Suchergebnisse

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Millions of state and local government employees are promised pension benefits when they retire. Although these benefits are not subject, for the most part, to federal laws governing private sector benefits, there is a federal interest in ensuring that all American have a secure retirement, as reflected in the special tax treatment provided for private and public pension funds. Recently, new accounting standards have called for the reporting of liabilities for future retiree health benefits. It is unclear what actions state and local governments may take once the extent of these liabilities become clear but such anticipated fiscal and economic challenges have raised questions about the unfunded liabilities for state and local retiree benefits, including pension benefits. GAO was asked to report on (1) the current structure of state and local government pension plans and how pension benefits are protected and managed, and (2) the current funded status of state and local government pension plans. GAO spoke to a wide range of public experts and officials from various federal and nongovernmental entities, made several site visits and gathered detailed information about state benefits, and analyzed self-reported data on the funded status of state and local pension plans from the Public Fund Survey and Public Pension Coordinating Council."

Although state and local public pension plans hold approximately one‐third of the $3 trillion asset total of U.S. pension funds and represent sixteen million workers, relatively little research has been done on their funded status. This article presents the results of a longitudinal and comparative analysis of the funding condition of state and local public pension plans. The study includes 205 plans representing 91 percent of the total assets and approximately 94 percent of the members of state and local public pension plans. By examining the period from 1988 through 1992, the article provides a general 'assessment of the funded status of state and local public pension plans and concludes that, as a whole, the plans are adequately funded and have improved in their funded condition over time.

This study assesses the impact of quoted companies' assets size and profitability on employee retirement benefits in Nigeria. In line with the objective, a hypothesis was formulated. The population of the study is 182 firms quoted on the first- tier market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and ten (10) quoted firms selected as sample size based on judgmental sampling. The study utilized data from secondary source. Data were obtained from the annual accounts and reports of the (10) quoted firms that made up the sample of the study. The time frame for the study is ten years, covering the period of 1998 to 2007. The technique of analysis used in the study was Multiple Regression Analysis. The study established that the ability of quoted firms to fund their pension costs has direct relationship with their assets sizes and respective profitability. The study recommended an effective monitoring/supervision and enforcement of the provisions of the Pension Reform Act, 2004, in addition to effective implementation of the penalties provided by the Act on non-compliers regardless of their status or origin. The study calls the Government to create conducive and enabling environment for smooth implementation, compliance and application of the Pension Reform Act, 2004 by firms and other players in pension administration. While, regulatory authorities must encouraged research and activities geared towards developing not only accounting policies that would ensure full compliance with Statement of Accounting Standards 8 (SAS 8) but strategies that would ensure optimum investments that enhance net worth and earnings of firms.

The study evaluates different ESF-funded labour market programmes by comparing the labour market status at different points in time after the treatment. In order to solve the selection problem we employ a standard matching algorithm with a multi-dimensional distance measure. The effects of the analyzed programmes (wage subsidies, start-up subsidies and qualification measures for recipients of social welfare) are very heterogeneous. It can be observed that the direct integration into the regular labour market provides an advantage for the supported individuals. Its lasting effects, however, strongly depend on the group of persons being supported, the type of treatment and the employers' financial share. ; In der Studie werden verschiedene ESF-geförderte Arbeitsmarktprogramme über einen Vergleich des Arbeitsmarktstatus zu verschiedenen Zeitpunkten nach der Teilnahme evaluiert. Um das Selektionsproblem zu lösen, wird ein Standard-Matching-Ansatz mit einem multidimensionalen Distanzmaß genutzt. Die Wirkungen der untersuchten Programme (Einstellungszuschüsse, Existenzgründungsförderung, Qualifizierungs- und Beschäftigungsmaßnahmen für Sozialhilfeempfänger) sind unterschiedlich. Zusammenfassend kann festgestellt werden, dass die direkte Integration in den regulären Arbeitsmarkt die Beschäftigungschancen der geförderten Personen verbessert. Letztendlich hängt die Wirkung allerdings davon ab, welche Personengruppe gefördert wird, welcher Maßnahmetyp eingesetzt wird und wie hoch die finanzielle Beteiligung des Arbeitgebers ist.

Since the 1990s, a number of women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have undertaken overseas-funded participatory gender and development projects in rural China. Through their efforts to empower women and increase their community participation, these NGOs and the projects they run are introducing new ideas and practices relating to governance, as well as to gender and development. The aim of this report is to understand the dimensions of the new approaches to rural governance, the history and politics of their introduction, the directions in which they are shaping governance in villages across China, and their impact on gender relations. The report focuses on the work of West Women, a large women's NGO based in Xi'an, the capital of the western province of Shaanxi, and on two overseas-funded participatory development projects run by West Women in Danfeng and Ningshan counties, in Shaanxi.

