PRODUCTS & SERVICES - Informatics - Services - P.E.M.I.S.

P.E.M.I.S.

ADVANCED RESEARCH NETWORKS AS MILESTONES OF SUSTAINABILITY

P.E.M.I.S.

Although unemployment has a long history -in social terms, it has only recently received a realistic appreciation of the true magnitude it inflicts to modern society. As a manifested oxymoron, unemployment tends to be proportionally related to productivity and industrial growth, whilst its devastating social impact is being intensified by the very same growth-rate sustenance that productivity claims to boost. Despite the advocated precarious nature of this social plague, as a transition era to the globally restructuring economic models, it is -alas- apparent that the required vertebrate societal and economic mechanisms that could safeguard this human dignity-sensitive factor, are far from being classified as secure and robust, against the status per se. The current number of long-term unemployed and that number as a proportion of the total of unemployed people describe the size of the group of persons for whom unemployment has become not a brief interlude, but rather a serious problem, in some cases threatening their very existence. A new breed of problems is due to progressively become pronounced in unemployment issues, scourging both developing and developed world.

A glimpse of the system's true state and fragility, was probably revealed amply in West Germany where the unemployment share amounted to 31.9% in 1996. A comparison with England and France shows that long-term unemployment is an even bigger problem there; in both of these countries about 67% of current unemployment is long-term unemployment. Bearing this in mind the ranking procedures for labor markets and labor market policies which are based on the figures normally used, must be put into perspective and considered with great caution. The lurking message progressively discovered in the European world, was that unemployment is indeed a hardy kind of beast to beat, mainly due to the complexity and composition of a catenary of ponderous problems it carries along. Employment, average hours, and total hours worked declined in each country. Productivity gains in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden corresponded to increases in output and declines in hours worked. This was similar to what occurred in the Europe G-4 countries. Norway, in contrast, achieved a gain in manufacturing productivity even though output declined; hours worked declined at a faster rate than output.

A progressive deployment of the overall employment structure, as developing in the 21st century, revealed a more elaborate view of the innate problems. Hence, the all-important side issues of underemployment, and, the contribution of deficient employment to poverty increase, became apparent as well. In terms of underemployment, it was found to include a progressively larger percentage of work-force concerned, further segmenting the term into visible and invisible sectors. Invisible sectors of the problem included in particular the self-employed, where although appearing to have worked throughout the year, in terms of productivity/income, their work would progressively fail to give them sufficient returns. They were, therefore, reverting to cumbersome additional and/or alternative work to supplement their income. Visible sectors of the problem affected work-force labor-time utilization, where those categorized as usually employed do not have work throughout the year, owing to seasonality of work or otherwise. This is a common feature in agriculture and agriculture-based industries, which account for a large percentage of those employed. Another significant issue in this section of underemployment is that it is more prevalent among women than men, and in rural than urban areas. On the employment and poverty issues, conclusive evidence proved that the data on unemployment do not directly reflect the quality of employment in terms of the living standards of workers. Labor capacity, growth and productivity, are becoming progressively more nested and, intense competition followed by unpaired social re-training and supportive measures for fortification of work-force quality, contribute to long-term family poverty and depreciation of the per person wealth. Special programs in themselves can only be a palliative or a short-run response to an immediate crisis of employment and poverty, but a lasting solution of poverty rests in raising the per worker productivity - a nail for the upcoming problems to be burdened over education and re-training.

Under this realization, it is crucial to denote that the essential reformation elements, - that is Education and Health for all - have never ceased to be the frontline goal, and, it is still credited that they can result in a big jump in employment growth, especially in the rural sector, which is lacking in both these counts. The real societal base of dispute, acrimoniously argues evidence of a rational mode to analyze whether the economic reforms -with accent on the corporate sector- have generated employment commensurate with the increase in investment in the corporate sector. In other words, are the reforms aimed at output growth, relegating the employment objective to the backseat? Are the overall policies -regardless to nobility of ethics- operate on the right track?

Policies and regulations have certainly appeared, often ending to pompous failure followed by great financial spending to no goal. The hard lesson was dearly paid, as to comprehend the rapidly decaying efficiency in motivation and skills, that long-term unemployment imputes to people. Current initiatives have more closely adapted to a more efficient approach, attempting to help people return to employment by looking after them intensively, by offering financial support and - to the extent possible on the basis of the experience gained therefrom - to prevent long-term unemployment from coming about by pre-emptive action. This is the core of the phenomenon of long-term unemployment.

