Per .ieaionhaa been granted to th e NaUo nal Li brary of Cana da to lIicr o fi l lll thill the llh IIn~ to lend or sell cop iee of the fi111.
Theaut h or (co py right owner) hall r e s e rv ed ot he r pUbl i c ati o n rig h t a , an d ne i t h er the th e ai e nor elltenatve elltra c t s fr omit lIay bepri nt e dor oth e r wi s e re produ c e d without hie/h e r written pe rlliee i on.
L'autorisllUona i t ' accord'e .l la BibUoth l q ue nationale du Canada de alcrof!laor eette th~.e et de prater ou de vendre de . ellellplaires du film.
L'aute ur (Ut ula1re du droit d'auteur) lie reserve les au treedr o itadepublicatio n, ni la thlae nl de 10ng8 es t.r ait.. de celle-ci ne do i vent atre hp ri llles au autre llen t re p rod u lta sana so n auto r ieatlon 'erite .
ISBN 0-31 5 - S50 ]S~X
A study Of Client PerceptionsOf The St.John's Work Acti v ityProjectAnd The Perceived BeneElts
Of Program Partic ipation
by
RoyE.Barb our, B.A ., B.S.W.
Athe s i s submitted in partial fulfillmentof the req u dreae n 'taforthedeg r e eof
Master of Social Work
Scho ol of Soc ia l Work Hemorial Universityof Newfoundland
St.John's
June,1989
Newfoundland
ABSTRACT
One of the greate st soc ia l problems incanada today is unempl oym ent . It is pa r t i c ular ly difficul t for young pers ons whomay be co ns i d e r e d socially disadvantagedto findemployme n t . Va r i ous program s inthiscou nt r yand ot h ers have been developed to helpth e unemployedupgr ad e th e i r academic sk i lls and/ o r learnnew sklli s vtucnwi ll enhancetheir abilit yto find work and become independent membersofso ciety.
Thisstudy de scribe s suc ha pr ogram , Thest. Joh n's Work ActiVityproject, and howit was perceivedbysoc i al ass is t ancerecipient s..,ho participated in it. Therewere two purpo ses to the study:
III toobtain the per c ept ions of partic ipant s abou t the pr o g r a m andtheir experience s in it and (2) toascertaintheperc e i ve d benefitsof the program.
Aran d o msamp l e of 50 per son swas se i e c t e d from a populat ionof 150 clien ts whoat t e nde d The St. •lohn' sWork Activity Project . Datawas collec te d fr olllquesti onnaire s adef nt.ste red to person s inth e ir homes. In additi onto the cl i e n ts' percepti onand experience sof the prog ramandhow i tbenefitted them, the studyin s tr ume n t a150 prevlded a demographic pro f ile of part i c ip antsand a me as ure of thei r se lf-es t e e m and life sat is fa ct i o n .
Th e results of the studyshowed that the St.John's Wor k ActiVityPr o j e c t vas perceived quite positi velyby the
11
parti c i pant s as 72per cent repor ted they were verysat is f i e d with thepro gr am . Eighty-fo ur pe rc e n t saidthey be n efi t te d fromthe pro j e ct and that the ir expe cta tio ns were eee• Amonqot he r things the dat a als oshoved that ....hile the s e perso ns may be consi d e re dto be soc i a lly and
ec on omi c ally disadvan ta g e d , the yappear to be reas onably hap py,hav e high self-esteemand enjoysig n lfica nt soc ial con t a ct and su ppo r tfromfami lyand friends.
ill
ACKNOWLEDGEHENTS
I wi shto ex press my ap p r ec ia ti o n toDr.J. v rctcr Thomps on for hi s inte r e st, co nt i nu ous quLdan ceand su ppo r t insu pe rv is i ng meduring this projec t . I also wishto thank the facul tymembe rsandstaff ofthe Sc hoo l of Soci al Work whogaveadvic e and suppo r t whe ne ver it wa s re qu i r e d.
Myappre c iati o n is extended to thos eper s on s who par ticipa t e d in the stud yfor .... it h outth eir co-o pe ra tion thi s pr o je c t wo ul d not have been possi ble.
I wouldlik e to tha nk theDepartm ent of Social Services , St.Jo hn' s,Newf oundland, for their ~IUP POltand for makin g inf or mati on on The St.Joh n 's Work Activi t y Pr o j e ct accessi b l e.
I o....e muchtomy famil ypar ti cul a rlytomy.... lfe , Joan, and our two dau g h t e rswh o were al ....ays therewithsuppo r t and encouragement. Aspecia l thanks , as....ell , isext end ed to Joa nfo r her pati e nceandcare intyping this thes is.
rv
TABL ~OF CONTENTS
~a g e
ABSTRACT••• •• ••• ••• ••••• •••• •• • • • • • ••• •• •• ••• • •••• • ••• II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS••••• •••• •• ••••• • ••••••. •••••••••••• •• Iv TABLEOFCONTENTS ..•.••.. • •. • • •••• ••• • • • • • •.••.••• • ••• LIST OF TABLES ••••••••.••••• ••..••••••• ••••••• •• ••• • ••vi i
CHAPTER
INTROOUCTION
State mentof the Pro ble m..• • •.•••• • ••• •.••• • Wor k Ac tivi t y Projec t s •••• •• ••• • .•• •• •• •• •.• St. John 'sWo rkActIvityProje ct: An
ove evt ev •.•••••.•••.••• •.• •••.••••••.••..•. • 13 Purposeof Study andRese archQuestio ns •• ••• 15
REVIEWOFTHELITERATURE•••••••• ••• ••••••••••• • 19 Chal:acterls tlcs of Pub li c As s ista nc e
Reci pi ents ••• • • • • • • ••• •••••••••• ••••• •••.••• 19 Hyths andAs sumpt ions ... . ... .... .. .... 24 Histor i c a l Ov erviewof Traln l nq and
E.p l oyaentProqralllS •••• ••••••.•.••• ••• ••••• • 27 The I_pa c t of Ellp loyment and Tralnlnq Proqra. s •••••• •••••••••• • • ••• •• ••••• • • ••• • • • )) Clie nt Perceptions of Servi cesandProqra.s . 38
METHOOOLOGY ••••••••• ••••••• •• •••..••••••• • ••••• 45 Po p u lation and Samp l e . ... ... ... . . 45 Study In s tru ment ... ... .. . .. 46 Dat aAnal ysi s •.•••••••• ••••.•••.• • •• ••.• ••• oQ9 Ethi ca l Considera ti on s . ... .. .. ... ... .. ... 49
Sig nificanceof the study ... 51
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS •• • •..• • •.• .• . •••••.• • •.•.• 53 Demogra phicProfile ... .. .... ... 53 Participants' Self-Esteem ..••• .••.••••••. • .• 69 Parti ci pant s' Sat is fa c t i o n With Life . . ... 71 Per ception of The St.John' sWo rk Acti v it y Proje c t and Per cei v ed Benef its ... ... .... .. 75
DIS CUSSI ON, CONCLUSI ONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS... 87 Li mita t ioo s of the Stu d y•••••.•••.• ..•.••• .. 97 Recomme nd ations .. .... ... ... ... .. 97 REFERENCES.•••••••• .• •• ••. • ••• •.•• .• .••••• .• •. •••...• . 10 1
APPENDI CES Ap p end ix A Appendix B
Appendi x C Appendix 0
Append ix E
Ques t ionna ir e••••• ..•..•• •. .•• 108 Letter of Expl a na ti on of the Stud y•••• • • •• • ••• ••• • •••.•.• •124 Clien t Consent Form..•••. •.. •126 AgreementtoParticipate 1n study .••• •••.••••. . .•••....• •128 Follow-upLet ter •• .• • • ••.•• .• 130
vi
Number
LISTOF TABLES
Page 1. Age of Part i ci pan ts by Gen de r ... . .... .... . . . 54
2. Particip an ts Ma ri t al Stat us .. 55
3. Hig he stGra d e Attai ned at School by Gender ... 55 4. Emplo ymen t Characte r is tics at Time of stu d y
by cenuee .•.•...• ••.• • •• .•..•••. •.•.• ••..••.••• • 59 5. Inc ome Character is t icsof unempl o y ed Pa rti cipa nt s
bysender •• ••• •• • ••••.• •. .•••••••• ••••• ••• • •• ••• 61 6. LivingAr r a ng emen t s by Gende r .. .. ... . . .. ... 64 1. LIvingArr an gellle nt s (Indepe ndence/ De pe nde nce)
and Marital Status . . . .•.• •. . •...••.••••. •.••• •.. 65 8. Con t ac t wit h Fatillyand Frie ndsDuring
the PastWe e k .••••. • .•. ••.• • • •.•.•.• •. •• •.. .•..• 66 9. ParticIpants' Self-Estee mby Gender ••.• . • .. •••.. 69
10. Participant s' Satisfact ion with Life 73
II. ProgramCompo nent by Extent of Participant's LearnIng... .... ... . . . . ... . . . . ... 17 12. pr
om
eas with Atten din g the St. John 'sWorkAc t i v i t y Project .. .. ... ... . ... ... . ... 80 13. Pa rticipan t Expecta ti o ns of the Proj e c t .• ..••.•.• 82 14. Parti cipa ntSa tisfac ti o n vlt h Project by
Gender •.• •...• .. . .•.• . . ..• •••••..• .•. . .• .••.• • 85
vll
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Today'ssoc i e ty eeeee many l!Ioclalproblells but perhaps none greater than unemployment. The prevalenceof this problem is such that people can rarelyes c a pe its reality.
