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Workers and their families bear much of the economic burden of COVID‐19. Even though they have declined somewhat, unemployment rates are considerably higher than before the start of the pandemic. Many workers also face uncertainty about their future employment prospects and increasing financial strain. At the same time, the workplace is a common source of transmission of COVID‐19 and many jobs previously seen as relatively safe are now viewed as potentially hazardous. Thus, many workers face dual threats of economic stress and COVID‐19 exposure. This paper develops a model of workers' responses to these dual threats, including risk perception and resource depletion as mediating factors that influence the relationship of economic stress and occupational risk factors with COVID‐19 compliance‐related attitudes, safe behavior at work, and physical and mental health outcomes. The paper also describes contextual moderators of these relationships at the individual, unit, and regional level. Directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the investigation of kolberi (cross‐border labor), this paper sheds light on the state's policy of de‐development (or internal colonialization) of the Kurdish region (known as Rojhelat) in Iran. While the most dangerous form of labor, kolberi has become a dominant employment opportunity for Rojhelat Kurds in the last decade. There are no Iranian state laws criminalizing kolberi, and yet those laborers die on a regular basis—being shot or thrown off mountain cliffs by the state forces, stepping into minefields, and so forth. Nevertheless, there is not a single scholarly paper on this subject. Using the mixed methods research approach, our study analyzes the existing data along with in‐depth interviews with 20 people who are currently engaged in kolberi to contextualize this understudied phenomenon. Our finding demonstrates that kolberi is a direct outcome of a uni‐ethno‐religious policies of development and part and parcel of the state's Perso‐Shi'ification strategy in Kurdistan. Therefore, kolberi is more of a political phenomenon than an economic one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meat production and consumption are major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions and other aspects of environmental degradation. It is the aim of this paper to explore red meat in the configuration of main meals eaten out in England across types and styles of cuisine, and to consider the implications for transition towards less resource intensive ways of eating in the future. We show that the odds ratio of eating a dish without red meat is significantly lower in North American/European and Near/Middle Eastern cuisines compared with East Asian (with no difference between South and East Asian), that women are more likely than men to eat fish and poultry (with no gender differences in vegetarian dishes), that Prestonians are the least likely to select a vegetarian dish, compared with people in London and Bristol, and that the odds of a vegetarian dish compared with red meat is higher amongst managerial workers compared with the routine manual workers (with no other statistically significant class differences). We suggest the term "translated cuisine" to refer cuisines that travel and become incorporated into the palate of the new food culture, and discuss how this could play a role in transitions towards less meat‐centred patterns of food consumption in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory studies assume that citizens can act as regulators to complement or correct failing state and market forms of regulation. Yet, there is a growing literature that shows that in reality citizens may fail to be effective regulators. This paper systematically analyses how power inequalities obstruct citizens in their regulatory roles. It compares four case studies with highly different social and political contexts but with similar outcomes of citizens failing to regulate risk. The case studies are analyzed by operationalizing sociological and political science ideas about manifestations of enabling and controlling forms of power in order to understand the way power inequalities obstruct citizens in their regulatory roles across diverse contexts. The article shows how citizens, from farmers and manual workers in both authoritarian developing and democratic developed contexts to even highly trained medical professionals from the US, have limited agency and are disempowered to act as regulators. Our analysis reveals that five patterns of disempowerment play a crucial role in obstructing successful society‐based regulation: (i) dependency, (ii) capacity, (iii) social hierarchy, (iv) discursive framing, and (v) perverse effects of legal rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The transition from work to retirement is a complex process and unique experience with a relationship existing between work and retirement with implications for health in later life. This review explored the relationship between pre‐retirement job and participation in the work‐to‐retirement transition process in Australia by exploring: (i) factors influencing retirement in relation to pre‐retirement job; (ii) how jobs are classified; (iii) the effect of pre‐retirement job (based on categories) on this occupational transition; and (iv) the potential role for occupational therapy in this occupational transition. Method: An integrative literature review was completed. PRISMA guidelines were used. Study designs were analysed