Hans Ekbrand

In-work poverty and labour market trajectories: Poverty risks among the working population in 22 European countries:

Is in-work poverty a low-wage or an unemployment problem, and is it the same problem all across Europe? Because of the definitional ambiguity, we really do not know. In this article, we use longitudinal European Union-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data from 22 countries and derive a set of distinct clusters of labour market trajectories (LMTs) from information about monthly labour market position from a 36-month observation window and estimate in-work poverty risk for each LMT. The results show that in-work poverty is a problem that affects the self-employed and people in a marginal labour market position, that is, those who for different reasons move in and out of employment. Hence, in-work poverty is mainly an unemployment problem, not a low-wage problem. Besides the fact that the size of LMTs varies between countries, we also expected to find systematic country differences in the effect of LMTs. The analysis did not support that assumption.

Juvenile school firesetting in Sweden: causes and countermeasures

Deliberately set school fires cause significant economic, material, and social damage to society. This article aims to contribute to a sociological understanding and explanation of school fires set by juveniles and to the development of effective prevention strategies based on the results obtained. The study draws upon comprehensive empirical data from qualitative and quantitative research consisting of a questionnaire survey, substantive interviews, and document analysis. The findings show firesetting to be a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, which calls for a diversified approach to prevention relying on structural, situational, and social interventions. While juveniles setting schools on fire appear in many respects to be similar to other youths engaged in delinquent behaviours in society, the fires they set can be internally categorized according to firesetting motive, offender characteristics, and modus operandi. The implications of the resulting typology of six main types of school fires for prevention work are discussed, with practical suggestions for effective countermeasures offered.

Labour Market Trajectories and Young Europeans’ Capabilities to Avoid Poverty, Social Exclusion and Dependency: A Comparative Analysis of 23 European Countries

Youth in 23 European countries are compared with regard to their risk for deprivation and poverty, taking into account individual labour histories. The risk for deprivation is negatively correlated with the GDP per capita of the country, while poverty risks are higher for youth in countries with high GDP per capita, an effect that can be explained by high rates of independent living in countries with high GDP. Looking at the individual factors, labour market trajectories have similar effects on both deprivation and poverty. Most young Europeans in poverty as well as in deprivation are students that mix studies with other labour market activities, but the highest risks for poverty and deprivation are found among youth that mix unemployment with other labour market activities.

Would Active Labour Market Policies Enhance Youth Capability for Work in Europe

Activation has become one of the keys to integrate people into the labour market at the European level. The implementation of these policy lines raises acute questions as to whether the conditions are actually met in order that young entrants can exercise their responsibility and take part in the labour market while promoting respect for their real freedom to choose the work they have reason to value. The capability approach is used here to understand how individual and environmental factors interactively affect processes that lead to a capability for work. The paper shows that there is a lack of evidence that active labour market expenditures are effective in achieving their goal of inserting people into a process of employment quality and enhancing their capability for work.

Juvenile firesetting in schools

This article examines why, and under what circumstances, young people illegally set fire to schools. Utilizing court and police records from cases of illegal firesetting in Swedish schools where offenders were aged 21 or younger, a number of crime scene and offender characteristics are compiled and analysed using correspondence analysis. First, four main clusters of such characteristics are identified. Next, offenders’ accounts of their motives are examined and factored in, with a total of six different types of school fires identified as a result: obstructing school activities, destroying evidence of school burglary, play vandalism, vindictive vandalism, psychiatric problems and school fire as a side effect. The types of school fires obtained are then classified into two main groups: school fires related to education and school fires unrelated to education. The findings show illegal firesetting in schools to be a much more complex phenomenon than previously recognized, and that accounts of motives can help us better understand this complexity and to develop apropriate preventive measures.

