Addressing Unemployment in Different Welfare Regimes: Civil Society Organizations and Their Strategies

Abstract

The dramatic increase in unemployment in Europe since the 1990s has garnered the attention of policy-makers in particular and society in general. Youth unemployment particularly has serious consequences in terms of economic life conditions, shame, and health (Starrin et al. 1996; Starrin et al. 1999). Youth unemployment also has a critical effect on future career opportunities (Nordström Skans 2004). The European Union (EU) has reacted to this problem through the European Social Fund and addressed unemployment directly through the European Employment Strategy (EES). In terms of policy responses and collective action on a national level, there are three types of reactions to high unemployment rates (Giugni 2009). Governments respond by redistributing collective resources, by adjusting labor market policies toward activation and a certain degree of conditionality for social rights (e.g., Gilbert 2002; Handler 2003), and further, in terms of collective action via the civil society.KeywordsLabor MarketCivil SocietyWelfare StateNonprofit OrganizationSocial Security SystemThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.