1. Definition
Name
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EMPLOYMENT
INDEX
|
Brief
definition
|
The
employment index provides a measure of the number
of people employed with respect to the total active
population
|
Unit of measurement
|
% of number of workers
with a stable job out of total active population
|
2.
Position within the logical framework DPSIR
Type
of Indicator
|
Driving
force. It provides information on the pressure on
the environment indirectly caused by certain major
economic constraints such as the lack of alternatives,
that can result in the over-exploitation of marginal
agricultural areas.
|
3.
Target and political pertinence
Objective
|
To
identify and define areas at risk of desertification
choosing indicators of land use management based on
demographic considerations.
|
Importance
with respect to desertification
|
This
indicator is part of a set of tools to develop an
index of Management Quality for the definition and
mapping of Environmental Sensitive Areas (with particular
reference to the Agri Valley in Basilicata, Italy).
Together with the indicators of Soil, Vegetation and
Climate Quality, it contributes to elaborate development
strategies compatible with the resources available
in a given area.
Within
Agenda 21 employment index is relevant to Chapter
12 - Management of fragile ecosystems: combating desertification
and drought.
|
International
Conventions and agreements
|
The
UNCCD emphasizes the fact that combating desertification
must be tackled within the general framework of actions
to promote sustainable development.
|
Secondary
objectives of the indicator
|
Within
the ESA model objectives include: a) Investigation
of the individual processes linked to land degradation
and desertification; b) development of countermeasures
and strategies to protect land from desertification
and to promote sustainable development; c) comparison
with the physical-environmental characteristics of
other target areas.
|
4.
Methodological description and basic definitions
Definitions
and basic concepts
|
The
employment index provides a measurement of the number
of persons with stable employment in relation to the
total active population. In the present context it
is associated with the large number of people employed
in agriculture. The high number of agricultural jobs
in many poor rural areas of the Mediterranean is due
to the lack of any real alternative so that people
remain in the sector despite the low income it provides.
The calculation is % of workers with a stable job
out of the total active population.
|
Benchmarks
Indication of the values/ranges of value
|
With
this model the authors distinguish four classes of
employment
A
score is attributed to each class. The score is multiplied
with the scores pertaining to retirement, literacy
and old age, to define the Management Quality Index.
|
Methods
of measurement
|
|
Limits
of the indicator
|
These
are linked to the difficulty of applying the classification
in contexts other than the one in which the indicator
was developed, i.e. an economically marginal context
of rural poverty in areas with limited prospects of
development.
|
Linkages
with other indicators
|
The
purpose of the employment index, together with the
Old age index, retirement
and literacy indices, is to define an indirect index
of land management quality concerning an area with
particular demographic characteristics compared to
the rest of the country.
|
5.
Evaluation of data needs and availability
Data
required to calculate the indicator
|
Statistics
on the total number persons in employment in the region
are required.
|
Data
sources
|
National
statistics institutions
|
Availability of data
from national and international sources
|
This data is easily
obtainable from the main national statistics institutions.
|
6.
Institutions that have participated in developing the indicator
Main
institutions responsible
|
Dipartimento
di Produzione Vegetale - University of Basilicata
|
Other
contributing organizations
|
|
7.
Additional information
Bibliography
|
Ferrara A., Taberner M., De Natale F.,
Bellotti A., Mancino G., Faretta S., 1999. Identification
and assessment of environmental sensitive areas by
remote sensing. In. Mediterrannean Desertification
and Land Use - Final report phase III (1996-1999).
Contract ENV4-CT95-0119. Thatcham, UK, pp. 397-428
Basso F., Bellotti A., Faretta S., Ferrara
A., Mancino G., Pisante M., Quaranta G., Taberner
M.; 1998. Degradation processes in the Agi basin:
evaluating environmental sensitivity to desertification
at basin scale. Proceedings of the International Seminar
held in Porto Torres, Italy 18-20 September 1998:
pp 131-145.
|
Other
references
|
Email:
ferrara@unibas.it - ag.ferrara@agora.stm.it
|
Contacts Name and address
|
Dipartimento di Produzion
Vetgetale - Università degli Studi della Basilicata.
Via N. Sauro 85 - 85100 Potenza - Taliy Scientific
director: Prof. Agostino Ferrara Tel: (971) 474171/54973-Fax
(971)-474269
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