User:Jasmine.tsui/sandbox

Selecting Possible Articles

Area Workforce Development.

Sectors and Methods Employment Discrimination Jasmine.tsui Jasmine.tsui (talk) 08:37, 22 February 2018 (UTC)

Evaluating Two Articles

Unemployment in the Untied States

I'm interested in contributing to Demographics and employment trends, Causes of unemployment, and solutions for creating more U.S. jobs. The causes of unemployment section has listed some causes with a brief description of each, but there is mainly the reference to the main article. This article is a bit more substantial so I don't know if it would be as easy to move that information within this article.

The topics within trends are substantial, but there definitely needs to be more information and perhaps I can add something about job training within the education topic.

I'm excited to research more for solution for creating more U.S. jobs and am also wondering is that the only solution to unemployment. I want to confirm that the real problem is not having enough jobs, not that we don't have enough of an educated workforce or other structural issues like discrimination. Jasmine.tsui (talk) 09:01, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

Based on the first few sources I've found and the information within them, I hope to add some information on youth unemployment and at least link the page, if not transfer the content from the page. Though there is a subsection on causes of unemployment, there is not section yet on the effects/impacts/consequences which I think would be important to add, and I didn't think of it before finding on article about it. I was disappointed that I didn't find many articles on job training, but I did find one covering a couple examples of federally funded job creation programs which I can add.

Employment Discrimination

Grammatically, there is not much wrong with this page. The link that redirect to other articles work as well. I am unfamiliar with the neoclassical explanation and non-neoclassical approach to employment discrimination, but it would be nice to have some consistency and keep the term explanation or approach for both. Also the critiques of the neoclassical approach should be moved as a sub section under neoclassical approach. If there is a critique for one approach, there should be a critique for the other to keep it unbiased.

Under U.S. discrimination laws, it would be convenient if there was also just a list of all the laws that have the wiki article linked to them like the Protected Categories section.

It's interesting that discrimination is split by region but there are only Europe and North America subsections. I'm not sure if it's worth adding other regions or restructuring it so that the major comparison is not between regions, but between government structures like a welfare state.

Ethnicity, gender, age, and criminal records are fine subsections. Perhaps immigrant/foreign born could be added. The sections definitely need more information and detail though. There is a reference to the main article: Employment discrimination against persons with criminal records in the United States which is a small article so it might be worth to move that information within employment discrimination and just delete that page Jasmine.tsui (talk) 09:01, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

I have found a good list of anti-discrimination laws that I can add to the subsection that currently only consists of affirmative action and minimum wage. The article I found highlighted key sections within the laws and acts which I can summarize. With the article on causes of employment discrimination, I hope to create a section for that or sort them into the neo-classical explanation and non neo-classical explanation sections. I am still unclear about those sections and will have to edit those to make it more comprehensible. I've found articles on gender and race employment discrimination, so I will be adding to those subsections under the U.S. section so there will be more than just statistics and studies. I still am on the lookout for more articles on incarceration and immigrants or ESL individuals.Jasmine.tsui (talk) 08:37, 22 February 2018 (UTC)

Workforce Development

The page is quite limited and only has two sections: approaches and successful conditions. I am going to add two sections: Core Concerns and Barriers to workforce development collaborations. Also, there are only two citations for the entire page, and they only cover the introduction, not the two sections. There is a subsection of potential barriers under sector-based approaches, but not under place-based approach so I should research that to make the page less biased towards one approach.

Bibliography

Employment Discrimination

Rozmarin, George C. “Employment Discrimination Laws and Their Application.” Law Notes for the General Practitioner, vol. 16, no. 1, 1980, pp. 25–29. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44066330.

This source is a list of employment discrimination laws with key sections of the law or act outlined under. This would be perfect for the section I plan on making where I list all the laws as a timeline with the corresponding article linked.

Reskin, Barbara F. “The Proximate Causes of Employment Discrimination.” Contemporary Sociology, vol. 29, no. 2, 2000, pp. 319–328. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2654387.

This source explains some sociological and psychological causes of employment discrimination. It also includes some solutions or suggestions on how to prevent or mitigate the effects of employment discrimination. The page currently has no section on potential causes or solutions to the issue. This article gives me a starting point for how to organize those sections I will create, and from there I can do further research on the specified proposals.

Blankenship, Kim M. “Bringing Gender and Race in: U.S. Employment Discrimination Policy.” Gender and Society, vol. 7, no. 2, 1993, pp. 204–226. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/189578.

This source discusses gender and race employment discrimination. It includes some history, the applications of some laws, and even introduces concepts such as feminist theory and social class when explaining discrimination. As of right now, the article's section on gender is a couple sentences filed with statistics and it's section on race is results of one study. The page could really benefit from a source like this where the content is less statistics and studies, and more theoretical.

Goldman, Barry M., et al. "Employment discrimination in organizations: Antecedents and consequences." Journal of Management 32.6 (2006): 786-830.

This source has a very organized explanation of the bases of discrimination as well as the consequences. It has given me a clear structure to frame the Wikipedia article sections. It discussed legal theories, psychological theories, structural theories, social theories, and it cleared up definitions and applications of prejudice vs. stereotyping vs. discrimination. Under consequences, they were split up into levels- individual, group, and organizational.

Roehling, M. V. 1999. Weight-based discrimination in employment: Psychological and legal aspects. Personnel Psychology, 52(4): 969-1016.

