Canadian Social Research Newsletter
September 3, 2006

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter,
a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1659 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

Canadian Content

1. Canada’s New Government Continues to Deliver on Its Tax Relief Plan (Department of Finance Canada) - August 31
2. Nova Scotia Pharmacare for children of low-income families (NS Department of Community Services) - August 30
3. Alberta Works [welfare] debit card pilot a Canadian first (Alberta Human Resources and Employment) - April 24
4. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- University tuition fees, 2006/2007 - September 1, 2006
--- Canadian economic accounts, second quarter 2006 and June 2006 - August 31
--- Canadian Community Health Survey: Public Use Microdata File 2005 - August 31
--- Employment Insurance, June 2006 - August 29
--- Payroll employment, earnings and hours, June 2006 - August 29
--- Public sector employment, second quarter - August 28
5. 2005 Immigration Overview: Permanent and Temporary Residents (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) - August 18
6. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - September 1

International Content

7. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs
8. U.S. Census Bureau Releases Two Reports with New Data on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance - August 29
9.  American Housing Survey for the United States: 2005 : Current Housing Reports (U.S. Census Bureau / Department of Housing and Urban Development - August 2006
10. Waging a Living - PBS documentary film about the working poor
11.  Ten Years After Welfare Reform in the U.S. (Collection of links found in CERC Bulletin No. 109) - July/August 2006
12. Bulletin #109 (Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion, Paris) - August 28

Have a great week!

Canada’s New* Government
Continues to Deliver on Its Tax Relief Plan
News release
August 31, 2006
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today announced that Canada’s new Government is keeping its promise to Canadians by delivering on its Tax Relief Plan. The measures below are part of the Government’s plan to deliver over $20 billion in tax cuts over the next two years, which is more than the last four budgets of the previous government combined. These measures were part of the income tax measures that were proposed in Budget 2006 but not included in the Budget Implementation Act, 2006, which received Royal Assent on June 22, 2006.
These measures are:
* The new Canada Employment Credit.
* The new Textbook Tax Credit.
* The new tax credit for public transit passes.
* The new deduction for tradespeople’s tool expenses.
* A complete exemption for scholarship income received in connection with enrolment at an institution which qualifies the student for the education tax credit.
* A doubling, to $2,000 from $1,000, of the amount on which the pension income credit is calculated.
* An extension of the $500,000 lifetime capital gains exemption, and various intergenerational rollovers, to fishers.
* The new Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit.
* A reduction of the current 12 per cent small business tax rate to 11.5 per cent for 2008 and to 11 per cent thereafter.
* An increase, to $400,000 from $300,000, of the amount that a small business can earn at the small business tax rate, effective January 1, 2007.
* A reduction of the minimum tax on financial institutions.

Related Document

- Legislative Proposals and Explanatory Notes to Implement Remaining Budget 2006 Income Tax Measures

Source:
Department of Finance Canada

----------------------

Other links related to Canada's New Government:

Canada's new Government pays tribute to Canadian workers on Labour Day
September 1, 2006

Canada's New Government Announces Second Child Care
cheques delivered to parents and encourages use of direct deposit
August 29, 2006

----------------------------------------------------------------------

*See Canada's New Government Countdown Contest!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Agriculture to Finance) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk.htm

Pharmacare for Children of Low-Income Families
August 30, 2006
Thousands of low-income families will receive help with the cost of prescription medications for their children when Low Income Pharmacare for Children begins, Oct. 1. Premier Rodney MacDonald and Community Services Minister Judy Streatch announced today, Aug. 30, that applications are now available for Low Income Pharmacare for Children. The program will help up to 35,000 children under the age of 18 whose families receive the Nova Scotia Child Benefit.

