The quest for sustainable employment: Challenges faced by young people during the job‐search process

Young people who are unable to find and sustain employment are at risk for long‐term social and economic exclusion. Active labour market policies (ALMPs) addressing the problem of youth unemployment have focused on building the employability skills of young job seekers to expand their employment opportunities. Yet research exploring how young people navigate the job‐search process is limited. Drawing on interviews with young Australian job seekers and their employment consultants, this article addresses the questions of how young people navigate entry into employment through the job‐search process and what challenges they face. The study revealed three common frustrations experienced by the young people during their job‐search: employers' expectations of relevant work experience in the young person's preferred occupation, being required to apply for jobs not aligned with their career aspirations, and the impact of personal factors on their ability to confidently present themselves to prospective employers. The findings highlight the need for ALMPs and employers to facilitate positive employability support mechanisms that will build a stable platform from which young people can build a trajectory towards sustainable employment to reduce long‐term youth unemployment.     

Contextualising institutional complementarity. How long‐term unemployment depends on employment protection legislation,active labour market policies and the economic climate

This study investigated if and how active labour market policies (ALMPs) and employment protection interact with each other in light of long‐term unemployment reduction. We argue that how well the interaction between both labour market institutions reduces long‐term unemployment depends on the level of economic growth. To improve analytical clarity, two types of ALMPs were differentiated, namely training and employment programmes. Using data on 20 European countries over 16 years, our results suggest that employment protection moderates the relationship between employment programmes and long‐term unemployment. The combination of high spending on employment programmes and less strict employment protection is associated with less long‐term unemployment. This moderation effect is stronger during an economic downturn. A moderation effect from employment protection on the relationship between training programmes and long‐term unemployment was not found, even when the economic climate was taken into account as a contextual factor.     

Reducing unemployment? Examining the interplay between active labour market policies

Active labour market policies (ALMP) are important tools that welfare states utilize to influence the labour market. This study analyses the macroeconomic effects of different types of ALMP spending on aggregate unemployment rates, and especially if there is evidence of interdependencies between policies. The types of policies scrutinized are public employment services (PES), training programs, public job creation and subsidized employment, where the PES is singled out as a crucial factor that moderates the effects of other types of labour market programs. The study examines 19 welfare states between 1985 and 2013, using error correction modelling to separate between short‐ and long‐term effects. The results indicate that PES, training and subsidized employment reduce unemployment in the short‐run, whereas PES and wage subsidies are associated with reduced unemployment when considering long‐term effects. However, PES is found to have indirect effects on other policy types and increased spending on PES is shown to reinforce long‐term effects of training programs.     

Feeling motivated yet? Long‐term unemployed people's perspectives on the implementation of workfare in Australia

A key thrust of labour market policy in Australia and many other western countries is that long‐term unemployed people lack the personal motivation to engage proactively and successfully in the search for paid employment. In this paper we argue that the implementation of what are experienced as paternal workfare programs are counter‐productive to achieving the official policy goal of improving self‐efficacy and gaining paid employment. The empirical discussion presented in the paper is based on a semi‐longitudinal study that tracked 75 long‐term unemployed people in three different labour markets in Australia between 2005–2007. The study was funded by the Australian Research Council and Jobs Australia.     

Who are the lucky ones? Heterogeneity in active labour market policy outcomes

Nordlund M. Who are the lucky ones? Heterogeneity in active labour market policy outcomes Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 144–155 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. This study focuses on how the effects from investments in Active Labour Market Policy programmes (ALMPs) may be differently distributed due to the age and educational level of participants. Outcomes were measured as the chance of labour market inclusion, labour market stability and post‐unemployment incomes. This longitudinal study captures long‐term effects among 50,000 Swedes who entered unemployment in 1993. While the youngest gained most from ALMP‐training, the oldest were best helped by ALMP‐ employment in reducing the risk of labour market exit. The lowest educated gained much from ALMP participation, although the effects were weaker than expected: those with a higher education gained more in terms of labour market stability from ALMP‐training compared with the less educated persons. This result was interpreted in terms of a springboard effect, meaning that ALMP‐training pushes higher educated people into further education in the regular educational arena.     