This source focuses solely on weight based employment discrimination using research and legal requirements to explain its implications. It brings light to an interesting complexity in federal law where the majority of overweight individuals are not covered by the American with Disabilities Act because of certain restrictions on the definition of obese. Weight based discrimination doesn’t have its own section under types of employment discrimination like race or gender do because it is often overlooked. I want to bring some attention to it by explaining it as an example of group discrimination in the consequences section of employment discrimination.

Neumark, D. 2003. Age discrimination legislations in the United States. Contemporary Economic Policy, 21: 297-317.

This source covers age discrimination legislation and theorizes why age discrimination occurs in the workplace (stereotyping, economic incentives, etc). It also discusses the limitations of current legislation. I can use the information to add to the age section in employment discrimination and expand on the history of federal laws.

Pager, Devah, and Hana Shepherd. 2008. “The Sociology of Discrimination: Racial Discrimination in Employment, Housing, Credit, and Consumer Markets”. Annual Review of Sociolgy 34:181-209.

This source on the sociology of discrimination started off with a brief discussion of the definition of discrimination, measuring it, the perceptions of it, and the legal records regarding it. The article was then split into many areas discrimination affects such as employment, housing, credit, and consumer markets. The employment section is loaded with statistical facts on discrimination against blacks which will be a helpful addition to the race section of employment discrimination in the United States.

Darity, William A., and Patrick L. Mason. "Evidence on discrimination in employment: Codes of color, codes of gender." Journal of Economic Perspectives 12.2 (1998): 63-90.

This source contained many statistical facts on employment discrimination based on color and gender. Within facts on gender discrimination, the authors included information on women with children and inspired me to pursue further research into discrimination against mothers. This was also the first article I had read that had statistics not only on race, but also on skin complexion. Having darker colored skin equates to worser discrimination. These will be noteworthy additions to the race section of employment discrimination in the United States.

Shelley J. Correll, Stephen Benard, and In Paik, “Getting a Job: Is There a Motherhood Penalty?” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 112 No. 5 (2007), 1297-1338.

This source, inspired by information I read in Darity and Patrick's article, followed the discrimination mothers face in the workplace. It discussed obstacles ranging from getting callbacks after resume send-ins to promotions in the company. The gender section of the employment discrimination in the United States would benefit from this additional information on how women with children face even more discrimination than women without.

Workforce Development

Schrock, G. (2014). Connecting people and place prosperity: Workforce development and urban planning in scholarship and practice. Journal of Planning Literature, 29(3), 257-271.

This source was a great introduction to what workforce developments works on. Split into three areas- skills formation, employment networks, and career advancement- the concerns of workforce development were clearly laid out, and I now have a better understanding of what workforce development covers. The page is currently split into person and place- based approaches. I will see how I can fit these sections in.

Meléndez, E., Borges-Mendez, R., Visser, M., & Rosofsky, A. (2015). The restructured landscape of economic development: Challenges and opportunities for regional workforce development collaborations. Economic Development Quarterly, 29(2), 150-166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891242414566151

This source discussed the opportunities and costs associated with workforce development. I found the section on barriers to workforce development most helpful in that I could add this section to the page because it doesn't exist currently, and the information could spark some ideas for how we can change and improve the approaches to workforce development.

Holzer, Harry J. Workforce development as an antipoverty strategy: What do we know? What should we do?. Vol. 3776. Bonn: IZA, 2008. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/35478/1/584275331.pdf

This source had a variety of suggestions for how workforce development could be improved through funds. There are suggestions on where funding should be allocated towards or where there needs to be an increase in federal funding. Since the Workforce Development page is very short, any information on which areas it needs more funding and resources is helpful.

Rademacher, Ida. “Working with Value: Industry-Specific Approaches to Workforce Development.” The Aspen Institute, Feb. 2008, www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/working-value-industry-specific-approaches-workforce-development/.

This source analyzed six workforce development organizations that applied differing industry-based approaches to their program training. It had some helpful background information on industry-based approaches. This is another term for sector-based approach, so the source will be helpful for adding information in that section.

Vietorisz, Thomas, and Bennett Harrison. 1973. ‘‘Labor Market Segmentation: Positive Feedback and Divergent Development.’’ American Economic Review 63 (2): 366–76.

This source is about labor market segregation and mobility within the workforce. There was a clear definition of primary and secondary labor markets which is useful for the discussion on careers for the disadvantaged populations. The article also brought up the paradox of technological innovations requiring less skilled workers to operate, but higher skilled workers to create. This is relevant to both careers and skills under core concerns of workforce development.

Austin, J. (2000). Strategic collaboration between nonprofits and business. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 29(1), 69-97.

This source outlined what successful collaboration between nonprofits and businesses looked like with several examples of partnerships. It organizes the process of mutual partnership (using Timberland and City Year as the example) into three stages with collaboration increasing at each step. The importance of integration and value construction was emphasized. This information would be helpful for the workforce development page since it is relevant to nonprofit job training programs.

