Essential Skills and Vulnerable Groups

1. Essential Skills and Vulnerable Groups • Dr. Marion E. Jones, Economics, University of Regina • Dr. John R. Graham, Social Work, University of Calgary • Andy Wong, Grad. School of Public Policy, University of Regina • Brenna Atnikov, Social Work, University of Calgary • Bonnie Morton, Regina Antipoverty Ministry • Dianne Luxton, DECSA

2. Introduction and Overview • 73 Case Study Interviews, 5 focus groups divided between Calgary and Regina • Vulnerable Groups • Single Parents • Indigenous • Disabled (Physical, Mental, Addictions)

3. Key Divisions • Single versus Multiple Characteristics • Working versus Non-working

4. Themes • Individualization • Credentialism • Intersectionality • Human Capital – Necessary or Sufficient? • Life skills – job readiness • Healing and tipping points

5. Single Parents • Homogeneity – only a binding constraint on people with multiple characteristics • Chiefly interacts with / impinges upon labour flexibility • Access to good child care and early learning centre places would alleviate these issues • Also interacts importantly with transporation

6. Disabilities • Highly heterogeneous • Visible Disabilities – constitutional effects • Physical Health Problems • Addictions Issues • Mental Health Issues • Learning Disabilities

7. Indigenous • Residential school legacy and negative social capital and violence • Seasonality of availability for employment • Cultural status a barrier to employment – culture – gender nexus • Self-esteem and tipping points crucial to cutting the Gordian knot of unemployment and welfare dependency • Integrated approach

9. The Essential Skills • Reading • Writing • Mathematics • Computer Use • Document Use • Formal Communication • Oral Communication • Working with Others • Thinking and Problem Solving

10. TOWES • Credentialism • Risks • Opportunity • Problems with pen and paper test • Discrimination • Anxiety

11. Educational Attainment • Key differentiating variable • Single characteristics higher educational attainment than multiple • Employed have a higher educational attainment than those on welfare or in training • Human capital – key? - level?

12. Reading • Employed group reads more frequently than non-employed group, and more of them find reading easy. • Single characteristic group reads more frequently and has greater ease of reading than those with multiple characteristics • Differences are relatively small

13. Writing • Those with multiple characteristics are much more likely to write daily than those with single characteristics (correlation with high likelihood of being in a training program) • No meaningful differences in ease and frequency of writing between employed and non-employed groups.

14. Mathematics • For either bisection of the respondents there is little difference in the frequency of using Mathematics • Those in the multiple characteristic group and those in the non-employed group are both much more likely to find mathematics difficult than the single characteristic and employed groups

15. Computer Use • Almost all respondents had experience and training with computers • Most participants had difficulty articulating what was included in their computer training courses • Employed and single groups are more likely to use computers daily, but are also more likely to find using computers difficult

16. Document Use • Employed respondents were more likely to be familiar with document use than non-employed respondents • Single characteristic respondents were much more likely to be familiar with document use than multiple characteristic respondents

17. Formal Communication • Most respondents, regardless of characteristics were rarely engaged in formal communications • Single characteristic respondents were noticeably more likely to engage in formal communication as were those in the employed group

18. Oral Communications • A slim majority of the employed and single characteristic groups had no trouble with oral communications • A slim majority of the non-employed and multiple characteristic groups had difficulty with oral communications

19. Working with Others • The frequency of working with others was identical for single and multiple characteristic groups, but the multiple group had less difficulty working with others. • The employed group is much more likely to work with others, and finds it easier to do so.

20. Thinking and Problem Solving • These are exceedingly difficult traits to assess without a formal pen and paper or group project assessment, and therefore is omitted from our discussion. • There were no meaningful differences in frequency or ease of thinking between the various groups.

21. Summary – Essential Skills • Obvious that essential skills as defined by HRSDC are not particularly meaningful in explaining the labour market attachment status and experience of vulnerable peoples. • There are other not easily quantifiable or generalizable factors that explain employment status and experience among these groups.

22. Flexible Workers

23. Tipping Points • Catalysts for change amongst the hard to employ

24. Congnition • New Perspective

25. Cognition • Past Influences my Present

26. Behaviour • Tipping Point • Applying what I learn to life

27. Behaviour • Having new ways of interacting with the world and people • I am better able to build positive social support and social capital

28. Issues External to Me • Fit the mould employees

29. Issues External to Me • Challenges of Difference

30. Issues External to Me • Unrealistic Expectations

31. Issues External to Me • Transportation

32. Conclusions • Implications for Scholarship • Implications for Practitioners • Implications for Policy Makers