challenges of current CIC regulatory disclosure practices for key users of reporting information, particularly in terms of perceptions of organizational legitimacy. Conclusions are drawn concerning these limitations, particularly in terms of their implications for public policy.

In terms of new research, this paper makes two important contributions. First, it develops theory in terms of (social) reporting and public policy with respect to the regulatory mechanisms that relate the two. This has yet to be explored in social entrepreneurship research. Second, this paper includes a preliminary examination of the reporting practices of CICs in their policy context, including an analysis of a sample of the publicly available CIC annual reports that have been filed to date. This data set has yet to be the subject of any other academic research.

Hazel’s comment:

What is the difference between a CIC and a charity? I wasn’t at all sure since I know of several organisations that have been set up for the benefit of the community but have charitable status.

The CIC Regulator defines CICs thus:

Community Interest Companies (CICS) are limited companies, with special additional features, created for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage. This is achieved by a “community interest test” and “asset lock”, which ensure that the CIC is established for community purposes and the assets and profits are dedicated to these purposes. Registration of a company as a CIC has to be approved by the Regulator who also has a continuing monitoring and enforcement role.

So, we’re actually into a different animal here. A limited company that is not set up “purely” for private advantage but – here I start getting confused – a CIC is not, but apparently may be, a company limited by guarantee, a not-for-profit organisation or a charity.

Methinks that lots more study is required to help my colleagues at The Accounting Bureau (ABUK) provide an even better service to organisations that are not in the “any which way for a dime” camp. ABUK’s CEO specialises in the bookkeeping and reporting for such organisations but it would be good for me as the information manager to have more than a passing idea as to actually what all these different organisations are and what the rules are that make them different.

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10 ready - 11 sept

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate

The ultimate worth of cities lies in their ability to deliver a better life not only for the rich and most skilled, but for ordinary citizens... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate

Between 1959 and 1962, 3 million Chinese died of hunger or were executed. Parents sold their children, people dug up the dead and ate them... more

A working life: The Tower Bridge operator via Education news, comment and analysis guardian.co.uk by Jill Insley
Ever wondered what it's like to take charge of raising London's Tower Bridge? Charles Lotter, who’s job it is, gave Jill Insley the chance to find out

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
H.L. Mencken: ready to bust up the joint with his combative, beautifully sprung, ingeniously funny style, as irresistible as a laughing baby... more

Why do we yawn, and why is yawning contagious via 3quarksdaily by Azra Raza
Everyone knows yawning is contagious. If you yawn, someone else will probably yawn shortly thereafter. As I did the research for this column, I noticed that nearly every article about yawning pointed out that just reading the article itself could make you yawn. Even your dog will yawn if it sees you yawning. more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Jane Austen was such a subtle reader of her characters’ manners, flaws, and virtues, yet was herself a mysterious presence, hard to imagine in the flesh... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Britain has some creepy ways of policing its citizens. But turning classical music into a weapon, with Mozart a tool of state repression, marks a new low... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
From wartime Britain to the glittering balls of John Kennedy’s D.C., Bill Patten Jr. tells his family saga. He may dislike the morality of his tale, but... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
In praise of tough criticism. John Di Leo wants to see academics develop thicker skins and more rugged tools in tearing apart each other’s arguments... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Even if the beauties of a peacock’s tail, the Art of Fugue, and a stunning landscape have deep Darwinian roots, the pleasures they give us are quite different... more

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10 non-work-related items that I found fun or interesting

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Journalism is reductive, says David Hare. Art opens up reality to us, making it deeper, thicker, more surprising. Art never tells you what you already know... more

Blosics – A Physics Game That Happens To Be FUN! via MakeUseOf.com by Karl L Gechlik
Navigate on over here and let's get ready to play!
Use the tutorial first!

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Swashbuckling historical novels have long pleased the public and been derided by critics. Time perhaps for a serious second look at the genre.... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
George Orwell’s timeless, transcendent fairy story, Animal Farm, is still outlawed by régimes around the world. Why is it such political dynamite?... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Computer-based program trading has changed forever the nature of global investing. If only computers could grasp the meaning of terms like “panic”... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Decent scholarship is drowning in an ocean of low-quality journal articles. The current emphasis on academic career advancement via quantity of publications has to stop... more
PLEASE - because I am tired of browsing through so many journals in the expectation that one day I’ll find the nugget of gold. Trouble is that once in a while I do.