Lerman, Robert I. 2008. ‘‘Are Skills the Problem? Reforming the Education and Training System in the United States.’’ In A Future of Good Jobs? America’s Challenge in the Global Economy, edited by Timothy J. Bartik and Susan N. Houseman, 17–80. Kalamazoo, MI: W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

This source discussed the role of skills in education and training. The question in the title "Are skills the problem?" is in reference to the reason why the United States has issues with the education system and unemployment rates. There are a couple studies of the outcomes of federal job training programs such as the JTPA and Job Corps as well as sector-based strategy programs. Some key points that can be added to the workforce development skills section under core concerns are the limitation on skills and assessment of the effectiveness of skill-building systems.

under goldman: orlitzy , uniform , schein, johnson, noh, sanchez, crocker

under resin: fiske , heilman, tetlock

under schrock: hanson, melendez, hacker, fitzgerald, kochan

under darity: waldfogel and blau  

under pager: cancio and tomaskovic

Unemployment in the United States

This source discusses youth unemployment- causes, consequences, and policies that could address it. I stumbled upon this article and wasn't aware youth unemployment was its own unique issue. With this source, I can create that section within the Wiki article and add the information from the source and link the page Youth Unemployment or transfer the contents of the page.

This source examine the private and social costs of unemployment, clearly outlining why the study of it is important. "First, by measuring the private costs of unemployment that are borne by the unemployed themselves, we can better understand why our unemployment rate is so high. Second, by examining the social costs of unemployment (i.e., the costs of unemployment to the nation as a whole regardless of how they are distributed), we can better decide when the benefits of a reduction in unemployment outweigh the costs of achieving it." By private, the author refers to the cost of being unemployed on an individual basis financially. By social, the author refers to a broader view of unemployment on a larger scale- opportunity costs of people returning to work and the unemployment policies behind it.

This source includes a brief couple paragraphs on structural unemployment and mainly focuses on describing two job creation programs in the UK and Western Isles. It also lists out some helpful questions to ask when evaluating the success of job training programs. There is no section on government implemented job creation programs within the Solutions for creating more U.S. jobs section and I could add it using these two examples. Jasmine.tsui (talk) 03:59, 22 February 2018 (UTC)

This source discusses the consequences of age-based discrimination, specifically about how perceived discrimination affects job separation and employment. Some of the findings from this source can be used under the group subsection for Consequences of Employment Discrimination.

This was a study conducted in Canada of Southeast Asian refugees who faced racial discrimination. The outcome of the study- women who reported they faced discrimination had higher levels of depression- is a fitting example for the subsection Individual under Consequences of Employment Discrimination.

This source is about the outcomes of discrimination against Hispanic employment and had some useful background information. Most race-based discrimination articles have been about blacks so it is helpful to get an article about the Hispanic race minority so the page is more comprehensive and includes multiple racial minorities, not just one.

This source discusses the relationship between stigmatization and self esteem, explaining why the common assumption that stigmatized groups have lower self esteem is not always true. The author supports this by describing the self protecting properties. The concept of problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping is helpful for the individual level subsection for consequences employment discrimination.

Summarizing and Synthesizing

The bolded writing is copied from the Wikipedia article.

New Section in Employment Discrimination: Consequences

Employment discrimination can have individual, group, and organizational consequences.

Individual

Perceived discrimination in the workplace has been found to have negative effects on an individual's body and mind- mainly blood pressure, heart disease, psychological distress, and self-reported health. In a study from 1977 to 1982, women who perceived they were experiencing discrimination were 50% more likely to have a physical limitation in 1989 compared to those who did not perceive discriminatory experiences.

There have been two common ways of reacting to discrimination: emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping. In the former, individuals protect their self esteem by attributing any discrepancies in hiring or promotion to discrimination instead of reflecting on their own potential shortcomings. In the latter, individuals attempt to change aspects of themselves that caused them to be discriminated against to prevent themselves from future discrimination. Some common examples are obese people losing weight or mentally ill people seeking therapy. This approach can only be sought out when the point of discrimination is not unchangeable like race or age.

Group

Unlike the individual level, discrimination at the group level can induce feelings of fear and mistrust within the group discriminated which often results in inhibited performance. The effects are most commonly seen with age, disability, and race and ethnicity.

Age discrimination is prevalent because companies have to consider how long older works will stay and the costs of their health insurance accordingly. When companies let these insecurities affect their treatment of older workers- hostile work environment, demotions, lower employment rates-, these older workers who perceive this discrimination are 59% more likely to leave their current job.

Though there are currently anti-discrimination laws on disability, namely the Americans with Disabilities Act, discrimination against weight is still prevalent. What makes the issue complicated is the fact that obesity only counts as a disability when someone is "morbidly obese" (100% over their ideal body weight) or obese (20% over their ideal body weight) as a result of psychological conditions. Considering that only 0.5% of people in the United States are morbidly obese, 99.5% of obese individuals have the burden to prove their excess weight comes from psychological causes if they are to be protected from anti-discrimination law.

Another body of people that face widespread group discrimination are racial minorities, mainly Blacks and Hispanics. They are rated as less favorable than White applicants and this kind of prejudice makes them "suffer from increased role ambiguity, role conflict, and work tension, as well as decreased organizational commitment and job satisfaction". Further analysis and statistics of the discrimination they face are discussed below by region.

Organizational

Companies hurt from their own discriminatory practices on a legal, economic, and reputational risk basis. In 2005 alone, 146,000 charges of discrimination were filed. Discrimination litigation can be very expensive when taking into account the time spent in court and the outcome of the ruling where the possibility of settlement money comes in to play as well as "hiring, promotion, backpay, or reinstatement" for the prosecutor. Public cases of discrimination, regardless of being taken to court, has a negative effect on a company's reputation which typically decreases sales.

