Abstract
AbstractThis article examines the under‐explored demand‐side of active labour market policies (ALMPs). Based on interview data from a comparative study of the UK and Denmark, the paper analyses employers' perspectives and experiences of ALMPs. In both countries, employers were favourably disposed towards employing unemployed jobseekers but held negative views on conditionality. First, benefit conditionality led to employers receiving large numbers of unsuitable and unfiltered job applications, with associated negative resource impacts. Second, employers perceived this as a product of ‘box ticking' and compliance targets. Finally, employers criticised policy and media rhetoric for focusing solely on the supply‐side and for problematizing unemployed candidates. The paper argues that these crucial, but neglected, employer perspectives demonstrate that the current benefit conditionality regime in the UK risks irrevocably ‘tarnishing' candidates, which undermines, rather than enhances, their chances of securing employment through ALMPs. This unique dataset provides further evidence that the current direction of policy requires urgent and radical re‐thinking.
Highlights
Active labour market policies (ALMPs) have been viewed by many governments and supra-national actors as being successful in reducing long-term unemployment (Martin, 2014)
This article has drawn on a unique dataset of employer perspectives on ALMPs and conditionality
The data have highlighted that, employers interviewed were positively disposed to employing unemployed jobseekers, they were discouraged by the large number of unfiltered applications that they received from unemployed candidates
Summary
Active labour market policies (ALMPs) have been viewed by many governments and supra-national actors as being successful in reducing long-term unemployment (Martin, 2014). Sanctions refer to punishments applied under the umbrella of conditionality for what is deemed to be a lack of compliance with these activities, most commonly the removal of financial support through benefits (Dwyer & Wright, 2014) In both the UK and Denmark, conditionality reinforces job search activity and represents a key instrument of ALMPs in keeping individuals close to the labour market. Sanctions are not explicitly targeted towards employers and studies to date have focused on their impact on jobseekers Both ALMPs and conditionality have the potential to offer employers access to an increased pool of labour by enforcing labour market readiness. A key question for this study concerns the anticipated perspectives of employers in relation to conditionality; do employers consider benefit conditionality to be a positive instrument in facilitating the job-readiness of unemployed jobseekers? The section discusses the methods employed by the study and this is followed by the findings along three key themes
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