It is unusual to listento the news on radioor television, or tore ad a newspaperwithoutsome reference to unemployment in the Westernworld, including Canadaand parti c u larlyAtlantic Ca na da. The conceptof povertyis rel ative .:m d whil eCanadia nsdo not see the vivid pictures of sta rving childrenhereas in SOlie thirdwor l d countrIe e , the eff e c t s of povert yare nonethel e s s feltthroughout this land astheplightof pr a i r i e fa r mer s , Atlanti c f1sh erllen , the nativepe ople s,and the urba npoor is ma de known on a dallyba si s and reflected in theunemploymentstatisti cs, Which for February 19119was 8.3 perc en t nationallyand 16.3 pe r ce nt for the province ofNewfoundlandandLabrad or (Newf ou ndl an d St a t i15t i c s Agency, Exe c uti ve co unc i l , Harch 1989) .
In economists' terms une llploym e nt isthe resultof <II gap betwee nthe demand for jobs and the supplyof labor or the numbe r of pe op le see ki ngtheavaila b l e jobs. (Re por t of the Royalcce e raeton on Employment and Unemployment , 1986).
There are basi callyfour typ e s of unellpl oymen t, ac co r d i ng toShe r ra den (198 51 :
1. Fri cti onal une mpl oyme nt whi ch is ca us e d by sho r t - t erm
labor mark et lla l a d jus t Jlen t s,suc has se asonal fluctuati ons and tille spent between jobs.
2. Cyc lica l une mp l oyme nt which is caus ed bylabo rdeman d deflc 1l!: nc yclur in g theeeceee rcnaeyphaseof the busine s s cycle. As ec o no mic act i vitydecline s , unempl oyment ri s es. In ot her words, cy c l ica l unempl oyment is the unemploYilentdifferenc ebetween peak and trough per io ds in thecyc le.
3. Chr oni cune mplo yment....hi c h refe r s to labordeaand defi cienc yabo ve and beyond cycl1 c al fluctuati on s and labor demanddefi ci en c y"'hi c h persis tseve n when times are good.
4. Str uct ura lune mp lo ytlle nt whic hrefer s toa dee per and mor e long - la s t in gma l a dj us tmen t in the labor ma rk et. A lack of vork isdue to st r uc t ura l imbalanc ebet....e en the demandfor and supplyof la bor , usuallyas a result of a failur eof the ec onomy to ac c ommoda te to chan ges withi nthe syst em suchas ge og raphicrel ocati o n of indust ry , cha nges in tec hno lo gy , andsh if ts inco ns ume r demand.
Atra ditiona l vi e wofunemployme nt, and one vnt cf Is still held bysome peop letoday, is tha t certain gr oup s of pe ople are unemployed becauseof per sonaldefi ci e nc i e s , such as tns ut ttcientski ll s , inap propr ia t eattItudes , and/o r a dIsi nclinati o ntowork or la zin e s s . Studiescond uc te don youngunemployedpersons indi catethateven the sub je cts attr i bute dthe ir unelllployment tope r s o nalfa ilure.
(Sc hn e id e r , 1977 , Wilcox et.al. 19 80). With high unemp' oyment ra t es, however, mo re ....r Itereare comi ng to rea liz e tha t it is not cause dbyindivl du a l fai lure a~much a9bysocia l and eco nomic sys tems. Whilegovernmentsha ve add ressed ea c h kindof une mpl oy me nt liste d above , in rea lizi ngtha t la r g e numbe rsof peop l ear e out of vork throu ghno fauitof the ir cvn, IIIOSt Wester n Nati o nshave
empha siz ed "str uct ural"unemploymentin Itsef f o r ts to h'!lp society'secer di sad vantagedmembers . As Yo ung (1985:181 has said "the more unemployment Is se e n as a structural problem in the economy, the mOl:ego vernments are expectel1 tu assume respons ibility for itscause throuqh the i r macro- econ omicpoli cie s " .
The eost obvi o us an" directeffect of unemploymentis the los s of incomewhi chperlllitsthe purchas eof the nec e ssi ti e s of lifesuchas food, clothing, and aheLtier, but there ar e othe r effec ts ...htcnimpa c t negativel yupon the unempl oyed. Bor r ero11 981 :1 29 ), in dis cu ssing the prLc eof une mployment ,says ...e payfor: unemployment in terms of increa s e s in crimes , su icid es , emotionaldis t urbanc e s, immorality, juveniledelinquents,alcoholism, and violence agains tvoaenand ch i l d r e n." The COlllmittee for aco nc erc De velopment (1978 :28) in referring to a ebudy conductedat theJohns HopkinsSchool of Hyg i e ne and PublicHealt h states that there is "a stron gco r r e la t ion betweenhigher unemploymen t rates and incre ase s in me ntaldls orders , hear t disease, al co holism, homi c ide ra t e s,and suicide among adultsand ininfantand maternalmortallty ." Feath er and Barber (19 8 3) refer to theeff ec ts of unemploymentas lov er sel f -es tee m, anx i e ty, self-blame ,anger , lover motiva ti on to ...ork , lo...er life sat is fac.t ionand ase nse of helpl e s sn e s s.
Thes e findings, nc ve ve r do not nec ess a r il y holdtruo fo r Ne...found l a nd. For example, des p i t e anune mpl oymentrate
durLnq the 1970' s vhl e hvas almost evrce thenational average, The EconomicCouncI l of Cana da (1980:XI ) not ed
"that: in compari s on tothe morepriv il eg ed provinc es - Albe rta , Bri ti s hColumbi a, an d Onta r i o - thi s provi nceha s a lover inci d en c eofsuici de, homi cid e ,dtvoec e, mental illness, a nd llIortali t ydue to cIrr hos isof the Lfve xe ,
Whydo people ne e d emp l oyment or York ? Work, generally , willnegatema ny of theeffects of une mp lo yment for mostpe op l e bu t It can do more. Toda y , muc h per s ona l meaning, identity, and self -wort h is associa tedvith wor k and thro ugh empl oy me nt pe op le feel pa r t of their COlllltlun1!:y and society. Someunemployed pe op l e whover e Interv ievedby the Royal ccne is s r cn onEmp l o yme nt andUnemploymen t had these commentsabout yor k:
"I don't thI nk anyb odyYork s jus t for the money. Weneedto....ork for ourselves•..I ne e d to Yor kto keepmy sanity. I don't need alotof ma ter ia l thi ngs, but I ne ed towor k ."
"Work gives you a certa i namountof you r eetr-ccnr me nceandyour es tee m•.. and I llke meeting pe opl e. It' s pea c e of mI nd andyou learnsomet h in g."
"I put a lotOtvalueon York. It' s very be littl1nqto sayI don'tvor k ..•First you get lazy, and the nyour mind sta rts to go soft."
"It takes every bit of life out of you. Si nce I have bee nout of ....ork, I lost every bit of self-confide nc e andeverybIt ofeveryt hing . I tbr ingsyou do....r,tothe love s t le ve l. Yo u got nore sp e c t for yours elfany more. You fe e l usele s s. It'sa hard roa d." (Bu ild in g onOur strengths: Rep or t of the Royal coeate s LcnonEmp loYlllent and uneep rcye e ne , 1983:290)
Whatthese peopleare saying is that\lor k is ame an s of ful£1111n9theirphysical, mental,and emotiona l needs.
The re are sometheories aboutwork and the fulfi llment of needs. Abraham Ma sl oY (19681 describes needsin a hierarchy. Ne e ds at the love r le ve l s of the hi erarchy (physiologicaland sa f ety needs)must be met before thos e at the higher leve l s (loveand belonging, se lf - e s t eem, an~
self-actualization) can be me t. Ha ny peopledo not realize the extent towhich yorkmeetstheirneeds untll they become unemployed . They thenhave tone ve down thehierarchyand have to be con c e r nedvithaddre ssingthe eore basic or physiologica lneeds that ha d been previouslyta ke n for granted.
The Institutefor Socialand EconomicResearch (1985) ref e r s tv Toftler's theory of humanneeds. TofHer describes humanneeds in three general categories:a need for community, a need for meaning , and a need fo r structure. Work providessoc i al int e r ac ti on thatpeople need and
\lork i ng persons ofte nforma significant componentof a
"community". For eceepe o p l e thesefellowworkers r e preeene the la r ge st group of ctiners witbvnom tbey interac t andfo r m thebasi s of theirsocial net vork.
As for tbe need fo r me aning,one 5tudy (Borg en and Anumdson, 1984) repor tedthat wor kprov1de s a si gn1fica nt component in definingwho a person Ieand bov valuable one 1s pe r c e i ve d to be. Being ou t of york and 10o k1n g for a job
tends to reinforce notions of worthlessnessand lack of ab i li t y.
Toffl er ' s third categoryrefers to the need peoplehave for st r u c t ur e in their lives. Hany people,wher:.they first becoaeune ap Lcyed , sc h ed u l e their days sothat they treat lookingfor workasa job in its elf . Theyspend their time preparingre s ume sand arranging interviews. However , with rej ec tions and pr o lo nge d job se a rc h , it bec ome smore di f f icul t toma i n t ai n thiskind of regimen. Peopl e soon find thems el ve sdoing less andlesswith theirtime and se ve r a l par ti c ipants in BorgenandAmu nds on ' s st ud y(1 9 8 4 ) report tha t i t took them all day todo ....hat theyused to do in ha l f an hour .
