A Capability Approach to Unemployed Young People's Voice and Agency in the Development and Implementation of Employment Activation Policies

In the UK, current approaches to employment activation are primarily concerned with rapid labour market entry, with jobseekers compelled to engage in activities or be sanctioned. The Capability Approach (CA) has been proposed as an alternative framework to measure successful employment activation. It is concerned with what people can do rather than what they actually do, together with their substantive freedom of choice. In applying the CA, attention is drawn to the need for jobseekers to have a voice in the design and implementation of employment activation programmes. Drawing on in‐depth qualitative research, this article uses the CA to explore the voice and agency of unemployed young people (aged 16–24) in the development and implementation of employment activation policies. It analyses how far, and in what ways, young people's ideas, experiences and voices are included in policy development and implementation. Reflections and conclusions are made about how the policy discourse which has stressed the importance of centring services on the needs of users is reflected in employment activation policy.     

The "Employment-first" Welfare State: Lessons from the New Deal for Young People

New Labour is constructing an “employment‐first” welfare state. It plans through Jobcentre Plus to transform the passive culture of the benefit system by creating more explicit links between individual behaviour and engagement with labour market programmes. The New Deal for Young People (NDYP) has been at the forefront of these changes. This paper reports on the findings from four case studies that explored how the NDYP has changed young people's experience of the welfare state. It establishes that NDYP offers a mixture of employment assistance and “pressure” and has made progress in developing front‐line services and helping young long‐term unemployed people into work. NDYP does not, however, work for all. In areas of high unemployment and for some disadvantaged groups intermediate labour markets could enhance the New Deal and make real the offer of “employment opportunities for all”.     

The Italian Case: From Employment Regulation to Welfare Reforms?

This article on the Italian case is based on recent trends in labour market reform. We critically review the reform approach adopted in recent years, mainly centred on marginal legislative reforms in employment contracts. The diffusion of flexible labour contracts, especially among the younger generations and women, together with a welfare system still based on employment seniority and job characteristics, have reinforced the segmentation of the Italian labour market and social inequalities. The absence of a negotiating strategy in introducing reforms has also increased social conflict. These trends ask for a comprehensive reform of the welfare system and for active policies to support labour market transitions, a reform which is increasingly considered in the current political debate.     

The disembedded digital economy: Social protection for new economy employment in China

This research focuses upon employment in the new economy, exploring labour protection and social protection in the digital age in China. Through an empirical survey conducted in three Chinese cities, social insurance and the labour rights of employees in the digital economic sector, such as gig employment, e-commerce, and various other forms of online employment, have been examined in-depth. This study reveals new regulatory loopholes in the digital labour market, which have substantially eroded the basis of social policy arrangements in China, “softening” participation in social insurance branches and compliance with labour regulations remarkably. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Polanyi on embeddedness and disembeddedness, we argue that the digital employment sector in China has been increasingly disembedded from social institutions and social control. The new configuration in the digital field of social policy requires novel conceptual models and institutional settings to cope with increasing social risks in virtual spaces.     

Financial Incentives and Job‐search Training: Methods to Increase Labour Market Integration in Contemporary Welfare States?

In their efforts to increase labour market integration, contemporary welfare states emphasize the importance of financial incentives, active job‐searching and participation in labour market programmes. However, the effects of these policies have been minor and in some cases even inconsistent. The aim of this study was to examine whether and how financial incentives and job‐search training programmes increase re‐employment and the quality of re‐employment. A total of 1,015 unemployed persons participated in a Finnish follow‐up study with a randomized experimental design. Although no overall impact of job‐search training on re‐employment emerged, a positive effect was found for those groups of the unemployed who had a financial incentive to participate in the programme. Nevertheless, among unemployed workers with benefits at a minimum level there were no positive effects on the quality of re‐employment, and the impact decreased when unemployment was prolonged. Financial incentives and job‐search training appear to increase re‐employment among those of the unemployed who generally have better chances on the labour market, whereas these measures are not sufficient for the more disadvantaged groups of the unemployed.     