Another viewpoint on discrimination affecting profit is that companies may not be using their employees they discriminate to the best of their ability. Some see these employees as an "untapped niche" (a small, specialist field or group that has not been used to its full potential) especially since diversity management is positively correlated with corporate financial performance.

New Section in Employment Discrimination: Theoretical Bases of Discrimination Relating to Employment

There are legal and structural theories forming the basis of employment discrimination.

Legal Theories

The pinnacle of anti-employment discrimination law is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. In this section, two theories are laid out: disparate treatment and disparate impact.

Disparate treatment is what most people commonly think of discrimination- intentional. Under this theory, the employee must belong to a protected class, apply and be qualified for a job where the employer was seeking applicants, and get rejected from the job. The job position must then still be open post-rejection for a discrimination case to be made.

In many cases, the courts found it difficult to prove intentional discrimination, thus the disparate impact legal theory was added. It covers the more complicated side of discrimination where "some work criterion was fair in form but discriminatory in practice". Employees must prove that the employment practices used by an employer causes disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. To help with cases, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission established a four-fifths rule where federal enforcement agencies takes a "selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group which is less than four-fifths" as evidence for disparate impact.

Structural Theories

In a concept called "token dynamics", there are three noticeable occurrences in discrimination: "visibility that leads to performance pressures, contrast effects that lead to social isolation of the token, and role encapsulation or stereotyping of the token". In the first occurrence, the token is noticeable because of his or her race, age, sex, or physical disability which is different from the majority of workers. This visibility directs more attention to the token and he or she is subjected to more pressure from superiors when compared to other employees. Not only is this token scrutinized more, but there is an unspoken expectation that his or her performance is a representation of all members of his or her group. A common example is a solo female engineer. Her work is examined under a more judgmental gaze than her male coworkers because of her minority status. If she were to underperform, her failures speak on behalf of all female engineers; thus their ability to be seen as successful engineers is threatened. In the second occurrence of contrast, differences between tokens and the majority are emphasized which isolates the token group and increases unity among the majority. Going along with the previous example, male engineers "may start to identify themselves as men, instead of simply as engineers, once a token woman engineer shows up. Moreover, they may notice characteristics they may have in common that the token lacks, such as experience in the military or team sports". The third occurrence, stereotyping, is its own theory discussed below.

Behavioral scientists classify stereotyping into prescriptive and descriptive. "Prescriptive stereotypes specify how men and women, should behave, whereas descriptive stereotypes specify how men and women, do behave". In the field of employment, descriptive stereotyping is more applicable and occurs more often. One common example is when superiors assume a woman will be upset if criticized, so they might not provide the accurate feedback the woman needs to improve. This then hinders her chances of promotion, especially when superiors have given men, who they believe will "take it like a man", the information they need to improve their performance. This kind of stereotyping can also affect what jobs employers give to their male and female applicants. Men and women are frequently "matched" with jobs that are themselves stereotyped according to the different characteristics and duties associated with the job. The most significant example is the top position of CEO or manager which has been associated with male traits for over twenty years.

New Subsection within Government's Efforts to combat discrimination:

Workforce Development

Main Article: Workforce Development

One approach that mitigates discrimination by emphasizing skills is workforce development programs. Federally funded job training caters to the unemployed and minority groups by focusing on providing opportunities for them including those who have been discriminated against. The Department of Labor has several employment training programs and resources targeted to support dislocated workers, Native Americans, people with disabilities, seniors, veterans, at risk youth, and other minorities.

New Section in Employment Discrimination: Efforts to balance representation

Edit: Making the "Examples" section into a subsection under this.

Employers should evaluate their workplace environment, structure, and activities to ensure that discrimination is minimized. Through organizing heterogenous work groups, interdependence, recognizing the influence of salience, creating formalized evaluation systems, and taking accountability of actions, companies can improve current discriminatory practices that may be occurring.

Heterogeneity in Work Groups

To promote unity throughout the workplace environment and discourage exclusion and isolation of certain minorities, work groups should rarely ever be created based on ascriptive characteristics. This way, employees are well integrated regardless of their race, sex, ethnicity, or age.

Interdependence

Working together in these heterogenous groups will reduce bias among those who are stereotyping by "encouraging them to notice counter-stereotypic information and form more individuated and accurate impressions". Collaboration among coworkers with different ascriptive characteristics works to break stereotyping and let members evaluate their coworkers on a more personal level and make more accurate judgments based on experience, not stereotypes.

Salience

Though most do not realize it, people are highly susceptible to stereotyping after focusing on a stereotyped category. For example, "men who were primed with stereotypic statements about women were more likely to ask a female job applicant 'sexist' questions and exhibit sexualized behavior (and it took them longer than nonprimed men to recognize non sexist words). Thus, a comment about pregnancy, a sex discrimination lawsuit, or diversity immediately before a committee evaluates a female job candidate is likely to exacerbate sex stereotyping in the evaluation." Employers can learn from this by making an effort to not bring up a minority-related comment before evaluating an employee in that group.

