A survey of public attitudes toward occupational health and related social protection systems among college students
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Huang, Hsun-Yin
Abstract
In Taiwan, there are various legislations concerning occupational safety and health, however, many of them are subject to improvement. Especially, there are many problems in the current workers’ compensation system. The amendment of the regulations alone will not be sufficient. There is need to understand how the public perceive occupational safety and health in general, and workers’ compensation system in specific. There were three objectives in this study. The first was to develop the tools for measuring the attitudes toward the occupational compensation system, expectations on work and the role of government. The second purpose was to investigate college students’ attitudes toward the principles of workers’ compensation system as well as expectations on work, occupational health and safety, and the social protection systems. The third study objective was to compare the results of this survey with that from previous surveys in order to understand the changes in attitudes toward expectations on work and the role of government.
The quantitative survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews. The researcher adapted and modified questionnaire items from international social surveys for the assessment of work value, attitudes to work and governmental role. Also included in the questionnaire were items for assessing parental socioeconomic status. Teachers from 18 selected colleges/universities were contacted and their students were invited to participate in the survey. A total of 479 male and 670 female students completed the questionnaires, resulting in a response rate of 95.56%. Subjects aged between 18 and 23 years old were also extracted from the Taiwan Social Change Survey for analyses – there were 230 subjects in the survey conducted in 2005, 216 subjects from the survey in 2006. In-depth interviews were conducted in 8 students for a better understanding of students’ perception and responses to the questionnaire questions.
The main results included three parts. First, most of the tools for measuring the attitudes toward occupational compensation system were with good validity and reliability except the items with reverse descriptions. Secondly, working experiences and working hours varied in different types of university including public university, private university, public and private vocational schools. Most students approved the principles of the workers’ compensation system but were less likely to support compensation for occupational diseases and commute accidents. In the interview study, we found that all of the students had experienced work injuries, but none of them were fully aware of the workers’ compensation system. In multivariate regression analysis, students with the higher grade, working experiences, whose main supporter wasn’t an employer, and those who attended to private schools were more supportive toward the workers’ compensation system. Thirdly, job security, job with good opportunities for advancement, and interesting job, were characteristics which were mostly valued by college students. Most college students were supportive toward some social welfare policy especially for those in need, like social welfare for the elderly.
The researcher suggests that the teaching materials should be developed in order to enhance students’ knowledge on labor laws, occupational safety and health issues and related rights. On the other hand, at the time of rising unemployment rate, we should pay more attention to the quality of employment, in addition to the quantity of job opportunities. Enterprises should be encouraged to provide better job opportunities. Finally, the government should develop more social protection systems in response to the raising expectations from the people.
Subjects
occupational injury
occupation stratification
occupational compensation system
SDGs
Type
thesis
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