Moving targets: Target groups of active labour market policies and transitions to employment in Europe

This study drew on recurrent debates related to labour market mobility among the unemployed and those outside the labour force and asked to what extent active labour market policies (ALMP) increase employment in these two groups. By utilising new programme‐level data on ALMP, the study analysed the impact of core programmes directed towards registered unemployed; peripheral programmes that target the inactive part of the working age population; and mixed programmes targeting both groups. The programme data were combined with individual‐level panel data from the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions and analysed using multilevel analysis. The main results show that both resources devoted to programmes and their size were related to employment transitions. Transitions among the unemployed were mainly associated with spending on core programmes, whereas the inactive seemed to benefit from increased spending on all types of programmes, as well as increased scope of mixed programmes.     

Transitions to employment from labour market enterprises in Norway

In this article we analyse a labour market programme for partially disabled workers that involves the transition from labour market enterprises to a job in the ordinary labour market. We found that the percentage of these people who found jobs after a maximum two-year programme period increased over time. In 1995, 28 per cent became employed in the ordinary job market after leaving the programme. Exit rates to employment increased to 36 per cent in 1998 and to 39 per cent in 1999. We also found heterogeneity in the job transitions. Employment ratios for men were relatively stable over time, varying between 30 and 40 per cent over the period 1995–1999. For women, however, we found a significant change in employment ratios, with 21 per cent finding a job in 1995 and 40 per cent in 1999. In 1995, employment ratios for female participants were below those of male participants, although there was no difference over the whole period studied (1995–1999). In 1999, the average transition rate to employment was higher for female than for male participants.     

Varieties of marketisation in the UK: examining divergence in activation markets between Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2008–2014

This article examines the sub-national diversity in activation quasi-markets in the United Kingdom (UK). Through comparison of four active labour market programmes in Great Britain and Northern Ireland between 2008 and 2014, the article clarifies and maps intra-UK diversity in employment service governance and unpacks the shifting configurations of market structures in each jurisdiction to reveal a temporally and spatially distinct patterning of marketisation. Drawing on Gingrich's approach to analysis and classification of quasi-market variation, the article proposes that between 2008 and 2014, Great Britain rapidly evolved a provider-directed activation market. In contrast, the activation market structure in Northern Ireland, up to late 2014, is better characterised as state directed. A recent reconfiguration of the activation market in Northern Ireland does however indicate some (modified) convergence on Great Britain's approach. One common and consistent feature of the configuration of activation markets in each jurisdiction is the few powers given to direct users of employment services to shape contracted out provision.     

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.     

Restructuring of Full‐time Workers: A Case of Transitional Dislocation or Social Exclusion in Canada? Lessons from the 1990s

The decade of the 1990s witnessed an unprecedented erosion of the postwar welfare state, with massive restructuring of the labour market away from full‐time, sustaining employment. This article examines the experiences of restructured Canadian full‐time workers who lost a job because of a company shutdown, relocation, or non‐seasonal business slowdown. Using data from Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics for the period 1993–2001, we present longitudinal data examining labour market outcomes at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months following the initial job loss. Outcome data allow us to examine the extent to which job displacement in the 1990s resulted in transitional dislocation followed by stable full‐time employment, or whether new pathways to social exclusion and marginalization were created. Given that only half of workers who lost their full‐time jobs during this period were in stable and full‐time employment two years later, we find support for the latter. The article further identifies policy alternatives that could lessen the social costs of neo‐liberal labour market restructuring in Canada and beyond.     

Nordic Employment Policies – Change and Continuity Before and During the Financial Crisis

The Nordic countries serve as models for successful employment and labour market policies. In this article, Nordic employment and labour market policies are analyzed from a comparative point of view. It is argued that Nordic employment and labour market policies have lost some of their distinctive features. Active labour market policies, for example, are now at the centre of policy priorities in many countries of the EU. And in some other respects, the Nordic countries have converged towards political patterns characteristic for states in central Europe, for example, de‐centralized patterns of wage bargaining and the partial lack of corporatist concertation. During the current financial crisis, specific patterns of crisis management can be observed in Scandinavia that make these countries distinct from many other countries in Europe.     