Formalized Evaluation systems

The more informal and unstructured employee observations and evaluations are, the more vulnerable superiors will be to bias. With a formalized evaluation system that includes objective, reliable, specific, and timely performance data, employers can put their best foot forward in managing a fair, non-discriminatory workplace.

Accountability

As with any problem, being accountable for one's actions greatly reduces the behavior associated with that problem. "Accountability not only reduces the expression of biases, it also reduces bias in non-conscious cognitive processes, such as the encoding of information".

Edited Section in Employment Discrimination Page 10.2.2: United States

Ethnicity

By means of their seminal correspondence experiment, Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, showed that applications from job candidates with white-sounding names got 50 percent more callbacks for interviews than those with African-American-sounding names in the United States at the start of this millennium. Similarly, a 2009 study found that black applicants for low-wage jobs in New York City were half as likely as whites to get callbacks with equivalent resumes, interpersonal skills, and demographic characteristics. A Current Population Survey in 2006 noted that African-Americans were twice as likely to be unemployed than whites. "Black men spend significantly more time searching for work"; and even when they are working, they have less stable employment, diminishing their work experience".

Discrimination goes beyond the hiring process. "Controlling for parental background, education, work experience, tenure, and training, white men earn roughly 15% more than comparable blacks."

Within each race, darker complexion is also discriminated against. Multiple studies have found that lighter skin blacks "tend to have superior incomes and life chances". "Chicanos with lighter skin color and more european features had higher socioeconomic status" and "black Hispanics suffer close to ten times the proportionate income loss due to differential treatment of given characteristics than white Hispanics".

Sex

Main Article: Occupational Sexism and Motherhood Penalty.

Women have had a long history of discrimination in the workplace. Feminist theory points to the concept of a family wage- a rate substantial enough to support a man and his family- as the explanation to why women's labor is cheap, claiming it preserves "male dominance and women's dependence in the family". Though there has been legislation such as the Equal Pay Act that combat gender discrimination, the implications of the act are limited. "As an amendment to the Fair Labor Standard Act, it exempted employers in agriculture, hotels, motels, restaurants, and laundries, as well as professional, managerial, and administrative personnel, outside salesworkers, and private household workers". Because high concentrations of women work in these fields (34.8% of employed women of color and 5.1% of white women as private household workers, 21.6% and 13.8% working in service jobs, 9.3% and 3.7% as agricultural workers, and 8.1% and 17.2% as administrative workers), "nearly 45% of all employed women, then, appear to have been exempt from the Equal Pay Act".

The hourly wage rate for women is 65% of that of men, and annual earnings of full-time employed women is 71% of that of men. Among the male wage distribution, the average woman lies at the 33rd percentile.

Within women, another level of discrimination takes place among mothers. Historically, this inequality stems from the belief that mothers are less productive at work. Visibly pregnant women are often judged as less committed to their jobs, less dependable, and more emotional compared to women who aren't visibly pregnant. A study conducted in 1998 showed that the wage rates of women without children were 81.3% of men's pay, but 73.4% of men's pay for women with children. An audit study in 2007 found that, childless women receive 2.1 times as many callbacks than equally qualified mothers. Though it doesn't receive as much attention as the gender gap, motherhood is a significant quality that is discriminated against. In fact, the pay gap between mothers and non-mothers is larger than the pay gap between men and women.

Sexual orientation

The Williams Institute, a national think tank at UCLA School of Law, released a 2011 report that has identified sexual orientation and gender identification discrimination in the workplace. According to the report, between 15-43% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender workers have experienced being fired, denied promotions, or harassed due to their sexual orientation or gender identification. Additionally, only 20 states in the United States of America prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace. Wisconsin and New Hampshire prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation but not gender identity. On October 4, 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the United States Department of Justice will no longer provide employment protection to transgender individuals under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, reversing the position of former Attorney General Eric Holder, during the Obama administration.

Age

Most age discrimination occurs among the older workers when employers hold negative stereotypes about them. Though evidence on declines in productivity is inconsistent, "other evidence points to declines in acuteness of vision or hearing, ease of memorization, computational speed, etc.". Another factor employers take into consideration is the higher cost of health or life insurance for older workers.

A 2013 report was completed by the AARP to identify the impact of age discrimination in the workplace. Of those 1500 individuals who responded to AARP's 2013 Staying Ahead of the Curve survey, almost 64% of those over 45–74 said they have seen or have experienced age discrimination in the workplace. Of those, 92% say it was somewhat or very common in their workplace. "In 1963 the unemployment rate for men over age 55 was a full percentage point higher (4.5 percent) than for men aged 35-54 (3.5%)." Average durations of unemployment are higher for older workers as well- 21 weeks for men over age 45 as opposed to 14 weeks for men under 45.

Criminal records

Main article: Employment discrimination against persons with criminal records in the United States

Laws restricting employment discrimination for persons who have been convicted of criminal offenses vary significantly by state. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued guidelines for employers, intended to prevent criminal record discrimination from being used as a proxy to effect unlawful racial discrimination.

Edited Section in Employment Discrimination law in the United States: History of Federal laws

Federal law governing employment discrimination has developed over time.

