Douglas Hyatt

Child Care Costs and the Employment Decision of Women: Canadian Evidence

The authors estimate the joint decision for women with preschool children to engage in paid employment and to purchase market forms of child care. The results confirm those found in most U.S. studies, indicating that child care costs exert a significant negative effect on the labor supply of women with children and on their decision to purchase child care. As well, the expected wage of the mother exerts a significant positive impact on both the decision to purchase market forms of child care and the decision to engage in paid unemployment.

Consequences of the performance appraisal experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of low quality performance appraisals (PA) on three human resource management outcomes (job satisfaction, organisational commitment and intention to quit).Design/methodology/approach – Using data from 2,336 public sector employees clusters of PA experiences (low, mixed and high) were identified. Regression analysis was then employed to examine the relationship between low quality PA experiences and job satisfaction, organisational commitment and intention to quit.Findings – Employees with low quality PA experiences (relative to those with mixed and high quality PA experiences) were more likely to be dissatisfied with their job, be less committed to the organisation and more likely to be contemplating leaving the organisation.Research limitations/implications – The data were collected in a large public sector research organisation where the results of the appraisal were linked to pay increments. Further research is needed to determine the applicabi...

Do Injured Workers Pay for Reasonable Accommodation

The authors present evidence on the extent to which injured workers in Ontario in 1979–88 “paid,” through lower wages, for “reasonable accommodation” requirements designed to facilitate their return to work after their injury. The data source, the Ontario Workers#x0027; Compensation Boards Survey of Workers with Permanent Impairments, provides detailed information on two categories of accommodation: workplace modifications, such as customized equipment and shortened work schedules; and reductions in physical demands, such as exemption from bending and heavy lifting. Employers who rehired their own injured workers appear to have absorbed virtually all the cost of the accommodations they made, but employers who hired workers who were injured at other firms shifted a substantial portion of the cost of workplace modifications (though not the cost of reductions in physical demands) onto the injured workers, in the form of lower pay.

Can Public Policy Affect Fertility

This paper examines the relationship between a number of government programs and the total fertility rate. Uisng a simple time series model, which explicitly considers the labor market behavior of women, we find that government programs which implicitly alter the costs of having a child have a small, but positive, impact on fertility. The results suggest that during the 1980s, a one percent increase in the real value of Unemployment Insurance maternity benefits would results in an increase in the total fertility rate of between 0.09 and 0.26 percnet. The paper is timely in view of the recent pro-natalist policies introduced by the Quebec government.

Strike Incidence and Strike Duration: Some New Evidence from Ontario

The authors use a unique longitudinal data set from Ontario, covering the years 1984–92, to estimate the determinants of strike incidence and duration. Unlike most empirical analyses of strikes, the data set for this study contains both small and large bargaining units. The authors find strong evidence that the likelihood of a future strike was lower among bargaining units that had struck before than among those that had not (the “teetotaler” effect); the longer a strike lasted, the greater was the probability of settling (positive duration dependence); and smaller bargaining units were less likely to strike than were larger bargaining units, but had longer strikes when they did strike.

Wage-Pension Trade-offs in Collective Agreements

Analyzing 98 matched collective agreements and flat benefit pension plans in Ontario in 1984, the authors find evidence of a significant trade-off between wages and an actuarially constructed summary measure of the expected future pension costs for employers. With respect to the separate components of the pension plans, they find a significant trade-off between wages and the main item that is bargained over—the flat benefit rate—but not between wages and most of the early and postponed retirement options. These results obtain when the pension variables are specified as a proportion of wages, to capture the assumption that the generosity of pension plans is reflected in replacement rates, and when simultaneous equation procedures are used to account for the possible endogeneity of pensions; the trade-off disappears, however, when the pension variables are specified in dollar amounts.

Workplace risks and wages: Canadian evidence from alternative models

Three alternative models of compensating wage premiums for risk are estimated: the conventional OLS wage regression; an endogenous risk model that accounts for the simultaneity that may occur if workers of high potential earnings prefer safer jobs; and a self-selection model to account for the possibility that workers sort into jobs based on unobserved tolerance for risk that affects their productivity in dangerous work environments. The results suggest that the existing Canadian estimates, which have been based on the basic model, may seriously underestimate the wage premium for risk and hence the implied cost of fatal and non-fatal injuries.

Child Care Subsidies, Welfare Reforms, and Lone Mothers

Recent social assistance reforms appear to have reduced welfare rolls, but the effects on the well-being of those families and their children are less clear. Using simulations based on Canadian data, we find that some currently favored alternatives turn out to be effective in encouraging employment but punitive to families. Increased subsidization of market child care combined with income support for families appears to deliver a number of family-supportive outcomes.