Free,free, set them free? Are programmes effective that allow job centres considerable freedom to choose the exact design?

Active labour market programmes are expected to be quite effective if job centres have a substantial degree of freedom to deliver tailor‐made individual services. For Germany, we studied the effectiveness of Schemes for Activation and Integration (SAI), which were introduced in 2009 to grant such freedoms to implement short training and private placement services. We estimated SAI participation effects on welfare recipients’ earnings and employment rate using propensity score matching and rich administrative data. We distinguished between participation in in‐firm training or training in other settings, and considered effect heterogeneity by gender, region and non‐employment duration. Participation substantially improved the participants’ earnings and employment rate, in‐firm training more so than training in other settings. Our employment effect estimates were not considerably larger than those previously found for comparable pre‐reform programmes. A lack of experience with SAI and a still inadequate client focus in the period studied might explain this.     

Killing the Golden Goose? Third Sector Organizations and Back‐to‐Work Programmes in Germany and the UK

Third sector, or not-for-profit, organizations have been viewed in many parts of Europe as agencies that can be harnessed by public policy programmes to support the socially excluded. Within the emerging mixed economy of welfare, third sector agencies offering training, support and employment for groups disadvantaged in the labour market provide an important example. This illustrates, from one specific field, the dynamics occurring at the interface between public and third sectors in the delivery of public policy goals. This article examines both the history of 'partnership regimes' in this field and the evolving local organizational arrangement. The developments in the contrasting welfare regimes of Britain and Germany, which exemplify different institutional traditions, are analysed. The potential impact of regulatory changes on the capacity of third sector work integration agencies to deliver policy goals is assessed in both countries using evidence from recent case study research. The analysis suggests that the emerging managerialist partnership structures are tending to convert third sector organizations into 'just in time' deliverers of poor programme outcomes in both welfare regimes while also eroding their distinctive potential to provide more than mere labour market integration.     

Access to Childcare in Europe: Parents' Logistical Challenges in Cross‐national Perspective

A burgeoning comparative literature has identified the centrality of childcare policy and provision in promoting parental, and specifically maternal, participation in paid employment across countries. This literature has focused on the importance of macro‐level institutional arrangements, with a special emphasis on variation in availability of, and access to, formal early childhood education and care services. However, there has been limited comparative exploration of what this means in practice at the micro‐level: the everyday challenges parents face when attempting to navigate the childcare system and the labour market simultaneously. Taking inspiration from human geography literature on the concept of ‘space–time fixity’, we present cross‐national findings on the logistical challenges of arranging childcare. Evidence is drawn from interviews with parent‐ and childcare‐related organizations in six European countries: Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK. Our research provides a richer understanding of childcare availability than would a sole focus on formal childcare services, by elucidating the difficulties parents face in organizing access to these services, which can be a challenge to some extent even in contexts where childcare services are comprehensive and affordable.     

The social and economic impacts of drought

Although the environmental and economic impacts of drought have been widely studied, few large‐scale studies have examined the broader social impacts of drought. To fill this knowledge gap, the Australian Institute of Family Studies undertook the Regional and Rural Families Survey in 2007, when a significant part of Australia was experiencing a severe drought. This paper analyses that survey to measure the extent to which drought affects a range of economic, health and social outcomes. Drought is found to have a substantial negative economic and health impact on farmers and others employed in the agricultural sector. There is some evidence that groups that are not employed in agriculture are adversely affected, with a widespread loss of services in drought‐affected areas and some marginal labour market groups (e.g. carers) experiencing poor employment outcomes in a drought‐affected local economy. Policymakers need to take these impacts into account in designing effective responses to future droughts.     

Jobless or Working Poor in the Kyrgyz Labour Market: What Role for Social Policies?

