The Risks Of Employing Ex Convicts General Studies Essay

The Risks Of Employing Ex Convicts General Studies Essay 1. Background and Rational for choice of 1st area. Risk of companies employing ex-convicts through the Yellow Ribbon Project. (SPRING.gov.sg) Ex-convicts are trained in courses such as Nitec certification in electronics, ISC in food preparation, ISC in electrical wiring, and NSRS in cleaning skills. They also gain work experience in Singapore Corporation Of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE) industries (eg. Bakery, laundry services, multimedia etc) to remain relevant in the workforce. This benefits employers as these workers are pre-trained and able to start work immediately. It is important to promote the employment of disabled as Singapore has a small population, hence need to maximize human resource. Also, companies need to address prevailing skills shortages and problems in filling job vacancies in tight labour markets. Besides this, due to the fact that Singapore is dependent on foreign workers, ex-convicts can be employed instead, with a lower pay, to reduce their cost of production. Need for ex-convicts to be included in society and for them to be able to sustain themselves without living off others. Thus they will no longer be a burden to society, including companies. Internet sources Ruth and Bryan to find information that explains: (i) risk taken (ii) Its necessity Others Rayna and YiKai to gather statistics/evidence/ survey results to: (i) Provide evidence to show why risk is worth taking (ii) Substantiate the reasons for importance to take risk 2. Details of what happened or was done Companies interested in employing ex-convicts register an account to access the Singapore Corporation Rehabilitative Enterprises online job portal. Companies then employ ex-convicts, giving priority to those who participated in rehabilitative and aftercare programmes, provided by the Yellow Ribbon Project. Last year, a record 2,459 companies pledged to give former convicts a second chance up 13 per cent from the 2,118 registered with the Score in 2009. E.g. Logwin Air + Ocean Singapore pte ltd (Straits Times 14/2/11) Logwin Air + Ocean Singapore, an international logistics company, has hired 3 ex-convicts since 2008. Among these is Mr Abdul Rahim Daud, who was jailed for vehicle theft in 2009. He currently works as an assistant for the company, ensuring that the company does not accidentally export more goods than necessary, saving it money. His boss, managing director Jimmy Ler, says that he is an efficient worker and he is good at what he does. (+)Employed ex-convicts were already trained, so no need to allocate resources to training, save time and money. (+)They work hard as they know the 2nd chance is precious (-)Employees need to go for follow-up sessions with the Singapore After-Care Association (SACA) and Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA), takes up time. (-)Some employees may revert to old ways, threat to company (-)May tarnish companys reputation as public do not accept criminals, generally. Printed/ internet sources Rayna and Yikai to refer to website and others for employment of ex-convicts programmes. Resource Persons Ruth and Bryan to seek expert opinion about employment of ex-convicts programme. . Printed/ internet sources Rayna refers to Yellow Ribbon website on write-up of collaborations Rayna to write Bryan to vet for spelling grammer and to format document Ruth to vet that substantiation is adequate and start writing Biblio YiKai to vet for logic gaps q Group has shown that 1st area is interesting and has significant lessons to learn from. q Group has shown that an appropriate amount (not too much, not too little) of background information to 1st area is given. 3. Lessons learnt 1. The number of employers willing to hire ex-convict has jumped by nearly a third. 2. Important role families play in the rehabilitation of former prisoners. The Family Resource Centres set up in prisons are where counsellors run workshops in family, parenting and marriage for prisoners to prepare them for life outside jail. Helps them patch things up with family and reconnect with society without being a burden because they are able to support and sustain themselves with a job. 3. Rehabilitative and aftercare programmes and skills training helps to ensure that the ex-convicts will be able to help the company increase productivity and not make losses. Printed Internet sources Ruth and YiKai to find information on: (i) effect of hiring ex-convicts on society (ii) ways government and public can help Others Rayna and Bryan to gather statistics/evidence/ survey results to: (i) provide evidence to show positive welfare effect (ii) substantiate the reasons for employing ex-convicts who participated in the rehabilitative and aftercare programmes. q Specific impacts/approaches have been clearly identified. q Appropriate and relevant lessons learnt have been drawn out from each impact/approaches. 4. Background and rational for choice of 2nd area. Successful social entrepreneur wants to contribute and return back to the society. They lead other companies to employ disabled to build an inclusive society. Joan Bowen is conferred the Notable New Employer Award. The cafe and culinary centre was started in August 2009 to teach essential life-long skills to mildly intellectually handicapped young adults. The cafe operates as a social enterprise with the ultimate aim of equipping youths with special needs with a range of culinary skills so that they are able to make their mark as individuals and contribute as active members of society, says Jeanne Seah-Khong, managing director of Joan Bowen. Joan Bowen, founded by Ms Seah and her husband Khong Yoon Kay, both 55, currently has 13 PWDs on its payroll. They work as cooks, dishwashers and service attendants. To enable the PWDs to learn better, Joan Bowen provides tools like visual aids to help them overcome their handicaps in reading. Work in the cafe is structured for PWDs to work smoot hly. Through systematic training, the PWDs became so proficient in operating the point-of-sale machines, coffee machines and credit-card terminals that they were even able to tell when the machines were due for servicing, Ms Seah adds. Other employers employ disabled because of the following reasons: At the counter in the Toa Payoh KFC restaurant, a crew member taps on his I am deaf badge and, without