How unemployment duration affects social assistance receipt: evidence from Finland

This article reports on a study of the impact of unemployment duration on the probability of becoming a social assistance recipient and on the time spent on social assistance. The data are taken from a local Finnish labour market consisting of the cohort of unemployed people at a given date (n = 2,274). The data are linked to information about the number of months recipients received social assistance during the subsequent year. Count data regression models of the hurdle type are estimated. The results of the analysis suggest that the impact of unemployment duration on the probability of becoming a social assistance recipient is explained to a large extent by changes in the distribution of types of unemployment benefits between people with different lengths of time spent in unemployment. Unemployment assistance recipients are more likely to become social assistance recipients and to spend longer periods on social assistance than are recipients of unemployment insurance because the unemployment benefits for the latter are higher. Among social assistance recipients, time spent on the transfer increases with unemployment duration only for those who are in frequent need of assistance.     

Regional Tertiary Students and Living Away from Home: A priceless experience that costs too much?

For financial reasons, an increasing number of tertiary students in Australia are forced to work long hours each week, and they are becoming more likely to be living in relative poverty. This study aimed to explore and describe the economic situation of students at a provincial Australian university campus, and the role that type of residence plays in their financial well‐being. A large‐scale self report survey dealing with students' financial experiences during the 2003 academic year, was distributed to a convenience sample of students from across the courses offered on the campus. Quantitative data analysis was completed using SPSS and qualitative data was analysed thematically. Results indicate a strong relationship between type of residence and financial well‐being. Rural students may be especially vulnerable to the effects of financial distress, because of issues such as low cash‐flow on many family farms, and the long distances many travel to attend regional universities. This study indicates a number of possible avenues to protect students from living in poverty.     

Unemployment and education mismatch in the EU before and after the financial crisis

This paper investigates whether general formal education still helps youth avoid situations of unemployment and inactivity in favour of other labour force statuses (dependent employment, self-employment, education) across EU countries over the period 2006–2010. In a second step, we analyse whether the relationship between education and the labour statuses above is affected by different degrees of country-level education mismatch. Our results show that after the outbreak of the crisis and in countries with high educational mismatch there is an additional reduction in unemployment risk for highly educated people that is accompanied by a higher probability of being an employee than of remaining in education.     

Association Between Unemployment Duration and Depression in the SouthWest Region of Turkey: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Unemployment has risen as an effect of globalization in the country of Turkey. To date, no studies have examined the association between the duration of unemployment and perceived mental health. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the association between the duration of unemployment and the incidenence of depression among citizens in the southwest region of Turkey. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 908 unemployed individuals. The questionnaire gathered sociodemographic characteristics and employment-related circumstances. To measure mental health, a depression inventory was administered and group-wise t-tests and logistic regressions were conducted. The findings show that long-term unemployed persons had more episodes of depressive moods in the past 12 months when compared with the group of the short-term unemployed. In addition, depression levels were higher among the long-term unemployed compared with the short-term unemployed. It was estimated that the duration of unemployment and the measurement of depression had a positive correlation. Risk factors that increased depression in the short-term unemployed were gender (female), older age, and greater periods of unemployment. However, higher education, income, and having social insurance significantly decreased the risk of developing depression for both the short-term and the long-term unemployed. Future recommendations include supportive counseling to increase motivation levels and developing strategies to handle periods of unemployment.     

