Economic well‐being of low‐income single‐mother families following welfare reform in the USA

This study explored changes in net disposable income for low‐income single‐mother families before and after the 1996 welfare reform in the USA. Although many studies on welfare reform have focused on employment or total family income as a way to measure low‐income single‐mother families’ economic well‐being, little is known about their net income after expenses related to entering the workforce. This study analyzed net disposable income after tax deductions and childcare costs to provide a more accurate understanding of income changes using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation conducted by the US Census Bureau. The results revealed that while low‐income single mothers were working more after welfare reform, their net disposable income decreased during this time because their earnings were low and offset by an increase in childcare costs and a decline in means‐tested benefits, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits. Key Practitioner Message: ● To understand effects of the 1996 welfare reform on low‐income families’ economic well‐being; ● To understand comprehensive income sources and work related expenses of low‐income families; ● To provide policy suggestions for comprehensive childcare subsidies to support low‐income single mothers’ employment.     

From welfare state to welfare society: toward a viable system of welfare in Japan and England

Laratta R. From welfare state to welfare society: toward a viable system of welfare in Japan and England
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 131–141 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article compares the impact that public welfare reforms during the 1980s and 1990s had, and are still having, on the relationship between statutory organisations and the non‐profit sector in two developed countries, England and Japan. The author argues that the failure of these reforms clearly shows that, although non‐profit organisations may not be able to effectively replace the state in the provision of welfare services, they can contribute, working closely with the statutory organisations, to the shaping, financing and delivery of public services in a variety of ways. It is also interesting to note that, while the public welfare reforms of the late 1990s in England produced a shift away from a culture based on privatisation and contracting‐out toward a partnership culture of collaboration between state and non‐profit entities, similar reforms in Japan have resulted instead in an uncertain area of deregulation and privatisation.     

Promoting workplace‐based training to fight youth unemployment in three EU countries: Different strategies,different results?

During the economic crisis, youth unemployment grew exponentially in many European countries. It was argued that countries with a high level of firm involvement in the provision of initial vocational training were better equipped to address this problem. Boosting workplace‐based training was therefore seen as the right strategy to tackle unemployment. Using Denmark, Spain and the UK as case studies, this article analyses how countries with different skill formation systems have improved this type of training. While the UK reinforced the voluntaristic character of its training regime, Denmark improved the quality of its vocational education, and Spain made reforms to the training and apprenticeship contract. Interestingly, the countries achieved different results. To explain this divergence, it is argued that while the reforms made in the UK and Denmark were compatible with the national institutions and coordination mechanisms, this was not the case in Spain, where reforms were implemented in a non‐complementary way. Key Practitioner Message:

• After the economic crisis it was argued that countries with a high level of firm involvement in the provision of initial VET were better equipped to fight youth unemployment.
• The study analysed how countries with different skill formation systems improved this type of training and assessed their relative success.
• The article shows that when implementing reforms policy makers must take into account the institutions and mechanisms of coordination that prevail in each country. Otherwise, reforms may be unsuccessful.

     

Exploring a blind spot in comparative pension reform research: Long‐term trends in non‐contributory pensions in Europe

Over the past two decades, pension reforms have been high on the agenda of social policy makers in Europe. In many countries, these reforms have resulted in less generous public pensions. At the same time, minimum income protection for older adults has received attention from policy makers, but much less so from social policy researchers. Therefore, this study explored how benefit levels of non‐contributory minimum income schemes for older adults evolved from 1992 to 2012 in 13 ‘old’ EU member states. Building on two cross‐national longitudinal datasets with comparative data on minimum income protection in Europe, the study shows that over the past 20 years, the erosion of the principal safety net of last resort for older persons has been limited. Moreover, a substantial number of European countries have pursued a deliberate policy of considerably increasing minimum income benefits.     

Physiological Regulation and Fearfulness as Predictors of Young Children's Empathy‐related Reactions

Indices of physiological regulation (i.e., resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] and RSA suppression) and observed fearfulness were tested as predictors of empathy‐related reactions to an unfamiliar person's simulated distress within and across 18 (T1, N = 247) and 30 (T2, N = 216) months of age. Controlling for T1 helping, high RSA suppression and low fearfulness at T1 predicted T2 helping. In a structural model, empathic concern was marginally positively related to resting RSA at both assessments whereas personal distress was related to RSA suppression within time (marginally positively at T1 and significantly negatively at T2). Fearfulness was associated with self‐oriented, distress‐related reactions within time. Comfort seeking (an index of personal distress) declined in mean level with age whereas helping increased, and both behaviors exhibited differential continuity (as did resting RSA). Individual, as well as developmental, differences in the types of reactions that young children exhibit when witnessing others' suffering and distress were discussed.     