for methodological quality using the National Health and Medical Research Council levels of evidence. Thematic analysis determined retirement factors which were used to compare differences between jobs. Results: This review included 15 papers. There were two Level III‐2, one Level III‐3 and 13 Level IV studies. Factors influencing retirement related to the stages of work, preparation, transition and retired. White collar and blue collar was the most common job classification system. Although white collar and blue collar worker definitions utilised were inconsistent, differences between the two groups were still determined in all stages. Conclusion: Differences in the work‐to‐retirement transition process, based on pre‐retirement job, are evident. Understanding differences by job groupings may assist occupational therapists to understand individualised needs during this occupational transition and subsequent tailoring of interventions (both individual and group based) to enable engagement in meaningful occupation in the work‐to‐retirement occupational transition to effect active healthy ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Construction workers have high rates of work‐related musculoskeletal disorders, which lead to frequent opioid use and opioid use disorder (OUD). This paper quantified the incidence of opioid use and OUD among construction workers with and without musculoskeletal disorders. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study using union health claims from January 2015 to June 2018 from 19,909 construction workers. Claims for diagnoses of chronic musculoskeletal disorders, acute musculoskeletal injuries, musculoskeletal surgery, and other conditions were linked to new opioid prescriptions. We examined the effects of high doses (≥50 morphine mg equivalents per day), large supply (more than 7 days per fill), long‐term opioid use (60 or more days supplied within a calendar quarter), and musculoskeletal disorders, on the odds of a future OUD. Results: There were high rates (42.8% per year) of chronic musculoskeletal disorders among workers, of whom 24.1% received new opioid prescriptions and 6.3% received long‐term opioid prescriptions per year. Workers receiving opioids for chronic musculoskeletal disorders had the highest odds of future OUD: 4.71 (95% confidence interval 3.09–7.37); workers prescribed long‐term opioids in any calendar quarter had a nearly 10‐fold odds of developing an OUD. Conclusions: Among construction workers, opioids initiated for musculoskeletal pain were strongly associated with incident long‐term opioid use and OUD. Musculoskeletal pain from physically demanding work is likely one driver of the opioid epidemic in occupations like construction. Prevention of work injuries and alternative pain management are needed for workers at risk for musculoskeletal injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To explore the role of women in fishing industry organisations and communities in promoting best-practice health behaviours among fishers in Australia. Design This paper reports aspects of research that examined how the fishing industry can best support physical health and mental well-being of fishers. The study employed a mixed-methods, multisite case study approach. Data were gathered from face-to-face and phone interactions. Setting Two sites in Victoria and one in Western Australia. Participants Thirty-one male fishers, including commercial licence owners, skippers, deckhands, three female family members, three fishing association representatives, one local government representative, two health care providers, and three regional health planning and funding bodies. Interventions Not applicable. Main outcome measures Not applicable. Results Often unrecognised, women associated with the fishing industry are integral to the promotion of good health for fishers. They are key to identifying health issues (particularly mental health issues) and proposing community-based health and well-being strategies. They often do so by incorporating health information and activities into 'soft entry points' - informal, non-health service mechanisms by which fishers can access health information and health services. Conclusions While not working at the industry coalface, women have a stake, and are key players, in the commercial fishing industry. Their knowledge of, and credibility within, fishing enterprises makes them valuable sources of information about health issues facing the industry and effective strategies to address them. This expertise should be applied in conjunction with industry associations and health providers to achieve better health outcomes for fishers and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goals of this paper were twofold: (a) To provide a population overview of burnout profiles by occupation in a large, health care sector employee population and (b) to investigate how burnout profiles relate to self‐reported health behaviours, chronic conditions, and absenteeism. Burnout profiles were considered by 5 main occupational groups (physicians, nurses, other clinical, administrative, and wage grade [trade, craft, and labor workers]) in survey respondents (n = 86,257 employees). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine how burnout profiles were associated with health controlling for gender, age, race, ethnicity, and occupational group. Employees in the "Frustrated/Burning Up" and "Withdrawing/Burned Out" profiles, respectively, had significantly increased odds of anxiety (OR = 2.17; 99% CI [2.04, 2.31]; OR = 2.21; 99% CI [2.05, 2.38]), depression (OR = 2.06; 99% CI [1.93, 2.20]; OR = 2.20; 99% CI [2.04, 2.38]), sleep disorders (OR = 1.98; 99% CI [1.85, 2.12]; OR = 1.97; 99% CI [1.81, 2.13]), low back disease (OR = 1.60; 99% CI [1.50, 1.71]; OR = 1.58; 99% CI [1.47, 1.70]), physical inactivity (OR = 1.49; 99% CI [1.38, 1.60]; OR = 1.68; 99% CI [1.54, 1.83]), and 5 or more days away from work (OR = 1.74; 99% CI [1.65, 1.85]; OR = 2.15; 99% CI [2.01, 2.30]). Burnout is related to the health of employees. Burnout profiles offer a way to assess patterns of burnout by occupational group and may help customize future interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the extent of employer‐provided training in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine and investigates its relationship with innovation, having international business contacts, use of computers at work, reported skills shortages and other firm characteristics. It contributes to the literature by examining different types of training – initial on‐the‐job learning, more formal in‐house training and external training, which is provided by firms to two categories of workers – white‐ and blue‐collar workers. After controlling for a range of firm characteristics, we find a positive link between technological innovation and intensity of training of all types provided to white‐collar workers that points to the technology‐skills complementarity. Furthermore, the level of computer use at work is a significant determinant of the incidence and intensity of external training provided to white‐collar and blue‐collar workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides estimates of wage returns to experience-, firm-, sector- and occupation-specific tenure for a sample of young Italian male workers. By comparing returns obtained using different estimators, I evaluate the importance of endogeneity and selection problems generated by specific unobserved components and individual fixed effects. After controlling for the role of collective bargaining agreements and occupation categories, results indicate that general labour market experience is the fundamental source of wage growth for blue and white collars, while returns to firm tenure are insignificant. There is some evidence of positive returns to sector and occupational tenure for white collars. Estimates from different sectors suggest that union coverage can be relevant in offsetting the role of search and matching in wage determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have highlighted drastic reductions in daily mobility during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown. But what happened when restrictions were relaxed though risk remained ubiquitous? How did patterns of mobility change and how were they structured by socioeconomic resources and social roles? We address these questions using a cross‐sectional representative sample (n = 2942) of the population of Andalusia, Spain, after a month and a half of severe lockdown in 2020. We find that older people were the least mobile group and that people living with children and in extended households were less likely to move to take care of others, unlike before the pandemic. Men were more likely to carry out daily mobilities for which women had been traditionally responsible, such as care mobilities. Women were also more likely to be immobile and less likely to commute. Finally, manual and nonqualified workers were more likely to commute, but they were just as likely as any other group to carry out other types of mobility. These results highlight the social character of mobility in a unique context. We emphasize the need to disaggregate daily mobility based on different purposes as well analysing how these are practised by different sociodemographic groups if we want to provide rigorous descriptions of a core component of individuals' daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic work is a sector characterized by various forms of injustice, prompting some women to embark on a pathway towards activism. Based on the Sociopolitical Development (SPD) framework, this study aims to explore female Latin American migrants' experiences of injustice in the domestic work sector in Spain and how they challenge them, particularly when they become involved in organized collective action. To this end, in‐depth interviews were conducted with 11 women of Latin American origin who actively participate in the Association of Domestic Workers of Seville. The qualitative analysis found that being a domestic worker, having experiences of exploitation, discovering rights, receiving rights training, sharing stories of oppression, and engaging in sociopolitical actions are key experiences in guiding migrant women from the acritical and adaptive stages of SPD towards the pre‐critical, critical, and liberation ones. Knowledge about these significant life‐changing events may be useful for designing interventions aimed at fostering different ways in which oppressed groups can challenge injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service workers are expected to maintain high‐quality service delivery despite customer mistreatment—the poor‐quality treatment of service workers by customers—which can be demeaning and threatening to self‐esteem. Although service work is increasingly delivered by middle‐aged and older workers, very little is known about how employees across the age range navigate abuse from customers on the job. Does advancing age help or hinder service performance in reaction to customer mistreatment? Drawing on