浅析我国经济转型期城镇失业的现状及政府政策

通过对失业概念的界定,根据我国近十年城镇失业状况相关数据的统计和分析,进而对我国政府在城镇失业问题上所采取的一系列解决失业、促进就业的宏观经济政策的实践情况进行了浅析,希望能对此问题的研究有所助益。     

Different routes,common directions? Activation policies for young people in Denmark and the UK

This article analyses and compares the development of activation policies for young people in Denmark and the UK from the mid-1990s. Despite their diverse welfare traditions and important differences in the organisation and delivery of benefits and services for the unemployed, both countries have recently introduced large-scale compulsory activation programmes for young people. These programmes share a number of common features, especially a combination of strong compulsion and an apparently contradictory emphasis on client-centred training and support for participants. The suggested transition from the 'Keynesian welfare state' to the 'Schumpeterian workfare regime' is used as a framework to discuss the two countries' recent moves towards activation. It is argued that while this framework is useful in explaining the general shift towards active labour-market policies in Europe, it alone cannot account for the particular convergence of the Danish and British policies in the specific area of youth activation. Rather, a number of specific political factors explaining the development of policies in the mid-1990s are suggested. The article concludes that concerns about mass youth unemployment, the influence of the 'dependency culture' debate in various forms, cross-national policy diffusion and, crucially, the progressive re-engineering of compulsory activation by strong centre-left governments have all contributed to the emergence of policies that mix compulsion and a commitment to the centrality of work with a 'client-centred approach' that seeks to balance more effective job seeking with human resource development. However, attempts to combine the apparently contradictory concepts of 'client-centredness' and compulsion are likely to prove politically fragile, and both countries risk lurching towards an increasingly workfarist approach.     

Unemployment and economic security for young adults in Finland,Norway and Sweden: From unemployment protection to poverty relief

In this study, we investigated if there has been a displacement in the type and coverage of welfare services available for young unemployed adults in Finland, Norway and Sweden over the last two decades. This question is important because a number of studies have argued that the generous unemployment benefits and extensive labour market intervention found in the Nordic welfare states shield young people from the most severe consequences of economic inactivity. In this article, we instead show that during this period, less generous means‐tested unemployment and social assistance benefits have become the most important form of income protection for young people. In evidence, earnings‐related unemployment benefits now cover only 10 per cent of unemployed Swedes and Finns and 45 per cent of unemployed Norwegians aged 24 years or younger. This development marks a significant change in our understanding of unemployment protection for young people in Nordic countries.     

Alike but not alike: Welfare state and unemployment policies in Southern Europe. Italy and Portugal compared

Although Italy and Portugal are considered to be part of the same welfare state family – the Southern European one – analysis of a key component of the welfare state, namely, unemployment policies and regulations, reveals a different evaluation. A comparative analysis of a series of specific indicators of Italian and Portuguese unemployment regimes shows that they represent two different models. Portugal appears to be a more inclusive system, closer to continental or Northern European countries than it is to Italy, or at least representing a hybrid system that combines characteristics of continental European welfare states with characteristics that are more typical of Southern European welfare states. Italy, on the contrary, is much more clearly a Southern European welfare state.     

Comparing unemployment protection and social assistance in 14 European countries. Four worlds of protection for people of working age

Pfeifer, M. Comparing unemployment protection and social assistance in 14 European countries. Four worlds of protection for people of working age This article aims to show which policy responses 14 Western European countries have adopted to deal with rising unemployment levels and increased need for benefits during working age. In contrast to earlier studies, both components of unemployment benefits (UB), i.e. unemployment insurance and unemployment assistance, were taken into account in a social rights indicator that depicts the legal entitlements of the unemployed. In total, there were eight indicators of both UB and social assistance representing expenditure, generosity, problem pressure and benefit entitlements. The following cluster analysis groups countries using these indicators. The resulting typology consisted of four ways of protecting the working‐aged: an extensive safety nets type operating well with functioning labour markets; a liberal protection type dealing with low levels of unemployment; a targeted protection type combined with an insider–outsider divide on the labour market; and lastly, a patchy safety nets type facing high unemployment levels.     

Patterns of change in youth unemployment regimes: France and Switzerland compared

The comparison between France and Switzerland enables us to compare a country that has a strong interventionist tradition in the labour market and whose youth unemployment is endemically high with a more liberal country that is faced with a more recent increase in youth unemployment but which, nevertheless, remains relatively measured. Starting from different rules and values, the two youth unemployment systems resemble each other insofar as both exclude most unemployed youth from all available benefits. From this angle, French egalitarianism rejoins Swiss differentialism. In both cases, it is not the least of paradoxes that the system of unemployment insurance so little benefits those who are most vulnerable to the economic crisis and the present dearth of jobs.     

