Past research has emphasized two critical economic concerns that appear to generate anti-immigrant sentiment among native citizens: concerns about labor market competition and concerns about the fiscal burden on public services. We provide direct tests of both models of attitude formation using an original survey experiment embedded in a nationwide U.S. survey. The labor market competition model predicts that natives will be most opposed to immigrants who have skill levels similar to their own. We find instead that both low-skilled and highly skilled natives strongly prefer highly skilled immigrants over low-skilled immigrants, and this preference is not decreasing in natives' skill levels. The fiscal burden model anticipates that rich natives oppose low-skilled immigration more than poor natives, and that this gap is larger in states with greater fiscal exposure (in terms of immigrant access to public services). We find instead that rich and poor natives are equally opposed to low-skilled immigration in general. In states with high fiscal exposure, poor (rich) natives are more (less) opposed to low-skilled immigration than they are elsewhere. This indicates that concerns among poor natives about constraints on welfare benefits as a result of immigration are more relevant than concerns among the rich about increased taxes. Overall the results suggest that economic self-interest, at least as currently theorized, does not explain voter attitudes toward immigration. The results are consistent with alternative arguments emphasizing noneconomic concerns associated with ethnocentrism or sociotropic considerations about how the local economy as a whole may be affected by immigration.
The international mobility of highly skilled workers, in particular human resources in science and technology (HRST) such as scientists, engineers and IT experts, is currently an important policy issue in the majority of OECD countries. Accompanying the booming demand for skilled labour, especially from the information technology-related industries and professions, there is apparently a growing shortage of such workers in a number of OECD Member countries. In order to meet these shortages, an increasing number of countries are implementing measures to facilitate the recruitment of foreign skilled workers. Considering that improved knowledge and understanding of these issues are necessary for informing the policy agenda, the OECD held a seminar on "International Mobility of Highly Skilled Workers: From Statistical Analysis to the Formulation of Policies", in Paris on 11-12 June 2001. This seminar was organised by the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI) and the Directorate for Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (DEELSA). The seminar targeted three main objectives, which are mirrored in the structure of the book: Provide data on the scale and characteristics of flows and stocks of skilled and highly skilled foreign workers in the OECD Member countries and certain non-member economies: South Africa, China, India, Israel, Russia and Chinese Taipei; to assess the quality of the data available and the concepts used, and to help improve their comparability. Analyse the mobility of skilled workers and HRST and their impact on the economy through case studies covering most of the major regions sending and receiving these workers. Examine appropriate migration policies aimed at facilitating the mobility of skilled workers in ways that are beneficial both to receiving and sending countries.
A central issue for understanding skilled migration in the management literature is human capital. This emphasis ignores other important forms of capital mobilization that skilled migrants from developing countries deploy in dealing with the barriers to their international career mobility. There is therefore a need to develop a holistic understanding of capital mobilization of skilled migrants. In order to develop a more holistic picture, we deploy a relational and multilevel perspective to explore how skilled migrants from developing countries mobilize capital in their efforts to undertake an international career. Career is a central construct in this study. Drawing on a qualitative study of skilled Lebanese in Paris, the paper offers two main contributions to the research on human resource management, in particular to the literatures on skilled migration and self-initiated expatriation. First it extends our understanding of the strategies that skilled migrants use to relocate from a developing country to an industrialized country. Beyond the traditional human capital perspective, it offers insights about migrants' capital mobilization experiences of undertaking international mobility. Second, using Bourdieu's theory of capital, it offers a relational explanation of their capital mobilization in a way to encompass micro-individual, meso-organizational and macro-contextual influences that affect their career choices.
BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can spread rapidly within skilled nursing facilities. After identification of a case of Covid-19 in a skilled nursing facility, we assessed transmission and evaluated the adequacy of symptom-based screening to identify infections in residents. METHODS: We conducted two serial point-prevalence surveys, 1 week apart, in which assenting residents of the facility underwent nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal testing for SARS-CoV-2, including real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR), viral culture, and sequencing. Symptoms that had been present during the preceding 14 days were recorded. Asymptomatic residents who tested positive were reassessed 7 days later. Residents with SARS-CoV-2 infection were categorized as symptomatic with typical symptoms (fever, cough, or shortness of breath), symptomatic with only atypical symptoms, presymptomatic, or asymptomatic. RESULTS: Twenty-three days after the first positive test result in a resident at this skilled nursing facility, 57 of 89 residents (64%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Among 76 residents who participated in point-prevalence surveys, 48 (63%) tested positive. Of these 48 residents, 27 (56%) were asymptomatic at the time of testing; 24 subsequently developed symptoms (median time to onset, 4 days). Samples from these 24 presymptomatic residents had a median rRT-PCR cycle threshold value of 23.1, and viable virus was recovered from 17 residents. As of April 3, of the 57 residents with SARS-CoV-2 infection, 11 had been hospitalized (3 in the intensive care unit) and 15 had died (mortality, 26%). Of the 34 residents whose specimens were sequenced, 27 (79%) had sequences that fit into two clusters with a difference of one nucleotide. CONCLUSIONS: Rapid and widespread transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was demonstrated in this skilled nursing facility. More than half of residents with positive test results were asymptomatic at the time of testing and most likely contributed to transmission. Infection-control strategies focused solely on symptomatic residents were not sufficient to prevent transmission after SARS-CoV-2 introduction into this facility.
This paper examines the reasons for the invisibility of skilled female migrants in studies of skilled migration in Europe. The choice of research agendas has played a major part in rendering women invisible. The emphasis has generally been on transnational corporations, which, especially in their higher ranks, remain resolutely male-dominated. The presence of migrants in welfare sectors (i.e. education, health and social services), which are strongly feminised, has been ignored. Feminist research has also tended to obscure the role of skilled migrants in its emphasis on the unskilled. Theoretical and methodological developments in studies of migration have also made few inroads into our understanding of skilled migration. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
I exploit the large variation across U.S. cities and through time in the relative size of the low-skilled immigrant population to estimate the causal effect of immigration on prices of nontraded goods and services. Using an instrumental variables strategy, I find that, at current immigration levels, a 10 percent increase in the share of low-skilled immigrants in the labor force decreases the price of immigrant-intensive services, such as housekeeping and gardening, by 2 percent. Wage equations suggest that lower wages are a likely channel through which these effects take place. However, wage effects are significantly larger for low-skilled immigrants than for low-skilled natives, implying that the two are imperfect substitutes. (c) 2008 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
This paper investigates the shift in demand away from unskilled and toward skilled labor in U. S. manufacturing over the 1980s. Production labor-saving technological change is the chief explanation for this shift. That conclusion is based on three facts: (1) the shift is due mostly to increased use of skilled workers within the 450 industries in U. S. manufacturing rather than to a reallocation of employment between industries, as would be implied by a shift in product demand due to trade or to a defense buildup; (2) trade- and defense-demand are associated with only small employment reallocation effects; (3) increased use of nonproduction workers is strongly correlated with investment in computers and in R&D.
Low-skilled immigrants represent a significant fraction of employment in services that are close substitutes of household production. This paper studies whether the increased supply of low-skilled immigrants has led high-skilled women, who have the highest opportunity cost of time, to change their time-use decisions. Exploiting cross-city variation in immigrant concentration, we find that low-skilled immigration increases average hours of market work and the probability of working long hours of women at the top quartile of the wage distribution. Consistently, we find that women in this group decrease the time they spend in household work and increase expenditures on housekeeping services. (JEL J16, J22, J24, J61)
We review the major phenomena of skilled typing and propose a model for the control of the hands and fingers during typing. The model is based upon an Activation‐Trigger‐Schema system in which a hierarchical structure of schemata directs the selection of the letters to be typed and, then, controls the hand and finger movements by a cooperative, relaxation algorithm. The interactions of the patterns of activation and inhibition among the schemata determine the temporal ordering for launching the keystrokes. To account for the phenomena of doubling errors, the model has only “type” schemata—no “token” schemata—with only a weak binding between the special schema that signals a doubling, and its argument. The model exists as a working computer simulation and produces an output display of the hands and fingers moving over the keyboard. It reproduces some of the major phenomena of typing, including the interkeystroke interval times, the pattern of transposition errors found in skilled typists, and doubling errors. Although the model is clearly inadequate or wrong in some of its features and assumptions, it serves as a useful first approximation for the understanding of skilled typing.
This article reports on an investigation of listening strategy applications by grade 7 students learning French ( N = 36). I examine the types of strategies used and the differences in strategy use by more skilled and less skilled listeners as revealed while these students listened to authentic texts in French. Think‐aloud data were coded and analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Significant differences were found in the use of the category of metacognitive strategies as well as in individual strategies for comprehension monitoring, questioning for elaboration, and translation. These differences were reinforced by a qualitative analysis of representative protocols. The article concludes with a discussion of both an emerging model of the skilled listener and a pedagogic program for developing listening skills.