Source:
Nova Scotia Department of Community Services

- Go to the Nova Scotia Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/nsbkmrk.htm

April 24, 2006
Alberta Works [welfare] debit card pilot a Canadian first
A new six-month pilot project is using debit cards and direct deposit to deliver Alberta Works benefits, instead of traditional paper cheques. The pilot is the first of its kind in Canada.
Related News Release - April 24 --- includes a detailed backgrounder

Source:
Government of Alberta News Page

- Go to the Alberta Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/abkmrk.htm

What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

September 1, 2006
University tuition fees, 2006/2007
Overall, students returning to Canadian universities for undergraduate studies this fall will face greater increases in tuition than last year.

August 31, 2006
Canadian economic accounts, second quarter 2006 and June 2006
The economy slowed in the second quarter as real gross domestic product advanced 0.5%, following a robust 0.9% increase in the first quarter. Economic activity in June was essentially unchanged from May, as the production of goods declined, offsetting gains in service industries. A more detailed analysis is available in Canadian Economic Accounts Quarterly Review.

August 31
Canadian Community Health Survey: Public Use Microdata File 2005
The 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey: Public Use Microdata File, Cycle 3.1, is now available. Data were collected from over 130,000 respondents aged 12 or older, residing in households in all provinces and territories. The file provides data for 101 health regions or combined health regions across Canada and includes information on a wide range of topics, including: physical activity, height and weight, smoking, exposure to second hand smoke, alcohol consumption, general health, chronic health conditions, injuries, and use of health care services. It also provides information on the socio-demographic, income and labour force characteristics of the population.

August 29, 2006 (New Products)
Employment Insurance, June 2006 (preliminary)
"The seasonally adjusted number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits fell 0.5% from May to 480,870, the fifth consecutive monthly decrease. The decline in June was due to decreases in Ontario (-1.6%), Quebec (-1.2%) and British Columbia (-0.3%). The number of regular beneficiaries in British Columbia has fallen for 10 consecutive months, while in Quebec they have fallen to their lowest level in five and a half years. Regular benefit payments totalled $689.3 million in June, while 232,620 people made initial and renewal claims."

August 29, 2006
Payroll employment, earnings and hours, June 2006
The average weekly earnings of payroll employees fell $2.89 to $747.16 (seasonally adjusted) in June, down 0.4% from May but up 3.8% from the beginning of the year. This annual rate of change is obtained by comparing the average weekly earnings of the first six months of 2006 with the average of the same months of 2005.
Complete report:
Employment, Earnings and Hours, June 2006 (PDF file - 2.3MB, 520 pages)

August 28, 2006
Public sector employment, Second quarter 2006
Public sector employment continues to increase, although its relative importance in the total labour market continues to decline. Public sector employment (comprising all levels of general government, universities, colleges, school boards, health and social service institutions and government business enterprises) reached 3.1 million in the second quarter, up 3.2% from the same period in 2005. Public sector employment reached a low of just under 2.7 million on average in the third quarter of 2000. Public sector employment then grew at a modest pace of approximately 1.2% per year from 2001 to 2005. However, employment in the public sector as a share of the total labour force fell 0.2% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter.

Facts and Figures 2005
Immigration Overview:
Permanent and Temporary Residents
August 18, 2006
[PDF version - 2.3MB, 122 pages]
"Facts and Figures 2005: Immigration Overview—Permanent and Temporary Residents presents the annual intake of permanent residents by category of immigration and of temporary residents by primary status from 1980 to 2005. It also presents the annual December 1 stock of temporary residents in Canada during the same period. The main body of the publication consists of a series of statistical tables and charts covering the ten-year period from 1996 to 2005. The publication is divided into two separate sections, each depicting selected characteristics for the permanent resident population or the temporary resident population during this ten-year period."
Source:
Citizenship and Immigration Canada

- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Agriculture to Finance) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk.htm

What's New - from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

Each week, the Childcare Resource and Research Unit disseminates its "e-mail news notifier", an e-mail message with a dozen or so links to new reports, studies and child care in the news (media articles) by the CRRU or another organization in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC). What you see below is content from the most recent issue of the notifier.