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.     

Coordination of legislative speech in times of crisis: Youth unemployment and debates on redistributive policies in the Swedish Riksdag, 1994–2014

Parliamentary debates and the discussion on different law proposals are a key part of the process of policy making. We argue in this article that a high economic problem pressure in the region an MP represents will affect the MP’s legislative speechmaking. We also hypothesise that parties tend to coordinate their speakers in parliament to display a cohesive profile in the domain of labour, employment and immigration issues, i.e., in issue areas which reflect redistributive policies that are highly salient for almost all parties. We evaluate our expectations based on an analysis of Swedish parliamentary debates on labour, employment and immigration policy during the period between 1994 and 2014. The findings show that parliamentary parties coordinate speechmaking: Those MPs who represent economically troubled districts are less likely to appear in plenary debates, as well as MPs who deviate programmatically from the party line.     

中国失业保险制度的法制化建设

中国失业保险制度正处在进一步完善阶段.借鉴国外失业保险制度的成熟经验,建立符合我国国情的多渠道保险金筹集与双重失业保障相结合的失业保险制度,是我们努力的方向.我们要在坚持受益人权利与义务相统一、对失业者适度保险和对失业者积极保障原则的基础上,逐步构建中国失业保险法体系.     

The EU integration process and the convergence of social protection benefits at national level

The essential objective of this article is to measure and interpret the degree of convergence of social protection benefits in European Union member states as the process of European integration has progressed. In this sense, the article analyses the potential role of per capita income and of the socio-demographic characteristics of the population as explanatory variables for the levels of social protection provision in European countries. The empirical study focuses on the period from 1985 to 1999, and investigates whether differences in welfare provision levels decreased as European integration progressed, in line with the convergence in economic and socio-demographic variables between member states.     

The impact of the European Youth Guarantee on active labour market policies: A convergence analysis

The European Union’s (EU) Youth Guarantee aims to improve the labour market situation of young people. Rather than prescribing a uniform policy model, it acknowledges that supportive measures need to align with national, regional and local circumstances. It thus seeks to promote mutual policy learning through the open method of coordination. As an innovative measure, the EU has deployed funding programmes to support the domestic measures related to the Youth Guarantee. We therefore examined in this study whether this mix of recommendations and financial incentives has entailed a convergence of member state policies. Our analysis of policy outputs for the period 2007?2014 yields a mixed empirical picture. There is catching‐up convergence regarding policies’ sectoral coverage but increasing divergence concerning the number of adopted policy instruments. The first two years of financial incentives did not produce any effect on enhancing policy experimentation among less active member states. We offer an optimistic and a pessimistic interpretation of these findings.     

What is child protection? Historical and methodological issues in comparative research on lastensuojelu/child protection

This article addresses comparative research on what has come to be called, in (British) English, 'child protection' or, rather differently, in Finnish ' lastensuojelu '. In developing a cross-national research project on lastensuojelu /child protection practices in England and Finland, we found it necessary to go back a few steps, to address what might usually be considered as 'background issues'. This article discusses the welfare state traditions in both countries, especially with respect to families and children, in order to contextualise the focus of ongoing qualitative research on micro comparisons. When comparing the mundane practices of child protection and the ways problems and clienthoods are constructed, as in this study, historical, social, cultural and linguistic issues matter. Indeed, very basic concepts such as 'child protection' and 'child protection case' become problematic in the comparison.     

The welfare state as a context for children's development: a study of the effects of unemployment and unemployment protection on reading literacy scores

Data were analysed from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) to examine whether the relationship between parental unemployment status and child reading literacy is modified by the level of unemployment protection provided by the nation. The sample consisted of 61,946 children, nested in 3,918 schools among 17 market economies. The results of multi-level analyses indicated that, after controlling for a range of individual, family and school covariates, children with unemployed fathers in all countries had significantly lower reading literacy scores than those of employed fathers (β = −8.84, SE = 2.01). The contextual effect of unemployment protection was not significant after accounting for fathers' employment status (β = −18.63, SE = 16.26). However, there was a significant negative interaction between unemployment protection and fathers' unemployment, yielding the unexpected suggestion that, in countries with higher levels of unemployment protection, children with unemployed fathers fare worse, both in relation to children with unemployed fathers in lower protection countries, and in comparison with children with employed fathers (β = −26.96, SE = 8.08). Possible explanations are advanced for this result, including the potential for a 'discouraged child effect' arising from the potential association between unemployment protection and higher local unemployment rates (though unemployment rates at the national level were not significant).     