For more than a century, educated cities have grown more quickly than comparable cities with less human capital. This fact survives a battery of other control variables, metropolitan area fixed effects and tests for reverse causality. We also find that skilled cities are growing because they are becoming more economically productive (relative to less skilled cities), not because these cities are becoming more attractive places to live. Most surprisingly, we find evidence suggesting that the skills-city growth connection occurs mainly in declining areas and occurs in large part because skilled cities are better at adapting to economic shocks. As in
Abstract Wulf and colleagues (e.g., CitationWulf, Lauterbach, & Toole, 1999) have demonstrated that the adoption of an external focus of attention is preferable for the learning of complex motor tasks. The present investigation extends the attention focus literature in two ways: (a) it compared the effectiveness of three different foci (internal, proximal external, and distal external) in a sample of skilled performers in a naturalistic environment, and (b) it examined the use of attentional foci under conditions of anxiety. Thirty-three skilled male golfers were assigned to one of three attentional focus groups and completed five blocks of ten pitch shots, three in neutral conditions and two in anxiety conditions. Results from two separate mixed model analyses of variance (ANOVAs) indicated that regardless of anxiety condition, those assigned to a distal external focus of attention performed most accurately (p < 0.05), whereas assignment to an internal focus of attention was associated with the least accurate performance (p < 0.05). Findings offer support for the constrained action hypothesis and point to the importance of skilled performers adopting a distal external focus, especially in competition.
In the final years of the twentieth century, brain drain, skills shortages and lack of career opportunities have become issues of major concern for policy‐makers concerned with R&D in government, academia, and industry. Labour mobility across political borders, especially among highly skilled labour, provides a solution for the aforementioned concerns to some actors, but engenders problems to others. Drawing on various empirical investigations and on previous studies, this paper attempts to provide a mapping of the various types of human resources mobility across national borders. It argues that various groups of highly skilled persons are driven by different push and pull factors. In addition to immigration legislation, other factors, such as taxation, studying abroad, quality of work, openness in communication, business expansion overseas, labour market supply and demand signals, etc. play important role in the choice of highly skilled migrants to relocate overseas.
The present paper provides a research review of recent literature on international migration by the highly skilled. Its principal aim is to identify the themes which are being discussed, and suggest where research into the subject might best proceed. The paper begins by examining the existing framework for study. Definitions and data availability are discussed, followed by a consideration of theoretical perspectives and their attendant methodologies and models. This is followed by a review of the two most important perspectives in extant research, economic and socio-cultural, leading into a review of what is known about the geography of migration by the highly skilled. The systems described are subject to a process of management which is discussed in the penultimate section. Finally, the paper proposes future directions for research which involve a reconceptualisation of migration by the highly skilled as one element in the international movement of expertise. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
There is a fundamental, powerful, and universal desire amongst humans to interact with others. People have a deep-seated need to communicate, and the greater their ability in this regard the more satisfying and rewarding their lives will be. The contribution of skilled interpersonal communication to success in both personal and professional contexts is now widely recognised and extensively researched. As such, knowledge of various types of skills, and of their effects in social interaction, is crucial for effective interpersonal functioning. Previous editions have established Skilled Interpersonal Communication as the foremost textbook on communication. This thoroughly revised and expanded 6th edition builds on this success to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the current research, theory and practice in this popular field of study. The first two chapters introduce the reader to the nature of skilled interpersonal communication and review the main theoretical perspectives. Subsequent chapters provide detailed accounts of the fourteen main skill areas, namely: nonverbal communication; reinforcement; questioning; reflecting; listening; explaining; self-disclosure; set induction; closure; assertiveness; influencing; negotiating; and interacting in, and leading, group discussions. Written by one of the foremost international experts in the field and founded solidly in research, this book provides a key reference for the study of interpersonal communication. This theoretically informed yet practically oriented text will be of interest both to students of interpersonal communication in general, and to qualified personnel and trainees in many fields.