strength and vulnerability integration theory, we proposed that age paradoxically both helps and hinders performance after customer mistreatment, albeit at different stages. We tested our proposed model in a two‐sample field investigation of service workers and their supervisors using a time‐lagged, dyadic design. Results showed that age heightens the experience of self‐esteem threat but, nevertheless, dampens reactions to self‐esteem threat, leading to divergent effects on performance at different stages. Implications for age and service work, as well as aging and the sense of self, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing work on the nature and consequences of negative intergroup contact, this study explores its potential role in sustaining everyday experiences of dehumanization; that is, experiences in which participants report feeling deprived of full human status. As a case study, we explore domestic service relations in a neighbourhood of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, analysing interviews (n = 22) conducted with Black domestic workers and their families (n = 64 participants in total) about their day‐to‐day interactions with Indian employers. Drawing on thematic analysis of accounts of paid domestic labour and food‐sharing practices, we argue that negative contact experiences may cumulatively engender a sense of dehumanization and associated feelings of humiliation: a response marked by intertwined constructions of shame and injustice. Implications for understanding wider problems of intergroup conflict and political solidarity are discussed and avenues for future research proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to evaluate the frequency of entheseal changes (EC) in a modern skeletal collection from the rural village of Inden, Germany (late 19th–early 20th century), in order to identify general levels of physical activity. The sample is comprised of 66 individuals (51 males and 15 females), whose data on sex, age, and occupation were retrieved from church records. Fourteen fibrous and nineteen fibrocartilaginous entheses of upper and lower limbs were scored in a blind test using two different methods. Grades were converted into binary data, and frequencies of EC were analyzed in each enthesis and in functional complexes by applying a Fisher exact test and a logistic regression. Results showed a higher prevalence for more entheses among female individuals. This does not agree with previous research, but it could be related to the small sample size in this study. More statistically, significant values were found for the relationship between EC and age, which was the main predictor for the presence of EC. However, the percentage of variability that it is explained by age is lower than that found by other studies of European identified collections. This would suggest an interaction with other variables. Regarding occupation, data did not show any clear pattern for the upper limb, whereas for the lower limb, higher frequencies were found for non‐manual workers. Significant values were only found for EC in two entheses of the forearm within the group of manual workers, and one of the feet for non‐manual workers. As with other identified collections, this study was unable to identify distinctive patterns of EC among occupations. This may be due to a combination of different physical activities engaged in or as a result of change of occupation during an individual's lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an ethnographic study of male manual workers in Blackpool, a large seaside town in the United Kingdom, and drawing on Bourdieu as a theoretical frame, this article explores the role of place in understanding conditions and experiences of precarity. With higher than average levels of deprivation, seaside towns have experienced particular employment challenges where precariousness is likely to be at the forefront of male manual workers' labour market condition. Results highlight the significance of the interplay between place, employment prospects, geographical 'constriction' and dispositions of 'provisionality,' which, together, produce 'uneven geographies' of labour. We develop the concept of 'place precarity' to show how precarity is fundamentally rooted in the spatial context and to capture how conditions and experiences of precarity interact with localised employment conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people willingly volunteer their time, how does the salience of the opportunity costs of their time influence their experience of the activity? Study 1 uses the American Time Use Survey Well‐Being module to examine whether the subjective experience of happiness while volunteering is influenced by how people are paid and the opportunity costs of their time spent volunteering. Among hourly paid workers for whom there is a salient heuristic for the opportunity costs of time, we found that higher opportunity costs of time as indicated by income and duration of the activity were associated with diminished happiness experienced during volunteering. No differences across income and duration emerged among non‐hourly workers for whom there was not a salient heuristic for the opportunity costs of time. Using a student population who all volunteered for the same charity activity, Study 2 tested whether making the opportunity costs salient caused less happiness to be reported from the activity than those in the control condition. These studies contribute to our understanding of the psychological consequences of thinking about time