Socioeconomic status, gender and dementia: The influence of work environment exposures and their interactions with APOE ɛ4

It is a well-established fact that unfavourable social and economic conditions have a negative impact on health and longevity. Recent findings suggest that this is also true of age-related dementias. Yet most common indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) say very little about the actual mechanisms at play in disease development. The present paper explores five work exposure characteristics, all of which have a clear social gradient, that could potentially shed further light on the relationship between SES and dementia. Specifically, it investigates whether these exposures could moderate the impact of a well-known genetic risk factor: the APOE ɛ4 allele. The empirical analyses are based on data from a Swedish population study (n = 1019). Main occupation was linked to The Job Exposure Matrix to estimate the individuals’ exposure to the following work environment factors: work control, support, psychological demands, physical demands and job hazards. All analyses were conducted using binary logistic regression and focused specifically on gene-work exposure interactions. A significant main effect of work control on dementia risk was detected for males (OR = 0.68; p< 0.05), but not for females. However, control was found to significantly moderate the effect of APOE ɛ4 in both genders, albeit in different ways. These findings do not only underscore the importance of considering interactions between social and genetic risk factors to better understanding multifactorial diseases such as dementia. They also propose that gender- and class-based inequities interact, and hence must be considered simultaneously, also in relation to this particular disease.

Inter-state differences in caste-specific risks for child deprivation in India

The issue of caste has long been an important structural cause of poverty in India, with certain groups and communities socially and physically excluded from the benefits of national economic and social development. While differences between groups are often explained at national and state levels, this paper focuses instead on the issue of inter-state caste-specific risks of child poverty and basic needs deprivation. We show that while children from schedule caste and tribe (SC/ST) communities fare poorly at the national level, it need not be so given some states manage to protect SC/ST children, ensuring outcomes for them are on a par or better than for children from higher caste groups. Caste and tribe status need not condemn children to lives of poverty, and this paper identifies for policy makers where caste and tribe status remain important drivers of poverty and disparities for children. Tackling these would be a start for making India a more equitable society in coming decades.

How experience affects assessment – a longitudinal study of assessment of university students’ essays

ABSTRACT The study shows how experience changes the way examiners assess students’ essays. Using a large number of written assessments, 192 examiners were followed over a period of five years, and the contents of their assessments were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Multilevel regression analysis revealed that, with experience, examiners tended to make more positive remarks and provide more instructions. Qualitative analysis of the assessments showed that, with experience, some examiners tended to use less menu-marking and write more freely, providing instructions for the students rather than limiting themselves to evaluative text only. The assumption that it would be harder to govern examiners with more experience found no support in our study.

Injury events sustained in residential environments: age and physical disability as explanatory factors for differences in injury patterns in Sweden

ABSTRACT The aim is to analyze how age and physical (dis)ability jointly condition the probability of different types of injuries in residential settings, in order to identify injury countermeasures. There is a need to identify risk factors associated with injuries involving disabled people in their homes. The data include 62,674 records of unintentional injuries in the residential settings from Injury Database 2001–2015. Injuries were twice as likely to occur in residential settings, compared to other environments. Individuals with dis-abilities were more likely to be injured in their residences through falls, compared to non disabled individuals. Contusion was a more common injury type in the disabled group, while open wounds were more common in the non disabled group. Age was the most important factor for predicting fractures and the risk for fractures increased by age, while risk factors related to physical disability did not appear to play a role. The evidence is clear that people with disabilities, and older people without disabilities, would benefit from safety interventions in their home to reduce harm from falls after they have occurred. In keeping with principles to support autonomy, it is recommended that a range of passive measures be implemented to reduce injury risks.

Injury events in residential areas - risk groups and etiological factors for falling, cutting and poisoning.

Background Injury events in homes constitute a major social problem. Falling, cutting and poisoning make up 85 per cent of all injury events in residential areas. This study is based on a unique data set that includes several million cases of falling, cutting and poisoning in Sweden during the period 1990-2013 which lead to either to death, hospitalisation or to a visit to a health care provider, and a control group randomly selected from the population. Three riskgroups are given special attention in the analysis: (1) old people, (2) children, (3) persons with disabilities and or long term illnesses. Methods Multilevel regression analysis and geographical information systems, GIS. Results The results show the probability for each riskgroup to be exposed to each type of injury event, and how this probability varies with place (GIS), previous exposure, type of household, socioeconomic status and type of housing. Conclusions The project is ongoing. Our cross-sectorial group has demonstrated the importance of injury epidemiology as a guiding principle in architectural design, particularly for high-risk groups.