Canadian Social Research Newsletter
September 17, 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 1682 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

Canadian Content

1. The Federal Government must Renew the Women's Program! DAWN Ontario: DisAbled Women's Network - September 14
2. What's New from the British Columbia Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance:
--- Community Assistance Program Transition - September 7
--- New Employment Program Means More Job Success - July 26
--- More Support for Low-Income Families - July 12
3. What's New from Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment:
--- Reducing Poverty: an Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador - June 2006
--- 2004-05 Annual Report - Dept. of Human Resources, Labour and Employment
4. What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:
--- National balance sheet accounts, Second quarter, 2006 - September 15, 2006
--- Canadian Economic Observer (Sept. '06 issue) - September 14
--- Canadian Economic Accounts Quarterly Review, second quarter 2006 - September 13
--- Study: Disability and well-being, 1991 - September 12
5. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - September 15

International Content

6. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs
7. OpenCourseWare (free educational resources) - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
8. Comparing Wealth Distribution Across Rich Countries: First Results from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (Luxembourg Wealth Study) - August 2006
9. Bulletin N°110 (Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris) - September 11

Have a great week!

The Federal Government must Renew the Women's Program!
September 14, 2006
- incl. : Intro * The Women`s Program * Standing Committee on the Status of Women Recommendations to improve the Women's program * The Context : women's inequality remains deeply entrenched * A Lack of Political Will to Address the problem * And this was Brought to you by the Women's Movement * Past Federal Acknowledgment of the Important Role played by Women's Groups * International support for the funding of Women's Groups * Conclusion

Source:
DAWN Ontario: DisAbled Women's Network

- Go to the the Canadian Non-Governmental Sites about Women's Social Issues page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/womencanngo.htm

What's new from the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance:

Community Assistance Program Transition
Sept. 7, 2006
VICTORIA – The Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance is renewing its Community Assistance Program (CAP) to focus solely on life-skills and advocacy services for the most vulnerable income assistance clients and will launch the new program on Oct. 2, 2006.

New Employment Program Means More Job Success
July 26, 2006
KAMLOOPS – The new $35-million BC Employment Program has been successfully launched by the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance. This means 15,000 income assistance clients in British Columbia will have an even better chance of finding and keeping a job this year. (...) The new BC Employment Program replaces two existing programs – the Job Placement Program and Training for Jobs – and is managed by GT Hiring Solutions (2005) Inc., the BC Society of Training for Health and Employment (THEO BC) and WCG International Consultants Limited."

July 12, 2006
More Support for Low-Income B.C. Families (PDF file - 21K, 2 pages)
- two-page document highlighting the accomplishments of the BC Government with respect to low-income families.

Related Link:

Budget 2006 - Focus on Children (video)
"...more information on increased government supports for British Columbia’s children."
Source:
British Columbia Budget 2006 - February 21, 2006

- Go to the BC Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bcbkmrk.htm

From the Dept. of Human Resources, Labour and Employment:

Reducing Poverty: An Action Plan for
Newfoundland and Labrador (PDF file - 1.6MB, 60 pages)
June 2006
"The 2005 Speech from the Throne (p. 22) affirmed Government’s Blueprint commitment to transform Newfoundland and Labrador over a ten-year period from a province with the most poverty to a province with the least poverty."

More papers on poverty reduction
in Newfoundland and Labrador

2004-05 Annual Report - Department of Human Resources & Employment (PDF file - 5.2MB, 29 pages)

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Service Canada Regional Information:
Newfoundland and Labrador
This page provides information on region specific services for Individuals, Business and Organizations.
Source:
Service Canada
Human Resources and Social Development Canada

NOTE: The Service Canada Regional Information portal is part of the enormous federal government home page, Canada.Gc.Ca
The portal page claims that it "will help you find services close to your home."
They just forgot to mention *which* services. They include: Jobs * Financial Benefits * Employment Insurance * Taxes * Training and Careers * Identification Cards * Travel and Passports * Health * Consumer Information * Canada and the World * Environment and Resources * Economy * Public Safety * Culture and Recreation * Science and Technology.