Older adults are susceptible to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes as a consequence of their age and, in some cases, underlying health conditions (1). A COVID-19 outbreak in a long-term care skilled nursing facility (SNF) in King County, Washington that was first identified on February 28, 2020, highlighted the potential for rapid spread among residents of these types of facilities (2). On March 1, a health care provider at a second long-term care skilled nursing facility (facility A) in King County, Washington, had a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, after working while symptomatic on February 26 and 28. By March 6, seven residents of this second facility were symptomatic and had positive test results for SARS-CoV-2. On March 13, CDC performed symptom assessments and SARS-CoV-2 testing for 76 (93%) of the 82 facility A residents to evaluate the utility of symptom screening for identification of COVID-19 in SNF residents. Residents were categorized as asymptomatic or symptomatic at the time of testing, based on the absence or presence of fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms on the day of testing or during the preceding 14 days. Among 23 (30%) residents with positive test results, 10 (43%) had symptoms on the date of testing, and 13 (57%) were asymptomatic. Seven days after testing, 10 of these 13 previously asymptomatic residents had developed symptoms and were recategorized as presymptomatic at the time of testing. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing cycle threshold (Ct) values indicated large quantities of viral RNA in asymptomatic, presymptomatic, and symptomatic residents, suggesting the potential for transmission regardless of symptoms. Symptom-based screening in SNFs could fail to identify approximately half of residents with COVID-19. Long-term care facilities should take proactive steps to prevent introduction of SARS-CoV-2 (3). Once a confirmed case is identified in an SNF, all residents should be placed on isolation precautions if possible (3), with considerations for extended use or reuse of personal protective equipment (PPE) as needed (4).
The development of reading depends on phonological awareness across all languages so far studied. Languages vary in the consistency with which phonology is represented in orthography. This results in developmental differences in the grain size of lexical representations and accompanying differences in developmental reading strategies and the manifestation of dyslexia across orthographies. Differences in lexical representations and reading across languages leave developmental "footprints" in the adult lexicon. The lexical organization and processing strategies that are characteristic of skilled reading in different orthographies are affected by different developmental constraints in different writing systems. The authors develop a novel theoretical framework to explain these cross-language data, which they label a psycholinguistic grain size theory of reading and its development.
Skilled forelimb use was studied in rats with unilateral lesions of the sensorimotor cortex, the caudate-putamen, or the dopaminergic nigrostriatal bundle, in a task involving reaching for food. Limb preference and efficiency were evaluated, as well as the relationship between limb use, spontaneous, and methamphetamine-induced rotation bias, both preoperatively and postoperatively. To induce use of the nonpreferred limb, a bracelet, which prevented reaching but not other movements, was attached to the forearm of the preferred forelimb. Whereas small cortical lesions of the forepaw area of the sensorimotor cortex mildly influenced limb preference and use, larger lesions changed preference. Furthermore, medium-sized sensorimotor cortex lesions impaired contralateral limb use, although surprising recovery occurred on the forced tests with the bracelet. Large cortical lesions abolished effective reaching even on the forced tests. Impairments similar to those following sensorimotor cortex lesions were also obtained following small and large caudate-putamen lesions. By contrast, unilateral dopamine depletions not only blocked use of the limb contralateral to the depletion but also impaired use of the ipsilateral limb. There was recovery in use of the ipsilateral forelimb but not the contralateral forelimb. Correlational analysis showed a weak relation between methamphetamine-induced rotation and limb preference preoperatively but no significant relation between these two variables postoperatively. The similarity in the deficits following sensorimotor cortex lesions and basal ganglia lesions suggests that skilled forelimb use depends upon a shared neural organization within the two systems.
Nifo A. and Vecchione G. Do institutions play a role in skilled migration? The case of Italy, Regional Studies. This paper is based on the idea that the migration choices of the highly skilled are driven by the search for favourable socio-economic contexts able to ensure higher income, better employment opportunities but also better institutions. By using data on a sample of 47 300 Italian graduates, the impact of provincial institution quality on the probability of resident graduates migrating is studied. A Heckman probit estimation indicates that institutions do matter for migration decisions and their importance is comparable with that of per capita income provincial differences.
Abstract We present a synthetic theory of skilled action which proposes that cognitive processes make an important contribution to almost all skilled action, contrary to influential views that many skills are performed largely automatically. Cognitive control is focused on strategic aspects of performance, and plays a greater role as difficulty increases. We offer an analysis of various forms of skill experience and show that the theory provides a better explanation for the full set of these experiences than automatic theories. We further show that the theory can explain experimental evidence for skill automaticity, including evidence that secondary tasks do not interfere with expert performance, and evidence that experts have reduced memory for performance of sensorimotor skills.