Welfare regime change – or lack of change – in unemployment compensation

Drawing on theoretical accounts of institutional change, this study explored the politics of welfare regime transformation in regard to Turkey's unemployment compensation system. By using the institutionalist approach, the study shows that the process of welfare regime change was one of “institutional layering” of unemployment insurance (UI) over severance pay. Also, the study demonstrates that the economic bureaucracy played a key role in pushing the establishment of UI (state‐centric approach) in contrast to the class‐based organizations that focused their struggles on the severance pay scheme (power‐resource perspective). However, the economic bureaucracy preferred a rudimentary UI design, which prevented UI from undermining the vested interests behind the severance pay scheme. Furthermore, subsequent attempts at the reformation of the severance pay scheme were not successful because the social welfare bureaucracy lacked the capacity to develop a policy alternative to resolve the stalemate between the societal actors. Lastly, the study used the successful severance pay reform experiences of South Korea and Austria to locate the Turkish case within a broader comparative framework.     

Home‐ownership,housing regimes and income inequalities in Western Europe

Norris M, Winston N. Home‐ownership, housing regimes and income inequalities in Western Europe This article compares the structural features of home‐ownership systems in European Union 15 (EU15) countries (home‐ownership rates, mortgages and public subsidisation of this tenure) with data on inequalities in outcomes (variations in home‐ownership access, risks and standards between income groups). Its purpose was to assess the relevance of the debate on the convergence and divergence of housing systems, which has dominated the comparative housing literature. The article concludes that, depending on the level of analysis adopted and the particular variables selected for examination, elements of both convergence and divergence are evident in Western European home‐ownership systems. The comparative housing literature has also largely failed to capture the key inter‐country cleavages in home‐ownership systems that are between the Northern and Southern EU15 countries. These shortcomings are related to methodological and conceptual problems in the literature.     

Causal dynamics of poverty reproduction in EU countries

This study investigated causal mechanisms of poverty reproduction in EU countries by placing emphasis on the parental background effect on sons’ poverty risk after having controlled for endogeneity among observable and non‐observable effects of the involved mechanisms. The countries under investigation were old EU member states representing the four welfare regimes in the EU. Having employed path models and utilised EU‐SILC 2005 data, the analysis yielded no statistically significant direct effect of parental background on sons’ poverty risk in Denmark. Greece, however, exhibited a statistically significant and quite strong direct effect. Germany and the United Kingdom stood in‐between. Moreover, the analysis found indirect channels through which the parental background affects sons’ poverty risk. These findings are expected to enrich the academic discourse and inform the policy‐making process on poverty reproduction and social protection in the EU.     

Risk factors of NEET (Not in Employment,Education or Training) in South Korea: an empirical study using panel data

This study aims to analyse the risk factors for being in NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) in South Korea. More specifically, this study examines how individual and family characteristics at ages 16–17 affect the probability of being in NEET during 20–25 years old period using data from the Youth Panel Study. The analysis results reveal that the rate of NEET among poor youth is about four times higher than that of high-income group in 2014. And poverty, not having career plan and school dissatisfaction during high school period are related to the increased likelihood of being in NEET.     

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.

     

The role of extended families in childcare and protection: the case of rural China

This article focuses on a traditional system of protecting orphaned children in rural areas in Southern China. It examines the role of extended families in supporting orphans and the division of labour between the family and the state when it comes to financial and caring responsibilities in child protection. The research finds that orphans are effectively supported and protected by the traditional system of family care and protection. However, the traditional system faces challenges and financial difficulties in terms of bearing the costs of education and healthcare for orphaned children. To protect children adequately, intervention by the modern welfare state is urgently needed in China.     

减排外交语境下的中美欧气候合作前景论析

20世纪90年代以来,中美欧气候关系时断时续,在责任分担议题上分歧不断,争论的焦点集中在减排承诺和碳排放权问题上。中国一方面应利用政策延续性的优势,继续加强与美欧已有的气候与能源合作,另一方面应尽快推进南非德班气候大会谈判后的相应政策调整,推行更加积极的国际化气候战略,积极参与并构建全球气候治理的长远规划,实现最大限度的节能减排。同时,将国家发展战略和气候战略紧密结合起来,确立更为明确的可持续发展方向。