fuss, takes your order with a big smile. This shows that hiring people with disabilities have benefits as it is believed that many have to work very hard to be accepted into the workforce and will, therefore, be less likely to leave and hence, are motivated and determined to meet employment challenges. Lights, monitors and visual cues in the kitchen alert the hearing-impaired staff when food is ready to serve. A shift manager is on duty he cant hear you either. This shows that companies will benefit as many people with disabilities are accustomed to finding alternative ways of doing things. This innovative thinking can carry over into the workplace. Thus, the cost of hiring disabled workers is not much higher than that of ordinary workers. Despite its handicap, the Toa Payoh outlet has been operating since 2003. Its success has spawned two other deaf-operated KFC branches, in Fuchun Community Centre and Jurong West Community Centre. Apart from the 300 deaf crew on its payroll, KFC also opens its doors to people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as well as the intellectually, physically and visually handicapped. Their ages range from 16 to 56. Some have been with KFC for as long as 19 years. Thus, ensures that human power shortage can be avoided as many people with disabilities tend to remain with the same employer for many years. KFC has not gone unnoticed as a PWD-friendly boss. It was appointed Ambassador for the Deaf in 2004 and awarded the Presidents Social Service Award in 2006. Thus, hiring disabled do not result in a decrease in business for companies but instead increase their business. KFC did not experience a decrease in the number of consumers. This shows that hiring disabled will not affect the business of the companies as customers will often be attracted to or remain loyal with a company that they feel is being inclusive. Statistics show that people with disabilities use less sick leave than non-disabled employees. (Journal of occupational Accidents-1984). Thus, hiring disabled has benefits as they are more productive While the 50 PWDs Hans employs are small in number compared with those on KFCs payroll, they make up almost 10 per cent of its staff. The PWDs are treated as part of Hans big family. We address the PWDs as colleagues and dont see them as a burden, says Hans deputy general manager Gan Yee Chin. Five others also got a special mention for particular exemplary qualities in hiring PWDs Joan Bowen, Eureka Call Centre Systems, Pizza Hut Singapore, Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre and Fong Shen Mould and Precision Engineering. As a whole, hiring disabled has more advantages than disadvantages as employers have found that most have not only met but exceeded exceptions- In fact, They have gone on to become very productive and loyal Employees. Need to employ disabled people 1. Diversity in the workplace employing disabled people helps the the team to be more diverse, which in turn ups the level of creativity and innovation. Furthermore, they will be drawing from a wider talent pool and there are disabled people who have skills, knowledge and expertise to contribute to the company/society. Louis Harry Survey showed that 88% of people working with a disabled colleague say that this experience is enriching, likely to modify their opinion of disabled people and to give a new sense of value to their job (60%). 2. Tight labour market limited human resources, companies have to make full use of expertise available, and employing disabled people helps them to boost manpower. Louis Harry Survey showed that 80% of people employing or working with disabled workers think that they are as productive as any other employee. 3. Contribute back to society employing disabled people will enable them to earn a steady income to support themselves or their families, also helping to boost their confidence when interacting with other able-bodied individuals. Moreover, the company will earn the respect and admiration of others because of their humanity, they are willing to employ disabled people and are not focused solely on making money. Louis Harry Survey showed that 75% of people working with a disabled colleague think that the recruitment of disabled workers in their firm gives a positive image and influences them favourably in the perception of their employer. Internet sources Rayna and Bryan to design survey for companies, which employed disabled, to gather statistics. Ruth and YiKai to interview KFC for statistics. q Group has shown that 2nd area is interesting and has significant impact. q Group has shown that an appropriate amount (not too much, not too little) of background information to 2nd area is given. 5. Strategies that can be developed from lessons learnt in (3) to apply to 2nd area. Â · Strategy 1: ESPERANZA(Hope) Features of the website: The organizer is the Asian Womens Welfare Association. The main objective of setting up the ESPERAZA is to provide a convenient platform for job matching. The website will be managed by AWWA, which the bridge between companies and disabled. AWWA assist disabled in going onto the website to look for more job opportunities, especially, people who are blind. The website is specially formatted to make it easier for the disabled (cannot sit or look at the computer screen for too long) as the job are categorized according to type of disabilities (e.g. deaf) and industries (e.g. handicraft). To ensure that companies can save money on providing skills training and disabled job opportunities to disabled according to their last talents/experiences and skills learnt previously in AWWA. Disabled visit website, know about different job opportunities and decides on interested and relevant job. AWWA alert disabled that once clicked on `confirm button, disabled will be an official employee of compan y, cannot black out, otherwise they will have a black record and remain unemployed for lifetime. Solution to reduce risk: One of the main reasons why companies hesitate hiring the disabled is cause they are unsure whether the disabled are able to fully commit themselves to the jobs. This includes resigning after a short term and so on. With the features like ‘confirm button, disabled people will take their job interviews into careful consideration. This is turn reduces the risk that the companies face when hiring the disabled. Ways to encourage companies to participate in the job search portal: Send volunteers to companies who are able to hire the disabled to conduct talks. With the talks, companies would be encouraged and ensured that the disabled are not inferior as compared to normal people in terms of efficiency and attitude wise. Lessons learnt from other job search portals Yellow ribbon project: account registration An account is needed for both the employee and the employer. This would prevent anyone from playing prank on such websites, causing inconvenience. Thus, the website would prove to be more efficient and the parties would not have to be afraid of being involved in scam cases. Australian job search portal: Most of the time, it is the employer who comes up with the requirements and the employee who have to search. With the uploading of resumes onto the website, employees are also able to have a chance of getting a job even when they are not using a computer as employers would be able to read the resumes online and decide whether they want to hire the disabled people or not. Thus, the application of allowing the disabled people to upload their resumes online would allow a higher efficiency as it would not only be a one sided issue where only the disabled people are searching for a job but also companies to search for workers. Â · Strategy 2: Rainbow Ribbon Project The Rainbow Ribbon Project is initiated to convince employers that employing disabled has more benefits than disadvantages and also as a supporting role to ensure that companies faces minimum problems with the employment of disabled. The objectives of the Rainbow Ribbon Project can be summarized in R2P: 1. Realizing potential of disabled people to ensure that employers will be able to fill up skills gaps in companies. 2. Reducing prejudice of society towards disabled to ensure that the number of consumers of companies employing disabled will not decrease and that companies will not make any losses. 3. Provide trust of employers in disabled employees to ensure that companies will make sure that their disabled employees can compete and flourish on equal terms in the workplace, maximising the use of human resource and minimising losses for the companies itself. Actions to take: To support the companies, an organization can be set-up. To minimize the extra cost needed to be paid by the companies to employ disabled, the organization will provide assistance to the disabled. Disabled will be attached to a volunteer mentor to offer guidance through taken through the entire project, which starts from helping disabled in getting a suitable job to adapting and settling down in a comfortable job. Disabled will be taken through the process of examining what they have to offer an employer and exploring careers, offered tips on finding a job, getting hired, and making that job work for them, They will be assisted to build their own resume online in RainbowCareerConnect and also link to resources for employment listings. With all these in place, companies do not have to worry and pay extra attention to the disabled employees as their welfare is taken care of, by the organization. 1. Rainbow Day The project reduces the risk of companies employing disabled as it increases the confidence of companies towards disabled. Prior to this day, companies will partner with groups of polytechnic students (School of Design and technology) and share with students areas in companies where disabled can help. After that, Students will design disabled-friendly aids base on needs of companies (e.g. light bulbs used in kitchen as indicators instead of using buzzers, very illustrative menu cards, and simple sign language posters). The Rainbow Day is for companies to witness potential of disabled through try-out of machines. On the actual day, The Coffee Bean shares success in employing disabled to manufacture BURLAP bags to convince companies the abilities of disabled. Disabled people will then visit the booths, where the Polytechnic student showcases aids designed at different booths, to gain hands-on experience. Companies witness what disabled can do when disabled try-out the aids and discover disabled suitable for employment before giving job application forms. Companies provide choice of short-term (e.g. manufacture period) and long-term employment, according to what disabled can do. With this special day in place, companies will not have to provide extra training for the disabled, helping them save cost and after employing them as they employ only disabled with skills they need. Furthermore, this day provides assurance to the companies as they are very sure that the disabled they employ will be of help to the companies, helping it to increase its productivity. 2. Run! for the Rainbow Companies employers will be the participants invited for the competition. Instead of running as a normal people, employers will be running as disabled. Employers will be asked to use or put on special items (e.g. blindfold, wheelchair) as disabled (e.g. blind, deaf, wheelchair-bound), putting themselves in the shoes of disabled people and gain a deeper understanding of the difficulties faced by them. To win the competition, the employers will push themselves hard and put in their best effort to win the competition. Hence, through this competition, companies will be assured of the commitment that disabled employees will put in as they understand how much effort the disabled will put in to ensure that he or she will not be sacked. Thus, companies will benefit as its productivity increases. 