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.     

Social protection clusters in sub‐Saharan Africa

Sub‐Saharan Africa is expected to face the highest population growth rates leading up to 2060, yet this region faces uncertainties concerning how to cope with this demographic boom. Social protection has been a central theme in the political economic literature on advanced democracies, but little research has focused on the current social protection systems in sub‐Saharan Africa. Using a latent profile analysis, four clusters of social protection regimes were found in the region. The clusters range from groups with strong social protection and positive welfare outcomes to a cluster with poor social protection and weak welfare outcomes.     

民族地区汉族流动人口从业分布及其对民族关系的重要影响 ——以青海省海南藏族自治州Y县为例

改革开放以来,大量汉族流动人口向西部民族地区流动,促进了地区间和民族间的交往、交流、交融。从业活动是流动人口的主要流动内容,从业分布情况和特点,反映出流动人口与当地居民之间的交往和融入程度。民族地区汉族流动人口从业分布,是汉族流动人口与当地少数民族居民之间关系的折射,对于民族关系具有重要的影响。本文通过在青海省海南藏族自治州Y县调研,了解汉族流动人口从业分布情况,深入分析汉族流动人口从业分布特点及其对民族关系的重要影响。     

Whither the evolution of the contemporary social fabric? New technologies and old socio‐economic trends

This article considers whether societies are witnessing another industrial revolution in the light of an assessment of the impact of technological change on today's socio‐economic fabric, especially with respect to employment, income distribution, working conditions and labour relations. The authors argue that the processes of innovation and the spread of what they term “intelligent automation” are likely to exacerbate incumbent patterns of uneven income distribution and power, some of which existed well before the arrival of the technologies concerned, while others have emerged over the past 30 to 40 years. They venture to consider policy implications on the basis of such developments.     

Attitudes About Working Beyond Normal Retirement Age: The Role of Mandatory Retirement

The Dutch government abolished mandatory retirement for national-level civil servants in 2008, but not for employees in other sectors. This study analyzes whether national-level civil servants have different attitudes and plans about working beyond normal retirement age than employees in other sectors. Results show no clear differences between the groups. A national ban on mandatory retirement would presumably not lead to many more older workers continuing to work beyond normal retirement, but would need to be integrated in a much broader policy reform that also addresses employment protection legislation and seniority-based wages.     

Employers’ responses to the HIV epidemic in sub‐Saharan Africa: Revisiting the evidence

Do employers have a role to play to support people living with HIV? The literature on sub‐Saharan Africa points to the existence of a positive business case that sees firms as incentivized to provide HIV‐related services to HIV positive workers However, the evidence is narrow and incomplete, with the business case holding for a limited number of formal sector skilled workers, leaving out most people living with HIV. If employers are to play a role, policy‐makers need to create conducive conditions for positive responses, in addition to—not in replacement of—strengthening public healthcare systems.     

‘Women,work and family’: Educated women's employment decisions and social policies in Egypt

Despite increased access to education, women's conspicuous absence from the labour market in Egypt, and the Arab world in general, has been a key issue. Building on the stock of evidence on women's employment, this study provides a qualitative analysis of the torrent of challenges that educated married and unmarried women face as they venture into the labour market in Egypt. Single women highlight constrained opportunities due to job scarcity and compromised job quality. Issues of low pay, long hours, informality and workplace suitability to gender propriety norms come to the fore in the interview data. Among married working women, the conditions of the work domain are compounded by challenges of time deprivation and weak family and social support. The article highlights women's calculated and aptly negotiated decisions to work or opt out of the labour market in the face of such challenges. The analysis takes issue with the culturalist view that reduces women's employment decisions to ideology. It brings to the context of Arab countries three global arguments pertaining to the inseparability of work and family for women; the role of social policies and labour market conditions in defining women's employment decisions; and the potential disconnect between employment and empowerment. By looking at women as jobseekers and workers, the analysis particularly highlights the intersectionality of different forms of inequality in defining employment opportunities.     

Interpretative accounts of work capacity assessment policy for young adults with disabilities

Young adults with disabilities are a specific target of the welfare-to-work policy introduced by many OECD countries over the past decade. The implementation of these policies is a significant concern for service delivery organisations and advocates in Australia and internationally due to complex intersecting structural barriers that persist for many young adults with disabilities. A particular focus of this article is work capacity assessments. Drawing on socio-political theories and interpretive policy analysis, the 22 in-depth interviews with personnel from service delivery organisations and advocacy organisations reveal how the deemed capacity to work process is not only interpreted as flawed, but the current policy approach disables young adults, perpetuates stigma, and creates division between service users and service providers. The accounts reinforce the need to contest such assessments and instead turn towards a rights-based capability approach permitting young adults with disability self-determination over their education-to-employment pathway.     

Positive You: a self-advocate’s arts-based approach for building self-esteem

Positive You is an inclusive arts project supporting learning disabled people to explore self-esteem through art-making. The project was developed by self-advocate Leah Jones who observed a gap in service provision after struggling with her own confidence and self-esteem for many years. This article has been co-written by Leah and her support Jade French using a life-story approach. Leah hopes that by sharing her story, this article will not only demonstrate the value of art-making in developing self-esteem, but also that learning disabled people can develop their own employment opportunities with the right support.