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This study explored longitudinal trajectories of decent work profiles guided by core propositions from psychology of working theory. Data were collected from 419 working adults in the United States at three time points over a 6-month period. We examined decent work trajectories using latent transition analysis considering two key covariates (work volition and career adaptability) and while accounting for other variables such as ethnicity, education, and income level. The analysis identified five latent decent work profiles: only safety, low health care, indecent work, average, and decent work. Notably, the indecent and decent work profiles were the most stable, while the only safety and low health care profiles were more likely to change with time. The influence of work volition and career adaptability on transition probabilities was found to partially align with the hypotheses of psychology of working theory. Findings indicated that, within psychology of working theory, these psychological mediators may operate through varied mechanisms to influence both the attainment and maintenance of decent work across time. Implications for future research, practical applications, and theoretical developments are discussed. Public Significance Statement: This is the first study to investigate how various forms of decent work either change or remain consistent over time. Participants on either extreme of possible environments—decent work or indecent work—were most likely to remain in those environments. A sense of choice in one's career and readiness for career choice were partially helpful in maintaining or moving toward more decent working environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was to investigate subjective social mobility among U.S. immigrants—here referred to as shifts in experiences of marginalization and economic constraints before and after immigration—and assess how mobility is related to a host of theoretically informed predictors and outcomes. Surveys were completed by 242 employed U.S. immigrants who had been in the United States for an average of 11.65 years. A latent profile analysis was conducted which identified four groups with different social mobility types: subjective upward mobility, privileged, underprivileged, and subjective downward mobility. Four times as many participants experienced downward versus upward mobility (38.4% vs. 10.3%), with the majority maintaining a privileged (21.9%) or underprivileged (29.3%) status. Additionally, the downward mobility group had significantly lower work volition, work need satisfaction, and decent work compared to other groups. Implications for counseling practice, advocacy, and research for socially mobile immigrants are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study we gathered data from a large group of employed adults (N = 710) to examine the degree to which participants experienced their work as unique combinations of decent and meaningful. We applied latent profile analysis (LPA) to construct specific profiles according to how strongly participants endorsed five components of decent work and meaningful work. Seven different profiles emerged from our analyses which were labeled as a) Only healthcare, b) Unfulfilling, c) Highly meaningless, d) Adequate safety and rest, e) Adequate, f) Fulfilling, and g) Absent healthcare. We examined group differences amongst the profiles in terms of hypothesized predictor (economic constraints, marginalization experiences) and outcome (work-family conflict, intentions to quit) variables. Mixed support was found for the hypotheses, and profiles where participants did or did not have healthcare access at work were particularly unique in comparison to other profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the proportion of immigrant workers in the United States grows, understanding how contextual constraints restrict immigrant workers from securing decent work is critical. Therefore, drawing from psychology of working theory (PWT), this study examined relations from contextual barriers (economic constraints and acculturative stress) to psychological mechanisms (work volition and career adaptability) to decent work with a sample of immigrant workers in the United States. We also conducted multigroup analysis to explore whether the model varied depending on race. Diverging from previous PWT studies, we found that economic constraints directly predicted decent work and that career adaptability predicted both acculturative stress and decent work. Importantly, multigroup analysis found the relations from career adaptability and work volition to decent work were stronger for the white group than the POC group. Our findings encourage psychologists to advocate for working immigrants, including working immigrants of color, to reduce marginalization and economic constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women of Color (WOC) in the United States experience a unique form of intersecting oppression in the realm of work. Various previous studies have shown that WOC experience work objectively (e.g., wage disparity) and subjectively (e.g., compromised job satisfaction) differently than White women or Men of Color, indicating that WOC is less likely to attain decent work than their counterparts. In the present study, using psychology of working theory as the theoretical framework, we examined the predictors and outcomes of decent work (an aspirational goal for all working individuals) among a sample of working adults who self‐identified as WOC (N = 270). Results indicated that WOC's lifetime experiences of economic constraints and marginalization, directly and indirectly, affected decent work attainment via work volition (a sense of choice in one's career). Moreover, the attainment of decent work was positively related to work fulfillment and well‐being. The implications and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building from psychology of working theory, this study tested how critical consciousness, composed of perceived inequality, egalitarianism, and critical action, moderate the relations between contextual barriers (i.e., economic constraints and classism) and psychological variables (i.e., work volition and career adaptability) with a sample of 403 employees in the United States. Findings suggested that people who had high egalitarianism had a stronger negative relation between economic constraints and work volition. Results also revealed that people who had low egalitarianism had a negative relation between classism and career adaptability. Regarding critical action, people who had low or moderate levels of critical action had a stronger negative relation between economic constraints and work volition. Moreover, people who had low or moderate levels of critical action had a stronger negative relation between classism and career adaptability. Findings encourage practitioners and employers to consider egalitarianism and critical action as potential targets in vocational interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building from the psychology of working framework, we examined the moderating role of proactive personality in the attainment of decent work among a sample of racially and ethnically diverse employed adults in the United States (N = 238). We tested our hypotheses using structural equation modeling and found experiences of marginalization and economic constraints to have indirect associations with decent work via work volition. We also found marginalization, work volition, and career adaptability to have direct associations with decent work but found no support for proactive personality as a moderating mechanism. Our findings contribute to the growing literature examining how contextual variables are associated with securing decent work among diverse groups. We discuss practical implications along with future directions for research related to the psychology of working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Maternity leave is not federally guaranteed or paid in the United States. Although there has been an increase of women in the workforce, federal maternity leave policy has not changed since the adoption of the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993. The subjective quality of this maternity leave is likely an important component of what mothers