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Modern medicine is good at staving off death, but bad at knowing when to focus, instead, on improving the days that terminal patients have left... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Women can be as immoral, malicious, and violent as chaps. Anyone shocked by this hasn't paid attention in history class, let alone the nightly news... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
After the main performance, crowds in 16th-century London playhouses were treated to a late-night B-feature of rude, lewd farce, known as the "jig"... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
It's hard to think of an American movie before the 1960s that concerned itself with food, says Paula Marantz Cohen. But look at what's happened since then... more

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Bewitched, bothered and bewildered

You will never know, because I don’t, just how many abstracts I read in a week, a month or a year!

I do know that I read approximately 600 journals over the course of a year, some of which are three a year and some which are fortnightly! I've never done the more complex arithmetic!

Whenever I read one of these however-many abstracts I put it very quickly into one of four categories:
a) it’s very interesting and I need to share it with you
b) it’s interesting but probably not a general scale – I’ll mark to my personal study
c) this is boooring – and if I’m bored by it I expect that you will be too (an assumption I have to work to or I’d be forever trying to second guess what the readers actually like)
That leaves d)
an abstract which possibly introduces an interesting article but is somehow not clear.

I’m certainly bewildered at the last three journals I’ve read in the British Library today – requested because I thought “this is a d)” – I have absolutely no idea what I saw in any one of them on first reading!

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Partnerships to support early school leavers: ...

school-college transitions and “winter leavers” in Scotland


an article by Jesus Canduela, Rachel Chandler, Ian Elliott, Colin Lindsay, Ronald W McQuaid and Robert Raesidea (Employment Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University) and Suzi Macpherson (Equality and Human Rights Commission, Glasgow) published in Journal of Education and Work Volume 23 Issue 4 (September 2010)



Abstract
This article explores the characteristics, destinations and progression routes of early school leavers – specifically “exceptional entry winter leavers” – in Scotland. Exceptional entry allows students to enter college in the term before their statutory school leaving date – such young people attend college while formally remaining the responsibility of their school. Such arrangements represent an innovative model of supporting transitions to further education among a specific, potentially vulnerable client group, while also offering lessons for the development of school-college collaboration in other areas. Based on an analysis of official data, new survey research with schools and colleges, and in-depth case studies, this article identifies how schools and colleges work in partnership to support these early school leavers. We find that schools and colleges have developed a range of innovative approaches to engaging with winter leavers, and that the majority complete their programmes or achieve other positive end-of-year outcomes. However, the most disadvantaged young people remain least likely to progress. The article concludes by identifying lessons for good practice in school-college partnership-working and considering implications for policies to prevent young people from finding themselves not in employment, education or training.

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Virtual worlds in higher education: ...

a policy simulation

an article by Martha Garcia-Murillo, Ian MacInnes and Joe Rubleske published in International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations Volume 7 Number 5 (2010)

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether virtual worlds can provide a setting for a rewarding learning experience for college students. The paper describes a policy-making simulation conducted within a virtual world and the results of an analysis conducted to assess its learning effectiveness. Our analysis, drawn from eight “learning principles” advanced by Gee (2003), indicates that the levels of enthusiasm and learning that take place within a virtual world can differ considerably for different students: while some prefer traditional online methods, others are more enthusiastic about virtual world settings. Of the eight principles we considered, we found evidence to support “identity and self knowledge”, active learning”, “psychological moratorium” and “content” principles. The “affinity”, “transfer” and “exploration” principles were not as well supported. In conclusion, we recommend that instructors give serious consideration to using virtual worlds as a tool to support interactive activities of students such as simulations.