While thestr uct uri ng of timeis alsoaproblem for unempl oy ed pe rso ns in Newfoundla nd (boredomhas been iden t ifi ed as adiff i cultyfor you ng peopleinparticular (Hill, 1983 ), these r io us effectsof uneapLo ya ent; are probably notfe lt askeenlyhere becauseof seasonalnature of vo rk• Fo r gene r a tionsNeWfoundland er s ....howorked in the prima r y industri e s such as fishingand fore stry, experienced seas o nal empl oyment. In rec e n t years governmenthasadopted a st ra te gy of creating makework projectsthatemploy people for period s long enough toQua ll f y them for Unemployment Insurance Benefits. Dur i n g 1987 approx imat ely15, 000 so ci a l assi s tan ce rec i p ie n t s ve reemp l o y e d on such projects.
Regula r period sof une mploym entare a fact of life for many
peoplein this province. They do not, howe ve r , experience the same degree of st r ess asdopeople in Lar qer urban- Ind us t r i a ll z e d centr e s whoareeit he r laIdoff or ha vethe I r jobsdeclaredredundant. It Is COlIlIOtllfOI:people In NeYf oundland to knowwhen they are goingtobe laid off and thIsenables the mtoantlci pate the 11: unemployedst a t us and thus cope reee cnabty well wI t h thestr e s sso frequently experIencedbywork e r s in other areas. (HIll, 1983)
In Newfou ndland, tobe unemployed does not necessarily mean thataperson is Idle. Inco meqenerated duringthe fishi ng seas o nceases whenpe ople ca nno lonq el: fIsh . While pers on s become off i cia lly unempl oy edtheyconti nue non inco me vcrk suc h as gatheringfirewood and making repairsto theIr boatsand fishinggearfo r the coml ngse aso n . Women , employed primarilyinflshplants duri ngthe fishIngmonths, becomefull time homemaker s and welcome theopportunltyto attend theneedsof theIr families. A...~rso n ' sst a t us , therefor e, isdetermined notsoauch by paid employmentas it Is by one 's reputationasa he z d worker whota ke s advantage of allavailabl e oppo r t uni t i esto enha nce thei r standard of livI ng. (Hill, 19831
Sta tem e ntof thoProblem
UnemploymentIs one ofthe mos t eertcue problems facing the cecvrnc e of Newfoundlandand Labrador tod a y. The seasonalnatureof W'or k for many peoplewith the reaultant effe ctson boththe economyand people isa greatconcernto
qovernaentandto the pop ulat iongeneral ly. One of the 'lays of responding to uneapl o Ylient 15 the developaent oftraini ng progr aa stha t prov ide sk ills or incr eas eexisti ng skillsof theunemployed.
1'he probl e. being addresse dby trainingprog r a.sis one vhl ehvte veunellp loy.entaaongstpub licassis t ance reci p ients asbei ngcaused bylac kofadeq uatepreparati on orskills tota ke ellpl oyme nt in the private0.'·publl c secto r. The rea s onsfor this ma yva ry fro mla ck of oppor t unity tostud yorlea rn to per s onal fee ling sof low self-e st e emandlimIted se lf-c o nfi d e nce.
While it ha s beenvell dccuaenced(Ballou, 1977;
Butle r, 1980 ; Rein,1982 )that 1lI0stab l e-b od IedpUbli c assi sta nc e re ci pi e nts vorkvhen evee jobs are availa b le , such :lobsareusually found Inthe ·periph ery· se c to r of the eeenoay(The Rep or tof theWork ingParty pn~
stra t e gy 19 741wh er e vorkis me n i al in nat ur e, vages are 10v, and eapl opient only lastsasho rt time. thisis very tne for !Iocl alassistance recipientsin Newfoundla ndwho depend toa great degree ongo vernme ntspons or e d pro :lects.
Since it Is nowge neral l yrecogn i'Zed thatunempl oy men t is ca us ed toIIsi g nlflcantdegreebystr uc t ura l change s In theeconomy (wa t ts , 198 3 ) rather tha nthe fa ult of the Indi vId uals i tIs inculllben t on government s,and the priva t e sector, todesig n progr ams that provideunemploye dper s o ns '11t hthenec es sar y academic qua l ificati ons, tec h n Ic al and
life sk il ls to accept work opportunitiesof 11long term naturewhe n they becomeavailable.
Today'stechnologicalsocietywill probablynot provide work for everyone. She r r a de n (1985:5)sa y s that"t he problemof chronicunemploymenthas increased through the 1970'sand early1980' s and is likely to remaina serious problem in the years ahead ..•" The planningand development of good training programsthat preparepubl1 cassistance recipients for wor k willinc r e a s e their chances ofse c ur i ng and maintainingmeaningful employment. Theproblemor chaL'lenqe, theref or e, is toenable peopletotakeadvan tage of wor kopportunl tie8thatbecomeavailable ina socie t y wheretraditionaloccupatIons suchas fishing are dimInishing due to improved tec hno logy.
Work ActL y U yprg 1ests
One of Canada '5responses to the chronica l l yune mpl oye d was the devel opmentand implementationof Work ActiVity Projects. Thele g isl ative author ity for this initiativevas gi ven through Par tIII of the CanadaAssista nce Plan (1966) which made provisI ons fOl: soci alassistancerecipients who are unable tosecureor retainemployme n t becauseof nerscna t , fa mll yor soc i al problems. This part of theAct spe c I f l c al ly address esthe needfor rehabilitationfor these peopleand providesthe resources for the el!ltabll shment of eppr cpr late programs.
10 Anu.pttons
WorkActi vi ty can be vi e wed Inthe btoad contex t of a socia l rehabilitati onprogramand Is se ento be bas e dupon cer t a in assumption s. Theseare:
a) That lIaDy per s onsre mai nfinan cially depe nde nt becausethey ar eunable tobene fit from th emore trad i ti ona l progra ms.
b) Thatthe s e pers o ns want towork, but In or der to beempl o yab l e, nee d to ac qu ire new at t i t ud e s and mode s of behavI or whi ch will IlI.prove thei r emploYlllen t pr os pe c ts.
c) Tha t In or der to be emp loya b le , perso ns ne ed not only a trad e or someoccu pat io na l ski ll , butalso they need tobe fr ee enough fro manyper s onal pro b l ems that ma y interfere with theirsocia l functionIng.
d) Tha t ....or kaay beather ap e u ticva lue and can be used to pr ovid e le a r ni ngopp ort uniti e s. e) That some persons ma yacquir e the attitUde s,
know le dge , and skll is ne ce s s ar y tobec ome employab l e,thr ou gh a compr e he nsiveapproach to emp loyme n t reha b il i tat io n. (Guid e llnesonWork Activi tyProj e ctSubmis si on s , Pa r t III,Ca nad a AS:!Ii s t a nc ePlan, 198 2 )
Thespe cificobj ecti ves ofWor kActivit y Pro j ec tsare: thereturntothela bor mar ke t oflong term unempl oye d people;
thepr e parat ionof proj e ctpa r tI cipant s for ent ry into tech n i ca l andvocatio nal training programs . (Gui de l ines on Work Ac ti v ityProject Submiss ions, PartIII , Canad a xe ete cence Plan,1982)
project DucrlptlOD - qCD!!ral
Wo r kAct i vi t yPto:le ctsare a combi nat ionof wor k exp osure and work exper ie nc esit uat io ns , cou nse ll i ng, li f e
11 skills and other welfarese r v i c es deslqm!dto provide a comprehensi ve approach to social rehabilitationand to resolve the personal, family, or environmentalproblems that may be faced by theunemployed. Maybe the bestway to describe theWo r k ActivityProjects Is to statewt-:a t they ar e not.
Work Activity isnot vocatio nalrehabilitation. While Work JI.ctlvl tyhelps to prepare fo r voca t i ona l training, 1£
this Is what theperson' s ca r e e r plan Is,thefoc us 111on resolvIngpers o nal pro bl e mstha t are ob stac l es to technical training oremp lo ya b i li ty.
Work Activity Is not on-the-j obtraIni ng whi ch has for 1tspurposethe teaching and learning ofatrade or occupa t i o n. Unlike on-the-j obtraining, WorkAc tiv ity Is not cons Ldered tobe eDlployment butis a prograilof preparationfor employment.
WorkAct ivity Isnot sheltered elUployment si nc e 1n a sh e lte r e d u.p l oYlDe nt si t ua t Ion the intent11.5 toprovide wor k In a protectiveenvtrcneent;for handicappedpers ons. Again, Work ActiVity Isnot eaployment buta ecc l e L rehabl11t ation program.
WhIleemploymentmay be the ultimategoal, it 18 re cogniz e dtha t forscee of the chronically uneapLoyed there are a number ofste ps that should first be taken or barr lers removed before this can be achieved. Thepurpos e of Work Activityprogr amste to teachlife skillll and appropr11lte
12 wor kha bit s to socialassistance rec ipients to en ha nce their chance of emp l oy men twhereby th ey /lay lea d 1I0[e indep en d en t andsa t isf y i n gtrve e•
Target Pgpulatl gn
Thede fin i tionof a Work Acti vity Pro j ec t , In te r msof the pa rtic i p a nts , under Secti o n 1.f.(a } of the Cana da Assis tance Plan (1982) Is as follows:
1) pers ons Inne ed or likel ytobe c omeInneed ; 2) per s ons fa c ed with unusu al difficul ty In findi ng
emp lo ymentor in bene fit i ng from training pro grams ;
3) persons whose diffi cult y15relatedtopers onal , fam i ly or env i ronme ntalpr ob l ems.