Attitudes towards the unemployed. An analysis of Swedish survey data

To be unemployed is often associated with being stigmatised by others. People may blame the unemployed themselves, insist that they could find a job if they tried harder, maintain that too little is demanded from recipients of unemployment benefits and consider differences in standard of living between the unemployed and the employed too small. This article is aimed at studying the prevalence of such negative attitudes and to examine the determinants behind them. In May 2000, questions were added on to a randomly selected subsample in the regular Swedish labour force survey. The results indicate that own unemployment experience and perceived risks of becoming unemployed make people less apt to blame the unemployed. Having family members or close friends with unemployment experience tends to have a similar impact. In contrast, young people more often express stigmatising attitudes. With respect to social class position the results are divided.     

Multiculturalism and social cohesion: A Japanese community’s perceptions of “being Australian”

Based on a large‐scale survey conducted with parents from Japanese language schools in Sydney in 2015, this paper aims to review multiple dimensions of social cohesion in the Japanese ethnic community in Australia. Looking at several indices such as economic, political, and cultural integration, the paper describes the social profile of the Japanese ethnic community, questioning the generic perception of the community as a coherent body of middle‐class migrants in Australia. This was achieved through a comparative analysis with outcomes of a national survey of the Australian population on social cohesion and draws attention to the ways in which a particular sense of social cohesion with Australian society is constructed by Japanese migrants. The study found a differentiated sense of belonging to the local community, country of residence (Australia), and nation of origin (Japan). It found communal diversity in the Japanese community resulting from there being a majority of women migrants who were part of cross‐border marriages and their children living in multicultural family circumstances. It was concluded that this configuration within the community leads to advocacy related to a re‐identification as a possible ethnic group of migrants that should be recognized in an inclusive migration settlement policy in Australia.     

Precarious workers' choices about unemployment insurance membership after the Ghent system reform: The Finnish experience

The literature on the Ghent system has focused on the link between voluntary unemployment insurance and union membership in terms of industrial relations. Less attention has been paid to unemployment benefits and employees' decision‐making concerning unemployment insurance, even though the core function of the Ghent system is to provide unemployment insurance. This paper examines both of the options that precarious workers (i.e., part‐timers, temporary employees, and low‐skilled service employees) choose regarding unemployment insurance membership and the change in union density after the Ghent system reform in Finland. First, the results show that the growth of the independent unemployment insurance fund was the main reason for declining union density in the 2000s and early 2010s. Second, in terms of precarious workers, we find that the emergence of the independent fund has affected their choices about unemployment insurance membership and that their choices depend on the type of precarious employment they have. Moreover, part‐timers and temporary employees younger than 35 years of age are much less likely to enroll in unemployment insurance than older employees who have the same types of employment contracts.     

Culture wars in South Australia: the sex education debates

School sexuality education has been a component of Australia's successful and internationally recognized HIV/AIDS strategy since the 1980s and has been well accepted in the community. However South Australia is experiencing a re‐emergence of opposition to school sexuality education orchestrated by groups associated with the United States‐based Christian Right. In this paper I will outline sex education policy developments in Australia and the United States as a framework for discussing the controversy generated around the Sexual Health and Relationships Education (SHARE) program in South Australia in 2003. In doing so I give attention to the similarities between the strategies deployed by the opponents of SHARE and those used to install abstinence‐only‐until‐marriage sex education as national policy in the United States. I will argue that, rather than a phenomenon indigenous to South Australia, these debates are part of an international movement to progress the political goals of the Christian Right.     

Unemployment and mental health: evidence from research in the Nordic countries

In this article we examine research on effects of unemployment on mental health in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. We describe studies that use cross-sectional, longitudinal and time-series data, and we discuss studies that investigated the duration-dependence issue in exit rates out of unemployment. Not surprisingly, cross-sectional studies reveal that unemployed persons have worse mental health than do others. Most longitudinal studies suggest that unemployment is associated with deteriorating mental health, even though it is somewhat unclear how long such an effect persists. Most duration-dependence studies were done using Swedish data. It turns out that unemployment benefits and labour-market policies affect the pattern of exit rates out of unemployment.     