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Evaluation of Enterprise Education in England

a Research Report from the Department for Employment (formerly the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DFE-RR015)

The report:

• reviews the impact of the Enterprise Education programme in secondary schools in England, which aimed to help young people be creative and innovative


• presents a national picture of the range of Enterprise Education provision


• explores how schools are using the Enterprise Education funding, the value added to the experiences of pupils and the potential longer-term benefits for the economy


• outlines the policy context behind Enterprise Education


• considers the impact of Enterprise Education on:
  – the development of pupils’ skills and understanding
  – pupils’ aspirations, motivation and attendance
  – staff motivation and understanding, and
  – the enhancement of pupils’ knowledge and understanding of enterprise


• sets out the critical success factors in facilitating good enterprise provision, looking in particular at:
  – school culture
  – allocation of time and the curriculum, and
  – activities on the ground


• reviews the schools’ use of funding and the perceptions of the potential value of ring-fencing the School Development Grant
  

Access the full report (PDF 118pp)

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Mind the gap: ...

school leaver aspirations and delayed pathways to further and higher education

an article by Tom Stehlik (School of Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide)

Abstract
The “gap year” is defined as a time between the end of school and the beginning of further studies in which young people engage in a variety of activities, including paid or voluntary work. “Gapping” is a significant trend globally for young people deferring formal study after completing school, before commencing further or higher education. A sizable industry has grown up around the gap-year concept with many volunteer placement agencies, websites, guide books and “time-off consultants” available to help young people plan their gap year, often at significant cost. It is claimed that a gap-year experience will help participants acquire “soft skills” needed in the modern world of work, develop social values allowing them to better adapt to university life and ultimately become more attractive to employers. Reference to the literature and data from surveys of Australian school and university students addresses the gap-year phenomenon and how can it be defined and theorised. The paper explores reasons why school leavers delay transition into further education and what they do instead, queries whether gapping provides significant development of “soft skills”, and concludes that the gap-year trend has implications for recognising work experience and informal learning in the workplace.

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Unemployment and inactivity in the 2008–2009 recession

an article by Paul Gregg University of Bristol) and Jonathan Wadsworth (Royal Holloway, University of London) published in Economic & Labour Market Review Volume 4 Number 8 (August 2010)

Summary
This article looks at the pattern of worklessness, that is unemployment and inactivity, in the latest recession. Compared to previous recessions, the rise in unemployment has been small relative to the fall in Gross Domestic Product. Likewise, numbers receiving workless benefits other than for unemployment are not rising, in contrast to the two previous economic downturns. This suggests that labour market policies introduced since 1996 have, so far, been effective. However, the ability for new policies to withstand a rise in long-term unemployed is yet to be tested.

Hazel’s comment:
The title of this piece seems to assume that the recession came to an end last year. I remain to be convinced of that!

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Futuristic workspace looks like a dinosaur egg

via Boing Boing by Lisa Katayama

Do you like to block the world out completely when you’re working at your desk?

Copenhagen-based design team GamFratesi has created a prototype for a sleek, dinosaur egg-like work environment that they call Rewrite. It reminds me of those cubicles they had at my grad school library, except they’re a lot nicer-looking.

Read all about it at Dezeen

Hazel’s comment:
I want one!! If only to make significant other realise that when I say I’m working I am not available to undertake domestic chores. I will emerge from my bubble when I'm ready to emerge and not before!

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Impact of the recession on households

an article by Steve Howell, Debra Leaker and Ruth Barrett (Office for National Statistics) published in Economic & Labour Market Review Volume 4 Number 8 (August 2010)


Summary
This article examines the impact of the recent recession on households in the UK. The first half of the article uses the Labour Force Survey to assess the effect of the downturn on labour market participation, specifically the proportions of working, workless and mixed households below state pension age. Comparisons between different groups of the population are also drawn, including by: household type, housing tenure, region, age, number of dependent children and age of the youngest dependent child. The second part of the article focuses on changes to the level of household income using the Living Costs and Food Survey. Analysis is presented at different stages of income (original income, gross income, disposable income and post-tax income), and also by household characteristics including: economic position (working, workless or mixed), region, age and composition.

Hazel’s comment:
OK, that’ a lot of statistics but read between the lines and you will find the human stories.

