Labour Market Policies Research Articles

Would it have been cheaper to let them become unemployed? Costs and benefits of First Aid intervention for companies in Slovakia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Research background: The global COVID-19 pandemic, which started in the first quarter of 2020, triggered unprecedented economic challenges, prompting governments worldwide to implement intervention measures to mitigate its impacts on business and employment. Without the state’s financial help, many companies were forced to lay off their employees. Among these measures was the First Aid intervention program introduced in Slovakia in April 2020, aimed at providing financial support to companies facing operational disruptions and potential layoffs of their employees. Purpose of the article: This study assesses the impact of the First Aid intervention program during the COVID-19 pandemic on unemployment in selected sectors, with an emphasis on the financial aspect, emphasising the international relevance and long-term implications of the state intervention in the crisis period. By analysing its effectiveness in preserving jobs and mitigating unemployment in selected sectors, the research seeks to offer valuable insights that can inform crisis response strategies and labour market policies in the country and beyond national borders. Methods: Employing a counterfactual approach, we quantify the financial consequence of the First Aid+ intervention program on the state budget, comparing unemployment costs against the benefits of maintaining employment in targeted sectors. Through this methodological framework, we aim to provide a replicable model for evaluating the efficacy of intervention programs in different socio-economic contexts. Findings & value added: Our analysis reveals not only the immediate impacts of the First Aid+ program on mitigating unemployment during the pandemic, but also its broader implications for policy and crisis management strategies. By elucidating the cost-benefit analysis of intervention measures, the research contributes to the effective labour market policies in times of crisis.

‘Flexibility’ and ‘security’ from rivals to teammates: a short history of flexicurity

This article provides a short yet comprehensive historical review of ‘flexicurity,’ an equally acclaimed and debated public policy of the first two decades of the 20th century. Early understandings of ‘flexibility’ and ‘security’ in labor economics placed the two terms in antithetic positions, generally defining ‘flexibility’ as the lack of ‘security’ or considering ‘security’ as the cause for the lack of ‘flexibility.’ The change in social standards in the early 1990s generated the emergence of ‘transitional labor markets,’ a concept that further facilitated the appearance of a new labor market policy – ‘flexicurity.’ The article presents each of these stages in the development of flexicurity. It describes the stories of the three most influential flexicurity cases - the Dutch, the Danish, and the European Union.

The Interactions between Labour Market Policies and Income Inequalities in Groups of European Union Countries

Social cohesion and a sustainable labour market remain the aims of sustainable development policy. However, income inequalities and labour market policies are more often separately analysed. To fill the identified research gap, our article presents the results of an analysis of interactions between active and passive labour market policies and income inequalities in the European Union. The 27 countries were divided into two clusters based on their active and passive labour market policy (LMP) expenditures in 2019. These clusters sustain the basis for analysing the interactions between LMP and income inequalities in its different measures. The results reveal that labour market interventions interact with income inequalities, decreasing disposable income inequalities (equalising the disposable income after transfers and taxes) and therefore contributing to social cohesion. This paper concerns social cohesion as the manifestation of intragenerational justice.

Labor Market Reforms and Youth Unemployment

Purpose: The general purpose of the study was to examine labor market reforms and youth employment.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Findings: The findings reveal that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to labor market reforms and youth employment. The study illuminated the intricate relationship between labor market reforms and youth unemployment, revealing both opportunities and challenges in tackling this issue. Analyzing empirical evidence from various studies provided insights into the effectiveness of different reform measures across different contexts. While some reforms, such as flexibility promotion and investment in human capital, showed promise in enhancing youth employment, others had mixed results. Future research directions include exploring interactions between labor reforms and macroeconomic factors and conducting longitudinal studies. Overall, the study emphasized the importance of nuanced reform approaches for inclusive economic growth, requiring collaboration among stakeholders and ongoing research for evidence-based policymaking.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The Dual Labor Market theory, Human Capital theory and the Institutional theory may be used to anchor future studies on labor market reforms and youth unemployment. The study provided a comprehensive set of recommendations to address the challenges identified. These recommendations included adopting a multifaceted approach to labor market reforms, prioritizing investments in education and skills development, and fostering collaboration between stakeholders. The study emphasized the importance of active labor market policies (ALMPs), continuous monitoring and evaluation of reforms, and addressing structural barriers to youth employment. Additionally, policymakers were urged to prioritize youth entrepreneurship, enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing, and promote inclusive decision-making processes. Overall, the study offered practical strategies for policymakers, contributed to theory by highlighting the importance of evidence-based policymaking and stakeholder engagement, and informed future policy efforts to tackle youth unemployment effectively.
 Keywords: Labor Market, Reforms, Youth, Unemployment, Employment Policies, Economic Policy, Labor Force Participation