1-Sep-06

---------------------------------------------------
What’s New
---------------------------------------------------

>> TOWARDS A PREDICTIVE MODEL OF QUALITY IN CANADIAN CHILD CARE CENTERS
by Goelman, Hillel; Forer, Barry; Kershaw, Paul; Doherty, Gillian; Lero, Donna & LaGrange, Annette
Article from Early Childhood Research Quarterly reports on the design, methodology, and results of “You Bet I Care”, a study of quality in 326 classrooms in 239 Canadian child care centers.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91267

>> PREDICTORS OF QUALITY IN FAMILY CHILD CARE
by Doherty, Gillian; Forer, Barry; Lero, Donna S.; Goelman, Hillel & LaGrange, Annette
Article from Early Childhood Research Quarterly reports on the You Bet I Care! study of 231 Canadian regulated family child care providers.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91266

>> CHILDREN'S TRANSITION INTO KINDERGARTEN: BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION OF THEIR CHILD CARE EXPERIENCES
by Doherty, Gillian
Article in Interaction discusses what research tells us about child care and children’s school readiness.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91265

>> DOES IT PAY TO INVEST IN PRESCHOOL FOR ALL? ANALYZING RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN THREE STATES
by Belfield, Clive R.
Working Paper from the National Institute for Early Education (US) “summarizes three studies projecting the economic consequences of expanding preschool programs toward universal enrollment in three states.”
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91264

>> WELFARE INCOMES 2005
Report from the National Council of Welfare finds that “when adjusted for inflation, many 2005 welfare incomes were lower than they were in 1986.”
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91110

>> INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT
by Maggi, Stefania; Irwin, Lori G.; Siddiqi, Arjumand; Poureslami, Iraj; Hertzman, Emily & Hertzman, Clyde
Analytic and strategic review paper prepared for the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91109

--------------------------------------------------
Child Care in the News
---------------------------------------------------

>> New Brunswick NDP unveils plan for publicly funded child care [CA-NB]
Canadian Press, 1 Sep 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91261

>> Province touts its own child-care program [CA-ON]
by Monsebraaten, Laurie / Toronto Star, 1 Sep 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91259

>> Community groups are neither left nor right [CA-NB]
by Petitpas-Taylor, Ginette / New Brunswick Telegraph–Journal, 31 Aug 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91260

>> With improved learning in mind [CA-ON]
by Pascal, Charles / Toronto Star, 31 Aug 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91263

>> Child care cash uncollected [CA]
by Findlay, Alan / Calgary Herald, 30 Aug 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91258

>> Wealth no factor in early childhood education needs, state panel says [US]
by Fields, Reginald / Cleveland Plain Dealer, 26 Aug 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91262

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This message was forwarded through the Childcare Resource
and Research Unit e-mail news notifier. For information on the
CRRU e-mail notifier, including instructions for (un)subscribing,
see http://www.childcarecanada.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What's New? - Canadian, U.S. and international resources
Child Care in the News - media articles
Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm
- Go to the Work-Life Balance Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/work_life_balance.htm

Poverty Dispatch - U.S.
- links to news items from the American press about poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.
NOTE: this is a link to the current issue --- its content changes twice a week.

Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to two dispatches a week back to June 1 (2006) when the Dispatch acquired its own web page and archive.

Poverty Dispatch Digest Archive - weekly digest of dispatches from August 2005 to May 2006
For a few years prior to the creation of this new web page for the Dispatch, I was compiling a weekly digest of the e-mails and redistributing the digest to my mailing list.
This is my own archive of weekly issues of the digest back to August 2005, and most of them have 50+ links per issue. I'll be deleting this archive from my site gradually, as the links to older articles expire and "go 404"...

