Panama has achieved socio-economic improvements in recent decades thanks to strong economic growth and consequent poverty reduction. Its growth model is characterised by a dual economy in which a small number of activities, including those related to the Canal and Special Economic Zones, have exhibited high productivity growth but limited job…

After reviewing trends in industrial production, exports, and employment in the Third World since 1960, the author discusses industrialization strategies based on the local processing of raw materials for export. Such processing has proved to be a major factor in job creation. (Author/SK)

The experiment reported here was conducted during a 12-month period at four plants owned by the same company. Managers were given artificial reports about previous findings obtained in implementing job enlargement and job rotation programs. Led to expect higher productivity as a result of these organizational innovations, the managers increased…

The author examines some of the complexities involved in trying to answer the question: jobs or productivity? human labor or machines? She discusses calculation of labor intensity, Australian statistics on the subject, trends in productivity, and institutional discouragement of labor intensity. (CT)

Nineteen international case studies of workplace stress prevention initiatives are analyzed. The focus of these cases, which span a variety of workplaces and locations, is on preventing stress through work reorganization rather than remedial approaches for stress relief. It is found that the majority of the occupations represented in the case…

This case study illustrates how a newspaper's management introduced major technological changes into the operation, focusing on job redesign. The focus is on motivation. (CH)

An important aspect of work environment is job content and structure. As this case study illustrates, increased productivity, enhanced job satisfaction, substantial cost reduction, and a reduction in turnover are some of the benefits of task reorganization. (CT)

This report sets forth findings of a committee charged with recommending policies to create 10,000,000 new jobs through small business. It defines the problems of American workers and small business owners in a period of dramatic economic change. Emphasis is on solutions for the conditions that nurture enterprise and on what the country needs to…

Subjecting vocational training to economic analysis, the author points to the high degree of uncertainty affecting employment and training policies, and urges that economists attempt to integrate their analyses with specific knowledge of the realities of the labor market. (Availability: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities,…

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of job-sharing as an alternative to part-time employment in libraries and describes a job-sharing experiment at the Parson Branch of the Public Library of Columbus and Franklin County. Six references are included. (CHC)

Two studies involving workers with moderate/severe mental retardation analyzed productivity rates on a seated assembly task and analyzed the most efficient means to remediate a custodial vacuuming task. A motion economy-based task design was more efficient than the site-based task design in terms of cleanliness, production rates, and reduction of…

Future training and development programs should stress need to improve and achieve conditions of productivity that can continue to have the United States compete in world markets. (DS)

Presents a critique of Taylor's scientific management theory and the negative consequences of work simplification. Compares this method with Maslow's, Herzberg's, and Thorsrud's theories of motivation, and contrasts the experiences of General Motors' application of Taylor's model and General Foods' application of Thorsrud's. (SK)

This document contains two essays: "Toward a High-Wage, High-Productivity Service Sector" by Lester Thurow; and "Service Sector Wages, Productivity and Job Creation in the U.S. and Other Countries" by Louise Waldstein. The first essay analyzes the recent and currrent U.S. economy under headings called Growth Nodes, Falling…