3. Rainbow award To recognize values and talents disabled bring to work place. Other than just receiving an award title, disabled will be given a chance to bring in friends, who are also limited by disabilities and are unable to get a job. This will help to increase the overall employment of disabled in the society. To ensure the companies will benefit, the awardees will be the job trainers for the new employees they recommended and must ensure that the new employees are of help to the companies. Thus, with this award, the productivity of the companies will only continue to increase as its manpower will definitely increase but not decrease. Resource Persons Ruth and YiKai to request an interview with AWWA in-charge. Printed/internet sources Bryan refer to AWWA website on how organization works. Rayna find out the different types of jobs suitable. Rayna, YiKai conduct survey for companies interested: -To get evidence that companies need to know potential of disabled before taking the risk to employ Printed/internet Resource YiKai and Ruth research on manufacturers Resource Persons Rayna and Bryan to request collaboration between DPA and polytechnics Resource person Ruth and Bryan contact person-in-charge of The BURLAP bag to gather evidence of its success q The suggested strategy is creative. q The suggested management strategy is appropriate and effective for the target audience. q The suggested management strategy is feasible and manageable. q There is a clear link between the lessons learnt from 1st area and the suggested proposal q Details of the strategy are clearly presented. q There is clear and honest evaluation of the strategy. Any other comments / considerations? There may be a lack of statistics and evidence from the website and hence we need to carry out surveys. We might not be able to get the interviews done in which case we might have to look at another location or organization that is willing to communicate with us. Economically minded organizations may not be willing to work with us as little direct benefits, then need to request help from other non-profit organizations q The group is aware of the potential difficulties they may encounter. q The project is manageable.

Labor Market For University Graduates Economics Essay

Labor Market For University Graduates Economics Essay For quite some time, Egypt has suffered chronic unemployment with the unemployment rates hovering during the past decade well above 9 percent. Like several other developing countries, the unemployment problem in Egypt is prevalent among university graduates. In 2008, almost 17 percent of Egypts labor force had a university degree. University graduates, however, represented approximately one third of the unemployed labor versus 2% of illiterates (CAPMAS 2008). The noticeably high unemployment rates among university graduates represent a heavy drain on the countrys scarce human and financial resources. Those distortions in the graduates labor market in terms of skills needed by employers and those offered by workers are mainly the outcome of prolonged policies that failed to promote economic growth and increase employment. Although, Egypt took a concrete steps and adopted active labor market policies towards the youth, the mismatch problem still exists. Gobbi (2005) diagnosed this phenomenon as follows: the existence of poor data on the labor demand needs, it is difficult to cope with dynamics of the labor market, only 5% received guidance from the authority to training centers and finally the low quality of the training due to lack of funds, shortage of competent trainers, scarcity of modern equipment and innovative methods, and insufficient course duration. Those distortions highlights the need to understand the status and imbalances in the university graduates labor markets and identify appropriate strategies to reduce unemployment and improve the well being and opportunities of the university graduates. Although individual welfare in Egypt is correlated with university graduation,[1] the labor markets for university graduates has not been sufficiently efficient. The inefficiencies are an outcome of the particular structure and features of those markets on both the demand and suplly sides. There is an extensive body of research literature that examines the main features of the labor markets for university graduates in Egypt. The research suggests that the field of study— classified according to academic department—has a significant effect on the labor market for the university graduates. For instance, it is likely that the medical school, pharmacy and engineering graduates may—on average—achieve better labor market outcomes in comparison with the holders of Bachelor of Arts degrees. Moreover, the nature of the university ownership (public, private or foreign) may affect its graduates labor market opportunities and expected lifetime incomes. Further, there is an increasing tendency towards recruiting graduates from foreign universities/sections. Hence, graduates from Arabic sections in commerce and law —for example— dont have the opportunity to penetrate the labor market. The same applies to faculties that do not generate the re quired skilled labor for the society like humanities and agriculture (OECD and IBRD-The World Bank 2010). Gender-specific differences—particularly on the demand side—have been observed to influence the labor market decisions and potentials for the university graduates leading to unequivocal male dominance. This is manifested by the staggering 71 percent representation of males in the total number of employed university graduates. Other personal, demographic, spatial and household characteristics influence the graduates labor market decisions importantly, marital status and location of residence. According to the 1998 and 2006 Egyptian Labor Market Surveys, unmarried women experienced faster transition from university-to-work vis-à  -vis married women. Alternatively, university graduates in urban areas represent almost 70 percent of the total number of employed university graduates owing to the low number of job opportunities suitable for their skills in the rural region. The rural university graduates access to employment and wage potentials is further curtailed by the hig h economic costs of migration across the rural urban divide generally because of the higher costs of urban reallocation. The above characteristics imply that the university graduates labor markets in Egypt are highly segmented. They are also influenced by non-competitive forces, which act as barriers to equitable access to employment opportunities and to fair wage compensations. Hence, personal, clan- and family-based connections and networks, communal norms and opportunistic rent-seeking behavior can pay for having a good job and raise the probability of accessing the labor market. As in many developing countries, there is a mismatch between Egyptian university graduates labor market realities and its institutions. Moreover, Employment Guarantee Scheme established in the 1960s lead to lowering the quality of education at all levels, and the growing number of graduates led to queuing for government jobs (Birdsall and OConnell 1999). Examining the characteristics of informal workers in 1998 and 2006 marked the increase in the share of youth (20-29 years old) among informal workers. Moreover, the share of university