Advanced software, smartphones, the Internet, and cognitive computing have already disrupted the retail, media, transportation, education, and health care industries. Widely different predictions have been offered about the scope of future workforce disruptions. Recent assessments about the impact of artificial intelligence on worker dislocation…

Using survey data from a western U.S. county (N = 595), we examined how lower, middle, and higher income families negotiate a period of economic stress--the closing of a major employer in the community--through their shopping patterns. Specifically, we examined their participation in local thrift economies such as yard sales and secondhand stores.…

The Great Recession from December 2007 to June 2009 is associated with a dramatic weakening of the labor market from which the labor market is now only slowly recovering. The unemployment rate remains stubbornly high and durations of unemployment are unprecedentedly long. I use data from the Displaced Workers Survey (DWS) from 1984-2010 to…

American families are experiencing the effects of the "Great Recession." Most of the job losses are accruing to men, so families may find it strategic for wives to enter the labor force, or increase their work hours. We consider this possibility using the May 2008 and 2009 Current Population Survey, and compare findings to May 2004 and 2005 data,…

The purpose of this study was to determine how well former employees at a television glass manufacturing plant were able to find employment in a new field of study following graduation from a local community college. The majority of participants were able to find reemployment, albeit at a lower salary. In addition, information was obtained…

This paper is a sequel to Sirgy et al. ("Social Ind. Res." 68(3) (2004) 251), "The Impact of Globalization on a Country's Quality of Life: Toward an Integrated Model" published in "Social Indicators Research." That paper conceptualized globalization in terms of the free flow of four major components: (1) goods and services, (2) people, (3)…

Outsourcing can involve the forced transfer of employees to another organisation. During or after the transfer they may find their jobs have changed or go through a process of downsizing. They also often have to maintain a relationship with their previous employer as they continue to work on joint projects. In this paper we review relevant…

Today, many high-tech, professional jobs are being sent overseas. According to TechsUnite.org, more than 150,000 technology jobs have been lost to offshoring since 2000. In this article, the author asserts that American colleges and universities are uniquely poised to help confront this economic challenge by providing basic and applied research…