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

What's new from the U.S. Census Bureau:

Income Climbs, Poverty Stabilizes, Uninsured Rate Increases
Press Release
August 29
"Real median household income in the United States rose by 1.1 percent between 2004 and 2005, reaching $46,326, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate remained statistically unchanged at 12.6 percent. The percentage of people without health insurance coverage rose from 15.6 percent to 15.9 percent (46.6 million people). These findings are contained in the Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 report. The report’s data were compiled from information collected in the 2006 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS). (...) Also released today were tabulations of economic data from the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS), a powerful new tool that provides timely and updated information about the nation’s changing and diverse population every year. The data are available for nearly 7,000 areas including for the first time all congressional districts, and counties, cities and American Indian/Alaska native areas of 65,000 population or more. Without the ACS, this type of information — previously gathered just once a decade — would not be available for communities until 2012.
- includes links (in the top right-hand side of the page) to : Press kit /Report * Income data * Poverty data * Health insurance coverage data * American Community Survey data/Report

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 (PDF file - 3.1MB, 86 pages)
August 2006
"This report presents data on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States based on information collected in the 2006 and earlier Annual Social and Economic Supplements (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. (..) In 2005, 46.6 million people were without health insurance coverage, up from 45.3 million people in 2004."

Income, Earnings, and Poverty Data From the 2005 American Community Survey (PDF file - 1MB, 32 pages)
August 2006
"This report looks at data on income, earnings, and poverty based on the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS), which provides a measure of the country’s economic well-being. This report uses the unique ability of the ACS to produce estimates of detailed socioeconomic characteristics for the United States, states, and lower levels of geography."

Census Bureau to Release New Data on
Income, Poverty and Health Insurance
August 9, 2006
"The U.S. Census Bureau will release the consolidated report on money income, poverty and health insurance coverage for the nation at a news conference on Aug. 29, 2006 at 10 a.m. The data is derived from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS). Simultaneously, the Census Bureau will release economic profiles from the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS) for all areas within the United States with a population of 65,000 or greater. The ACS release will also include a report with data on income, earnings and poverty, as well as online tables on other socioeconomic topics." More...

Links to News Conference Resources

Source:
U.S. Census Bureau

---------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Media Coverage of the Census Bureau Report:
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005
Click the link above to access all of the following media coverage of the release of the Census Bureau report:
- Nation's poverty rate unchanged, Baltimore Sun. August 29
- Poverty levels stabilize; a first in 5 years. National Public Radio. August 29
- Census shows rise in nation's poorest. National Public Radio. August 29
- Poverty Central, Philadelphia Inquirer. August 30
- States ranked on pocketbook issues.Stateline.org. August 30, 2006.
- Census reports slight increase in ’05 incomes. York Times. August 30
- At last, buoyant economy lifts incomes. Christian Science Monitor. August 30
- U.S. household income rises a bit, but poverty rate maintains its grip. San Francisco Chronicle. August 30
- U.S. incomes up, 1st rise since '99. Los Angeles Times. August 29
- Middle-class workers ailing in Census checkup. Los Angeles Times. August 30, 2006
- Increase in workers drives household median income higher. By Dennis Cauchon, USA Today. August 29
- More in U.S. lack health insurance . San Francisco Chronicle. August 30
- Downward mobility. (Editorial), New York Times. August 30
- Rising economic tide fails to lift poor, middle class. (Editorial), USA Today. August 30
- Health care's vicious cycle. (Editorial), Washington Post. August 31

Source:
Poverty Dispatch
[ Institute for Research on Poverty ]
(University of Wisconsin)

---------------------------------------------------------------

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Poverty Remains Higher, and Median Income for Non-Elderly Is Lower, Than When Recession Hit Bottom:
Poor Performance Unprecedented For Four-Year Recovery Period - August 30

The Number of Uninsured Americans Is at an All-Time High - August 29

How to Assess Tomorrow's Income and Poverty numbers
August 28, 2006
by Arloc Sherman and Robert Greenstein
Tomorrow, August 29, the Census Bureau will release findings regarding household income and poverty for 2005. This analysis provides some context within which the data should be viewed.
HTML - http://www.cbpp.org/8-28-06pov.htm
PDF - http://www.cbpp.org/8-28-06pov.pdf 2pp.