graduates has increased slightly over this period suggesting that more university graduates are informally employed in 2006 than in 1998 (Wahba 2009). Based on what shown above the Egyptian educational expansion is not translated into higher productivity and income for graduates, instead it induces diminishing returns. The reasons behind that are the shortage of Egypts education policy to efficient-enhancing discipline necessary for enhancing the graduated workers competitiveness in the export market, and the labor market regime and regulations that leads to an increase in the cost of labor and rigidities in the labor market (Birdsall and OConnell 1999). Therefore, it is of paramount interest that all players in the graduates labor market- the government, the university system administrators, employers and graduates themselves- must endeavor to put an end to this vicious circle. The main object of this research is to analyze the structure of the labor market for university graduates in Egypt and suggest pragmatic strategies to increase its efficiency. Because of the statistical deficiencies of the labor market data in Egypt, the proposed research will be based on a new stylized dataset for the supply and demand for university graduates. The remainder of this proposal is divided as follows. II. Objective The proposed research aims at informing the Egyptian decision makers in addressing fundamental policy issues concerning the supply and demand of university graduates and their movements in the labor markets. Consequently, the analysis should be able to improve the decision makers understanding of the different factors driving unemployment not only among university graduates but also in the overall economy via studying the processes and market and non-market institutions involved in the flow of university graduates in and out of establishments, university graduates (mis)match with jobs and the distribution of university graduates across sectors. Importantly, the study will consider the determination of the wage structure and the relationship of vacancies and unemployment cross different sectors and year of graduation. Specifically, the research will cover the following main issues. 1. Analysis of the structure of the Egyptian university graduates labor markets. This includes an overview of the relative wage/earnings structure (including all types of benefits) and the sources of wage inequality by type of employment, job, gender, enterprise, demographic characteristics, region, etc. The study will aim at examining the university graduates labor supply and demand sides. Hence, the study shall explore the different dimensions of the incentives that graduates have—including the various factors that affect their reservation wages—to provide labor services and to offer a specific number of hours of work per week and per year. The study shall differentiate between the incentives facing men and women separately, which determine the observed choices for the uses of time including the role of wages and job characteristics (stability, private/government, etc.), years of experience, family status, wage differentials by sex, informality, paid/nonpaid jobs, fam ily/personal income, type of enterprise, marital status and other households, community environment, firms and sectoral characteristics. 2. The main object of study shall aim at providing a detailed taxonomy of the structure of the demand for Egyptian university graduates. The study will generally aim at identifying the incentives of different firms and enterprises to hire graduates and the factors that influence job openings hires. In addition, different elasticities shall be estimated to evaluate the firms years of experience/skill graduates demand mix considering the prevailing relative wage, costs of production and market and non market institutional arrangements. Particular emphasis will be given to government and public sector demand for graduates that is influenced by both socioeconomic and political considerations. Finally, the study shall evaluate whether too much education is being produced relative to the needs of the different employers and whether there is a mismatch between the job characteristics and the graduates qualifications. 3. The study will examine the effect and role that grades have to play in the Egyptian university graduates labor market by type and spatial allocation of university and by type of employment private/public/government, formal/informal, temporary/tenured/seasonal, etc. The study shall consider the effect of grades on job and career prospects when entering the labor market. It will also examine whether or not these effects are transitory and whether they change (positively/negatively) over time. The study, therefore, shall test and analyze the relation between grades and annual wages—per formal and per actual hours of work—at different time intervals (years) after graduation to capture the age impact of the university graduates final grades. 4. The study shall examine the effect of minimum wage on the number of hours worked and on the structure of the wage distribution across sectors in Egypt focusing on university graduates. The study will determine the discrepancies in the length of the period needed for the youngest inexperienced vs. the older workers to decide exiting the minimum wage and identify graduates who would be most probably affected. The study shall extend the employment and wage effects of adopting the minimum wage policy on both the formal and informal sectors. This should provide the decision makers with guidelines for the design of an appropriate minimum wage policy that takes into consideration the profile of minimum wage employees and their productivity. 5. The study aims at measuring the intergenerational economic and social mobility among university graduates in Egypt by measuring the degree to which the graduates circumstances at birth, family background and ties with and membership in different communities can affect their employment and wage level. In addition, the study will probe into how status in the social hierarchy system changes throughout the course of the graduates career based on their own effort. The findings of the study will be employed to analyze the linkages between key socioeconomic variables including education attainment, persons skill and quality of performance, wage rate, job security and stability and equitable access to opportunities. Differences in opportunities—owing to the individuals own rank within the family/community, place of residence e.g., urban/rural, upper/lower and other relevant socioeconomic and demographic characteristics—will be identified. 