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.     

Expediting youth's entry into employment whilst overlooking precariousness: Flexi‐employability and disciplinary activation in Hong Kong

With an emphasis placed on supply‐side interventions such as skills training and incentives enhancement, active labor market polices (ALMPs) are strongly promoted by international organizations and widely adopted across different welfare regimes to boost employment rates. This article first presents the under‐examined relationship between ALMPs and employment precariousness, which has posed a challenge to the neoliberal notion of employability and activation. Youth‐focused employment policies tend to speed up employment entry whilst downplaying the risk of precariousness and the importance of job quality, and thus further reinforcing the belief that engaging in precarious employment is tolerable if not inevitable. The article then examines the case of Hong Kong, which illustrates that its relatively low rate of youth unemployment may conceal the unfavorable employment conditions confronted by youth. It is argued that the service‐led employment policies and short‐term vocational training define the employability of young workers in terms of labor flexibilities. The coined phase of “flexi‐employability” is characterized by promoting youth's readiness for, and adaptability to, the volatilities and changing demands of the labor market. Arguably, the disciplinary approach to youth activation would only strengthen the work‐first principle by enforcing young people to take up jobs available and leave welfare as soon as possible, but without thoroughly addressing the risks and insecurities generated by the labor market in undermining their well‐being.     

民主改革以来西藏就业发展历程

作为民生之本的就业是反映一个地区社会经济发展水平的重要标志。民主改革60年来,西藏人口增长,劳动力数量持续增加,就业规模不断扩大,就业结构日臻优化,劳动力的流动性不断提高。劳动力市场机制从无到有,并逐渐完善,城镇失业率保持低位。大学生就业从“统包统分”到“双向选择、自主择业”,通过多种措施并举和多种渠道并行的就业引导,实现了高比率的大学生就业。通过免费职业技能培训、打造劳务品牌、提高转移就业的组织化程度和优化进城务工环境等措施有效实现了农村富余劳动力向城镇的转移。西藏就业60年的发展历程反映了西藏社会的不断进步,也承载着西藏发展的巨大动力。     

‘Surrounded with so much uncertainty’: asylum seekers and manufactured precarity in Australia

In Australia, nearly 30,000 asylum seekers have the legal right to work, but their temporary and conditional migration status exposes them to work-related precarity. This article draws on a small qualitative study that examined asylum seekers’ experiences of seeking work and achieving economic security. Over an 18-month period, 29 semi-structured interviews with asylum seekers who had work rights in Australia were conducted. It provides insights into how restrictive immigration policies manufacture precarity through short-term, conditional visas, resulting in employer risk aversion, segmentation into insecure work, and in-work instability and mistreatment. Asylum seekers manage their experiences and feelings of pervasive insecurity through individual coping and survival strategies.     

特色小镇建设中失地农民的权益保障问题探讨

特色小镇建设过程中出现的失地农民群体面临着权益保障困难、社会排斥及社会阶层分化等问题。通过凸显特色产业,区别对待不同类型特色小镇发展,注重旅游特色商品开发、发展休闲农业和完善社会保障等方式,可以提升失地农民的再就业,缓解失地带来的社会不稳定因素。     

现行就业政策的支点管窥

"积极就业政策"应该有五大支点,每个支点都有相应的基础.文章从劳动密集型产业、第三产业、民营经济、中小企业及灵活就业五个支点出发,指出只有找准支点,夯实基础,才能把"积极就业政策"落到实处,从而进一步缓解"十一五"时期的就业压力.     

高校招生、培养、就业相关性研究

从高等教育的发展规律看,招生、培养和就业是互相关联、互相影响的。随着毕业生就业的市场化及高等教育的大众化,高校培养的人才与社会需要脱节的问题逐渐暴露出来,影响到高校的生存和发展。为此,高校要准确定位,加强市场研究,做好人才需求预测,科学制订招生计划;加强师资队伍建设,创新人才培养模式,提高培养质量;建立全方位的就业体系,加强思想政治教育,做到招生、培养、就业并举,培养适应经济建设和社会发展需要的毕业生。     

转型期我国职工下岗问题的社会学分析

企业职工大规模下岗是我国转型期特有的经济社会现象.从社会学视角看,下岗实质上是失业,必然产生多重社会效应.再就业工程作为政府动员社会资源解决下岗失业问题的应急措施,不可能长期搞下去,必须着眼于劳动力市场的发育和完善,寻找市场、政府和社会三方面的结合点,这是解决下岗失业问题的治本之策.     

城市化进程中失地农民就业保障的政策选择

解决失地农民的就业问题是我国现阶段新农村建设中的一个重要内容。近年来失地农民的就业基本情况有转移就业压力大,无就业和隐性失业等工作不稳定的状态,因土地征用而产生收入下降、生活得不到保障、助长社会不良现象的问题。影响失地农民实现就业的因素有土地征用制度、再就业安置措施、失地农民自身素质、就业歧视。今后必须重视失地农民的就业问题,完善土地征用补偿机制和就业安置方式,完善法律保障和社会保障体系,加强就业培训,转变就业观念等方面完善失地农民就业保障的政策。     

企业科技人才雇佣关系内容维度的实证研究

不同样本的探索性因子分析和验证性因子分析表明,企业对科技人才提供的回报和期望的 贡献都是多维度的概念。企业对科技人才提供的回报有三个维度,即尊重科技人才、个人成长和物质回 报 ;企业对科技人才期望的贡献也有三个维度,即专业素质、认同组织和奉献精神。这些维度与以往文献 中针对其他员工群体的研究结果既有相似性,也有独特性。进一步分析发现,虽然绝大多数样本企业采 用平衡的雇佣关系模式,即工作导向型和组织导向型,但也分别有1/8左右的样本企业采用两种不平衡 的雇佣关系模式,即投入过度型和投入不足型。