perceive to be decent work. However, no scholars have developed measurements examining mothers' subjective experiences of the quality of their maternity leave. Therefore, the goal of the current research was to develop scales measuring six domains of quality of maternity leave: time off, flexibility, coworker support, discrimination, microaggressions, and benefits (e.g., pay, health care, disability insurance). In two studies with diverse samples of working, adult mothers, we provide evidence for the factor structure, validity, and internal consistency of the Quality of Maternity Leave Scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study tested key tenets of the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) in a sample of 526 racially and ethnically diverse employed adults. The authors investigated how economic resources and marginalization predicted decent work through experiences of work volition and career adaptability. Support for the hypotheses was mixed. There was a direct, negative relation between marginalization and decent work; a direct, positive relation between economic resources and work volition; and a direct, negative relation between marginalization and work volition. There was a positive relation between work volition and career adaptability as well as with decent work. Work volition was also found to significantly mediate the relations between marginalization and economic resources to decent work. These results suggest that the primary reason why greater economic resources and lower experiences of marginalization predict engaging in decent work is attributable to an increased sense of choice in one's career decision making. Results suggest the need for further investigation using the PWT to understand how racially and ethnically diverse employed adults secure decent work. Practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges confronted by low-income high school students throughout school and across the transition to higher education and employment are well-documented in the US and many other nations. Adopting a positive youth development perspective (Lerner et al., 2005), this study reports findings from interviews with 18 low-income, racially and ethnically diverse graduates of an urban Catholic high school in the US. The interviews were designed to shed light on the post-high school experiences of urban high school graduates and to understand how students construct meaning about the value of school and work-based learning (WBL) in their preparation for meaningful work and life. The interviews highlight the perceived value of the academic and non-cognitive preparation students experienced through high school and WBL in relation to the challenges they encountered along the pathway to post-high school success and decent work. Overall, the findings suggest the potential of WBL for low-income youth in facilitating access to resources that build academic and psychological/non-cognitive assets, while also illustrating the role of structural and contextual factors in shaping post-high school transitions and access to meaningful work and life opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon the psychology of working theory (PWT), the goal of the present study was to examine longitudinal relations among precarious work, workplace dignity, and basic need fulfillment (survival, social contribution, and self-determination needs). To examine our hypotheses, we surveyed a group of working adults in the United States three times over three months. However, the study began in March 2020 – before widespread lockdowns, layoffs, and furloughs – and some participants lost their jobs on subsequent waves during April and May 2020. Therefore, a secondary aim of the study was to explore predictors of job loss in the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that having precarious work in early March 2020 significantly predicted job loss due to COVID-19 in May 2020. For workers who remained employed during this time, greater precarious work predicting lower fulfillment of survival needs over time. In addition, workplace dignity and fulfillment of relatedness needs operated reciprocally, predicting greater levels of each other over time, and greater workplace dignity predicted greater fulfillment of social contribution, autonomy, and competence needs across time. These results expand PWT by suggesting that precarious work and workplace dignity are both important work conditions that predict fulfillment of different basic needs over time. • Pre-pandemic precarious work predicted job loss two months after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. • Greater precarious work predicted lower fulfillment of survival needs over time. • Workplace dignity and fulfillment of relatedness needs predicted each other reciprocally over time. • Greater workplace dignity predicted greater fulfillment of social contribution, autonomy, and competence needs across time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Unemployment, underemployment, and the quality of work are national occupational health risk factors that drive critical national problems; however, to date, there have been no systematic efforts to document the public health impact of this situation., Methods: An environmental scan was conducted to explore the root causes and health impacts of underemployment and unemployment and highlight multilevel perspectives and factors in the landscape of underemployment and unemployment., Methods: included a review of gray literature and research literature, followed by key informant interviews with nine organizational representatives in employment research and policy, workforce development, and industry to assess perceived needs and gaps in practice., Results: Evidence highlights the complex nature of underemployment and unemployment, with multiple macro-level underlying drivers, including the changing nature of work, a dynamic labor market, inadequate enforcement of labor protection standards, declining unions, wage depression, and weak political will interacting with multiple social determinants of health. Empirical literature on unemployment and physical, mental, and psychological well-being, substance abuse, depression in young adults, and suicides is quite extensive; however, there are limited data on the impacts of underemployment on worker health and well-being. Additionally, organizations do not routinely consider health outcomes as they relate to their work in workforce or policy development., Discussion and Conclusions: Several gaps in data and research will need to be addressed in order to assess the full magnitude of the public health burden of underemployment and unemployment. Public health needs to champion a research and practice agenda in partnership with multisector stakeholders to illuminate the role of employment quality and status in closing the gap on health inequities, and to integrate workforce health and well-being into labor and economic development agendas across government agencies and industry.

Women continue to lag behind for accessing managerial positions, partially due to discrimination at work. One of the main roots of such discrimination is gender stereotyping, so we aim to comprehend those biased procedures. First, we have analyzed those highlighted gender lawsuit cases in the scientific literature that have dealt with stereotypes both in the American and the European work contexts. Second, meta-analytic studies regarding organizational consequences of gender stereotypes have been synthetized. Third, gender stereotypes have been grouped by means of a content analysis of the existing literature after processing 61 articles systematically retrieved from WOS, SCOPUS, and PsycINFO databases. As a result, a taxonomy of gender stereotypes has been achieved evidencing that descriptive and prescriptive stereotypes have an impact on decision-making procedures through the apparently perception of women as less suitable for managerial positions. Moreover, we offer a deep explanation of the gender discrimination phenomenon under the umbrella of psychosocial theories, and some measures for successfully overcoming management stereotyping, showing that organizational culture can be improved from both the perspective of equal employment opportunities and the organizational justice frameworks for reaching a balanced and healthier workplace.