in terms of money and how it may influence the hedonic experience of activities people choose to undertake in the applied context of volunteering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study in a blue‐collar context investigates whether a job crafting intervention may facilitate employee adaptation to organizational change, while decreasing exhaustion and increasing positive attitudes towards change and safety behaviour. It was hypothesized that the intervention would increase job crafting behaviours (i.e., seeking resources, seeking challenges, and optimizing demands) resulting in decreased employee exhaustion, and improved change attitudes and employee safety behaviour (i.e., adherence to organization's standard operating procedures). The quasi‐experimental study revealed that, after the intervention (consisting of a workshop, four weeks of job crafting implementation, and an evaluative session), employees reported an increase in two of the three trained job crafting strategies (i.e., seeking challenges, optimizing demands). Moreover, those who participated in the intervention reported lower levels of exhaustion, improved cognitive and behavioural attitudes towards change, and increased safety behaviour. The intervention was found to improve the affective, cognitive, and behavioural components of a change attitude due to increases in seeking challenges. Results were similar after controlling for quality information and leadership behaviour during the change. It is concluded that a job crafting intervention and resulting job crafting behaviour can be an effective way to achieve successful adaptation to organizational change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For persons with a long‐term illness or impairment, return‐to‐work decisions involve considerations about work capacity, opportunities in the labour market, the impact of injuries, further treatment requirements, physical and cognitive rehabilitation, and mental health recovery. These considerations are undertaken by the affected individuals as well as by professionals in health care and employment services. Drawing upon institutional theories of organisations, especially the understanding that institutional logics provide different social identities to injured individuals, we study rehabilitation processes following multi‐trauma or traumatic brain injury (TBI) within the Scandinavian welfare model. We identify which social identities are activated in professionals' considerations and in the stories of the injured individuals. The aim is to understand how professionals' reasoning about the clients' problems influences return‐to‐work processes. Our primary finding is that the wageworker identity, invoked by the injured individuals themselves, is subordinated by the professionals to the logic of profession and the associated patient identity. Consequently, not only is impaired people's anti‐discrimination right to reasonably adjusted work ignored, ignored is also a possible resource in the rehabilitation process. Additionally, individuals who view themselves as wageworkers tend to be left unserved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor Unions and the Making of Class in a (Supposedly) Post-Class World Hard Sell: Work and Resistance in Retail Chains The Social Life of Politics: Ethics, Kinship, and Union Activism in Argentina The Making of an African Working Class: Politics, Law, and Cultural Protest in the Manual Workers' Union in Botswana Such a strong union culture is precisely what we find in Lazar's I The Social Life of Politics i , where readers are presented with a rich ethnographic portrait of the internal dynamics of two public sector unions in Argentina, the Union of National Civil Servants (UPCN) and the Association of State Workers (ATE). While tracing each union's distinct political culture, Lazar seeks to understand how each union cultivates a sense of I militancia i , or activist/militant identity, among its membership. Further, the three unions explored in these ethnographies represent only two distinct sectors of the labor market, private retail and public sector employment, leaving the space open for an examination of labor unions in other important sectors of the economy such as tourism, food service work, healthcare, and higher education. [Extracted from the article]

This article looks at the changing configuration of work–family arrangements (WFA) in Spain through the lens of labour market segmentation. Using European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC) data for 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2012, it examines occupational differences in WFA comparing the period of prosperity to the period of recession and the implementation of austerity policies. The findings show that the dynamics of labour market segmentation produce differential employment opportunities and degrees of job security for men and women across occupational groups, significantly shaping WFA. The crisis reinforced already balkanized gender contracts, with working‐class households suffering most from job losses and pressing economic needs. Couples whose members were services employees and/or manual workers saw the greatest increases in dual activity over the whole period, as dual earners during the prosperity period and as added workers during the crisis. The economic crisis and austerity policies have reinforced the social divide across work‐poor and work‐rich households, and dual‐earning skilled couples versus those earning out of economic necessity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pachydermodactyly