Si nce the int en t ion istohelp these pe r s o n s be prepar edto hol d employment or tobene fi t frollltrai ning programs,i t fo11oV8that the obj ec t i ve Is to eaetat In the res olu t i onof pr o b lems whic hprecl ude emp l o yment. Someof these problemsinc lude: lossof hope of fi nd in gemployme nt , feeli ngs of inade quacy, poorse lfimag e, a la ck of ecttvee rc n, ma r ital problems, poorhousing , lackof educ atI on, and poorwork habits. The WorkAc ti Vitycon c e pt was developedon the pr em ise tha t in orde r to become fina nc ia lly indep e nden t eeny peop le withinthe target popul ati on nee daee re eeneeinacqui r i ng newskills and attitudes to help the mbeco me gai nf u l ly employed.
13
~gu. ."nt11ththe prpylnsftfl Ind ReallJn . o n hof
~
Eachprov i ncehasentered into an aq r e e lle nt with the Fe d eral Gover nme nt under Part III of the Ca n a d a As s istanc e Pl an whe re b yWo rk Ac ti vit y pro jec tscanbe funded ona 50/ 50 cos t shar Ing bas is . Fornewpr oj ects the federal governme nt requIresthat asp e c 1f i c andplanned pro pos a l be suba l t ted out ll n l ng a York compone n t ,couns ell i ng , lifesk Ulsand othe r welf a r eservices, tar g e t popula tIo n , a bUdg e t , and pr o g r a mob j e cti ve s. Fo r exist i ngproj e cts, anup -to- date submIss ionalongwi t hanannual budget and rep or t 113 requ I red. Anadv a ntage to the plann e ddesIgn , asa re qui rem ent, means that the legi s l a t i o n onl yimposesa fr ame....ork whichIs fle xI bl e enough toadaptto a va r i e tyof ind i Vi d ua l s.
at
uphn'n'9tk AGtlyHyPt91ed' An Oye;y ' ev The St. Jo hn' sWork Activ i ty Pro j ect be ga n in 1976 be cau s e the r e ve z e incre asingl y hiqh number s of people on soc ia l as s i sta nc e and a concern exi s ted fo r thos e re cip ie nt s vhoappe ared de s tin e dto remain onsocial as si s t an ce for a longtimeunl essmore se rv ices, othe r tha n finan c ial , ve re offe red . The Dep artment of Soc i a l Ser v i ce s , therefo re , decide d.tode vel op aWork Act i v ityProjec t basedon the guideline s unde r Pa rtIII of the Ca na da Assis tancePla n.Dur in gthe firs t fe'" years emphasis vas pl a ce don male heads ofho us eho l dsalthough thepr oj e c t nevereeevea one
14 group of pe ople exc lus i ve ly. Later thegroupswere co mposed of eceej ysIng le parent e and no.... the maj ority of the pa rtic ipantsar e si ngl e pe ople . The lengt h of the pro je ct eiee var ied ave r the years . Whe nthe fir s t proje c tsta rted it ran for six months and had thirt ypar tici pants . SI nc e HB6the prog ra mhasrun for thre e month s andha s eccca eo deted twent y peop l e. Re cip i ent s at tended the proj ec t ona volunta ry ba si sand recei ved an inc e nti ve al lowa nceof
$175.00 inadditi on totheir soc i al assistanc e etrcv en ce. Thegeogr aphi c areaservedby the proj e ct vas the Cityof St.Joh n 's and co mmun i t i esserve d by theSt . Joh n 's District Offic esof the Dep a rtm ent of Social Servic e s as....ellas the commun ities se r ved by the Ke lll g re ..s Dls t r ictOf f iceand BellIsland. The sta f fof the se of fi ce s were info r lled abo ut the projectprimar i l y through vis itsby th e project dire ct or and staffsocia l vor ke r to exp la i n the ph i losoph yand object Ivel' 0 f"wor kact ivIty". Workers "ereals oencour a qed to vis itthe pr oj e c t themselves and seewhat"work ac tiv i ty "
involved and how it could benefi t their cl i en t s. Host ef fo r ts to obt a in re ferr al s we re made frailthe DepartmentofSoc i al Service s becausethe people for whom the pro j ec t wa sdesi qnedwere most ly clien ts of that Depart l'lent. Over theyears 90 perce nt or mo r e of the par t i cipa nt s were clients of theoepa rtme n t ofscctej Service sviththe rellainde rcoming from hospital sand ot he r cOlillun ity a qe ncle s . (Hont hlyRepor t s of the st . Joh n 's Wor k
Activity Project, Department of Social Services) The St. John,s Work ActivityPr o j e c t is comprised of three eeepenenee. The fir stis a Ii fe ISk illscc u c e e conducted In a classroom setting. Tvo work shops (carpentry and upholstery) comprise the second component and supportive soc i a l work services to theparticipant and his/her haily is the third component. A job placement officer is also an integral part of the project. This person co nt a c t s employer s in the community in an effort to secure jobs for participants in addition to teaching: creative job search techniques.
When the Project began both male and female participantsattended one of the two workshopsbut after a few years the experiencedid not prove to be particularly constructivefor eeee iee , because they did not find the shops very interesting. Asaresult in 1982 femalesvere no longer required to attend "shop". The idea of "job stations" vas then introduced and thisha s been working ver y well overthe past five years (Honthly Reports of the St.
John's Work ActivityProject, Department of Social Services). Thewomenst i l l participate in life skills but ....henthe men go to "shop", they go out into the community and spend the equt varene amount of time vith local employers.
Purp9ae Of Study andRtuarCjhQyestipns
Since the st . John's Work Actlvity Project began in
16 1976 , loe e 1S0 So cial Al!Isistancere clpl l!!n tllha veqon e thr oug hthepIoqraa. Inor d e rto planfutur epr ograa s that eeee the ne e dsof recIp I ents itIs laporta nt to findoutthe perceptl on s of th e part icIpan tsabo ut theirex p e r ie n ee e In the proqraaand theben e fi t s , Ifany, which th eyfee l they obtaI ned fro. I t.
There aretwolIatnpur p osesof thIs 8tudy. The flts t 1:5toobt a I nthe perc eptI ons of cl ien ts about their exper ienc es Intheprog r a m. Tra dit Iona ll y, poo r people ha ve not been Involved Inplann I n g empl o ymen t or trai n I n g pr oq r am3 In whichthey havebe enparti cipa nt s. Program:!!
ve re desIgned by bureauc ra ts andthe peopleve re fit t ed into theavl tho ut se e n,If any, consu ltatIon. Salth (19 70:14) says -lis t en to the poo r. Don ' tas k the mtodo all the chanqlng•.•lnvo}vethe poor". Towha t exte nt wer epeople llsten ed to rlur i ngtheir par ti e1pat i onin thhs projec t? Did anyo neeve r ask the.for the ir opini ons, ideas, or sugqe s tl o ns ? If S.lt h'sadviceis to be take n seri o usly with partic ipantscontributi n gto the pl an nl n9 of fut ure proq ra.s, thei r vi ews on the vario us compo nentsor cha racte risticsofthe cur rent proqra llas veIl asthe ir perce pt i onof thest af f 15des ir ab le.
Ouestions oncllent perc e pt ions of theprog ramare covered inSecti o n Fofaque sti onna ir e construc ted by the wri ter. This que stionnai r e (Appen dixAI expl o r e ssuchareas as thestructu re of the proq r a. Inter..s of wh i chco mponen ts
17 did clients learnlIIost fr om, relationships betlieenstaff and participa nts , percepti ons of thesk U l of st a ff ee eceee, and thedegreeof pa rt icipants "feeling welcome"dur tng the orientationperi od.
The se con d purpo r.e of thi sstUdyIsto ascertain the per ce ived ben e fi t s of the proqra lll.. Wha t didpeopleget out of it? Was i the l p ful toth eIIIInsecuri ng or searc h inq for eliploYlient , ordi d itenha ncethei r pers o na l Uves In some way ? The ques ti on s ad d r ess ingth i s areaof intere s t are foun d InSection F of the qu estion n ai re {seeAppend ixAI .
Demog ra ph lc dataabout par ticipants wIllals obe obt a i ned. The in te nt of the stud y Is no t onlytodes c ribe theclie nt's per cept io n s of thepr ogram and to repor t the per ce i ved benef1t s from par tici pat ion, butals o todeterat ne inf o rmatio n abou t par tic i pants' self- este e m and life sa ti sfacti on. Relationl:shlps bebveenself-e s t eemand life sati s fac t io n,and pe op l e's peu :e pti onsof theprogr amand the bene fits they thoughttheyderIved frompart.i cipa ti on will beexplor ed. I twill alsobe rele van t to seehow certaindemogra phicvar iablesare related to th e conceptof self - estee m. In orde r tomea su re partic i pa nt s' le ve l of sel f -esteem , and life sat is fa c t i o n tvcstandardi zed sca les will beus ed: Rosenberg' s Self -E ste em Sca l e (1 965 ) and the Cornell Personal Adjust ment Scale (Thomps o n, St r e i band xoee , 196 0 ).