The performance of social security contributory and tax‐financed pensions in Central America,and the effects of the global crisis

Over the last 30 years, Latin America has pioneered structural pension reforms. This article focuses on a representative regional sample of seven Central American countries with diverse levels of development (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) studying contributory and tax‐financed pensions as well as recent pension reforms. It comparatively assesses system performance regarding five social security principles: unity; universal coverage; adequacy of benefits; equal treatment, solidarity and gender equality; and financial sustainability. It also evaluates the impact of the world crisis on these pension systems, highlighting the differences between public and private pensions, and extracts lessons and suggests policies for the future.     

The challenge of pension reform in Georgia: Non‐contributory pensions and elderly poverty

Georgia's national social security system offers almost universal non‐contributory basic pension coverage. The basic pension has, to date, proved effective in dealing with old‐age poverty. But Georgia's fiscal constraints and ageing population also highlight the importance of improving the pension system, in order to ensure its sustainability. This article presents policy reform choices, which suggest that, in Georgia, pension reform might include increasing the statutory retirement ages and reducing the generosity of benefits through means testing. The case of the Georgian non‐contributory basic pension might hold value for some low‐ and middle‐income countries that are considering the implementation of, or expanding coverage under, a non‐contributory pension programme.     

What do children think about their social worker? A Q‐method study of children's services

Understanding how children experience social work interventions is an important part of gauging whether what is provided is genuinely helpful. In this paper, we describe the findings from a research project using Q‐method, aimed at understanding what children involved with statutory services think about their social workers and how they experience the time they spend together. Using a pre‐existing practice framework, we explored skills including empathy, collaboration, and purposefulness from the point of view of children and young people. The participants in our study (n = 22) were insightful observers of social work practice, able to describe not only how they experienced time spent with their workers but also inferring differences in motivation and approach. In addition, workers who were described in similar terms by different young people were nevertheless experienced differently. This suggests not an archetypal “good social worker”—instead, there are skills that are good for specific children at specific times within the context of specific relationships.     

Promoting a higher retirement age: A prospect‐theoretical approach

Demographic ageing and the necessity of raising the retirement age is one of the most frequently debated topics among European welfare policy experts. This study used prospect theory as developed in behavioural economics to explain public attitudes towards pension reforms. It argues that, in line with prospect theory, negative incentives are more useful in changing people's attitudes in favour of a higher statutory retirement age than are positive incentives. Therefore, in the case of increasing life expectancy, defined‐contribution schemes that apply actuarial formulae linking the level of starting monthly pension benefits to life expectancy are more useful in promoting a higher retirement age than conventional defined‐benefit schemes, which typically do not forge an automatic connection between longevity and starting pensions. The implications of prospect theory for attitudes towards pension reforms were tested using Eurobarometer survey data collected in 2004 and 2009 in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.     

Rituals of Degradation: Administration as Policy in the Ontario Works Programme

After the election of a neo‐liberal provincial government in 1995, Ontario was at the forefront of work‐based welfare reform in Canada. Many of the sweeping reforms carried out under the banner of the “Common Sense Revolution” received widespread coverage: for example, reductions in welfare rates, the introduction of the Ontario Works programme, the adoption of a zero‐tolerance policy for so‐called welfare fraud, and changes to the rules relating to common‐law spousal relationships. However, much less attention has focused upon significant changes to the ways welfare is delivered. This paper critically interrogates a number of key changes to the Service Delivery Model in Ontario. After the passage of federal legislation in 1995, national entitlements to welfare have been terminated, replaced with local responsibility; this decentralization is changing not only the hierarchy of the regulation of poor people, but also the form and function of provision. In particular, there is evidence of the reinvention of administration towards the micro‐regulation of job search and personal behaviour and the deterrence of welfare receipt as applicants and recipients are bureaucratically disentitled. Although administrative practices have historically acted as a secondary barrier to welfare receipt, the paper suggests that the current incarnation of work‐enforcing reforms could be especially significant as the worlds of welfare and work continue to change.     