is an uncommon, progressive, nontender thickening of the fingers with prominent involvement of the proximal interphalangeal joints. Pachydermodactyly mimics inflammatory arthritis but plain film radiography is normal in this condition. Pachydermodactyly has been previously described in workers performing manual labor. Mechanical stimulation has been identified as a predisposing factor in the majority of cases. We present three cases in adolescent males arising in association with excessive computer gaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research showed that workers' self‐objectification—their self‐perception as objects rather than human beings—leads to detrimental intrapersonal consequences. In the present research, we explored whether this phenomenon may also affect interpersonal relations, by increasing workers' tendencies to conform. In a correlational study, Italian workers who perceived their work as more objectifying self‐objectified more—self‐attributed less human mental states and self‐perceive as more instrument‐like than human‐like—and, in turn, were more inclined to conform with others. The second study experimentally confirmed this pattern, showing that British workers who recalled an objectifying (vs. a non‐objectifying) work experience self‐objectified more. Self‐perception as instrument‐like was associated, in turn, with an increased tendency to adapt to others' opinions. The implications for organizational and social psychology are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Latino day laborers are vulnerable to crime victimization in new immigrant settlement cities.Victimization led to sociocultural alienation, despair or desesperación, and problem drinking.Findings highlight the intersection of structural vulnerability, violence, and mental health. Although recent rhetoric links undocumented immigrants to criminality, reports indicate undocumented immigrants commit less crime than their native‐born counterparts and that this vulnerable group may be at increased risk for criminal victimization. Immigrants living in new immigrant settlement cities may be particularly at risk for exposure to criminal victimization due to the vulnerabilities associated with a lack of an established Latino community and limited availability of culturally appropriate social services to provide support. This ethnographic study examines the experiences of victimization and its social and psychological toll of a street‐recruited sample of Latino day laborers (LDLs) (N = 25) living and working in Baltimore, a new immigrant settlement city. Findings elucidate and describe the specific types of victimization experienced by LDLs, including workplace victimization (wage theft, abandonment at the jobsite, poor working conditions, verbal abuse) and street‐level victimization (assault and robbery), as well as reveal the social and psychological toll of victimization (sociocultural alienation, despair or desesperación, and problem drinking) on their lives. Findings have implications for community psychology, through research and practice, as they provide insights for prevention and intervention within the intersection of structural vulnerability (i.e., undocumented immigration status), violence, and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Previous studies of public attitudes toward immigration have been set in economically developed areas such as the United States and the countries of Western Europe, implicitly applying the term "immigrants" solely to blue‐collar laborers. In this article, we extend the discussion to Taiwan, a newly democratic and nearly developed country in East Asia. Methods: Our study investigates public attitudes toward immigrants with different occupations and test predictions derived from both economic and cultural approaches. Results: From an analysis of the survey data, we find different economic factors for pro‐immigration attitudes toward foreign professionals and laborers. Conclusions: Specifically, people who have higher incomes are more likely to allow foreign professionals to become citizens, and people with positive assessments of national and individual economic conditions are more likely to favor the inflow of foreign workers. Furthermore, cultural tolerance and a high level of education are correlated to pro‐migration attitudes toward both foreign professionals and laborers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Permanent jobs are in decline world‐wide, and are being replaced with temporary, casual, part‐time, and contract jobs. We investigated the characteristics and occupational safety and health (OSH) vulnerabilities of workers with nonstandard and standard employment. Methods: We used the Korean Working Conditions Survey of 2017 to compare working conditions and OSH vulnerabilities of workers with standard and nonstandard employment in five major job categories. Results: Workers with nonstandard employment were older, less educated, had lower monthly incomes, were employed in smaller businesses, worked fewer hours per week, had shorter work durations, and were more likely to report exposure to physical/chemical and ergonomic hazards, and musculoskeletal and mental symptoms. Among nonstandard workers, the rates of occupational hazards and work‐related health problems depended on the type of work performed. In particular, nonstandard male workers who were unskilled manual workers, older, had less education, and earned low wages had a greater risk of working in unstable occupations, greater exposures