Arisi ng from the pur po s es of the stud ythe followi ng
research questionmay be fOrJl u l ate d . Wha t are the part ic ipa nts' perceptionsof thest. John'sWork Activity Proje ctand the benefitsderived fJ::olll participating in the program?
rs
19 CHAPTER2
Revl ey of theLi tera t Ure
Th is Is a studyofa ra nd o m aaep le of soc i alassistance re cip i e n t swho atten deda social re h a bi l ita t i o n or work preparation prograRl Inordertoinc r e ase their emplo ya b ili t y for thewor kfor c e. The re v i ew of theliterature ..,111 focus on client perceptionsof such pro g rams , these rv i c e s rec e ive d, and any per ce i ve d bene f its acc rui ng to the parti ci pa nts. The varioustypesof tra ini ng programs tha t ha ve beendeveloped tomeetthe needs of public assistance client s , and the impac t thatthey ha ve had w111 alsobe discusse d aswe ll assa lleof the cha racter isticsattrib uted topeopleYho part icipate Intraining programs .
Cbaraeterlst lc;s of publiC AsllJls t a n ceRe c i p i e n t s Muc h has been ....ri t t e nabo ut the poorand pe o pl e who co mpr i s e thelowe r economiclevel s of societywho fin d thems elves 1n receipt of public assis ta nce . The co nc e ptof poverty, .... ith wh i c h the poo r are quLtie familiar,almost always contains wi thin it nega t i ve stero types . Some of the sestereot ypes include the bel 1efthatthe poo r are la zy , that the y are not mot1vate dtowor k, thatthe y are no t v l111 ng to takerespon s ibili t y, that they have no aspirat10ns for thefut ur e , thatthey donotrespe c t the pro pertyof others, that they drink too much, and tha t the y enga ge 1n cr1m1nal behav io ur. The poor ha ve even be e n
20 label ledasbei ng "c u l t u r all ydlsad vanta qe dft• ICu i l and Hardy, 19 73: 6 J
Wh ll e the ter m "c ul t ur al ly dIsadvan tage d "may be allblg1ous , peoplewho are depri ved ma y becons id eredto be those who are theproductsof a cul tu r e thathas not providedthem with the lIotlvatlon, opportu nities, experiences , and rel a ti onsh i ps that enhance their chances for competi ngsuccessfully with the ir fell owcitiz en s.
Why is there so Illuch poverty In countriessuch as the Unite d sta tes and canadawher e the standardof llvi ng is among the highest In the wor l d ? The r e are a coupleof theor i es vhrch attempt to ex pl a in thisphenomeno nand show whytheva l ue s, attitudes,and behaviour , of thepoor appear to be differe nt fro m those of the midd le -c lass.
One theo ry is theconcept of a "cult ure of poverty".
Oscar r.e v t e (19681, vhcfirs t us ee the term, ex pl ai ned it
a la bel for a specificconceptua l model that describesin positivetermsa subcu ltur eof We s t er n Soci ety \fithits c vn st ructu reand rationa le,a \fa y of life handed onfrom gene rat ion to generationalong fa mil y lines. The cul tu re of poverty I s not jus ta mat te r of deprivation or di s or ga n iza ti o n , a term signifyingthe absenc eof something. It is a cult ure in the trad itiona l anthropologica lsense in that it provides huma n
21 beings vith a design for liv ing , with ready-made set of solutions for hUllan problems•••" (406) In discussingLevls' model of poverty, Valentine (1968) place s the traitsorcha r a c t e r i s ti c s listed by Lewis into three categories . The first setof traits consistsof gross indicator s of pov ertywhIch are unellployllent,
unde r empl oy ment, unskilled work, low-status occupa ti ons, meagerwag e s , lack of education, cro ....de dliving cond i t ions and deterIoratedhou sing.
The seco nd group of traits presented by Lew18consists
of behavi oralpatternsandre lationships. Thes e in c l ud e prac t iceof con sensu almarriage ,high fre q ue nc yof re eere - centered hou seholdswithout reside ntadultma l es , abs enceof a she l t e r e d childhood, authoritarian i smin famlly relatio nshi ps, lackof fa mllysoli da rit y, a general failure to developcOlD.llunityorganization beyond the household , concernvithtoughnes s and masculinity and inability or unvlllingne s s todefergratificat ion.
The third setof elementsthat can be drawn fromthe traitlist ass ociatedwiththe "culture of poverty"belongs to the realm of va l ue s and attitudes. In thiscategory Valent ine placeshostil e feel i ng s towards instituti ons such as alienat ion, powerless ne ss, apathy, insC!curlty, sus p ic io n, and variousexpres sio ns of spa c ia l and te mpo ra l
provinc i a li sm. The el eme ntsca n be euened up asa combination of potential for protes t together with low
22 levels of expectationand asp irati on. Whil e lIos t wr i t e rs agree wi t hIlanyof the characteri stics of socially disa dv a nt a ged peo p le as eeeee Ibed by Levis the r e Is no conse ns us as to the s e bei ng sl .pl yatt r ibu t esof cultur e.
An alternative conc ep tua l h:allevorktothe "cut ture of poverty" Is ref err ed toas "I nd ividua l Adaptation " (Levis, 1971 ). Thisapproach st a t e sthat valuesheld by the poor are a na t u r a l respons e tothe reali tie s of their si tuation.
Gladvin (1961J, for example, sees lovercl as s values or Ute st y le s as aee spene e to the facts of bei ng poor. In quoting Roa c h and Gur s sl1n(1967) , H.V.Lewis (1971:2 3 )sa y s
"lIa t e r lal deprIva ti onle ads tosoc ia l deprivation, event ua ll y re sulti ng In soci a l-ps y cho l og ica l ina dequaci e s whic hshow themsel ve s as rcvee-cre e e valuesor lifestyles ".
Thethe o r y of ind I vid uall ylearned ad a ptiveva lues on the part of the poor,asdlfferenti ated fro. the "c u l tu re of pove r t y· theory , explainssOllleof the contr o ver s ialand appa r entl y contra d i ct oryflndinq llonthe st a t us or situation of the pooz, For exallp le, It Issugq e s t e d that ...hUe the poor doaccept middle-classva l ues (Rodma n , 1965) there is a dis crepancybet...een their stated value s and their:actual behavi our wh i c h lead s thellto accept or toler atethinqs that the mid dle-cla ssdono t .
The neqatlve expe r i e nc e s of a pers on'searly env i ro nment combinedwi tha continuou s ee e tesof failures are qood exampl e s of howpoo r peopl e cc e e to possessthe
23 characteristi c s which set them apart fromthe socalled middle-cla s s . The poo r childIs rais e d In an env i r o n me n t vnten, vhencompa r ed to thatof the middle-classchild, Is lac k i ng invarie ty of visual, ta c t i le , and audit o ry st i mu l a ti o n . Thesecondit ionsare notconducive tothe child' s su cce s s In school sofr u s t r a t i o n , apa t hyan d rebelli onmay result fromhis lack ofachi e ve ment.
Acc o r d ing toast ud y by Bloo m, Davi s, an d Hes s (1965), quo te d In Le wi s (1 9 71) , rati ng s ofdepri vedchildren of the first grade sho wmar ke deecxeea esinini ti a ti ve, conc e ntra t ion , responsive ness to ad u ltteac he rsand effe c t ive ne ss of wor khabits . Thus,psych ologi c al char act eri st ics whichca u se employment problems forthe poor ar eevr aen e evenat agesof six and seven . Thi s att i t ude lead s themtodrop out of schoo l and enterthe lab our marke t, 1£ they can findwork. The i r la ck of educ ati o n leave s the m so ha ndi c ap ped be c a us e of 10\01'....ages the yar e unable to sup po rta family .
Insumma r y , the"cu lt ur e of pov erty"model con ta insthe implicationthat changi ngeconomic eieeue e eanee e through the development of adequately paying jo bs andpro vidi ngbasic services inthe areaof hea l t h, housi ngand trans por tat i on ..,111 be to noava i l bec ause the poor ha vebeensocl a l i z e d int o a different systemofva l ues andtheywill notbe abl e tota ke adva nt a g e of these increased oppo rt uniti es . (Van Tll,19761 The "i nd ivi du a l adaptati on "model or
24
"s i t ua t i ona l" mode l contends the oppositebysaying that on ce the socIalenvironment of the po orIscha n ged, the ir be hav i o ur wIllqu i c k lycome to resemble thatof themi d dl e cl ass. Author s such as Lieb o"', Hannerz, Valen t ine, and Kr le s be rg, asquotedinVanT11 (19 7 6) haveconcl ud e d that theculture of pove rt ymod eldo e s no t app ly to thema jority ofpoor persons IntheUnitedStates and that theadaptati on or situat io nalmodel eore adequa te lyexpla i nsthe characteristics of the poor. There isnore a s on to belie ve thattheAdap t ati o nHode lwould be anylessappli ca bl eto Ca na d ia ns.