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10 non-work-related items that I found fun or interesting

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
From curator to benefactor to docent, the art museum is a natural home for women, young and old. Polly Frost provides a field guide... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
What if you could fix global warming with a balloon, a few miles of hose, and a benign stream of sulfur dioxide? Good news? NO!... more ... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Women are often the cruellest critics of other female writers. Where does this anger come from, and at what expense? Emily Gould wonders... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Edvard Munch knew better than anyone that the flip side of the glorious Arctic midnight sun is the long, dark, melancholy winter to come... more

Friday Fun: Play Bubble Quod via the How-To Geek by mysticgeek
Hey, another Friday! Time to play a relaxing flash game on the boss's time. Not on MY time you don’t!
Today we look at Bubble Quod a fun physics game which should waste time until the whistle blows. The basic idea is you're stuck in a bubble but you need to get out of it by traversing different obstacles and scenarios to get to a pin to pop the bubble.
You use the arrow keys to maneuver through obstacles in different levels. You need to get objects moving to bounce off them to get to different areas.
Points are determined by the amount of time it takes to get through the level.
This is truly a relaxing game with a cool jazzy music loop in the background.
Play Bubble Quod at The How-To Geek Arcade!


Brain Fitness Expands, But Research Still Lags via Librarians' Internet Index: New This Week
This 2009 blog post discusses the new brain fitness industry, which “bases many of its exercises on activities that you could do just as easily for free”. Provides suggestions for keeping your brain healthy (such as physical exercise and doing new things) other than purchasing brain training software. Includes links to related posts. From Psych Central, an “independent mental health social network created and run by mental health professionals”.

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
What would it be like to be brought up by George Orwell? Pretty grim, you might think. You would be wrong... more

Hidden files reveal true suffering of early suffragettes via The National Archives News
Files uncovered during a cataloguing project at The National Archives shed new light on the hardships women endured in their fight for the vote 100 years ago.

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
In our universities we ought to keep on studying philosophy, music, and art. But how about a nod toward the fact that 27,000 children die every day from preventable causes?... more

Go Figure via BBC News Technology UK Edition
Can a statistics website really be exciting?
Yes, it can!

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Developments in industrial action 2005–2009

This overview examines developments in industrial action across the European Union and Norway over 2005–2009. The most ‘strike-prone’ countries during the period were Denmark, France and Belgium, while Austria, Estonia and Latvia were essentially strike-free, and the level of industrial action in the new Member States was only about a quarter of that in the EU15. Manufacturing was the sector most prone to conflict, followed by the broad public sector and transport and communications. Pay disputes were the most common cause of industrial action.

PDF 34pp

Press alert from Eurofound

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I See Your Dream Job

a book by “career intuitive” Sue Frederick

Publisher’s blurb says:
In this first-ever book to combine ancient mystical teachings with current career knowledge, Sue reveals how to read destiny clues (the way she reads them for clients) and create a practical plan for moving forward. She illuminates the negative patterns stopping you in your tracks and teaches you to remove them. You walk away with a fresh perspective on your life’s direction, and a realisation of how powerful you truly are.
This is a book for anyone who:
- Feels stuck in a job
- Feels unfulfilled at work
- Questions if they’re on the right track
- Yearns to do something more creative
- Dreams of a different path
- Has been fired
- Has been downsized
- Is underpaid and underappreciated
- Simply wants something different.

Hazel’s comment:
I have yet to be convinced that the mystical, new-age approach is helpful in choosing a career path to follow but it might work for some. Not due for release in the UK until 4 October Amazon.co.uk has it for pre-order at £8.09.

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Council could “clearly improve” detail recorded

The Freedom of Information Act is not the easiest of Acts to find one’s way around but the Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer at the London Borough of Haringey is, surely, not a person who would have difficulty understanding the requirements.

The Information Commissioner backed the local authority’s to withhold a case review into the death of Peter Connelly (formerly known as Baby P) but was critical of the way it had handled the information request.

Without going into too much detail the criticism hinges on the reasons why the qualified person objectively and reasonably arrived at the decision to withhold information. These reasons were not recorded at the time and the Commissioner’s investigation had to rely on opinion put forward by the Council – which might have been different from that which the expert relied on at the time.

