Journal Article

Introduction The proportion of workers reporting disabilities varies tremendously across occupations. Although differences in the occupational distributions may partly explain the large disparities in earnings and job security between workers with and without disabilities, little is known about the reasons that workers with disabilities are underrepresented in certain occupations and overrepresented in others. Methods Using a large, national survey of the US population combined with official data on the skill and experience requirements and occupational risks of 269 occupations, a multilevel regression analysis was performed to identify occupational and individual factors that influence the representation of workers with disabilities across occupations. Models of overall, sensory, mobility, and cognitive disability were constructed for working-age labor force participants, as were models of overall disability for younger, in-between, and older workers. Results At the occupational level, reported disability is negatively associated with occupational requirements for information and communication skills and with the amount of prior work experience that is required, after controlling for individual factors such as age and educational attainment. Little relationship is found between disability status and a set of occupational risk factors. These findings generally hold true across disability types and age groups. Conclusions Even after taking into account their lower average educational attainment, workers with disabilities appear to be disproportionately relegated to entry-level occupations that do not emphasize the better-remunerated job skills. Underemployment results in lower wages and less job security and stability. Possible reasons include employer discrimination, low expectations, deficits in relevant skills or experience, and work disincentives.

The purpose of this research was to determine if the GMAT actually mattered for MBA student performance. A waiver option was recently instituted in our MBA program based on GPA and/or professional experience, providing the ability to compare group differences (GMAT vs non-GMAT students) on several relevant outcome variables, including: (1) graduate GPA, (2) a managerial in-basket assessing managerial competencies, and (3) the MBA ETS, a standardized measure of knowledge of MBA program content. Results revealed that there were no differences in scores on the outcomes measures between groups, questioning the validity of the GMAT as a selection tool, particularly for students with high GPAs and/or significant work experience.

The growth of precarious work since the 1970s has emerged as a core contemporary concern within politics, in the media, and among researchers. Uncertain and unpredictable work contrasts with the relative security that characterized the three decades following World War II. Precarious work constitutes a global challenge that has a wide range of consequences cutting across many areas of concern to sociologists. Hence, it is increasingly important to understand the new workplace arrangements that generate precarious work and worker insecurity. A focus on employment relations forms the foundation of theories of the institutions and structures that generate precarious work and the cultural and individual factors that influence people's responses to uncertainty. Sociologists are well-positioned to explain, offer insight, and provide input into public policy about such changes and the state of contemporary employment relations.

Employers have experimented with three broad approaches to promoting diversity. Some programs are designed to establish organizational responsibility for diversity, others to moderate managerial bias through training and feedback, and still others to reduce the social isolation of women and minority workers. These approaches find support in academic theories of how organizations achieve goals, how stereotyping shapes hiring and promotion, and how networks influence careers. This is the first systematic analysis of their efficacy. The analyses rely on federal data describing the workforces of 708 private sector establishments from 1971 to 2002, coupled with survey data on their employment practices. Efforts to moderate managerial bias through diversity training and diversity evaluations are least effective at increasing the share of white women, black women, and black men in management. Efforts to attack social isolation through mentoring and networking show modest effects. Efforts to establish responsibility for diversity lead to the broadest increases in managerial diversity. Moreover, organizations that establish responsibility see better effects from diversity training and evaluations, networking, and mentoring. Employers subject to federal affirmative action edicts, who typically assign responsibility for compliance to a manager, also see stronger effects from some programs. This work lays the foundation for an institutional theory of the remediation of workplace inequality.

This article discusses issues affecting the advancement opportunities of persons with disabilities and strategies for overcoming barriers to advancement. Specifically, two major sources of treatment discrimination are identified: (1) individual factors (i.e., nature of the disability, stereotypes and stigma, multiple stigma and self-limiting behaviors) and (2) organizational factors (i.e., token status, outgroup status, perceptions of limited job-fit, lack of role models, lack of mentors, and lack of critical feedback). Strategies for overcoming these barriers and implications for human resource managers are discussed and include: diversity training, training for persons with disabilities, dealing with coworker resentment, accommodations, supervisor training, and mentoring/sponsorship programs. Implications for research on issues related to the advancement of persons with disabilities are also addressed.

Objective To examine the job accommodation and benefit needs of young adults with disabilities as they transition into employment, and their perceived barriers to meeting support needs. Methods An online survey was conducted of 155 Canadian young adults with disabilities (mean age = 25.8 years). Respondents were either employed or seeking employment, and were asked about their need for health benefits, and soft (e.g., flexible scheduling) and hard accommodations (e.g., ergonomic interventions), and perceived accommodation barriers. Disability characteristics (e.g., disability type), demographic details and work context information were collected. Multivariable logistic analyses were conducted to examine the factors associated with a greater need for health benefits and hard and soft accommodations. Result Participants reported having a physical (79%), psychological (79%) or cognitive/learning disability (77%); 68% had > 1 disability. Over half (55%) were employed. Health benefits and soft accommodations were most needed by participants. Also, an average of six perceived accommodation barriers were indicated; difficulty with disability disclosure was most frequently reported. More perceived accommodation barriers were associated with a greater need for health benefits (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.04–1.31) and soft accommodations (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.01–1.27). A psychological disability was a associated with a greater need for health benefits (OR 2.91, 95% CI 1.09–7.43) and soft accommodations (OR 3.83, 95% CI 1.41–10.42). Discussion Employers can support the employment of young adults with disabilities through provision of extended health benefits and soft accommodations. Addressing accommodation barriers could minimize unmet workplace need, and improve employment outcomes for young adults with disabilities as they begin their career and across the life course.

Job polarization refers to the shrinking share of employment in middle-skill, routine occupations experienced over the past 35 years. Jobless recoveries refers to the slow rebound in aggregate employment following recent recessions despite recoveries in aggregate output. We show how these two phenomena are related. First, essentially all employment loss in routine occupations occurs in economic downturns. Second, jobless recoveries in the aggregate can be accounted for by jobless recoveries in the routine occupations that are disappearing.

This study examines earnings gaps between Canadian-born visible minorities and Whites in the public and private sectors. Based on the 2006 census data, this study shows that visible minorities and Whites receive similar pay for similar jobs in the public sector. By contrast, in the private sector visible minority men earn significantly less than observationally comparable Whites. Among large visible minority groups, Black men face a large earnings gap in the private sector while Black women face a large gap in both the public and private sectors. For Chinese and South Asians, small gaps in adjusted earnings exist only among men in the private sector.

Several popular arguments against teaching business ethics are examined: (a) the ethical duty of business people is to maximize profit within the law, whence the irrelevance of ethics courses (the Milton Friedman argument); (b) business people respond to economic and legal incentives, not to ethical sentiments, which means that teaching ethics will have no effect; (c) one cannot study ethics in any meaningful sense anyway, because it is a matter of personal preference and is unsusceptible to rational treatment; (d) moral character is formed in early childhood, not while sitting in ethics class; and (e) business students see no motivation to study ethics and will not take it seriously. The mistakes and confusion that underlie these arguments are exposed.