Altho u gh th e s e tvobroad theor e t i c a l frame work5 (c ul ture of pove rtyand adapta t i o nmodel) aredive r ge n t th ey arenot tota llyexcl usive, (Levi s:1 968). Writers vnc supporteachtheo r yeqree tha t certai ncha r acte r ist icssuch aslow educat io n , inade qu ate houe Inq and not bei ngpart of thecomm un i t y at large,applyto a ma jor tty of the poor;
theydisagree nos tly ontheval ues andattitude sattribut ed to poor pe rsons and the impli ca ti o nthatthese factor s are the ca us e of their pllght. Bo ththe s emodels hav e contr Ibuted toour under sta ndi ng abo u t whype opleare poor and thetheor et i c al fr ame workthatonepre f e r s is lar gely a mat te r of emphaetrs,
Mythsand AuullptiODft
Someof the characteri s t i c sascribed topubli c assista nce r ecIp Ie nte ha ve beenrefut edasmyths and
25 incorrect assullIptions. It Isas su me d, fo r example, that ve lfar e recipie n tspre fer dependency towo r k and tha t they need stillulus to seek employment. This Is ref ute d by the fact that millionsof poor families continue to wOJ:kwIthout clea r prospects of economic security (Schiller,1973:26 ) . studies ha ve shownthat In Ame r ica over three-Quarters of re ci p i e n ts wh o received AId to Families wi t hDe pen den t Children (AFOe) have worked at some time prior to receiptof assista nce and that approximatelyone - f our t h are currently
In the labor force (Rein, 19 8 2, McIntosh, 1980). This ind i c a t e s that there Is 11 high motivationamonq....eHare mothers to.... ork and that they do work when e ve r possible (Ballou , 1977). Butler (1980) reports thatthere is considerableaov e ne n e with inwelfare caseloads wh ichmeans that many peopledono t remain on pUblicassistance for long periods of time but accept ....or kwhe n e v e r it isavaila b l e. As ind i c a t e d previou sly, appr ox imate ly15000 soci al as si s t a n c e recipients inNewfou ndland we r e ellployed on vorkpr o je ct s in one year. Due to la c k of adequate incentivessome of these people,particularlysingleparents ....ho we r e renting, we re ac t ua ll y vorse off byacceptingemployment. Even among long-term re c i p i e n ts , employmentandwe l f a r e are not exclus ivechoices. For example, AuClai re (1979) found that out of 50 IIiIl i o n wOllen between the ages of 18 and54, only 7mil li o n viIIreceivewelfa r e inanyone yearou t 0": ten.
Rein(1982) foundth a t amo ngcurr e nt AFDC fellaleheadson l y
26 25pe r cent have never Yor ked. It Is afallac y tobell eve, the z efor e, that poorpe op l e do notwa ntto....crk,
Anotheras sump tio nIs thebellefthat jobsexi st for allre cip i en ts who arere a dy andable tovork. Empir ica l studies (Sch ll ie r 1971), suggest tha t then!15 a ereee nd c ue gapbetween publi c expe c t a t io n s and la b our marke t re ali ti e s . Fr om anaggr e ga t e pers pe c ti ve, theassumpt ion of job avall a b 111 t y appears ina pp r opr iat e. Wi th thecur re nt unell'lp loymentra tes In Ca na da (8.6 percen t nat ionall yand 15 .1 pe r c en t inNewf oundland as of Mar c h, 1989)1t is na i ve to assume that jo b vacanci es exi stfor all those In rece i p t of socia l as si sta n c e.
A thir dassumption isthe notio nor be liefthatpublic assis tance recIpie nts ha v e pl e ntyof mon e y andare on ....elfare onlyto acq u ir e ecre. Cu lland Hardy (1973) report that fed e r all y - fin a nc e d public pr cqrams intheUn i t ed st ates supply le ss thanenoughsupportto maintain people at the poverty level. The same holds tr ue for Canada ....here peo ple ha ve to turnto food ban ks bec a us e of the ina deq ua t e rates ofassistancerece ived fr omprovinc ialgover nmen ts . In a Po sI ti on statemen t tothe Governme n t of Nevfo und l and and Labra d or (Levey , Kimbe rl e y ,and Stones, 1989:4 ) statedthat
"up to 10 perce ntof fami liesinSt. John 's us ed foodbanks last year nand "one childin four inNe ....fou nd l and is affectedby pove r tyand hunger ". The bell e f tha t pubLfc assis tancerecipients haveplen ty of mo n e y iscer t ain ly a
27
A final assumption isthat the poor are an hOlloqeneous group or that they are -all alike-, While poor people share certain cc e aoncharllcte:clstlcs theysh ou l d not be stereotypedas hOllogeneous for they actuallyco.prise se ve r algroupssuchas theyoung, theold, sIngle parents, the uns killed, and JlJnoritles (50Ilera, 19 6 8 1. One thIng that ma nypoor people have Incoaeon, however. Is a developme ntal backgro und of poor circ umsta nc esand/o r poor environme nt.
Stud ieshave sho ...ntha t po or people are basicallyno diff e r e nt fr ollother people. Theyare Dlotivatedtoyor kand do vark wh e never pos llIlble, and theyhav e vIrtually the salle aspirationsas thel!lIp lo ye d (Loeven berg, 1981). Soae of the unemployed, however, suc h 115 the people vneat te nd e d the st.
Jo hn ' s WOl:k Activity Pl:o j e c t,hav e pl:o blelllsvh l e h pl:ecl ude thea from takingvor k and it isthe roleof soc i e t y to help thea in the re solution of these proble . s to the point vn e ee e.p l oya e n t is poss i ble.
" h t oxl s a l Qyuylcyof Trai n i n gand Ellolg Y-Cnt Pro g ra ms Therehasnot beenmuchliteratu re frollCanada on traini ng pro g r a ms for the unemployed. Host of th e stud ies have been completeljon pr og ra ms in the Un itedSta t es and for this re a s onthe literaturee evte ....ed in th19 sectio n'111 11 refer mostly toAmerican stud ies.
Pri ortothe 1930'spoli cies in the United States for
28 assistingthe poor and une mployed ver ede e pl yground ed In the British Poor Law(Pa l me r, BBOI. Private grou p s , church-related org aniza t io ns , and the extended familyshared In theresponsi bilityof caring for the poo r vlth the federa l qcvernae nt;play ingvirtua llynorole in providing help. The same canalso be sai dfor cana d a (Gu e st, 19a5).
The American fe d e r a l governme nt firstbecame involved In ellployment and tra In ing progra ms duringthe Great DepressIon. Wit h une mployme n t atabo ut25percent itva s cl e a r that a nevrole for government vas required lSh e r ra d e n, 19 85 ). Kuchof the emphasis duri ng this per i od vason lo n q - t e r m publicservice employment, suc has the Wo r ks Progres s AdminIst ration (WPA)and Civilian ConservationCorps (CCC). InBritai n the Youth Opportun ities Pr o g r a m (YOP)wa s devisedto increas e youth employmentby improving the iremployability (Fiddy, 198 3 ).
That co untryalso has Work ExperienceEmployer'sPremises (WEEP ) , Work ExperienceProgram (WEP) , and Wor kInt ro du c t i on Courses (WIC).
After this initialtnvctveaent; In the lab or market , the periodfrom the early 19 40 ' s to the late 195 0' s sa w lit tl e governmen t inter·...entionbecause the r e wa s almost fu l l employmentin the un r ted StatesandCanada. On ly in the early 19 60' s whe n books suchasHa rr ing t on'sIb..e...Q..t A!llll.liadr e w attention to therea lityof povertydid pUblic employmentprograms once agai nreceivewide sp r e a d attention.
29 This second phase had a muchdifferent emphasis (and l1fe~
span) than did the first. It greyoutof a concernfor vorkers vnc had beendisplacedby technologicaladvances as well as a conc e r n over employment bottleneck s that these advances generated. The Hanpolier Development and Training Ac t (MDTA), passed In 1962 in the United states,....as originally designedtoprov ide voc a t i o na l and on the feb tr a i n i ng for displa ced vcekeee, Initially, the proqral1 primarilyservedmale heads of households with substantial previous labor ma r ke t experi e nce. Ho....ever,the ellpha sis of the pr ogra lllquicklych a n g e d to me etth e needsof more disadvantag e d ind iv i du a lsor thosedescrlt'~das hev lnq
"hard core " unellploymentptobl ems .
Thissh if t in empha si s ushered in the third phas e of theUn i te d States' Government's inv olvement , coincidingvith the imp le me n t atio nof theGr e at Societyprograms and lasti ng through the early19 7 0' s. Employ ment and training pr o grams ve re increa singlytargeted at a lnoz LtiIe s, veirare recipients, 101iincomeyout h , the elderly, and ot he r hard- to-employgroups . Emphasis was als oplaced on broade r non- skllled type s of programsand lias invol ved in the are a of atti tudedevelo pmentandocc u pa t i ona l surv ival skills such as problemsolving, human relations, deci s i on making , and effectiveceeaun tca c I ons . Theyvere alsotr yi n g tocreate asmany jobs vithsmal l bus inesse s asposs i b l e for the unemploy ed . Acc ording to Birch (1 979: 1 52 1 "o ntheaverag e
30 about60 percent of alljob s In theU. S.are generated by f irlllSvIth20 or feverempl oye es••• " There were many programsfora var i e t y of unemployed pe op l edur i ng this per i od some of whic h included : JobCorps,Neighb orh ood Yout hCor ps , Opera tionsMainstream, NewCa r ee rs, Co ncentr a ted Ellp l o yment Program, Older Americans , Hodel CI ti e s , roste r Gra nd pa r en t s ,and the WorkIncentive Progr am.
These program sprevLde dwork experi enceand tr a i nin g (bo t h on-the- joband In thecLas srooej , withthe intenti on of improv i ngthe long-t er memploya bilIty of part i c i pants and provld lnqcar ee r la dd ersfor mo ving fr o m temporar y publl c sec to r jobsto permane nt jobsIntheprivate sec to r (Ba s s i and aeheneeieee , H8S) .