---------------------------------------------------------------

From the Economic Policy Institute:

Census Bureau Data for 2005 Show Working Families Fell Behind
August 29
After falling each year since the economic recovery began in 2001, the income of the median household grew 1.1% (or $509) in inflation-adjusted terms in 2005. But the median income of working-age households—those headed by someone less than 65—actually fell 0.5% last year. Also troubling is the fact that poverty rates, which have risen consistently over the recovery, were unchanged, and income inequality also rose in 2005, as households at the top of the income scale saw greater income growth than everyone else.

---------------------------------------------------------------

- Go to the Poverty Measures - International Resources page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

American Housing Survey for the United States: 2005 (PDF file - 4MB, 616 pages)
Issued August 2006
"This report presents data from the American Housing Survey, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau."

American Housing Survey - home page, includes links to : What's New - Briefs and Research Papers - Definitions and Terms - How American Housing Survey Data are Collected - Find out more about the Surveys used to obtain American Housing Survey Data - American Housing Survey Data (National Data, Metropolitan Data , Data Corrections) - AHS Data Access - Links to Related Sites - Frequently Asked Questions - Data Quality and Processing

Source:
U.S. Census Bureau

- Go to the Homelessness and Housing Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/homeless.htm

Waging a Living, a documentary film about low-wage earners (the "working poor") in the U.S. by Robert Weisberg
(Check your local PBS listings)
"The term "working poor" should be an oxymoron. If you work full time, you should not be poor, but more than 30 million Americans - one in four workers - are stuck in jobs that do not pay the basics for a decent life. Waging a Living chronicles the day-to-day battles of four low-wage earners fighting to lift their families out of poverty."

TIP: check out the Resources link --- incl. What is a living wage? - Online discussion area - Download a podcast interview with Barbara Ehrenreich - Get updates on the people in the film - Listen to the filmmaker interview podcast.

Source:
P.O.V. (a cinema term for "point of view") --- television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films"
[ PBS ]

- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

Special : 10 years after welfare reform in the U.S.

. A decade of welfare reform : Facts and figures, (PDF file - 47K, 6 pages) from The Urban Institute, Washington, June (2006).

. Getting on, staying on and getting off welfare : The complexity of state-by-state policy choices (PDF file - 203K, 8 pages) G. Rowe and L. Giannarelli, The Urban Institute, Washington, July (2006).

. Looking forward, looking back :Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of welfare reform (PDF file - 72K, 4 pages), N. K. Cauthen, National Center for Children in Poverty, New York, August (2006).

. The outcomes of 1996 welfare reform (PDF file - 117K, 12pages), R Haskings, The Brookings Institution, Washington, Testimony, House Ways and Means Committee, July (2006).

. TANF at 10 : Program results are more mixed than often understood (PDF file - 244K, 16pages), S. Parrott and A. Sherman, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, August (2006).

. Ten years after welfare reform. It's time to make work work for families (PDF file - K, 2 pages), E. Ganzglass, Center for Law and Social Policy, Washington, August (2006).

. Getting punched : The job and family clock : It's time for flexible work for workers of all wages, (PDF file - 159K, 32 pages) J. Levin-Epstein, Center for Law and Social Policy, Washington, July (2006).

NOTE: Be sure to visit the websites of the organizations where these studies were conducted --- these are among the socially-progressive organizations in the U.S. whose philosophies most reflect my own, because they tend to focus more on social justice issues than on corporate agendas and profit margins.

Check out the impressive collection of reports and studies that each of these organizations produces:

The Urban Institute
- Urban Institute Policy Centers<=== links to a total of 10 centers, including the two following links
--- Assessing the New Federalism: Provides data and analysis on how children and families fare during a time of major change in federal-state strategies for supporting low-income families.
--- Income & Benefits Policy Center: Informs the public on how well current systems of income support meet the needs of the most vulnerable Americans—the poverty stricken, people with disabilities, and older Americans.