The Equal Pay Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1963. It is enforced by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. The Equal Pay Act prohibits employers and unions from paying different wages based on sex. It does not prohibit other discriminatory practices in hiring. It provides that where workers perform equal work in the corner requiring "equal skill, effort, and responsibility and performed under similar working conditions," they should be provided equal pay. The Fair Labor Standards Act applies to employers engaged in some aspect of interstate commerce, or all of an employer's workers if the enterprise is engaged as a whole in a significant amount of interstate commerce.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in many more aspects of the employment relationship. "Title VII created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to administer the act". It applies to most employers engaged in interstate commerce with more than 15 employees, labor organizations, and employment agencies. Title VII prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It makes it illegal for employers to discriminate based upon protected characteristics regarding terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Employment agencies may not discriminate when hiring or referring applicants, and labor organizations are also prohibited from basing membership or union classifications on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII in 1978, specifying that unlawful sex discrimination includes discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. A related statute, the Family and Medical Leave Act, sets requirements governing leave for pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions.

Executive Order 11246 in 1965 "prohibits discrimination by federal contractors and subcontractors on account of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin [and] requires affirmative action by federal contractors".

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), enacted in 1967 and amended in 1978 and 1986, prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of age. The prohibited practices are nearly identical to those outlined in Title VII, except that the ADEA protects workers in firms with 20 or more workers rather than 15 or more. An employee is protected from discrimination based on age if he or she is over 40. Since 1978, the ADEA has phased out and prohibited mandatory retirement, except for high-powered decision-making positions (that also provide large pensions). The ADEA contains explicit guidelines for benefit, pension and retirement plans. Though ADEA is the center of most discussion of age discrimination legislation, there is a longer history starting with the abolishment of "maximum ages of entry into employment in 1956" by the United States Civil Service Commission. Then in 1964, Executive Order 11141 "established a policy against age discrimination among federal contractors".

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of disability by the federal government, federal contractors with contracts of more than $10,000, and programs receiving federal financial assistance. It requires affirmative action as well as non-discrimination. Section 504 requires reasonable accommodation, and Section 508 requires that electronic and information technology be accessible to disabled employees.

The Black Lung Benefits Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination by mine operators against miners who suffer from "black lung disease" (pneumoconiosis).

The Vietnam Era Readjustment Act of 1974 "requires affirmative action for disabled and Vietnam era veterans by federal contractors".

The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of bankruptcy or bad debts.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 prohibits employers with more than three employees from discriminating against anyone (except an unauthorized immigrant) on the basis of national origin or citizenship status.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was enacted to eliminate discriminatory barriers against qualified individuals with disabilities, individuals with a record of a disability, or individuals who are regarded as having a disability. It prohibits discrimination based on real or perceived physical or mental disabilities. It also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees who need them because of a disability to apply for a job, perform the essential functions of a job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment, unless the employer can show that undue hardship will result. There are strict limitations on when an employer can ask disability-related questions or require medical examinations, and all medical information must be treated as confidential. A disability is defined under the ADA as a mental or physical health condition that "substantially limits one or more major life activities."

The Nineteenth Century Civil Rights Acts, amended in 1993, ensure all persons equal rights under the law and outline the damages available to complainants in actions brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the 1973 Rehabilitation Act.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 bars employers from using individuals' genetic information when making hiring, firing, job placement, or promotion decisions.

The proposed US Equality Act of 2015 would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. As of April 2016, 28 US states do not explicitly include sexual orientation and 30 US states do not explicitly include gender identity in discrimination statutes.

New Section in Workforce Development: Core Concerns

Skills, networks, careers, and collaboration play a key part in the concept and implementation of workforce development programs.

Skills

The acquisition and development of skills is one of the crucial aspects of workforce development training. Two types of skills are commonly defined: general skills and job-specific skills. Described by their name, general skills (language, writing, basic computer skills) can be used in various careers and job-specific skills (like a particular computer application) are more directed towards the demands of the occupation. The more specialized skills get, the more thought programs have to put in when deciding whether or not the benefits of training is worth the costs, considering job-specific skills only apply to a limited set of jobs. Through this process of skills formation, programs work to increase their trainees' human capital. By making this investment, businesses proactively increase their workers' productivity and efficiency, maximizing their own profit. The general guide for evaluating the effectiveness of a skill-building system is measuring the increase in skills, the increase in "productivity and earnings in the labor market" from this added skill, and the the rate of return in terms of cost.

Workforce development programs and federal training programs also have to be careful in what kind of skills they intend their workers to gain. "Developing skills in fields not in demand can lead to frustration, job dissatisfaction, lower wages, and not necessarily to more good jobs".

In recent years, economists has noticed a growing occurrence in skills mismatch where the education received through the public education system, does not align with the kind of education needed for high wage, steady careers. Though workforce development strives to remedy the effects of this problem, the only way to truly fix it is to address the root of the problem which concerns primary and secondary education systems.

Networks

Workforce development tackles systemic inequalities in the labor market by operating on both sides, efficiently connecting workers with jobs and employers with workers. Theories on networks have emphasized the importance of who you know, rather than what you know which is an attributing factor for some labor market inequalities regarding gender, racial minorities, and the poor. Individuals are more likely to hear about job opportunities from those of the same sex, and women are more likely to search for jobs closer to home than men are, contributing to the perpetuation of occupational inequalities by sex. Living in inner-city communities and belonging to a minority group isolates those individuals from networks of the gainfully employed. Connecting disadvantaged workers to good jobs is not impossible however, and the Center of Employment Training (CET) in San Jose has found a successful way of operating it. CET had networks with employers to identify skill demands and even stronger networks with individuals in the community they were serving.