With the re c e s sion of 1970-71, public atte ntio nbega n to sh iftfro mthe long -termemployabilit yproble msof the publi c assista nce reci pi e nt stothepr o bl e ~ s of the cyclica lly une mpl oyed. The chr on i c a l l y unemployed, however , we r e not forgotten . Provisio ns ver emad efor tar geting a varietyof groups Includ ing: VI et na m veterans,youth, elde rly, mIgra nts , non EnglI sh spea k i ng pe r sons , and welfa r e recIpie nt s. In .add lbLon, a lim.itedamo u nt of moneywas made ava ilab lefor train I ng. The passageof theEmergen c y Empl oy men t Ac t represents the be g In n I ng of the fourthphase of fed eralInvolve ment Inempl oy me nt and training polley.
Thl s phas e , whlch contlnue dthro uq h 19 78,was cha ra cte r l z e d by a mIxedst rategy that at te mpt e dto combat bothcyclIca l
Jl and struc tu ralellploYlie nt.
Thisstrategy co ntinued "lth the passage of the cce pe ene netve Ellpl oymentand Tra IRIng Act ICE'!'A) In 197),
"h l ehC'o r.so ll d a t e dGanyof thetra in i ng programsof the late 196018and early1910'15and also incorporated th e Publlc EllploymentProgra.. Whe nCETA began .. une aploymentva sye ll bela yi ts1971 pea k, and itsorIgInalelllphaS !:5vas cl e a r l y on trai n i ng rather tha n employme n t (Ba ssI and As he nf elte r , 198 5 ).
Du r ingthis pe rlod employme nt andbr alnLnq pro gra ms vere very ve Il - fu nd e d and consIderab le e xper LaentacLcn vas beingund ert a ke n. It va s duri ng this tillethat a vi d e va r I e t y of alter nati ve poll c i e s ve r eused on a tr Ialbash. The firstof the s eva s the Sup portedWork Dellonstratlon, one of thefewellploya entl training- prog-ra a s opu:a t e d asan ex pe r i me nt ",it h a rando .ly se l ect ed cont r ol gro up invo l vi n g long-ter. AFOe re cipi ents, ex-addicts, ex-o f fend ers ,and young school dropo ut s. Supported Workne een ee eeercn vas distinguishedfro aoth~r pr~ g r allsby its 'eaphasison 9udua l ly bri ng i ng individuals",!t h exeeese empl oy ment disabil i ties in t o the iabo ur Ila rke t by u:l1n9 peer group suppor t , graduated stres s , and close eu pervtstenas pr uqr am te chnique s (Gueron, 19 80 ).
In late 1982, CETA ",as replacedby the Jobs Tra i ning Par t ner s h i p Act (JTPA) vmchemphasizedcOllbatlnqstructural rather tha ncy c li c al unemploYJllent. No funds wer e made
32 availablefor anyform of dire ct jobcreation despi t e the fact that the une a pLo ye ent; ra t e had re a ched dcub Le -cdIqLt;
levels "'hIle the JTP Alegislation wa s bei ng creat ed. The admInistrationunder President Reagan opposeddirect job creation In the publicsector , bellevi ngstro nglythatthe onlyt~dera:t.respon sibi lity is to provide training for chronIcally unemployed(BassiandAs h en f elte r , 19 8 5 ).
During the past fewyears interest in"vo rkfa re"
pt og r amshas been gr a v In g Inthe United states(Sk lar, 19 8 6) but unlikeprogr ams In the pa s t, peopleare oftengiven enct ceeas to vcrk, upgra ding, or tr a Lnl nq , Day care se r vice s and tr a ns po r t a t i onallo....ancesare alsoprov idedto facl1!tateparticipatio n. Althoughmanyofthese wo r kf a r e programs se e m to be working well they have not been operational longenough for one to be definitiveabouttheir
InCanada, prior to theear ly1960'stherewere no rehabilitationprog rams or speci fic job st ra te giesfor the
"unemp l oye d employab les". At a l'lIe e t i ngof FirstMiniste rs in ottawa, howe ve r, inAugu s t1964, thematter wa s dis cu s s ed inresponse totheconc e rn about the financial bur d e n of social assist ance programs andtheconsequencesof longte r m uneapLnyment. Itwa s fromtheconferencethat the concept of "Work Activity"as a social reha bil itat ion progr a m eme r qe d•
Ho r e recently, (1986), the federalgovernment de ve l o pe d
3J a nev program called theCa nad ian Job Strategy . This voluntary, cost-shared proqram betveen ottava and the provincesdescr ibed it s purposeas being "to impr o ve the employment peo e p ecce of long te r mwe lf are re c ip i e nt s tl1rough traini ngand work exper ience, and to providewa ge subsid ies tosma ll bus inesses and organizationsdoIng contractwor k "
(Health and Welfare Canada PressClippings, Ha y198 6 ) . As of Ma y19 87, five provinces hadsi g n e d agreementswi t h otta wato participateand theseprograms are currentlybe ing implementedacros s the countr y .
The Impa ct of Empl o ymen t and Trainin g Pro g n m;l
The purpose of employmentand training programs Is to provide job tra in ingand employment opportunitie s for economicallydisadvantaged, unemployed,and/or underemployed persons..,hich ..,i1l result in an increase in their ear ned inco me (Ga y and aoeus,19 80 ). The ov e r a l l imp r e ss iongiven by the literatureis that programs havenot been an ov e r Wh e l mi ng success or a comple t e failure inter ms of their abiUtyto inc r ea se the lon g - t e r m employmentand earningsof d Isadvantaged workers.
Duringthepast t..,odecades, billions of dollarn have beenspent on employment and trainingprograms and much ha s been spent on research and evaluation. Mo s t of th e American studies conductedcou ld not categorically state th e re su l t s of programs, in terms ofeffectivenes s, largely because they did not usecontrolgroups. One study exee Lned the Impact
34 of a programon participants' post-programemployment and earnings was es tima t e d by comparlogtheir pre- and post- pro<Jramexperience,wit hno regard for the effect on the pa s s ageof time, or changing economicconditions(Ba ssiand Ashenfelter, 19851.
One of the first eva l ua t io ns of a ma:lor program in the Unitedstates, the Manpower Development and Training Ac t (MOTA ), was cond uc t e d by Ashenfelter (19781. Usinga co mpa r is on group from theContinuous work Historysample, he es tima ted theeffect of participation In class r oom training fo r al l participan t swhoent eredth e MOTA programduringthe firs t three months of 1964. The outc omemeasureof program pa r ti c ipati o nwas ann ua l Soci al Sec urityee r n Lnqe in the fhat fivepost-pr ogra myeace, It veefoundtha t MDTA cla s sr oomtrainingdid indeed have a positiveand stati st i callysignifica nt effect on particlpants' earnings ranging from 8200.00 perannumfor ..hitemalesup toab ou t
$550.00for black femal e s. This result was su p po r t e d by a number of stu d i es, (Borus, 1980) ....hic h found tha t ....omenon we lfare eee e to gain appr o x ima t ely$500.00inthe firstyear aft er completinganad u l t york-experience program. When eevLe ve d In re l a t ions h ip to their costs,classroomtraining, on -the-job training, and york-experienceprogramsappear to yield ben efi t s suff ic i e nt tojust1fythe programs fOl: five yea rs. Inr e v Lev Inq the supported-work Experiment, cueec n , as cited inGi n:zber g (19 80 :91) foun dthat the "program
conce pt was.ost successful for theAFDC vo.en , a subst a nt i alnua berof who" beneflttedfrollit,bothasa she l t ere d int roduc tion towor kvhil e theywe re in the programand asa bridgeto unsubsidlzedeaployllent-.
Westat (1919)has done the on lyee foeanalysisof the net ea rnings illpa c tof the Public Ellpl oyment Progr am(PEP ). The Curre ntPo pula t ion Survey(CPS) was usedwith Ila tched Soci al Secur it y earni ngs files to genera teecapee recngroups forPEPpa rticipants. Usin g both an auto regres sive ea rn i ngs modeland acomparho nof mean earni ngs be twe en par t ic i pa n ts andcompa rl:!lo n, West a t caaetosim ilarconc l us i o ns asdid Ashen fel te r. Whil e in-program earningsqef ne veee sub5ta ntialfor allgroups, vOlllengenerally experienc ed gre aterpost-prograllgains tha ndld.en ; thega i ns ve realso larger for lIlinoritiesthan vn t tes. Di c k i ns on, et, aI., (198 6 )also suppor tedth i s finding.
Inanother aa' o r Alle r i c a n prograa, theCOlllprehe ns lve Ellployment and Traln in 9Act (CEfAI, Bassi (1983 ) alsofound thatvOlle nbe ne fl t ao re flnanc iallyfrolllprograll participationtha n do een.
It wa s alsofound that the individuals who benefitted the most fr om CETApar tic i pati o n ve re those wi ththe le a s t amount ofprevious labo r mar ke t experience 18a55i and Ashe nfelter, 19 8 5 ) ; Schil le r (197 8 1. Th 1s sugges t s that CETAvas succes sfulinpreparingparticipants forent r y level positio ns.