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRALIA, 1950–89

Although the incidence of unemployment in Australia is well established, the causes of unemployment remain controversial. Various putative causes for unemployment exist, including the unemployment benefits system. The present study sought to estimate the impact of the generosity of Australian unemployment benefits on the measured unemployment rate of three recipient groups, single adult males over 21, married males, and married males with two children, for the period 1950 to 1989 inclusive. The results of this statistical exercise are largely consistent with similar work done in Australia and elsewhere; namely, that while unemployment benefits did increase the measured rate for unemployment during the period 1950 to 1989 to a statistically significant degree, other stronger influences on unemployment were evident.     

Unemployment and conditional welfare: Exclusion and belonging in immigrant women's discourse on being long‐term dependent on social assistance

Long‐term unemployment with dependency on social assistance in Sweden has increased and is particularly high among foreign‐born persons. The present study explored immigrant recipients' experiences of being welfare reliant. Swedish‐Iraqi women's construction of exclusion and belonging in relation to policies and welfare regulations was scrutinised. The women referred to unemployment with frustration, expressing that it renders dependence on social welfare and enforces adherence to the stipulations of the social services. The individual's mobility and agency are restricted and concerted efforts to obtain employment are futile, which increase the sense of exclusion. However, the entitlement to social assistance also engenders feelings of belonging, of being connected to and cared for by the new country. More research is needed to examine the role that social assistance regulations play in forming feelings of belonging and exclusion. It appears essential that political initiatives be taken to reverse the trend of high unemployment among foreign‐born persons.     

Child poverty in South Africa: an assessment based on microdata for 1995

In this study we assess child poverty in South Africa by estimating multivariate models using household-survey microdata from 1995. The applied poverty line defines children as poor if they live in households with a disposable per capita income less than US$1 Purchasing Power Parity. In South Africa, people living under such income conditions must be considered extremely poor. The results show that children living in South Africa face a risk of being poor comparable to that of the average world inhabitant. Child poverty in South Africa is an issue with strong racial connotations. Large variations in child poverty rates across provinces are found and most of South Africa's poor children live in rural areas. The educational level of household head is a strong predictor of child poverty. The probability of child poverty is vigorously reduced if a household receives wage earnings, but is affected by households' demographic structure.     

Social inclusion under Labor in South Australia

Social inclusion policies were championed by the former Rann Labor government in South Australia from 2002 to 2011. In 2011 the Social Inclusion Unit was dissolved by the South Australian government. It is argued that the relatively narrow focus of the former SIU on ‘problem’ communities limited its capacity to provide more than residual solutions. The diminishing political returns on social inclusion also encouraged the South Australian government to abandon this initiative. In 2014 this government has had to grapple with the end of car making in Australia and a declining manufacturing labour force, traditionally a ‘mainstream’ constituency of the Labor Party. The return to ‘mainstreaming’ social policy in South Australia might offer limited space for realignment of social policy with the concept of social citizenship. It might also represent a move away from the functionalist morality of social inclusion. Social inclusion as practiced in South Australia has limited capacity to address generalised social disadvantage. The latter is likely to concern a re‐elected Labor minority government grappling with significant job losses and a declining local economy.     

You can go your own way! The long‐term effectiveness of a self‐employment programme for welfare recipients in Germany

In this study, we examined the long‐term effects of supporting welfare recipients by means of a subsidy to start their own business. We used administrative data and propensity score matching to estimate the impact of the subsidy on the probability of receiving welfare benefits and on unemployment status up to 72 months after programme start. We supplemented our estimation results with the results of a qualitative survey which provided insights into the diversity of entrepreneurial activities and the recipients' motivation for starting a business. Our results are encouraging. We found a stable positive effect on the outcomes of interest. We further found that foreign nationals and the long‐term unemployed benefit the most. We conclude that the subsidy allows some people to successfully start a business who would not have otherwise done so and who would have been less successful by choosing the alternative of continued job search.