to occupational hazards, and more musculoskeletal pain (back pain: odds ratio [OR], 2.4; upper extremity pain: OR, 2.1; and lower extremity pain: OR, 1.7) than those performing other types of work. Conclusion: Male unskilled manual workers with nonstandard employment were most vulnerable to OSH problems. Our findings suggest the need for OSH programs that specifically target nonstandard workers especially those in manual unskilled occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although considerable evidence indicates that public preferences for income inequality and redistribution vary across socioeconomic groups (i.e., occupation and income), much less is known about the temporal dynamics of these preferences. The purpose of this study is (a) to examine whether the attitudinal distance between managerial/professional workers and unskilled manual workers has changed (converged or diverged) over time and to (b) explore the reasons for and implications of the dynamics of preferences in the past several decades. Using data from the General Social Survey 1978–2016 (23 time‐points; N = 27,211), this study finds that the influence of occupational class has lost some of its significance in shaping public preferences for income inequality and that the declining effect of occupation can be explained in part by the attitudinal convergence between better‐ and less‐educated citizens. Findings suggest that proequality coalitions across educational boundaries play a remedial role in bridging the occupational divide over government redistribution in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Partner Smoking Characteristics: Association With Smoking and Quitting Among Blue-Collar Workers," that appeared in the 2010 issue is presented.

This study addresses the relationship between job characteristics and sickness absenteeism, examining it under two important boundary conditions, employee age, and occupational group. Drawing from psychological theories that explain age‐related differences in the workplace, as well as the sociology of occupations, we formulate hypotheses concerning two‐ and three‐way interactions between five key job characteristics (job demands, autonomy, skill variety, supervisor, and colleague support), age, and occupational group, namely blue‐collar workers versus clerks. We test our hypotheses on an archival sample of 5,175 employees taken from the French National Survey of Employment Conditions. Hierarchical negative binomial regressions reveal that many of our hypotheses are supported. For example, autonomy and supervisor and colleague support have a differential impact on sickness absenteeism depending on age and the occupational group of employees. We discuss the implications of our findings for both theory and practice. Practitioner points: Sickness absences can be predicted by job characteristics as function of age and occupational groups. Supervisor support is associated with fewer sickness absences in younger workers, especially clerks. Occupational context may mask the age differences because for Job Autonomy and Colleague Support, age‐related differences were detected only within the blue‐collar and clerical groups, respectively. The impact of job demands and skill variety on sickness absences is moderated by age and does not vary across the two occupational groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment and evaluation of the health-related quality of life of industrial workers is an important research focus. This descriptive correlational study identifies the predictors of health-related quality of life using a random sampling of industrial workers ( n = 640) from construction factories in Amman Governorate in Jordan using demographic characteristics, a health and work-related factors questionnaire, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief scale. Results showed that industrial workers had good physical health but a poor working environment. There was a statistically significant relationship between educational level, conflict between work and individual life and work and social life, working hours, and workload, and all domains of health-related quality of life. Overall, educational level was the main predictor for all domains of health-related quality of life. Such results confirm the need to develop appropriate interventions and strategies to improve workers' health-related quality of life. Furthermore, developing an integrated approach among policymakers, employers, and work organizations to enhance industrial workers' occupational health programs could be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between job insecurity and discretionary behaviors, that is, organizational citizenship behaviors ( OCB) and counterproductive work behaviors ( CWB), with the purpose to extend knowledge on the theoretical explanations for these outcomes. Considering the employment relationship with the organization, two different perspectives are suggested and compared in a multiple mediator model, in order to understand the reasons for discretionary behaviors. We draw upon social exchange theory as the basis of psychological contract perceptions and we rely on the group value model to explain organizational justice evaluations. A total of 570 blue-collar workers in Italy participated in our survey. The results show that job insecurity is indirectly related to OCB and CWB through psychological contract breach and organizational injustice. Both mediational mechanisms have equivalent strength in explaining the relationships, namely, they are complementary