Putting the parity into service‐user participation: An integrated model of social justice

Models of service‐user participation have derived from citizenship or consumerist agendas, neither of which has achieved the structural reforms important for the most marginalised social work clients. This article proposes Fraser's model of ‘parity of participation’ as an appropriately multifaceted frame for capturing the social justice aspirations of service‐user participation. A qualitative case study compared the experiences and expectations of people who had used Australian mental health services with a sample who had used Australian homelessness services to examine their expectations of participation at individual and representative levels. The findings reinforce concerns from Fraser's research about the tendency for identity‐based consumerist notions of participation to reify group identity. This leads to tokenistic service‐user involvement strategies that have little impact on participation at a structural level. Fraser's parity of participation is shown to have untested potential to reshape service‐user participation to meet the social justice aspirations of social work clients. Key Practitioner Message: ● Innovative, service‐user driven strategies for collaboration will be those which challenge existing power structures; ● Service users want their contributions to decision making to generate identifiable change in the system of social services; ● The success of service‐user participation strategies might be the extent to which political, economic and cultural opportunities are enhanced.     

Non‐Take Up of Social Benefits in Greece and Spain

Even though interest in non‐take up of social benefits is considerable in many European countries, the topic is under‐researched in southern Europe. This article provides preliminary estimates of the extent of non‐take up of two pairs of means‐tested retirement benefits in Greece and Spain. The benefits examined are: (1) the minimum pension supplements pensioner social solidarity benefit EKAΣ and complementos por mínimos; and (2) the social pensions pension to uninsured elderly and pensión de jubilación no contributiva. The article finds that non‐take up of social benefits in the two countries is rather extensive, examines the methodological difficulties inherent in the analysis of non‐take up, and concludes with a discussion of the results and their implications.     

Room to move? Professional discretion at the frontline of welfare‐to‐work

Outcomes of social policies have always been mediated by the discretionary agency of front‐line staff, processes which nevertheless have received insufficient attention in policy evaluation and in the social policy literature more broadly. This article takes the case example of the policy reforms associated with the Australian government's welfare‐to‐work agenda. Drawing on two discreet research projects undertaken at different points in the policy trajectory, the practices of social workers in Centrelink – the Commonwealth government's primary service delivery agency involved in welfare‐to‐work – is examined. Centrelink social workers have been and remain one of the core groups of specialist staff since the Department's inception in the late 1940s, working to improve the well being of people in receipt of income security. Their experiences of the recent past and their expectations of the future of their professional practice as welfare reform becomes more entrenched are canvassed. In summary, the discretionary capacity of the Centrelink social workers to moderate or shape the impact of policy on income security recipients is steadily eroding as this group of professionals is increasingly captured by the emerging practices of workfare.     

Do social allowance transfers crowd out private transfers? An analysis of responses among elderly households in Taiwan

Chuang JCC. Do social allowance transfers crowd out private transfers? An analysis of responses among elderly households in Taiwan This article examines whether public transfers ‘crowd out’ private inter‐household transfers in Taiwan, focusing on two old age social allowance schemes (old age allowance and old age farmer allowance) during the 2002–2008 period. This study used a data set from the Survey of Family Income and Expenditure in Taiwan. Empirical evidence suggests that Taiwanese donors are strongly motivated by altruism, and that the increase of public transfers will crowd out private transfers, and vice versa. Besides, altruism is more likely to dominate among poorer elderly recipients, whereas the exchange motive would dominate among richer recipients. Thus, the response of Taiwanese donors is likely to neutralise the distributional impact of public transfers. Finally, the elderly are not a homogenous group, and the effect of public transfers on private transfers varies significantly by household characteristics, in particular depending on age, marital status and living arrangements.     

Co‐production in the epidemiological clinic: A decentred analysis of the tensions in community‐based,client‐facing risk work

Public health policies to prevent disease within populations are giving rise to shifting patterns of healthcare delivery in the late modern era. There is an inherent tension in modern medicine between evidence‐based standardisation, on the one hand, and patient‐centred specificity on the other. This tension manifests in recent policy narratives regarding public health risk (which we have characterised in terms of the epidemiological clinic) and co‐production. Drawing on co‐produced data with health trainers (lay health workers tasked with supporting behavioural change in patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease) in a deprived post‐industrial region of England, our decentred analysis focuses on three extended narratives from this data set. Our analysis builds on and develops emerging theories of risk work, informed by Habermas, and we explore the extent to which elite narratives of public health risk are resisted, absorbed, or bracketed off by client‐facing health workers—emphasising the heterogeneity of responses—and locate these responses within the context of the workers' employment conditions, their embodied experiences, and their wider beliefs and traditions. We argue that co‐production—albeit in a highly constrained form—is possible while delivering public health interventions. However, in the context of a community where health is so adversely affected by wider social problems and where task shifting has drawn lower status healthcare workers into these client‐facing roles, workers must find their own ways to negotiate and attempt to reconcile this context with the risk‐framed practices they are required to carry out.     