36 Thebeet;kno wn progralldesigned to address the ellpl o ya bil l t yo f youth inthe United 5t'l.te s 15 probably the Job Co r ps ...hleh ser vicesdIsadvantaged yo u t h from ages 12 to 21. Th i sprogram invo lve sveryintensive eval u a t ion s of the fact or swhichpre v ent eac hpartIcIpan t fro macc e p tin g ellpl oy me nt and pro v id e s ext en si veservi ces,suchas ind ividualandgroup co u ns e l l i ng , vo c a tion a l trainingand GEDcourse e ,
The r ehavebee n tv oIlaj a r eva l ua t io ns of the JobCorps (Cain , B68 andHallar et .al., 198 0). 51th st u di es have foundve rysig ni f i ca nt inc rease s In employm entand ea r n i ngs , and reduc t ion In welf ar edependence. This finding15also supp o r te dby Hud gi n s(1986:18) who fo u nd that"recipients ...lthtr a i n i n gsh o v e d a red uctio n In publ1c as si s t anc e depend en c y••• "
Otherst udiesals o att e stto the suc c ess oftraini ng andemp loyme nt programs. In an evaluati onof the Welfare, Empl oyment, Educa ti onand Training (WEET) programinMaine, Petit and Wilc ox (1986), found thatsince 1982, 4~OOAFDC rec ip l e nt z had co mp le t ed the program andafter onetotvo years tha t 66 per centveee working. At kin s (19 8 6) found tha t 85 perc e nt of the re cipient swhoca me off velfare in Massac h us e t t s becauseof particIpationIn theEmployment Tra i ningProgram(ETP )ver estill employed one ye ar later.
Si nce theincepti on of theEmploymentPreparatio nProgram {EPP I In Ca l i fo rn iaIn 1982, 46 percent of the,:a rti cipant s
37 have found permanent, private-sector :lobs at an average starting waqe of $5.07per hour. (Bacon, 1986)
In a study of a job creation program by Canada Employment and Immigration 11983:11), itvas reported that
"t he evaluation findings for Canada Community Development Projects (CCDP) strongly indicate that, In terms of its immediate impact, i tp r cv Ided significant: employment for individuals vho would not otherwise have been employed In the absence of the program". Anotherst ud y by Canada Employment and Immigration (1 9 8 5 ) entitledAnEyalllatlQDof the Program for the Employment Disadyantagedconcluded that overall, the PEO program appears to have met important needs of the employment disadvantaged.
Not all studieswere positIve about theimpa c t of employment and training programs. Gay and Borus (1980 I noted that there isvery little evidence that postprogram placement is correlated with long term success. Haln (1968) in discussing the HDTA program reported that the program had no demonstrable effect on income and that persons who had completed the programhad about the same weekly wages as those who had not participated.
Most studies that have evaluated prograas have considered post-program earnings to be the major criterion of success, and the evaluations have been corapleted, in moat cases, from a few months to a year after the program ended. Even researchers who have reported positivere s u l t s agree
3B thatthesuc c e ssof tuinlngprogralls ca nnotbe determi ne d by onlyobse r ving the immediatE ';lost - t r a i ningsta t us of parti ci pant s butIt depends on what happens to the m over a lo ng pe r iod of time. (Bas si 198 3;Ga y andBorus, 1980 )
While the succ essof Illosttraini ng pr og J:alls hasbeen related to pos t prograllearnings , i t~hou ld be no te d that thes e progra ms were ope r a t ed In larg e industrialized areas of North Amerle awher e jobs were avai l ablefor tra inees with pos it i ve attitudesand de mons t r a t ed workski ll s. 'tne env ironment , however, Ismuchdiffe r e nt in place s suc h as Newf oundland where co mpl et ion of a train inqpr oqramdoe s not necessa r ily re sul t In empl oymer.t. Bec ause ofthe la ck of job s bot hthe sponso rand the cl i e nt areawa r e that the pr og r a m does notguarant e e ....crk, It 1~reas onable to a s suee, theref or e, tha t aoc IeI assistance reci pi e nts who att e nd tr a in inqpro g ra msdo so prlmat:il y to lear nski lls that willenha nce theiremployab ilityso that if work becoeea availab l ethe ywillhave a be t ter chan c e of secu ri ng a job.
Client Perc;eptlgDpof Servicesandprggrall3
The social service climate todayis oneof shri nk ing re s our ce sand incr e asi ngdemand s for accountabili t y from those Whopro vi de se rvi c e s. Although more agencies and progra mspons o rsare requ iri ng eval uatio ns, such analys e s ha vebeenfr equ entlyma de fromthe perspecti ve ofthe profe s si onal staff with ln theagencyor fro man outs ide
3.
ex pe rt rather thanthe vlev p ol nt of the clIent or co nsume r , whose percept ions ar e rarelytake n into account. Giventhe emphas ist"hat Is; novbeing pla ced onacc ou ntabilit y, it seemsonl y appropriate tha t cllent s be asked toprov id e theiropinions andperc ept i on sas the i r input "incre a se s dive rsityof pe r s pe c t i ves " , (Haq u ra and Hoses, 1984 : 1 00) whi ch .a y lea d toimprovementIn pr ogr am s and services.
Acc ording to Gi o r dano (1977 ) thereare th ree rea s ons ...hle h ha vepr ecipitate dgrea t er recogn itionof the clie nt perspec t i ve . Therehasbe enan incr ea se Incollecti ve ef fo r t son the pa r t ofcll e n tsto incre a se theirpc v erand th ei r greater visibi l ity ha sundoubtedl y been a factor In agencyefforts toobta i n the clien t vie wpo i nt. se co ndly , agenci e s may be increa s i ngl y awarethat attai n mentofgoals is facilitated bygoodagency- cli ent rel atI o ns. The thIrd reas onre therealizatI ontha t the ir peeeepetonemay provide someuse f u l in formatio n whi chpre vi ous l y may nothave bee n broughtto ligh t . Because manyse r vi c e agen ci e s(especi al l y pub lic agende s)ma i n t ain a monop o l yoverthe serv ices the y delive r, a coe rcivecomponentto the cl i ent-wo rker re l at io ns h I p naybe p r aserrt; where the r e arenoche c ks on the quality of ser v i c e beingprov ided. The input into servi ce and proqr am th rough client pe rce p t.Lcns could bea me an s of ensur in g that such che cks arepl a ced on agenc ies .
Beck andJones (19 74 ) found tha t cl i ents ar e an indisp en s abl e re s our c e for theasse s sment of serv i c e
40 outcome s. Not onlydo theyknolt considerablymore than counsellors about thetotal rangeofcha n g esth a t have occu r red In their lives, but theyals oevaluate these cha ngesfr o m their own rather tha ntheagency' s perspe ctive.
Client s also ha veother ass e ts asreporters of change.
They are ce r t a i n l y a better resour cethancounsello r s for l!lformatl on oncha n ges in familyme mb ers notseenby the counse llor, orcha nges In family relation sh ips that are no t directlydiscus s ed. The yarethe best one svnc can report on thei r expect ati ons, thei r reactionsto eer v rceand agency poll e y, thei r unmetne e ds, and their re lat i onshipwith the couns e llor.
Giorda no (1 9 7 7) cItes twoadvantag: e s to client inp ut int o se rv ices. First , the useof thecli e nt' op in Ion s about theserv ic e broadensthe rangeof indi ces that atte mpt to quan t if y "agency ef fec t i veness" . Fo r example, In evaluating the e ffectiveness of eevcr at rehabil 1tat i on pr o g ra ms, agenc i e shavetyp ic a lly relled on suc h "hard"indicato rs as number of jobseecuree• Thesestat i s tics donot take into acc ountthe fact that there may have been an impact on the clie n t In areassuch as 1D'pr o ve roent in self - Ima g e , great er confidence, or improved r~ lati onshipsvith family. The us e of client pe e cepeLcn of changein his /her ovn behavio r and beliefscan, therefor e, broadenthe criteriaof proqram effective nessIn tens of perceived benefits.
The secondadva nt age of cllent Input; int oser vices or
"
progralls istha t itca nprov id ea basis for compar ison vith the more tr ad i t i o nal approach -that of asUngagenc y pe rson ne l toassesstheir ov nef fec tive n ess Inservi ce prov ision . Itis obv io us that st a ff have a greate r sta ke tha ncli en ts In as s essingtheage ncy in a fa vorable light and for thisre a sonm.any soci a l progr a ms ha ve arequirement for eval ua tion. Who co ul d moreappr opriatel y repres e nt thIs
"ou tslde " view tha nthepeoplevncutili z ethe servi c eor pa r ti ci pa teIn agency programsi'
Whilether e have no t been st udi es thatreported speci f ica l l y about cl i ent involvemen t or theirpercept io n s of train ing and employment progr a msthe r e hav ebeen such st ud i es Inother area s of eccte rvork. Ina study of foster children pl a ceme nts in Illino is , Bus h, Gor donandLeBalll y (19i71shoved hov crit e r la generatedfro mchIl dr en coul d be used in deteniningthesuccessof place ments. The involveme ntof chlld re n1n the service changed l:he empha si s fr o mjust look i ngat the TIIer itsof the chlld' s ovnhome , foste r home,an d instituti o ntoconsi de r ingthevar iet yof ctecueetenceewithin types of pl aceme ntsshowingthe conce r ns of the child tha t areimportant to thesucce s s of the indiv i dua l pla ceme nts.
Bush, Gord o nand te aaI l ly(1977) st ate thati f the ch i ld can describe thechara cte rIstlcs of ca re taki n g that he/s he fi ndssu p por t ive the questi on of howmany ch ildre n are info s terca r e ca n bephra s ed "what type s of fost er