Mapping Power Law Distributions in Digital Health Social Networks: Methods, Interpretations, and Practical Implications

Background Social networks are common in digital health. A new stream of research is beginning to investigate the mechanisms of digital health social networks (DHSNs), how they are structured, how they function, and how their growth can be nurtured and managed. DHSNs increase in value when additional content is added, and the structure of networks may resemble the characteristics of power laws. Power laws are contrary to traditional Gaussian averages in that they demonstrate correlated phenomena. Objectives The objective of this study is to investigate whether the distribution frequency in four DHSNs can be characterized as following a power law. A second objective is to describe the method used to determine the comparison. Methods Data from four DHSNs—Alcohol Help Center (AHC), Depression Center (DC), Panic Center (PC), and Stop Smoking Center (SSC)—were compared to power law distributions. To assist future researchers and managers, the 5-step methodology used to analyze and compare datasets is described. Results All four DHSNs were found to have right-skewed distributions, indicating the data were not normally distributed. When power trend lines were added to each frequency distribution, R 2 values indicated that, to a very high degree, the variance in post frequencies can be explained by actor rank (AHC .962, DC .975, PC .969, SSC .95). Spearman correlations provided further indication of the strength and statistical significance of the relationship (AHC .987. DC .967, PC .983, SSC .993, P<.001). Conclusions This is the first study to investigate power distributions across multiple DHSNs, each addressing a unique condition. Results indicate that despite vast differences in theme, content, and length of existence, DHSNs follow properties of power laws. The structure of DHSNs is important as it gives insight to researchers and managers into the nature and mechanisms of network functionality. The 5-step process undertaken to compare actor contribution patterns can be replicated in networks that are managed by other organizations, and we conjecture that patterns observed in this study could be found in other DHSNs. Future research should analyze network growth over time and examine the characteristics and survival rates of superusers.

Behavioral Economics, Wearable Devices, and Cooperative Games: Results From a Population-Based Intervention to Increase Physical Activity

Background Health care literature supports the development of accessible interventions that integrate behavioral economics, wearable devices, principles of evidence-based behavior change, and community support. However, there are limited real-world examples of large scale, population-based, member-driven reward platforms. Subsequently, a paucity of outcome data exists and health economic effects remain largely theoretical. To complicate matters, an emerging area of research is defining the role of Superusers, the small percentage of unusually engaged digital health participants who may influence other members. Objective The objective of this preliminary study is to analyze descriptive data from GOODcoins, a self-guided, free-to-consumer engagement and rewards platform incentivizing walking, running and cycling. Registered members accessed the GOODcoins platform through PCs, tablets or mobile devices, and had the opportunity to sync wearables to track activity. Following registration, members were encouraged to join gamified group challenges and compare their progress with that of others. As members met challenge targets, they were rewarded with GOODcoins, which could be redeemed for planet- or people-friendly products. Methods Outcome data were obtained from the GOODcoins custom SQL database. The reporting period was December 1, 2014 to May 1, 2015. Descriptive self-report data were analyzed using MySQL and MS Excel. Results The study period includes data from 1298 users who were connected to an exercise tracking device. Females consisted of 52.6% (n=683) of the study population, 33.7% (n=438) were between the ages of 20-29, and 24.8% (n=322) were between the ages of 30-39. 77.5% (n=1006) of connected and active members met daily-recommended physical activity guidelines of 30 minutes, with a total daily average activity of 107 minutes (95% CI 90, 124). Of all connected and active users, 96.1% (n=1248) listed walking as their primary activity. For members who exchanged GOODcoins, the mean balance was 4,000 (95% CI 3850, 4150) at time of redemption, and 50.4% (n=61) of exchanges were for fitness or outdoor products, while 4.1% (n=5) were for food-related items. Participants were most likely to complete challenges when rewards were between 201-300 GOODcoins. Conclusions The purpose of this study is to form a baseline for future research. Overall, results indicate that challenges and incentives may be effective for connected and active members, and may play a role in achieving daily-recommended activity guidelines. Registrants were typically younger, walking was the primary activity, and rewards were mainly exchanged for fitness or outdoor products. Remaining to be determined is whether members were already physically active at time of registration and are representative of healthy adherers, or were previously inactive and were incentivized to change their behavior. As challenges are gamified, there is an opportunity to investigate the role of superusers and healthy adherers, impacts on behavioral norms, and how cooperative games and incentives can be leveraged across stratified populations. Study limitations and future research agendas are discussed.