"Employee-centric" strategies could lead to fragile households
Employers will face greater pressure to provide more flexibility in benefits packages and work policies; they are likely to respond by disaggregating benefits or flexibility options and letting employees pick and choose. Employees with less bargaining power or in less skilled industries will face fewer choices.
RAND writes,
Sources:
RAND, Nov 2010, page 7-9: http://newsletters.clearsignals.org/RAND_Nov2010.pdf#page=7Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department
of Labor, 12/17/2009. Accessed 11/1/10 at: http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.htm
State of Metropolitan America: On the Front Lines of Demographic Transformation, Brookings
institution Metropolitan Policy Program, 2010.
Unum, “HR Trends and Challenges: The Changing U.S. Demographic, Economic, and Social Landscape of the Workplace”, LIMRA International, 2007. Accessed 11/3/10 at: http://forms.unum.com/StreamPDF.aspx?strURL=/FMS_068162-1.pdf&strAudience=StreamByNumber
“American Time Use Survey – 2009 Results”, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, 22 June 2010. Accessed 11/1/10 at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm
See Robert Reich, The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992)
Senior Care in need of new solutions
A variety of new resource constraints are putting pressure on the market for senior care services.
RAND writes,
Sources:
RAND, Nov 2010, page 5-7: http://newsletters.clearsignals.org/RAND_Nov2010.pdf#page=5Parker-Pope, Tara, “Now, Dad Feels as Stressed as Mom”, New York Times, 19 June 2010. Accessed 10/29/10 at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/weekinreview/20parkerpope.html
Keane, John F., “Assisted Living and Miscellaneous Medical Facilities Spur New Growth”, Insurance Journal, 7 May 2007. Accessed 10/29/10 at: http://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/southcentral/2007/05/07/features/80227.htm
Pristin, Terry, “A Trying Time in Housing for Elderly”, New York Times, 30 June 2009. Accessed 10/29/10 at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/business/economy/01senior.html?ref=retirement_communities_and_assisted_living
Medical Tourism in Southeast Asia
Medical tourism is a quickly growing industry in Southeast Asia. The stigma of traveling for surgery is long gone, and now it can even be combined with a luxurious vacation. But have the potential downfalls of this growing global market been properly considered before nationally supported expansion efforts have been put into place?
Sources:
LKYSPP Asian Trends Monitoring Bulletin, Singapore. Sept 2010: http://newsletters.clearsignals.org/LKYSPP_Sept2010.pdf