If you want to find links to information on social assistance (welfare) programs, you must click the Financial Benefits link on the Service Canada portal, then click on "In need of social assistance...", and then, on the Canadian map that appears in the next screen, click the name of any province or territory. The next screen (finally!) offers you links to needs-tested welfare program(s) in the jurisdiction that you selected. If you're looking for financial assistance programs for people with disabilities, you'll also have to click on A person with a disability... in the Service Canada portal page.

OR you can find wayyyy more welfare information by using the Canadian Social Research Links Key Welfare Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm

- Go to the Newfoundland and Labrador Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/nfbkmrk.htm

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

September 15, 2006
National balance sheet accounts, Second quarter, 2006
National net worth reached $4.7 trillion by the end of the second quarter, or $142,900 per person. The gain in net worth resulted from an increase in national wealth (economy-wide non-financial assets) which was partially offset by increased net foreign debt. The growth in national net worth slowed to 1.2% in the second quarter, less than the average of 1.6% for the previous four quarters.

Related links:

National balance sheet accounts, Second quarter 2006
- incl. links to : Highlights * Statistical tables * Related products * Related documentation * More information * PDF version

Earlier editions of National balance sheet accounts

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September 14, 2006
Canadian Economic Observer - September 2006 issue (PDF file - 799K, 113 pages)
- incl. links to : Current economic conditions * Economic Events * Feature article (“The Alberta Economic Juggernaut: The Boom on the Rose”) * Recent feature articles

Earlier editions of the Canadian Economic Observer

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September 13, 2006
Canadian Economic Accounts Quarterly Review, second quarter 2006 (PDF file - 254K, 47 pages)
This publication presents an overview of the economic developments reported in Canada's national accounts for the most recent quarter. The overview covers several broad areas:1) Gross domestic product (GDP) by income and by expenditure, 2) GDP by industry, 3) Balance of international payments, 4) Financial flow accounts 5) Labour productivity and other related variables, 6) International investment position and 7) National balance sheet.

Earlier editions of Canadian Economic Accounts Quarterly Review

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September 12, 2006
Study: Disability and well-being, 1991
Canadians born with a disability are likely to be happier than individuals who experienced a disability later in life, according to a new study that explores the determinants of subjective well-being among people with disabilities. The study found that well-being, measured as self-reported levels of happiness, is independent of the type of physical disability. However, people with mental disabilities have lower levels of well-being than those with physical disabilities. Also, people with more severe disabilities are less happy than those with less severe disabilities. Overall, about 21% of people with disabilities reported being "very happy", 65% "pretty happy", and the remaining 14% "not too happy".
NOTE:
1. The study "Impact of the timing, type and severity of disability on the subjective well-being of individuals with disabilities," was published in Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 63(2). A one-paragraph abstract is available, in English only, online (www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02779536). The complete report costs $30 (order from the abstract page).
2. 1991??

Related links from StatCan:

Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS)
Survey of Canadian adults and children whose day-to-day activities may be limited because of a condition or health problem. The survey covers themes such as activity limitations, help with everyday activities, education, employment status, social participation and economic characteristics.

Survey years available at this site:
2001

See also:
Health and Activity Limitation Survey - older studies in 1991 and 1986

- Go to the Disability Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/disbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.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.

15-Sept-06

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

CHILD CARE UPDATE FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR
Letter from Linda Reid, B.C.'s Minister of State for Childcare, informs parents and child care providers that subsidy levels will be “protected and maintained by the province”.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91572

A FOCUSED PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN CHILD CARE SERVICES ENHANCES CANADA'S PLACE IN A COMPETITIVE WORLD
Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada’s brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91574

SUPPORTING CANADA'S FAMILIES, BUILDING CANADA’S CHILDCARE SYSTEM
Brief from the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91573

CHILDCARE ACT 2006
British legislation passed into law on July 11, 2006 is the first ever in Britain exclusively concerned with early years and child care.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91575

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

Better childcare services urged in rural communities [NZ]
Radio New Zealand, 13 Sep 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91568

Subsidy program protected [CA-BC]
Cariboo Press, 13 Sep 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91571

Childcare king tops BRW Young Rich List [AU]
Sydney Morning Herald, 12 Sep 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91567

Tories' child-care plan falls flat, poll says [CA]
Globe and Mail, 11 Sep 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91569

Scarborough child care will not be cut to support new spaces downtown [CA-ON]
Scarborough Mirror, 11 Sep 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91570

Child-care benefit doesn't have to be for child care: Tories [CA]
CanWest News Service, 6 Sep 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=91566

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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 with IRP's permission.
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.

