Well-Being Index and Life and Work Quality - Essay Example

Introduction Well being index and quality of work and life are very important indicators, which determine potential capital and human resource inflowin any region. It is natural to assume that regions with high well being index and better life and work quality will be attractive destination of qualified, gifted and resourceful individuals and by a natural corollary more capital and new investments will follow. This further enhances the well being index and life and work quality in that region, thus creating a virtuous cycle. Statistical analysis of well being index and life and work quality of different regions of USA has been performed. This has been done to ascertain where Maryland stands among all the regions of USA especially with respect to Virginia and Pennsylvania in terms of well being index and work and life quality. The findings of the statistical analysis is presented and discussed in this paper. Key Points Well Being Index, Work Quality and Life Quality. Where Maryland Stands Relative to Other States / Territories How Maryland compares with Pensylvania and Virginia Methodology Data on Well Being Index and Quality of Work and Life for 50 states and / or congressional district was collected and recorded in MS Office Excel spreadsheet. Descriptive Statistics for well being index and work and life quality was then obtained using MS Office Excel Data Analysis Tool. This was done to get a feel of these indexes i.e. well being index and work and life quality across all the 50 states / congressional districts of USA. The findings of this analysis are presented in Table 1, in the Appendix. It is better to examine and discuss the important statistics obtained from this analysis for each of these indexes – well being index and work and life quality. Well Being Index Summary statistics of well being index for all the 50 states / congressional districts is presented in Table, in the Appendix. The values for mean, median and mode are 65.47, 65.75 and 66.3 respectively. These parameters are measures of central tendency i.e. the central value around which actual well being index of different states lies. Another important statistics of well being index is standard deviation. Its value is 1.69. This is a measure of dispersion of the actual values around the mean value. Now let us examine, whether Maryland lies among all the 50 regions with respect to well being index. Well being index for Maryland is 67.1% (Table 2, in the Appendix). This means Maryland has above average well being index among all the 50 regions under consideration. It is important to examine whether the difference from the mean is significant. To do so 95% confidence interval for mean well being index was determined. This confidence interval is [64.90, 66.04]. It is clear that well being index for Maryland is more than the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval of the mean value. Therefore, it can be said that the difference is statistically significant. The well being index of Maryland is more than that of Pennsylvania and Virginia as seen in Table 2, in the appendix. In fact only five states (10%) are ahead of Maryland in terms of well being index while number of states ahead of Pennsylvania and Virginia in terms of well being index is 32 (64%) and 14 (28%) respectively, Table 3, in the Appendix. Therefore, it can be said that Maryland fares well in terms of well being index among all the 50 regions and is well ahead of its rivals Pennsylvania and Virginia. Life Quality Summary statistics of life quality for all the 50 states / congressional districts is presented in Table, in the Appendix. The values for mean, median and mode are 39.77, 39.80 and 39.80 respectively. These parameters are measures of central tendency i.e. the central value around which actual life quality of different states lies. Another important statistics of life quality is standard deviation. Its value is 4.15. This is a measure of dispersion of the actual values around the mean value. Now let us examine, whether Maryland lies among all the 50 regions with respect to life quality. Life quality for Maryland is 46.8 (Table 2, in the Appendix). This means Maryland has above average life quality among all the 50 regions under consideration. It is important to examine whether the difference from the mean is significant. To do so 95% confidence interval for mean life quality index was determined. This confidence interval is [38.46, 41.08]. It is clear that life quality for Maryland is more than the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval of the mean value. Therefore, it can be said that the difference is statistically significant. The life quality of Maryland (46.8) is more than that of Pennsylvania (36.2) and Virginia (43.4) as seen in Table 2, in the appendix. In fact only two states (4%) are ahead of Maryland in terms of life quality while number of states ahead of Pennsylvania and Virginia in terms of well being index is 40 (80%) and 9 (18%) respectively, Table 3, in the Appendix. Therefore, it can be said that Maryland fares well in terms of life quality among all the 50 regions and is well ahead of its rivals Pennsylvania and Virginia. Work Quality Summary statistics of work quality for all the 50 states / congressional districts is presented in Table, in the Appendix. The values for mean, median and mode are 51.22, 51.30 and 51.39 respectively. These parameters are measures of central tendency i.e. the central value around which actual work quality of different states lies. Another important statistics of work quality is standard deviation. Its value is 2.57. This is a measure of dispersion of the actual values around the mean value. Now let us examine, whether Maryland lies among all the 50 regions with respect to work quality. Work quality for Maryland is 49.6 (Table 2, in the Appendix). This means Maryland has below average work quality among all the 50 regions under consideration. It is important to examine whether the difference from the mean is significant. To do so 95% confidence interval for mean work quality was determined. This confidence interval is [50.35, 52.09]. It is clear that work quality for Maryland is less than the lower limit of the 95% confidence interval of the mean value. Therefore, it can be said that the difference is statistically significant. The work quality of Maryland (49.6) is less than that of Pennsylvania (50) and Virginia (50.7) as seen in Table 2, in the appendix. In fact as many as thirty four states (68%) are ahead of Maryland in terms of work quality while number of states ahead of Pennsylvania and Virginia in terms of well being index is 31 (62%) and 27 (54%) respectively, Table 3, in the Appendix. Therefore, it can be said that Maryland fares poorly in terms of life quality among all the 50 regions. In fact Maryland fares poorly in comparison to its rivals Pennsylvania and Virginia; which are also not doing well. Conclusions Based on the findings of the statistical analysis on the well being index and life and work quality of all the 50 regions of the USA it can be said that Maryland fares well in terms of well being index and life quality among all the 50 regions. On these two parameters Maryland fares much better than its rival states Pennsylvania and Virginia. However, Maryland fares poorly in terms of work quality. As work quality is equally important than the well being index and life quality in attracting investments and professionals in a region; therefore, Maryland should try to improve upon work quality. The factors contributing to the work quality should be studied in a better manner so that necessary actions may be taken to improve the work quality. Besides, the legislations pertaining to labor laws should be improved and implemented in better manner. APPENDIX Table 1: Descriptive Statistics on Well Being Index, Life Quality and Work Quality Statistics Well Being Index Life Quality Work Quality Mean 65.468 39.774 51.222 Standard Error 0.239547873 0.587487282 0.364017156 Median 65.75 39.8 51.3 Mode 66.3 39.8 51.9 Standard Deviation 1.693859257 4.154162407 2.573989994 Sample Variance 2.869159184 17.25706531 6.62542449 Kurtosis 0.359787211 0.013107483 -0.010192922 Skewness -0.551177377 -0.155087574 0.31043487 Range 8 19.1 11.8 Minimum 61.2 29.5 46.7 Maximum 69.2 48.6 58.5 Sum 3273.4 1988.7 2561.1 Count 50 50 50 Table 2: Well Being Index, Life Quality and Work Quality of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia Well Being Index Life Quality Work Quality Maryland 67.1 46.8 49.6 Pennsylvania 64.9 36.2 50 Virginia 66.5 43.4 50.7 Table 3: Number of Regions Ahead of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia in Terms of Well Being Index, Life Quality and Work Quality No. of Regions Ahead in Terms of Well Being Index Life Quality Work Quality Maryland 5 2 34 Pennsylvania 32 40 31 Virginia 14 9 27 Read More