processes in accounting for both behaviors. These findings suggest that employees' behaviors in job insecure contexts are driven not only by concerns related to the exchange of resources with the organization, but also by evaluations about their value as important members of the group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the German manufacturing sector, white-collar workers have outpaced blue-collar workers in numbers. Therefore, unions and works councils have launched initiatives to attract, mobilise and organise white-collar workers. The analysis is drawing on a conceptual framework that looks at the opportunity structures, framing processes and resources of the initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes various aspects related to the meta-stereotype of 99 trash pickers who made their living from the garbage dumps in León (Nicaragua). This group is difficult to access, heavily stigmatized, and lives in extreme poverty. All the pickers in the city were interviewed using a heteroapplied structured interview. The results show that people who obtained their livelihood from garbage in the city of León had a mainly negative meta-stereotype, albeit one to which was some extent indulgent, which could have a negative impact on their processes of social inclusion. The content of the meta-stereotype had a high degree of uniformity, with few variations between the respondents. However, some differences were observed in the use of some attributes in the meta-stereotype according to age, cohabitation with a partner and/or with parents, income level, engagement in paid work apart from picking garbage and the respondents' expectations for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karasek's job demands–control (JDC) model posits that job control can buffer against the harmful effects of demands experienced by employees. A large volume of JDC research has obtained support for the main effects of demands and control, but not the interactive effects. Recent research on the challenge–hindrance stressors framework, however, found that work stressors may not always be deleterious, suggesting alternative hypotheses about the effects of demands and control. The present study therefore examined competing hypotheses concerning the effects of job demands on occupational health outcomes. Using a sample of 316 employees in a Chinese manufacturing company, we found that, consistent with the challenge–hindrance framework, production demands were challenge stressors associated with favourable outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction and psychological well‐being). In addition, results showed that the interactive role of job control depended on the nature of outcome variables. Future recommendations and implications of findings are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author argues that the government of the U.S. is disproportionately run by members of white collar professions and the wealthy. Statistics are presented of the possible make up of the U.S. Congress if the institution was more representative of the society at large. Several reasons are given why blue collar workers do not run for office and some initiatives in certain states to change this are described.

Current medical models frequently overlook functional limitations and the home environment even though they partially determine healthcare usage and quality of life. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ( CMS) Innovation Center funds projects that have potential to affect the 'triple aim,' a framework for decreasing costs while improving health and quality of life. This article presents preliminary data from Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders ( CAPABLE), a model funded by the CMS Innovation Center and designed to overcome the functional and home environmental barriers of older adults. CAPABLE is a patient-directed, team-based intervention comprising an occupational therapist, a registered nurse, and a handyman to decrease hospitalization and nursing home usage of community-dwelling older adults with functional limitations who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. Activity of daily living limitations improved in 79% of the first 100 people who completed the intervention. Preliminary findings of this novel intervention may have implications for other older adults with functional limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the potential for a research agenda that includes scholarship on working class issues and organized labor. Such an agenda is consistent with the official mission of American Psychological Association-to advance knowledge that benefits society and improves people's lives. I focus on our paucity of interest in the institution that gives the American working class a voice-the labor union. We know that work is one of the central focuses in the lives of most people and that the work experience is deeply implicated in satisfaction with life. The efforts of organized labor to achieve economic fairness and justice, and a healthy workplace environment, are intertwined with multiple corollary consequences that constitute a wide and complex spectrum-from physical job safety and economic security on one end, to the psychological benefits of heightened self-esteem, respect, dignity, empowerment, and affiliation on the other-all related to satisfaction with life. In addition, by advancing and protecting the rights of workers, unions are part of the larger movement for civil rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]