Careers

Another key part in workforce development's service for individuals is career advancement. This guidance on paths and barriers to advancement is especially relevant today, where the practice of internal labor markets is uncommon, particularly among women and minorities. In the past, advancement often took place in internal labor markets (ILMs) so promotions and upward mobility occurred within the same firm workers were hired in. "They promoted predictability, stability, and long-term skill development". ILMs no longer dominate the field of career advancement as a result of the dualization of labor markets. This term refers to the noticeable split in "primary sector" and "secondary sector jobs" where the former is recognized for high skills, wages, and stability while the latter is marked by the opposite. "Ongoing corporate restructuring has shifted risk of economic instability from firms onto workers and households, rendered opportunities for upward mobility within firms more opaque and elusive, and weakened institutions (i.e., unions) for worker voice and democratic decision making on the job". These recent challenges make the role of workforce development programs all the more valuable.

Public and Private Collaboration

Collaboration between public organizations (a non profit or government administered organization like Job Corps) and private corporations is an essential aspect of workforce development. Research by Harvard professor James E. Austin has defined three stages of collaboration: philanthropic, transactional, and integrative. Timberland's and City Year's partnership exemplifies the purpose of workforce development and Austin uses the development of their relationship as an example for all three stages.

Philanthropic

In the philanthropic stage, the relationship between the partners is donor and receiver. For Timberland, this meant donating 50 pairs of boots to City Year for their youth service corps uniform. This one sided exchange of economic resources required low investment by Timberland as the charity was considered a "peripheral part" of their activities, and no investment by City Year as there was no reciprocity.

Transactional

The next stage, transactional, is defined by more involvement by both partners and an increased flow of mutual resources. Timberland supplied City Year's entire uniform and raised their contribution to $1 million. They assisted the non-profit with "finances, marketing, and human resource management". In return, "City Year organized community service projects for Timberland employees" and "led Timberland employees in team building and diversity training". The exchange of resources is no longer one-sided in the transactional stage. Timberland builds their brand by adding a new element of social involvement within and outside the company. City Year fulfills its mission of promoting "civic engagement, not just by its youth corps members but also by corporations and other elements of society". Both partners are involved in contributing to each other's value construct.

Integration

The highest level of collaboration is integration. This stage requires further involvement than the transactional stage and is characterized by "imprinting" on each other's organizational culture. City Year's commitment to community service has been engrained in Timberland, now that their employees get 40 hours of paid time off each year for service activities. The company has helped City Year in expanding its operations nationally. The jump from transactional to integrative may be hard to measure, but Chief Operating officer of Timberland Jeff Schwartz clarifies the difference. Under the transactional stage, a board member's work on City Year's financial plans and business policies could count as paid-time community service. Under the integrative stage, these actions would be considered "no different than being out assisting one of the company's manufacturing plants". Though the two organizations are still identified as separate entities, there exists a "merged identity" when the two work together. Schwartz claim the company is "much more linked" and "not simply personal, [but] collective" with City Year in this relationship.

New Section in Workforce Development: Barriers to workforce development collaborations

Collaborations are key to the success of workforce development programs but factors like competition, high initial upfront costs, and fragmented governance make it hard for programs to work together.

Competition

The workforce development system has recently been experiencing increased competition as new actors enter, resources dwindle, performance measures arise, and federal funding decreases. These factors, especially the cuts in federal funding, pressure organizations to collaborate with other organizations that oftentimes have different missions. The forced partnerships resulting from this bring new factors to the table, heightening the chaos within the already struggling system. Though required partnerships sound positive or at least non-competitive, it is important to remember that workforce development agencies prioritize themselves first, as any organization would. The competition for scarce resources is fierce when trying to accomplish and even surpass new performance measures to secure more funding and stay in business. This is where the root of tension and hesitancy to collaboration lies- with institutions fighting for survival in the midst of partnership with others.

High initial upfront costs

In order for collaborations to be relatively successful, the companies involved are expected to spend a significant amount of time and resources in discussing labor market issues and the ways in which these issues should be addressed in the partnership. In addition, they have to weigh the costs and benefits, and recognize the values of a future in cooperation which are customarily seen long term. Proposals should be specific and codeveloped so there is a clear structure to the work. "Starting with a full consideration of what all sides need lays the base for a successful partnership". Considering there are no short term incentives to reward this front load effort required from companies engaging in collaboration, the motivation to do so is weak.

To combat these high initial upfront costs, some organizations with complementary interests collaborate with each other to form "clusters". With a common goal driving the group, there is noticeably increased efficiency in providing services which is why there is a faster return on investments working like this. Unfortunately, the success of agencies with similar missions clustering together discourages more comprehensive collaborations.

Fragmented governance

Inherent to the concept of partnership and collaboration is the meshing of various organizations. When these diverse companies join, the accountability systems and governances they once individually had vanish. They lack "a centralized authority through which leadership, accountability, and governance can be provided which may hinder workforce development collaborations".

The root of a faulty framework stems from the fact that most collaborations are only established through memorandums of understanding (MOUs). This expression of agreement does not do enough to address large governance issues, ensure participation among the collaboration, define leadership, and add more specified accountability measures.