------------------------

National Center for Children in Poverty

------------------------

The Brookings Institution

------------------------

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

------------------------

Center for Law and Social Policy

------------------------

Source:
Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris
(see the next entry below)

New from the Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris
Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale - CERC[version française]

Bulletin N°109
August 28, 2006

Below, you'll find excerpts from Bulletin #109 of the Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion ("CERC"), with a special focus on the American welfare reforms of the mid-1990s.
Subscribe to receive this free bulletin twice a month by e-mail

NOTE: only a few titles appear below --- if you wish to see the whole bulletin online, just click the link to Bulletin #109 to go to the complete page of hyperlinks.

Special : 10 years after welfare reform in the U.S. (see above)

. Institutions, unemployment and inactivity in the OECD countries (PDF file - 289K, 35 pages), B. Amable, L. Demmou and D. Gatti, Paris - Jourdan Sciences économiques, Paris, Working paper, n° 16, 35 p., (2006).
- including Canada
Résumé - Summary : This paper provides new evidence on the linkages between a large array of institutional arrangements (on product, labour and financial markets) and employment performance. Our analysis includes unemployment, inactivity and jobless rates, thus allowing us to control for possible substitution effects across situations of nonemployment and to check whether institutional rigidities affecting unemployment impact inactivity along the same line. To cope with common problems related to the inclusion of time-invariant institutional variables in fixed effects models, we present results of regressions based on three different estimators: PCSE, GLS and FEVD, the last one being a new procedure specifically designed to treat slowly changing variables. New institutional series are proposed, namely to account for unemployment insurance net replacement rates and employment protection legislation (EPL). Among other results, we find strong evidence of a positive effect of EPL on employment performance as well as of possible complementarities across product and labour markets regulation.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Pays de l'OCDE / OECD countries

. The international child poverty gap : Does demography matter ?, (PDF file - 370K, 34 pages) P. Heuveline and M. Weinshenker, Luxembourg Income Study, Luxembourg, LIS working paper, n° 441, June, (2006).

Résumé - Summary : Children experience a higher poverty rate in the U.S. than in most comparable nations a poverty gap traceable to international differences in income redistribution across households rather than to market earnings. Using Luxembourg Income Study data, we find that child poverty rates are higher in the U.S. than in 13 out of 14 other high-income nations. The poverty rate for American children living with a single female and no other adult (55%) is the highest for any family structures in any nation. Using demographic decomposition, we isolate the contributions of several factors to the overall gap, including family-formation behaviors and living-arrangement decisions that place children in family structures with differential poverty risks (distributional effect), and differences in market earnings and transfer income between households headed by a married couple and other households with children (gradient effects). Distributional effects contribute to the U.S. poverty gap with every nation except the United Kingdom but are relatively small. Gradient effects in income redistribution are also of limited importance, and contribute to the U.S. gap with only some countries. These results demonstrate that overall differences in labor markets and welfare schemes best explain international child poverty gaps.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Comparaisons internationales / International comparisons

Measuring gender differences among Europe's knowledge workers (PDF file - 267K, 8 pages)
Version française :
Mesure des écarts entre femmes et hommes chez les travailleurs du savoir en Europe, H. Wilen, Eurostat, Luxembourg, Statistiques en bref, science et technologie, n° 12/2006, 8 p., (2006).

. Unemployment insurance in Europe : Unemployment duration and subsequent employment stability, (PDF file - 302K, 43 pages). Tatsiramos, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, IZA discussion paper, n° 2280, August, 43 p., (2006).