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

From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):

MIT's OpenCourseWare
"...a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and self-learners around the world. MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) supports MIT's mission to advance knowledge and education, and serve the world in the 21st century."

Complete list of free MIT courses
* Aeronautics and Astronautics * Anthropology * Architecture * Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation * Biological Engineering * Biology * Brain and Cognitive Sciences * Chemical Engineering * Chemistry * Civil and Environmental Engineering * Comparative Media Studies * Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences * Economics * Electrical Engineering and Computer Science * Engineering Systems Division * Foreign Languages and Literatures
* Health Sciences and Technology * History * Linguistics and Philosophy * Literature * Materials Science and Engineering * Mathematics * Mechanical Engineering * Media Arts and Sciences * Music and Theater Arts * Nuclear Science and Engineering * Physics * Political Science * Science, Technology, and Society * Sloan School of Management * Special Programs * Urban Studies and Planning * Women's Studies * Writing and Humanistic Studies

- Go to the Canadian Universities and Colleges Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/univbkmrk.htm

Comparing Wealth Distribution Across Rich Countries:
First Results from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (535K, 35 pages)
August 9, 2006
The new Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS) creates for the first time a harmonized cross national database on household assets and liabilities. This paper describes the project, outlines conceptual and practical issues that need to be addressed in preparing harmonized and comparable wealth data across countries, and summarizes the initial results for the eight countries participating in the initial phase: Canada, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway,Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Source:
Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS)
See also:
Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)
**[ Links to 445 studies ]**

- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.htm

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°110
September 11, 2006

Below, you'll find a few selections from Bulletin #110 of the Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion.
Subscribe to receive this free bulletin twice a month by e-mail

Lone parents and work : Developing new survey measures of the choices and constraints (PDF file - 1.07MB, 184 pages)(United Kingdom), D. Collins and alii, London, Working paper, n° 34, September (2006).
Source:
Department for Work and Pensions

Recruiting long-term unemployed : Lessons from wage subsidies (PDF file - 107K, 17 pages)(United Kingdom), R. Welters and J. Muysken, , Callaghan, Working paper, n° 06-04, August (2006).
This paper concentrates on the labour demand side to explain the incidence of long-term unemployment. We introduce a novel way to infer employer search behaviour, through deadweight loss incidence in wage subsidy schemes. Using a dataset on British firms participating in such schemes we distinguish between intensive and extensive employer search. Since intensive and extensive search behaviour affect the job find probability of (long-term) unemployed, our conclusions have significant labour market policy relevance. We find that firm size, firm structure and proposed hours worked influence the willingness of employers to recruit from long-term unemployed.
Source:
Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE)

Nine years of neglect : Federal minimum wage remains unchanged for ninth straight year, falls to lowest level in more than half a century (PDF file - 78K, 6 pages)
(United States), J. Bernstein and I. Shapiro, Washington, August (2006).
Source:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Economic Policy Institute
[ Go to the Minimum Wage /Living Wage Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/minwage.htm ]

Social models, growth and the international monetary system : Implications for Europe and the United States, (PDF file - 296K, 28 pages)L. Costabile and R. Scazzieri, Amherst, Working paper series, n° 117, July 2006.
This paper explores the relationship between economic growth and the welfare state. We argue that: (i) the institutional constraints set by the international monetary system may be at least as effective determinants of growth differentials between countries as the different dimensions of their welfare states. We show how this international system may impose an asymmetric discipline/flexibility mix on the macroeconomic policies of different countries, thereby influencing their growth performance.; (ii) the European currency reshapes some of the pre-existing constraints and also open up new opportunities; (iii) in the new international setting, Europe is facing a choice between alternative models. In one alternative, the “welfare system” needs to be reduced to a minimum; in the second, its role should be enhanced and made more active, through an appropriate mix of welfare policies oriented towards the promotion of social well-being and policies oriented towards the promotion of productive capacities.
Source:
Political Economy Research Institute

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...

- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.htm

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 ]

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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