6. Policy evaluation—based on the findings derived from the studies 1-5—to formulate policy informative guiding principles and design doable strategies for reducing unemployment and incidence of joblessness among Egyptian university graduates, increasing their earning potentials and employment opportunities and promising them better access to the labor markets both at the present time and in the future. The strategies shall be cast within an amenable format that can be easily implemented by the decision makers. III. Data Sources Graduate survey Survey on the labor market outcomes of graduates from the higher education system in Egypt, data will be collected through a multistage stratified random sample. The strata are all the academic departments and the graduation year. There will be an oversampling for the private schools to deal with their absent in the past. The questionnaire will study some demographic characteristics ,the job situation of graduates, type of the job and duties characteristics, educational requirements for the job, the match between their studies and their graduate job (education-job match), past jobs (jobs history). They were also asked whether they had taken any postgraduate studies or any training programs (training purpose, type of training and the corresponding cost), and if they had any experience with mobility. To study the effect and role that grades have to play in the Egyptian university graduates labor market, the questionnaire should have question about the cumulative grade that the graduate got on the final year of school. For some cases, when the GPA will be available, the graduate score will be converted to have the same grade system. Specific section with detailed questions for graduates who were unemployed and some other questions about the communities surround the graduates. This survey will be conducte d quarterly to capture the seasonality effect. Establishment survey The survey sample should represent all establishments in all economy sectors. Multistage stratified sample will be conducted. Some establishment characteristics will be taken into consideration such as the geographic region, public or private establishment and establishment size. Some specific sub surveys could be conducted: informal survey and micro-survey for enterprise that has less than 5 employees. The questionnaire will study all things that encourage different establishments to hire graduates, all the socioeconomic and political considerations that are related to hiring new employees. Some establishments require special training programs, so there will be some questions about the purpose of the training program, the cost, and the places that provide such training. It is important also to ask about the factors that influence new job openings. There will be also questions about the annual wages, working days, formal and actual working hours, cost of production and full- and part-time workers who are paid a wage or salary and some other questions about the communities surround the establishments. The survey will be conducted at the end of the fiscal year. To test the design and check its feasibility, a pilot study will be conducted for each of the two surveys. IV. Expected Budget Level Estimate US $ Overall Project Costs Human Resources Lead Economist Economic Expert(S) Statistics Expert(s) Economic Researchers Statisticians Conducting the survey Software and Equipments Workshops and Eeminars Bibliography Amer, M. 2007.Transition from Education to Work. Egypt Country Report. European Training Foundation (ETF) Working document. Birdsall, Nancy and Lesley OConnell. 1999. Putting Education to Work in Egypt. Central Agency for Public Mobilization And Statistics (CAPMAS). 2008. Labor force Sample Survey. www.capmas.gov.eg Chen, M.and J. Vanek. 2005. Informal employment: rethinking workforce development. In Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, No Jobs Labor Markets and Informal Work in Egypt, El Salvador, India, Russia, and South Africa. Ed. By Avirgan, T., L. Josh Bivens and Sarah Gammage. Global Policy Network. Economic Policy Institute. El Zannaty and Associates. 2007. School-to-work Transition: Evidence from Egypt. Employment Policy Papers; 2007/2. Employment Policy Department, ILO. El-Haddad, A. 2009. Labor Market Gender Discrimination under Structural Adjustment: The Case of Egypt. Working Paper #003, SRC/CIDA Research Program on Gender and Work. Social Research Center, The American University in Cairo and the Canadian International Development Agency. El-Mahdi, A. and M. Amer. 2005. Egypt: Growing Informality, 1990-2003. Chapter 1 in Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, No Jobs Labor Markets and Informal Work in Egypt, El Salvador, India, Russia, and South Africa. Ed. By Avirgan, T., L. Josh Bivens and Sarah Gammage. Global Policy Network. Economic Policy Institute. Galal, Ahmed. 2002. The Paradox of Education and Unemployment in Egypt Working. Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES). Paper No. 67. Gobbi, M. 2007. Flexibility and security in labour markets of developing countries. In search of decent work for all Employment. Paper No. 2007/6 Policy Papers Employment Policy Department, ILO, Geneva. Gobbi, M. and N. Alena. 2005. Towards a New Balance between Labour Market Flexibility and Employment Security for Egypt. ILO. National Tripartite Symposium on Employment Policy in Egypt (16-17 January 2005, Cairo). Kenawy, Ezzat Molouk. 2006. University Education and its Relation to Development in Egypt. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 2(12): 1270-1284. OECD and World Bank. 2010.Reviews of National Policies for Education: Higher Education in Egypt. Pauw, Kalie, Mornà © Oosthuizen, and Carlene van der Westhuizen. 2006. Graduate Unemployment in the Face of Skills Shortages: A Labour Market Paradox. Development Policy Research Unit. DPRU Working Paper 06/114. Radwan, Samir. 2002. Employment and Unemployment in Egypt: Conventional Problems, Unconventional Remedies. Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES). Working Paper No. 70. Wahba, J. 2009. Informality in Egypt: a Stepping Stone or a Dead End? Economic Research Forum Working Paper No. 456.

