Estimated Loss of Lifetime Employment Duration for Patients Undergoing Maintenance Dialysis in Taiwan

Background and objectivesAn accurate estimate of the loss of lifetime employment duration resulting from kidney failure can facilitate comprehensive evaluation of societal financial burdens.Design, setting, participants, & measurementsAll patients undergoing incident dialysis in Taiwan during 2000–2017 were identified using the National Health Insurance Research Database. The corresponding age-, sex-, and calendar year-matched general population served as the referents. The survival functions and the employment states of the index cohort (patients on dialysis) and their referents for each age strata were first calculated, and then extrapolated until age 65 years, where the sum of the product of the survival function and the employment states was the lifetime employment duration. The difference in lifetime employment duration between the index and referent cohort was the loss of lifetime employment duration. Extrapolation of survival function and relative employment-to-population ratios were estimated by the restricted cubic spline models and the quadratic/linear models, respectively.ResultsA total of 83,358 patients with kidney failure were identified. Men had a higher rate of employment than women in each age strata. The expected loss of lifetime employment duration for men with kidney failure was 11.8, 7.6, 5.7, 3.8, 2.3, 1.0, and 0.2 years for those aged 25–34, 35–40, 41–45, 46–50, 51–55, 56–60, and 61–64 years, respectively; and the corresponding data for women was 10.5, 10.1, 7.9, 5.6, 3.3, 1.5, and 0.3 years, respectively. The values for loss of lifetime employment duration divided by loss of life expectancy were all >70% for women and >88% for men across the different age strata. The sensitivity analyses indicated that the results were robust.ConclusionsThe loss of lifetime employment duration in patients undergoing dialysis mainly originates from loss of life expectancy.

Wabi-Sabi as a Way of Life in the Japanese Employment System

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese concept traditionally described as a type of beauty that conveys the philosophical values of imperfection, incompleteness, and impermanence. Going beyond the traditional interpretation of the concept, this chapter attempts to discover wabi-sabi as a way of life in Japanese corporate settings. This chapter first revisits the concept of wabi-sabi and the system of lifetime employment, positioning them as intrinsically linked systems. To contextualize employment practice, it examines the tool of a job description and the system of job rotation as attributes of employment practice. The findings reveal the existence of wabi-sabi as a way of life in corporate settings, demonstrate the relative nature of the wabi-sabi values, and show the duality of positive and negative attributes. The grounded findings exhibit the shared features with the traditional interpretation of wabi-sabi based on the same philosophical values. The shared features suggest that the concept of wabi-sabi can be used for relevant research beyond the fine arts.

Gender Differences in the Life Course Effects of Unemployment on Mid- and Later-Life Health

There is substantial evidence that unemployment is associated with adverse health. Given different lifetime employment patterns, these effects may differ between men and women. However, current studies often only characterize unemployment as a one-time shock, and measure the effects on health shortly thereafter. Using unique data available from The National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979, we characterize employment trajectories for a nationally-representative sample of American men and women for every week of their lives between the ages of 18 and 50 years old. We then explore associations between unemployment and a number of health conditions including cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and depression at age 50--when the onset of chronic health conditions often begins—to examine the cumulative effects of unemployment over the life course on later-life health. We find that men and women have different patterns of lifetime unemployment and that these patterns have strong associations with poorer health at age 50.

Lifetime Employment and Stackelberg Mixed Duopoly Games with a Foreign Labour-Managed Competitor

This article considers two Stackelberg games in which a state-owned firm competes against a foreign labour-managed firm. The first game is as follows. In the first stage, the state-owned firm decides whether to offer lifetime employment as a strategic commitment device. In the second stage, the foreign labour-managed firm decides whether to offer lifetime employment as a strategic commitment device. In the third stage, both firms simultaneously and independently choose actual outputs. The structure of the second game is nearly identical and differs only in the order in which the firms decide on the offer of lifetime employment in the first two stages. This study presents the equilibrium outcomes of these two Stackelberg games.

Lifetime employment histories and their relationship with 10-year health trajectories in later life: evidence from England

Background Employment histories influence health. However, most studies have so far investigated cross-sectional associations between employment histories and health, failing to recognize health as a dynamic process in later life. Methods We use Waves 3–8 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, including retrospective information on respondents’ employment activities. We used dynamic hamming distances to summarize lifetime employment histories up to state pension age (64 for men and 59 for women). Multilevel growth curve models were then used to estimate the influence of lifetime employment histories on later life health trajectories over a 10-year period using quality of life (QoL), somatic health, and depression. Results Net of selection effect and a host of contemporaneous material and social resources, men who exited early started off with poorer health than those with continuous attachment to the labour market but had a very similar health profile by the end of the 10-year period considered. Among women, better somatic health and higher QoL were observed among those who had employment breaks for family care, and this health advantage was maintained over time. Lifetime employment histories are not related to depression for either men or women. Conclusion Overall, differences in health by employment histories level off only among men who left earlier and those continuously employed. Flexible arrangements for men in poor health who benefit from leaving the labour market early and supporting women who wish to take breaks for family care may help reduce health inequalities in later life.

Studying Innovation as the Factor in Professional Self-Development of Specialists in Physical Education and Sport

Lifetime employment of specialists in physical education and sport is possible only under the conditions of enhancing their professional self-development, whose essential component is innovative activity. The article aims to identify the current level of innovation of professional activities of specialists in physical education and sport. It is also essential to determine the main characteristics of the innovation indicator during professional self-development of specialists in physical education and sport. The selected psychodiagnostic methods have made it possible to diagnose specialists in physical education and sport and reveal the main characteristics of the innovation indicator, namely, average, quadratic deviation, asymmetry and excess. The paper also used following methodologies: self-efficacy diagnosis, the level of subjective control and the style of response to changes. The research sample comprised of specialists in physical education and sport of different age groups, with different experience and qualification degree. In total, the study involved 209 participants. The total dispersion of the selected factors for the research groups with a prevailing conservative style is approximately 61%. The development of capability for innovation in specialists in physical education and sport involves enhancing their psychological qualities such as particular sensitivity to professional changes, readiness to take risks and be responsible for possible failures, independent judgment while taking professional decisions, focus on personal and professional self-development, willingness to search for new professional ideas.