Summaries
Unemployment in big cities P. de Beer
The unemployment level in the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) is about one and a half time the average level in the Netherlands. In the re maining parts of the metropolitan areas of these cities, however, the unemployment level is con siderably below the national level. One impor tant cause for the large number of unemployed in the big cities is the slow employment growth, while employment in the suburbs grows more rapidly than on the national level. A second cause is the overrepresentation in the big cities of demographic groups with a high un employment incidence, especially ethnic mi norities and low skilled people. A third cause is the competition between inhabitants and com muters from outside the big cities. A fourth possible cause, the existence of a culture of un employment, is rejected, because in the big cit ies the unemployed are not less prepared to ac cept low paid and unattractive jobs than else where.
Labourmarket and social security Review of 'ruimte aan werk' J.P.R. de Jonge
To avoid the trade-off between unemployment and poverty the Scientific Council of Govern ment proposed a policy to enhance the partici pation in the labour force. This proposal is car ried further in a recent report of the Organiza tion of Strategic Labourmarketresearch 'Ruimte aan werk'. In this review of 'Ruimte aan werk' doubt is expressed about the succes of this pol icy to generate jobs. This policy may moreover be to the detriment of the weakest groups on the labour market due to crowding out pro cesses.
Six of one and half a dozen of the other.. Gender subtext in tayloristic organizations and team based work structures
Y. Benschop and H. Doorewaard
This paper describes the results of an empirical study of the manifestations and functioning of the gender subtext in organizations. The con cept of gender subtext refers to the often con cealed processes, that systematically (repro duce gender distinctions via a set of organiza tional and individual arrangements (objectives, measures, habits). In particular, we focus on the (dis (similarities of the gender subtext in taylor istic organizations and in team based work structures. It seems six of one and half a dozen of the other whether work is organized in tay loristic or in team based work structures. For the gender distinction is of a dynamic nature and occurs repeatedly, be it in different manifes tations: in taylorism masculinity is linked to authority and in team based work to expertise. Changes in work - consequences for the working force
F.R.H. Zijlstra, M.J.D. Schalk and R.A. Roe
Work has been influenced by various societal changes, technology being a very important one.
A survey with questions referring to various as pects of work, concerning time, place, and tools, has been conducted among a repre sentative sample (n=l 168) of the Dutch working population.
The results indicate that a significant group of respondents (about 15 %) describe their work as primarily 'mental work', and their object of work is 'information'. This group has been la belled 'Mental Information Workers'. The Men tal Information Workers make more frequent use of information technological facilities in
Summaries
their work than the rest of the respondents. Comparing the responses from the group MIW with the rest of the sample may give an ade quate picture of the influences of the use of in formation technology at work, especially with respect to temporal and spatial aspects.
It is concluded that information technology en larges the indepency of time and space of work ers. However, as a consequence this may lead to an increase of work pressure experienced by workers, and a decrease of social contacts at work. Together these aspects constitute higher stress risks.
Forecasting behaviour of firms on their employment
C. Gorter, W.H.J. Hassink and E. Pels
This article focuses on the forecasting beha viour of firms on their employment. We find a clear relationship between the predicted and the realized level of employment. The incorrect predictions are due to the many no-change fore casts of employers. We specify a model that aims to explain the forecast error. It appears that the forecast error is mainly caused by the forecast error of the output.
Sectoral training policy in belgium and holland Denys and M. Aalders
here are three ways to correct market failure
in the case of training of workers: on the micro level the networking between firms, on the meso-level sectoral training policy and on the macro-level government intervention. In Bel gium and Holland sectoral training policy is well developed. A first comparison between these countries reveals some similarities and differences. In both countries we found a deci sive importance of national agreements, the ex istence of the same trendsetting sectors (con struction and metal industry) and 'the trade off' effect (where the sectoral training measure in the collective agreement was used to clear the social négociations. Also resemblant is the fact that the original target groups of the sectoral training policy was broadened during the years. A big difference between both countries is that in Holland the problems with the apprentice ships system was a major reason for the foun ding of sectoral funds whereas in Belgium these funds were created to develop new initiatives for different kinds of risk groups on the labour market. Till now there is no convincing evi dence that these funds play a correcting role in the training market, especially if we look to the social dimension. Experiences with sectoral training funds in Sweden, France, Australia, Ko rea and Singapore lead to the same conclusion.