If you’re involved in any way with the FOIA then you may it useful to get the Commissioner’s guidance “section 36 – what should be recorded” (December 2009), which is available on the ICO’s website http://www.ico.gov.uk/

This case may also serve as a timely reminder that where a decision is reached it is important to record not only what the decision was but the arguments via which the decision was reached.

And this, of course, does not apply only in respect of Freedom of Information or Data Protection Acts, or the Environmental Information Regulations but also in any decision-making process in which we are involved with a third party.

Thanks to Freedom of Information from PDP Journals which I have just been reading in the British Library

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Ageing – the social revolution

Chief economist at Deloitte discusses the global impact the ageing population will have on economic growth.

Read the full press release which contains some ideas I, for one, had not thought about previously. And the numbers are, to use what appears to be common parlance, awesome! And frightening.

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Having trouble

I’ve been having trouble recently with Blogger not copying and pasting in Compose mode. Unfortunately, whilst this action does work in Edit HTML mode, and I can read HTML if I really put my mind to it, many of the posts that I have in draft have been sent to Blogger from Google Reader and have the Google Mail header and footer i.e. lots of HTML to get rid of. However, and this is the sad part, if I’m not careful, very careful, I end up deleting some of the text as well!!
The even more annoying thing about this, which is a new phenomenon, is that it does not happen when I use my husband’ computer which has Windows 7 OS.
My netbook was cheap because it is not upgradable from XP SP3 and has served me very well up till now – I do not want to change it but nor do I want to only post when I have access to a different computer (rather naturally creates domestic disharmony).
Anyone got an answer for me?

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Disability, capacity for work and the business cycle: ...

an international perspective


an article by Hugo Benítez-Silva (SUNY-Stony Brook), Richard Disney (University of Nottingham) and Sergi Jiménez-Martín (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona GSE, and FEDEA) published in Economic Policy Volume 25 Issue 63 (July 2010)


Summary
Important policy issues arise from the high and growing number of people claiming disability benefits for reasons of incapacity for work in OECD countries. Economic conditions play an important part in explaining both the stock of disability benefit claimants and inflows to and outflows from that stock. Employing a variety of cross-country and country-specific household panel data sets, as well as administrative data, we find strong evidence that local variations in unemployment have an important explanatory role for disability benefit receipt, with higher total enrolments, lower outflows from rolls and, often, higher inflows into disability rolls in regions and periods of above-average unemployment. In understanding the nature of the cyclical fluctuations and trends in disability it is important to distinguish between work disability and health disability. The former is likely to be influenced by economic conditions and welfare programmes while the latter evolves in a slower fashion with medical technology and demographic changes. There is little evidence of health disability being related to the business cycle, so cyclical variations are driven by work disability. The rise in unemployment due to the current global economic crisis is expected to increase the number of disability insurance claimants.


Hazel’s comment:

I think I need to read the full article to understand this.

OUCH! It’s an article based on an OECD paper published in September 2009 and the PDF is 68 pages. Maybe I’ll just skim it!
If you want to do the same online then go to http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/21/57/44352512.pdf

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Unconscious processes in a career counselling case: ...

an action-theoretical perspective

an article by Brenda Dyer, Sheila K Marshall and Richard A Young (University of British Columbia, Vancouver), Maria Chiara Pizzorno (Universit Delgi Studi di Torino, Italy), Kejia Qu (Beijing Normal University, PR China) and Ladislav Valach (Private Practice, Berne) published in British Journal of Guidance & Counselling Volume 38 Issue 3 (August 2010)

Abstract
Although clients and counsellors can often account for their actions in counselling, sometimes the link between the action taken and the larger goal is not apparent. This article accounts for counterproductive, paradoxical actions within the counselling process by addressing unconscious processes as links between immediate actions and larger projects. A career counselling case is presented, the data of which were gathered and analysed through the action-project method. This method includes a video-supported recall procedure, called the self-confrontation interview, as a research and practice means of accessing unconscious aspects of the inter-subjective action of counselling. The complexity of career counselling is illustrated as multiple goals and projects, both conscious and unconscious, are manifest in a single session. Implications for practice include the primacy of the relationship project in career counselling as the relationship project not only contains but reflects other projects such as identity and vocational projects.

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