This article examines the exploitation of patient labour at Kew Cottages, Australia's first purpose-built state institution for people with learning disabilities. Analysing historical evidence for the period 1887-1950 shows that unpaid patient labour contributed significantly to the economy of the Cottages and so to the government department of…

This report provides a description and some analysis of noninstitutionalized disabled persons aged 20 to 64. Emphasis is on labor force behavior, including amounts of work, occupational distribution, and wage rates. Defines disability and discusses characteristics of the disabled, wage rates, and disability and deprivation. (CT)

The electronics revolution is changing way work is done and description of available jobs, shifting some jobs from office to home, and offering new communication services. Technology's impact on central business districts (CBDs) will depend on broad economic forces, but its effects on CBDs as business locations will be conditioned by local real…

Discussion of the effect on the workforce of the application of electronic data processing technologies to information handling activities highlights task specialization; white collar alienation; feelings of powerlessness, meaninglessness, and normlessness in workers; the chronology of automation; and experimentation and communication. Nineteen…

Gold mining brought a forced labor system to Witwatersrand, South Africa, in the 1880s as African laborers were rounded up from the hinterland and delivered to the mines. The system produced low wages, high mortality, and the loss of chances for upward mobility. Forced labor persists today in South African mines. (VM)

Critics call computerized innovations and other changes in the workplace examples of the employers'"dumbing down" of jobs for illiterate workers. Others disagree and say the changes free workers from routine, monotonous tasks and permit them to learn more complex procedures and to take on more responsibility. Findings of a survey of business…

This article examines some of the indicators that have been used to assess job commitment: statistical series on absence from work; quits; working part time by choice (phenomena generally associated with weak commitment); and multiple job-holding and overtime (often associated with strong commitment). (SSH)

Discusses the nature of child domestic work (children employed as servants in the households of families other than their own). Suggests a number of practical steps that can be taken to ensure that child domestic workers are afforded a measure of protection which they do not currently receive. (Author)

Details part of a larger project undertaken by Swedish Save the Children in order to inform the current debate about child labor with evidence from working children engaged in a range of occupations, in contrasting regions of the world. Summarizes issues, children's occupational preferences, and views on work and school. (SD)

This series of articles cites a variety of sources and synthesizes a number of studies on the working conditions and the welfare of workers from several countries. (SSH)

Nonprofit jobs provide more challenge, variety, satisfaction, and intrinsic rewards than those in private enterprise or government, according to a small national sample of workers in schools, hospitals, philanthropic, and other tax-exempt organizations. (Author/SSH)

Explores contributions from the Urban Childhood Conference for the purpose of developing the child-labor discourse further and indicating the implications of the new understandings for further research and policy development. Highlights the nine articles in this issue, which address child labor at the international level, children's viewpoints,…

Draws on increased international debate and concern about child labor to provide an overview of important apparent trends. Issues addressed include diversity of thinking, variety of work situations, effects on children involved, and traditional modes of action against child labor. Notes that traditional actions are ineffective and that ending the…

This article cites a variety of sources and synthesizes a number of studies on the social implications of technological innovations (microelectronics). These studies were related to six European and Asian countries and were also concerned with the international division of labor. (SSH)

Sheltered work programs for the handicapped in five European countries (Denmark, Sweden, Poland, West Germany, and The Netherlands) are described in this paper. Basic features of the programs in each country are discussed, including population, financing, and aspects of the programs that can be applied in helping America improve employment…