Résumé - Summary : The empirical literature on unemployment insurance has focused on its direct effect on unemployment duration, while the potential indirect effect on employment stability through a more efficient matching process, as the unemployed can search for a longer period, has attracted much less attention. In the European context this is surprising as reform proposals of the unemployment insurance system aiming at reducing high European unemployment rates should consider both effects. This paper provides evidence on the effect of unemployment benefits on unemployment and employment duration in Europe, using individual data from the European Community Household Panel for eight countries. Country specific estimates based on a multivariate discrete proportional hazard model, controlling for observed and unobserved individual heterogeneity, suggest that even if receiving benefits has a direct negative effect increasing the duration of unemployment spells, there is also a positive indirect effect of benefits on subsequent employment duration. This indirect effect is pronounced in countries with relatively generous benefit systems, and for recipients who have remained unemployed for at least six months. In terms of the magnitude of the effect, recipients remain employed on average two to four months longer than non-recipients. This represents a ten to twenty per cent increase relative to the average employment duration, compensating for the additional time spent in unemployment. These findings are in line with theories suggesting a matching effect of unemployment insurance.
Geographical area : Europe

. Working time developments : 2005, by the European Industrial Relations Observatory On-line, Dublin, (2006).
Geographical area : Europe

Les bénéficiaires de l’aide sociale départementale en 2005 (PDF file - 471K, 8 pages), B. Chastenet et F. Trespeux, Drees, Paris, Études et résultats, n° 514, août (2006).
[Available in French only]
Résumé - Summary : Fin 2005, près de 1,6 million de personnes étaient concernées par l’aide sociale départementale issue des lois de décentralisation de 1984 qui regroupe les aides aux personnes âgées, aux personnes handicapées et à l’enfance. En y ajoutant les allocataires du RMI (1,1 million), dont la gestion relève de la compétence des conseils généraux depuis 2004, le nombre total de ces bénéficiaires s’établissait donc à plus de 2,7 millions.
Depuis 2004, l’aide sociale destinée aux personnes âgées dépasse le million de bénéficiaires, en raison de la mise en œuvre progressive à partir de 2002 de l’allocation personnalisée d’autonomie (APA), qui concernait 921 000 personnes fin 2005. Le nombre de personnes handicapées bénéficiant de l’aide sociale (236 000 fin 2005) a également progressé en 2005 (+3%) ; parmi elles, près d’une sur deux bénéficiait de l’allocation compensatrice pour tierce personne (ACTP). Enfin, l’aide sociale à l’enfance (ASE) a concerné 272 000 bénéficiaires. L’écart entre les mesures éducatives (134 000) et les mesures de placement (138 000) a continué à se resserrer légèrement en 2005, les premières augmentant un peu plus que les secondes (+2% contre +1 %).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : France

Source:
Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion in Paris
Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale - CERC[version française]

Subscribe - To be informed of CERC activities and to receive the bulletin
Links to all CERC Bulletins

Related Links:

CERC Bulletins/Reports/Studies/Working papers
- Click on the links in the left margin of the CERC website home page for links to a large collection of online resources including a semi-monthly research bulletin

Online Information Service
Information and online resources organized under five themes: poverty, social minima, in-work benefits, minimum wage and return-to-work programmes. The last theme was just recently added to the list, so you should explore that one first. However, as you click through the myriad reports and studies on that topic as well as links to online resources for France and for the rest of the world, I'm sure you'll want to check out the remaining themes. Includes links and resources for Canada...

Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

Both Canadian Social Research Links (the site) and this Canadian Social Research Newsletter belong solely to me, Gilles Séguin.

I am solely accountable for the choice of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment - it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers Internet account and my web hosting service.

I administer the mailing list and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page:
http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news

You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

------------------------

The e-mail version of this newsletter is available only in plain text (no graphics, no hyperlinks, no fancy bolding or italics, etc.) to avoid security problems with government departments, universities and other networks with firewalls. The text-only version is also friendlier for people using older or lower-end technology.

Privacy Policy:
The Canadian Social Research Newsletter mailing list is not used for any purpose except to distribute each weekly issue.
I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any junk mail.

Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

To access earlier online HTML issues of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter, go to the Newsletter page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter as widely as you wish, but please remember to mention Canadian Social Research Links when you do.

Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com