Dead Poet’s Society :: Film Movies

Dead Poet’s Society The film, Dead Poet’s Society, is a story of a English professor who instructs a group of eager boys in a highly accredited and traditional boys academy. Professor Keatings, played by Robin Williams, introduces his students into the world of poetry. Throughout the school year, the professor inspires the students to â€Å"seize the day† and make their lives extraordinary. A group of students gets swept away by their teacher’s enthusiastic spirit, and they decide to reorganize â€Å"The Dead Poet’s Society†, a select club which used to meet in a cave when the professor attended school, to experience inspiration through poetry. The inspirational impact he has on his students backfires when the school’s board of trustees finds out about the unorthodox teaching methods that go on in the classroom. One of his students commits suicide after the boy’s father, a very controlling man, rejects his son and his enthusiasm for acting and the stag e. Professor Keatings doesn’t follow textbooks or the curriculum, but teaches from his heart. Unlike his conservative colleagues, Keating employs decidedly unorthodox teaching methods and strives to teach more than just his subject matter, which is poetry. His goal is to inspire his students to suck the bone of life to the marrow, to seize the day and to make their lives extraordinary. In Keating's class, you learn passion, courage, romanticism, and, of course poetry. You pass if you avoid conformity and find your own voice, and you fail if you neglect to live life to the fullest. The impact that professor Keatings has on his students is eternal. His spirit will probably always live in his students’ hearts. Any teacher who is like Keatings is priceless. He wasn’t just teacher of academics but a teacher of life. I have had some teachers similar to Professor Keatings, whom I will always remember.

Concert Report Essay -- Music

For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at the Kimball Recital Hall. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because I usually work at night. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the composers and/or performers. I went with three friends, who I convinced by telling it would be interesting to see student composers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first piece was called Oblique/musique composed by Patrick Swanson. This piece instantly stood out among the others because of the instruments involved. The piece was performed by two people: one playing a vibraphone and the other playing a large drum/cymbal/gong. However, the piece also contained prerecorded sounds of static, bass, and an incoherent voice. In this piece the melody was repeated many times. It was similar to the works of John Adams because of its repetitions, background recording, and minimalistic sounds.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second piece was a piano composition by Thalia Ventimilla called Ecuadorian Afternoon. This piece had a very relaxing melody and a â€Å"walking speed† tempo. It was not fast and not slow. The intensity of the piece started out high and gradually declined, then built up to decline again. This went on in a series of decrescendos, rising and falling with lots of chords being played.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The third piece was a duet for the flute and the oboe by Julia Grace Brown. The piece contained two movements, but I could not tell when one stopped and the second began because there was no pause. While they played the flute was quicker, playing in short, fast, high pitched notes. On the other hand, the oboe was steadier and carried the notes slightly longer, and it lead the flute through the song. Sometimes the two instruments played simultaneously, and sometimes the flute would mimic the oboe and follow it through the movement. Overall, the piece started out fast and eventually slowed with the two instruments ending together, but the flute always played in a higher range with a more piercing ... ..., intensity, and length. The entire movement had a feeling of rising to a maximum point which could not be surpassed. In the third movement the flute and the piano played together and played nearly the same thing, with the exception of the flutes higher notes. This to had an increasing in intensity and tempo. Now for the sake of time, and because this report is already too long, I will skip to the last piece. Also, the seventh piece was so long that I could keep discussing it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The final and twelfth piece was made up of excerpts from a longer work called Five Short Pieces for Clarinet and Bassoon. To me, maybe because the concert was beginning to get long or maybe because I did not have many notes over it, the last piece seems fairly similar throughout its movements, or â€Å"Short Pieces.† The first was an up-beat piece with a distinct melody. The clarinet and bassoon alternated, with the clarinet playing the higher notes. The second movement had a have complete feel to it. The two instruments played at the same time, close to it. The third movement was an impressive sounding mix of ups and downs. It seemed that the performers were working very hard and it sounded very complex.