Research work at DAEDALUS Informatics, have concentrated on the aforementioned issues, seeking means to reveal the enabling engineering and operational aspects required, as to employ towards viable schemes for counter-fighting unemployment. It was an early discovery, that we should rather attempt to establish a more descriptive term for the various species of unemployment, since it will inevitably appear as a more emphatic correlation in the near future, and, to reset it as a "degree of employment". Important deductions -among many- indicated the focus point of concerted activities, to be the Municipality Node, as the Constitutional sector with the highest density of interactivity with population. Simply stated, Municipalities could serve as the reformation vehicle for in employment policies, education, training and nested public services.

A forthcoming agenda of issues is clearly among strategic aims of this proposal -yet deviating the limited scope of this report. However, it should be important to urgently anticipate for developing crisis on employment dynamics, since the gap between a knowledge-based workforce and a labor intensive workforce will definitely widen in the coming decade, leading inevitably to social unrest. Both Government and Industry, would soon be forced to address issues such as scalable wages, productivity, flexible work schedules and use of substitute workers. A large "pool" for not only redesign the rendering mechanisms of these issues, but for also developing a new envelope of proactive employment opportunities, along route to meeting challenges for the near future -as is the emergence of the home business model, could optimally be met via the following proposal.

It is hereby proposed the realization of a computerized prototype model network Node through which, any interested municipality could promote and enhance all concerted actions for contributing to the critical issue of assisting activity/employment rehabilitation.

The direct and obvious benefit of such a Node is to face the escalating issue of unemployment. However, its general layout and operational structure presents an open model for employment promotion through a dynamic and constant upgrade of the educational background and the relative expertise of the subscribed registered citizens. The definition of any municipality as a potential registration center-Node, automatically implies an unhindered, strategic and rational extension of the services offered by the Node, as well as its immediate capacity for interaction with other similar network centers, or with future national or Community-wide initiatives and policies that may develop. Of prime importance is the direct relevance and feasibility of implementation for a number of satellite activities. Among most notable potential applications is a database for managing citizens health portfolio, as to be make it accessible upon urgent or crucial demand, via Internet or, minimally, via facsimile access, where lack of basic communication infrastructure could be a constrain.

Moreover, the Node aspires to turn out into a prototype social research field, upon cases where an escalating social problem, escapes any solution attempted via conventional national and other actions.

Main Operational Parts

Node of Collection, Classification and automated Information Distribution to Subscriber's, of a wide variety of subjects of municipal interest, related to employment issues or otherwise.
Proactive Employment Database Municipality Node. Database of Enrolment of Employment Profiles, for Municipal registries. The Database profiles may be managed by registered citizens via the Internet, subjected to security access management criteria.
Electronic Management System for Promotion of Commercial or Public Service Content, to classified target groups. Support Database for Basic Statistical Trends. This is an integrated system for managing subject-specific, advertising material, and Commercial or social nature offers to subject-related target email groups. The system also offers a wide range of statistical analysis functions. Confidentiality and impersonalized email targeting are also strictly regarded. Among many important issues addressed within this segment, is a socially and business-ethical mode for providing a direct income mechanism for the Municipality Server Node. In consequence this generated income could return enhanced and upgraded offered services to subscribers.
Composition, Management and Promotion System of Multimedia Publications and Content Rendering, through Internet use. An on-line system for creation and rendering of multimedia publications via the Internet. This is a multi-purpose segment, able to offer a breakthrough funcionality in exploiting forthcoming educational and employment models.
Complementary Database Nodes (primary importance is attributed to the implementation of a Municipal Database for Subscriber-based Health Management Services).

To its full extend, as well as during pilot implementation phase, the proposed system anticipates utilization of smart cards technology for enabling the full range of financial transaction operations, under supervisory and jurisdictional authority of a Banking Enterprise. In this respect, demonstration of a full transactional flow treating surplus-value on information as a commodity, is endeavored. In addition, a robust business to consumer model is (B2C) will be also demonstrated via section (3).

Daedalus Informatics is currently in the position to undertake gradual implementation of the above Services, in collaboration with the appropriate public and financial vendors, to articulate a fully-fledged solution with a socially wide implementation scope.