This paper attempts to identify the multiple aspects of vulnerability in the Kyrgyz labour market. Particular attention is devoted to the working poor and precarious workers. This analysis is undertaken using the Kyrgyz Poverty Monitoring Survey, which is the only survey to date that allows a comprehensive analysis of poverty and labour market outcomes in the Kyrgyz Republic. The period under investigation covers the years 1997 to 1998, for which data are available. The results point to the extreme vulnerability of individuals with less education and women, who cumulated a high risk of being unemployed, of remaining longer in unemployment, of being discouraged unemployed and, if employed, of being low‐paid or working in precarious jobs. Other groups facing a high risk of exclusion, both from and within employment, were people with disabilities, individuals living in rural or depressed areas, young people and internal migrants. The multiple aspects of vulnerability in the Kyrgyz labour market, in particular the large overlap between work and poverty, have important implications for the design of effective social policies.     

Beyond Heckscher–Ohlin: trade and labour market interactions in a case study for Chile

In an era of globalisation, patterns of economic growth and employment will depend critically upon domestic labour market conditions. This paper presents empirical evidence on how labour market regulations might interact with expanded trade. We present numerical model simulations of recent trade reform proposals for Chile. Firstly, we analyse how these reforms affect the economy in a perfectly competitive labour markets framework, then we modify this by introducing various kind of labour market imperfections considered relevant in this country. Previous research efforts usually focused separately either on the significance of trade, or on the effect of labour market regulations as explanations for variations in the wage gap and labour demand. Our results show that interactions between labour market regulations and expanded trade may explain the Chilean widening wage gap.     

Combining Work and Care: Carers' Decision-making in the Context of Competing Policy Pressures

Issues related to paid work and care are of global importance, reflecting the twin pressures of population ageing and efforts to increase labour market participation. Informal carers of sick, disabled or older people can experience tensions between policies aimed at support for care and support for employment. This article discusses a study of carers’ decision‐making around work and care, drawing on evidence from interviews with 80 working‐age carers in England. Carers are not homogeneous; their circumstances and needs differ reflecting age, gender, ethnicity, labour market participation, and the condition and/or needs of the person they support. This diversity is illustrated by contrasting rural and urban carers’ decisions and experiences about work and care. Key factors that impact on carers’ decisions are: current and anticipated financial need; the constraints arising from receipt of carers’ and other means‐tested income maintenance benefits; personal identity; job opportunities and scope for flexibility; social services provision; carers’ own health. Distance, travel times and transport are unique additional challenges for rural carers who (wish to) work. These difficulties are further intensified when they intersect with other factors such as the Carer's Allowance, the local labour market and social services provision. The findings are evaluated in terms of the adequacy of current government policy measures.     

Denmark: Universal or Not So Universal Welfare State

This article questions whether or not Denmark is still a universal welfare state. It does so by first offering a comparative‐based analysis of the Nordic countries on central welfare state parameters. Second, the article utilizes a case‐based analysis in respect of three core areas of the Danish welfare state—pensions, unemployment and early retirement benefit—to assess the distinctiveness of the Danish model. The article concludes that, notwithstanding the Danish model is more mixed today than it used to be, it continues to be distinct in areas such as equality, full employment, a high level of spending on social security and an active labour market policy.     

The Brazilianisation of Youth Transitions in Australia and the UK?

A central theme of Beck's argument in The Brave New World of Work (2000) is that labour markets in the developed world are taking on some of the core characteristics that have been associated with less developed labour markets such as employment insecurity, informality and precarity. A process he refers to as Brazilianisation. In this paper we consider whether Beck's thesis can help us understand changes in youth transitions in Australia and the UK by developing a comparative analysis of processes of casualisation in the youth labour markets of the two countries. We assess the extent to which precarious labour market biographies have become entrenched and represent modern forms of engagement with the labour market. While evidence is presented to suggest that young people's labour market experiences have been affected by a trend towards greater casualisation, we argue that the changes are having the greatest impact on those in the weakest positions: in both countries women are more likely to be affected than men and casualisation is most evident in the lowest skilled occupations.