Long-term Care Policies in Italy, Austria and France: Variations in Cash-for-Care Schemes

Cash benefit provisions have been at the core of many recent reforms in the long-term care sector in Europe. The respective schemes, however, vary widely in terms of the definition of entitlements, the level of benefits, and the ways in which benefits can be used by recipients. This article investigates cash-for-care schemes in three European social insurance countries. It asks whether the diversity of these schemes indicates different paths or just differences in the pace with which the respective policies address the risk of dependency. A characterization of the three schemes and a discussion of the implications for care work arrangements lead to the conclusion that the context and timing of long-term care reform processes are in fact quite variegated. All three countries have histories of cash schemes and of applying the cash approach to support – and to some extent relieve – traditionally strong family obligations. Differences predominate in terms of linking cash to employment, although some convergence is apparent in the effects on qualifications, working conditions and wages in care work.     

Income Security During Sickness Absence. What Do British Middle‐classes Do?

Income maintenance during sickness absence is an under‐researched field within social policy analysis, and yet it is conducive to exploring the interplay between statutory, corporate and private forms of income protection. Drawing on original qualitative interview data, the article shows that British middle‐class couples largely ignore or dismiss public provision, which is due to a relatively low level of sickness benefits, but also based on misconceptions about social rights and the role of employers as mandatory (and voluntary) sick pay providers. Despite a considerable degree of mistrust, mortgage‐related private sickness insurance mattered to some extent, although this does not necessarily reflect policyholders’ strategic choices vis à vis current household needs for income security. Other potential sources of income replacement, such as savings, are relied on much less. In general, the analysis shows a heavy middle‐class reliance on, and strong confidence in, employer‐based sickness pay. This finding may be contrasted with questions about the sustainability of voluntary corporate provision, as well as its capacity to provide income security for the workforce as a whole.     

Tentative evaluation of the impact of public transfers on the dynamics of poverty: The case of Russia

The aim of this article is to offer a dynamic impact analysis of the system of transfers in Russia, based on a comparison of indicators of well‐being measured before and after state intervention. We shall begin by assessing the impact of public transfers on different forms of poverty and demonstrate that, while the system is seeing a fall in chronic and transitional poverty, there is very little movement between categories. We shall then evaluate the capacity of the system to keep non‐poor households from falling into poverty (protection) and to help poor households escape poverty (promotion). Several studies suggest that the Russian system of transfers is well suited to protection but has proved incapable of attaining the goal of promotion. In other words, in its current form it cannot claim to be an effective tool to combat long‐term poverty.     

Marketisation policies in different contexts: Consequences for home‐care workers in Germany,Japan and Sweden

Market‐oriented restructurings of long‐term care policies contribute significantly to the aggravation of care workers’ situations. This article focuses on the effects of broader long‐term care policy developments on market‐oriented reforms. Germany, Japan and Sweden are three countries that have introduced market‐oriented reforms into home‐based care provision embedded in distinct long‐term care policy developments. Conceptually, this article draws on comparative research on care to define the institutional dimensions of long‐term care policies. Empirically, the research is based on policy analyses, as well as on national statistics and a comparative research project on home‐care workers in the aforementioned countries. The findings reveal the mediating impact of the extension and decline of long‐term public care support and the corresponding development of the care infrastructure on both the restructuring of care work and the assessments of the care workers themselves.     

Economic empowerment or cash‐dependency for orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya: Evidence from an alternative to cash‐only models

Orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) often have worse educational, developmental, nutritional, and behavioral outcomes than non‐OVC. Much of these disparities come from reduced household earnings due to the loss of parental income. The present study used conditional process analysis to evaluate income and savings among OVC households, using cross‐sectional data from 1,060 OVC in a 3‐year Kenyan empowerment program that combined elements of cash transfer, psychosocial support, and small business entrepreneurship. Higher monthly earnings were significantly associated with program participation in a graded fashion. Approximately one‐third of the association was mediated by material inputs, indicating that a substantial portion may be explained by other unobserved program elements. Eighty‐five percent of increased rates of saving money in the past year were mediated by improved monthly income, cash transferred and improved food consumption. Data analysis highlights the need for multisectoral approaches and the need for more research to understand how to improve household economic stability among OVC. Key Practitioner Message: ? Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) are at risk of greater poverty, leading to multiple developmental and health challenges; ? Current policy in Kenya to offset costs of caring for OVC utilizes monthly cash transfers to households providing care for OVC; ? The present study found that increases in monthly income in an OVC multisectoral empowerment program were largely due to factors beyond the material inputs.