The Immune System Essay -- essays research papers

The Immune System   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The immune system is a group of cells, molecules, and tissues that help defend the body against diseases and other harmful invaders. The immune system provides protection against a variety of potentially damaging substances that can invade the body. These substances include disease-causing organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. The body's ability to resist these invaders is called immunity. A key feature of the immune system is its ability to destroy foreign invaders while leaving the body's own healthy tissues alone. Sometimes, however, the immune system attacks and damages these healthy tissues. This reaction is called an autoimmune response or autoimmunity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The immune system is composed of many parts that work together to fight infections when pathogens or poisons invade the human body. Pathogens are disease-causing organisms such as bacteria and viruses. The immune system reacts to foreign substances through a series of steps know as the immune response. Any agent perceived as foreign by a body's immune system is called an antigen. Several types of cells may be involved in the immune response to antigens.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When an antigen enters the body, it may be partly neutralized by components of the innate immune system. It may be attacked by phagocytes or by performed antibodies that act together with the complement system. The human immune system cont...

Classroom Behavior Managment: Common Mistakes Essay

Mistakes are common in the classroom, but there are tips on how to manage your classroom that will eliminate the chaos and help your students learn. Prevention is an effective form of behavior management. From the beginning you need to establish a set of rules and regulations so that the students know your expectations. There are twelve common classroom behavior management mistakes, but are followed by suggestions as to what we should do instead. The systems should be able to meet the changing needs of the classroom and students. The first few mistake rules are basic concepts that teachers need to know. One is being able to define misbehavior by its function not by how it looks. Number two and three is to assess the behavior directly instead of asking a question or approaching the problem in a different way instead of trying harder for it to work. Number four is to set and establish classroom rules right away, but do not have too many because it makes it more difficult for both the teacher to enforce and students to comply. The fifth one is to treat some behaviors as â€Å"can’t dos† like lack of skills not all as â€Å"won’t dos† as in lack of motivation. Number six is an easy fix by planning transition time appropriately instead of lack of planning. Number seven has true knowledge by ignoring wisely instead of ignoring all or nothing at all. Make sure to understand what you should ignore and what you should not. Number eight moves onto misuse and overuse of time out. The student’s reinforcement opportunities are withdrawn when in time out. Moving onto number nine is that you should have clear expectations of your students that you reinforce consistently. Your students are more likely to obey when the teacher is consistent than when they are inconsistent. Number tens mistake is not including others in your management efforts. The classroom will be more effective if parents, students and others are involved. Number eleven and twelve are about using academic instruction as a tool and taking the misbehavior professionally not personally. A brief review on the common mistakes is useful for developing a comprehensive behavior management plan. Reflection: I enjoyed reading this article because the main thing I look for when I go into my field experiences is the different classroom settings and figuring out how each classroom is run differently. Teachers have their own behavior management techniques and they all handle situations differently. This article is really going to help me in my future because I now know the common mistakes teachers make and I can look for them when I am in my fields. I thought that this article was well written and gave just enough information and examples for each mistake. What I think is most important is prevention because if you can stop it before it starts then hopefully you illuminate the problem all together. I really do believe in getting the ground rules set early so that the students know your expectations. You should not over load them with tons of rules but if you have a good set of four to six rules that could govern classroom situations then I believe that you will have less behavioral problems. I think that this article is worthwhile and I would recommend it to other teachers because maybe by me passing on this article I could help another teacher get their class behavior under control. Some teachers are old fashioned and need new direction and passing an article on like this one could be beneficial for any teacher. I really thought that this article was knowledgeable. I learned more than I thought I would and any teacher would benefit from reading and applying this to their classroom.

Cause and Effect Blind Dates

Many people have trouble finding the right person for themselves; however, going on a couple of blind dates could open the door to meeting new people. The whole point of a blind date is to meet someone else that one doesn't know and to get to know him better. The first cause of going on a blind date is that some people are shy and their friends decide to help them out and try to find someone that would be suitable for them.It is an excellent way for the shy people to get out more often. Another cause is to just have a good time. A blind date doesn't have to be about finding the right person, it could be just to have a fun time with someone else. Results from a blind date could differ from certain people. First, the person could have an enjoyable night and might even call his date again for another night together. However, he could also find his date rather uninteresting, thus ruining his night.A second result is that the person could find his date very appealing, but not that special someone he was looking for. Adding on, he could become very good friends with her and meet new people. Since he found her very fun to be with, he could go out more often with her and meet her friends. On the other hand, he could find her appealing, but not interested in spending more time. Either way a blind date has two outcomes. The people on the date could have a really enjoyable time with their date, or it could be a complete waste of time.