Edited Section in Workforce Development section 1.1.3: Potential Barriers

Several potential barriers exist for employing sector-based work force development strategies. First, in many regions a skills gap exists between what workers know and what employers need. Although demand might be high for a particular occupation, it may be unrealistic to train a low-skill population in the necessary skills.

Second, rapid change makes sector-based strategies difficult. Quick turnover in technology can make a training program obsolete in a few years. There is also the recent development of companies outsourcing or sub-contracting as well as giving out temporary work. In order to be competitive in the marketplace they need to reduce costs and increase flexibility.

Last, many potential workers in the United States demonstrate low literacy or educational levels. In some regions, work force development programs will have to teach basic skills like reading as well as giving instruction in more specialized tasks.

Edited Section in Workforce Development: Successful conditions for work force development programs

Although workforce development strategies vary by whether they are focused on demands due to the location or from industries in the area, or both, common threads run through the success stories evaluated by economic developers thus far.

Pre-assessment of community needs

Prior to implementing a sector- or place-based approach, an analysis of the community's current and anticipated needs should be undertaken. One report details a sector analysis to determine the need for more healthcare workers in a particular community, for example.

Ties with employers

Both sector and place-based strategies emphasize the importance of ties with the employers. Even in place-based strategies focused on finding work quickly must tie efforts to employers to determine who is hiring.

In place-based programs, this may entail determining general skills that are lacking in a specific population such as English-speaking skills.

Work force development programs can be evaluated based on the strength and number of ties with community employers during the creation stage of the program, as well as their ongoing participation to constantly assess which skills are most needed. “Employer leadership is key to long-term reform” of work force development systems.

It is in the program's best interest to enforce high standards for their participants to gain and maintain credibility among the employers they are sending their participants to. With a good reputation, the program may be able to work with more companies and make even more jobs available to participants.

Adaptability

Programs must be flexible, so that they can change when market or work force conditions change. One marker of adaptability is the presence of mechanisms to listen to what the community saying, evidenced by the close ties with community stakeholders and nonprofits as explained above.

Another area where this characteristic is important is with participant training. Programs should take into account how skilled participants are when coming into the program and the pace that participants works at. Consideration of these factors on a person-to-person basis is important to develop participants' skills more efficiently and keep participants engaged. Programs should recognize that skills for a job are not the only keys to success for the job. "Individuals need to understand the norms and culture of the workplace. Thus programs pay a great deal of attention not only to the content of training curricula but also to the atmosphere and culture of the training program".

Adequate Funding

Though the need for skilled laborers has only been increasing, the provision of skills training isn't nearly enough to match the demand. Funding for the Department of Labor's employment and training programs has decreased by 87% (accounting for inflation and the doubling of the economy) since 1979.

Four key areas relating to workforce development should be prioritized for funding. The system for adults should be increased, especially for "good jobs in growing sectors for the disadvantaged" and "programs that reduce recidivism among ex-offenders, and for other hard-to-employ workers". Funding should also be expanded for at-risk youth so mentoring and drop out prevention programs can be further developed as well as programs that help disadvantaged students navigate barriers to higher education. More funding should be allocated for Pell grants, subsidies from the federal government given to students needing financial aid for college. Finally, as with any system, a rigorous evaluation system is crucial to asses the efficiency of programs and research structural improvements.

Jasmine's Peer Review

Positives:

• Very extensive, you did your research!
• I like the breakdown of your sections along with subsections. They are very relevant and make it easier to read.
• You have a nice range of statistics, but see "deltas," to see where more can be implemented.
• The article is very informative and neutral.
• In your "Structural Theories" I love how you provided examples and it clear what the distinctions were.
• I love how you have included actual research studies and statistics in "Edited Section in Employment Discrimination Page 10.2.2: United States" to qualify these points.
• I love how you integrate the existing article with your own ideas and how you add sentences in between the existing ones to make it flow better, or simply to make the argument stronger.
• I appreciate how you add new sections as well as develop the exsisting ones.

Deltas:

• Although it is very extensive, you can focus more on on certain areas which you find to be the most important sections.
• need to add to bibliography- I also cannot tell if the citations are ones that you found or if you just used those that were already in place. In your bibliography section, I see you have 3 of your own citations, I would recommend using at least 6 of your own. 3 for your sector and 3 for your area.
• done- Consider revising " Of course this approach can only be sought out when the point of discrimination is not unchangeable like race or age.," as "of course" sounds like it is apparent to the read as common sense which may not be the case.
• done: added sentence after referencing where more statistics are- Consider adding a statistic to qualify "Another group that faces widespread group discrimination are racial minorities, mainly Blacks and Hispanics."
• done- Explain what a "untapped niche" is.
• There is interesting research on who Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 actually helped, or who's it;s initial targets were. Consider adding this piece into your article.
• Consider adding, movements/cases which led to the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Your "New Section in Employment Discrimination: Efforts to balance representation" is very easy to understand, but needs more development as it is scarce.
• done- Consider revising this sentence, "The more narrow skills get, the more thought programs have to put in when deciding whether or not the benefits for training is worth the costs, considering job-specific skills only apply to a limited set of jobs, as it sounds a bit off.
• in the funding section below- Consider adding the effects of federal cuts, or statistic in the percentage of cuts after this sentence. "These factors, especially the cuts in federal funding, pressure organizations to collaborate with other organizations that oftentimes have different missions"

-Best of luck,

Guadalupe Cervantes