This investigation involved a first-attempt at modeling long-term treatment and work trajectories in a large, urban sample of individuals in publicly funded substance abuse treatment: (a) determining the demographic factors that predicted work patterns and (b) examining the longitudinal relationship between work status and continued treatment, persistent drug use, and psychological problems investigated work status across three years. Mixed-effects regression models revealed that significantly more participants were working and looking for work at each follow-up. Gains in labor force participation were greatest at six months while gains in employment were greatest at 24 months. Several demographic variables predicted later work status including age, gender, living arrangement, occupational skills, and having children in foster care. Participants who continued treatment, continued to use drugs, or reported psychological problems were most likely to be out of the labor force. By far, the greatest barrier to long-term employment was continued drug use.

This thesis investigates the role of Native Hawaiians in contemporary non-profit industry fueled collaborations with state, federal and corporate institutions, using the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement's (CNHA) annual convention as a site that illuminates the shaping of an ideal mode of citizenship for Native Hawaiians. At stake in such a study is how indigenous political practice can find other modes of expression beyond achieving legal recognition on terms set by the United States, which are always limited by the settler colonial legacy of the nation state's founding and continuing present. CNHA, as a key player in Hawai'i's non-profit industrial complex in Hawaiì, importantly shapes not only the discourse surrounding federal recognition legislation for Native Hawaiians through its support of the Akaka Bill, but also broader understandings of Native Hawaiian subjectivity and sovereignty. Thus this thesis also addresses the interplay between the bureaucratic and middle-class nature of CNHA and the contesting articulations of sovereignty championed by those who protest CNHA. This allows me to address the gendered and racialized logics at play in the multiple processes of Native Hawaiian subject formation, at CNHA and in the other more "radical" sovereignty spaces. The thesis considers how Native Hawaiian political praxis can be regenerated in the face of various legacies of colonial and patriarchal blood quantum policies.

Objective. Local government officials closed the Central Methadone Clinic (CMT) in Miami, FL on 31 May 1997. This study examined the economic consequences & related costs of closing this long-established substance abuse treatment program. Methods. Economic consequences were determined through a comparative analysis of patient status at baseline & one year following treatment cessation for Miami clients, relative to a comparison group in Jacksonville, FL that had continued access to a publicly funded methadone treatment clinic. Outcome measures included health-care utilization, addiction treatment, employment income, & crime. Bivariate & multivariate analyses were conducted to estimate differences in consequences & related costs. Results. Total cost as well as the cost for each category (except for addiction treatment) were statistically similar for both groups. Conclusions. Clients at the CMT did not generate significant economic consequences/costs for taxpayers or society in general during the year following closure relative to clients at a comparison clinic. 4 Tables, 48 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article deals with the issue of equality in access to publicly funded health care based on the example of two jurisdictions, Finland and Kazakhstan. Legislative provisions of such access differ significantly in these two states. These differences culminate in the notion of citizenship. If Finland guarantees the right to publicly funded health care to everyone who is legally residing within its territory, Kazakhstan departs from that premise in that only its citizens are entitled with such a right. These and other differences led us to enquire into the fundaments of patient rights in both jurisdictions. We find that both states are facing inequalities of disadvantage regarding access to health care by vulnerable population groups. Both jurisdictions strive towards reducing inequalities in factual distribution of health care services, experiencing the phenomenon of gradual deterioration of public health care. In Finland this deterioration is mostly due to the growth of private actors providing health care services, subsidised partly by the state. In Kazakhstan it is due to the inefficient system of funding medical institutions based on the number of citizens registered within a certain institution. In our opinion, legal solutions against inequalities in access to publicly funded health care regard, firstly, reconsideration of the status of non-citizens in situations of urgent medical interventions. Secondly, they encourage a shift in official legal doctrine towards fuller recognition of individual patient rights, and the introduction of instances dealing with these rights such as, e.g. a patient ombudsman and independent national authority supervising health care services.

Objective. We examine volunteering to support the relief effort after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. We address two issues: (1) how widespread was volunteering and what forms did it take, and (2) does Wilson and Musick's (1997a) "integrated theory of volunteer work" help to explain variation in volunteering in this disaster situation? Methods. We use data from the 1996 Oklahoma City Survey (OKC Survey). The 1996 OKC Survey is based on a random sample of the adult population of Oklahoma City and was administered 10 months after the bombing. Results. Nearly 75 percent of the sample respondents volunteered to support the relief effort in at least one way; giving money and donating nonprofessional goods or services were the two most prevalent volunteer activities. Socioeconomic status, knowing someone killed or injured in the bombing, belonging to voluntary organizations before the bombing, and being affiliated with a religious denomination were predictors of volunteering, depending on the type of volunteer activity considered. Conclusions. The magnitude of volunteering after the Murrah Building bombing was in line with volunteer efforts after other disasters. The integrated theory of volunteer work is a useful framework for studying volunteering after disasters.