Labour Market Preferences of Retrenched Australian Auto Industry Workers for Job Quality and Meaningful Work*

This study uses stated preference experiments to examine labour market preferences of 309 workers retrenched by the Australian automotive industry for non‐pecuniary job attributes denoting job quality and meaningfulness. We find that autonomy and employer reputation for good work policies and practices are the two most important non‐pecuniary job attributes, with compensating wage differentials of roughly $5 per hour for greater autonomy and better employer reputation. Job security and skill utilisation are also important, but less so, with compensating wage differentials between $1 and $3 per hour for greater security and fewer training requirements. Workers' strongest preference is not for a particular type of work, but rather for a particular type of employer, suggesting that labour market policy might pay more attention to regulating the quality of workplaces.

The Atypical Forms of Employment Acceptance by Polish Full-Time Employees as per Modern Labour Market Rules in an EU-Country Context

This manuscript is dedicated to atypical forms of employment which are a response to transactional relations between the employee and the employer on the modern labour market. The general research question is whether employees who accept atypical forms of employment (or “AFE”; readiness to providing work) obtain benefits in the form of high employability and well-being as well as low levels of job insecurity. The assumptions and the research scheme are new compared to previous studies. A quantitative CAWI study was conducted on a sample of Polish full-time employees (N = 543), as potentially voluntarily declaring their acceptance of AFE. In addition, well-being was operationalised according to C. Ryff ’s approach as a sense of agency in the creation of the professional environment. The respondents were divided into two groups – those accepting AFE and those accepting traditional, long-term employment, in reference to the concept of transactional and relational psychological contract. The regression analysis shows that the first group had a high level of employability. However, they achieved low levels of well-being, and job insecurity was not significant. These are individuals in managerial positions in the private sector. On the other hand, the group that accepts the traditional form of relationships are public sector employees and have high job insecurity only. An important determinant of the acceptance of AFE is the so-called “Big Five trait” openness. In addition, the level of acceptance decreases with age. Gender and education are not statistically significant. The focus in this paper on full-time employees, and the benefits of AFE, fill the research gap in this area. It also delivers recommendations for labour market practices and policy on how to support employees on the modern labour market in EU countries.

Do social investment policies promote employment among the vulnerable? A case of single mothers

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether social investment (SI) policies improve employment among single mothers.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyzes the potential effects of SI policies on vulnerable individuals and workers at the macro level by using the employment position of single mothers as a dependent variable. Time-series cross-national data from 18 OECD countries between 1998 and 2017 are analyzed. Multilevel model analysis is also used for robustness check.FindingsI find that public spending on education and family support is positively associated with the employment rates of single mothers. In contrast, active labor market policy (ALMP) spending is negatively associated. ALMP’s negative effects stand out particularly with public spending on job training. Of all family support policies, family allowances are positively associated with single mothers’ employment, which runs counter to the conventional argument that family allowances are a disincentive for women’s or mothers’ employment. Paid leave (length and generosity) is also associated with higher employment for single mothers. There is also some tentative evidence that public spending on maternity leave benefits (spending level) may raise the odds of single mothers being employed, when individual-level factors are controlled for in multilevel analysis we implement for robustness check.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper does not analyze the effects of the qualitative properties of SI policies. Future research is necessary in this respect.Originality/valueThe effects of SI policies on employment among single mothers have not yet been examined in the literature. This paper seeks to be a first cut at measuring the effects.

Structure, Agency, and Structural Reform: The Case of the European Central Bank

Monetary and financial integration has been shown to increase the pressure on states to liberalize social and labor market policies. If structures do not come with instruction sheets, how do monetary regime pressures translate into policy? Through a case study of the euro area, we show that central banks play an underappreciated role in this process. Using mixed methods to analyze a large amount of data, including the complete corpus of speeches, we trace the evolution of the European Central Bank’s advocacy for structural reforms between 1999 and 2019. To explain the ECB’s activism in a policy area beyond its mandate, we theorize the ECB as navigating a dilemma between governability and legitimacy. Handed a monetary regime under which flexible labor markets were seen as a condition for governability, the ECB saw no alternative but to push governments toward structural reforms, despite the reputational risks. The ECB ended its advocacy when increasing political backlash coincided with a structural regime shift from an inflationary to a deflationary environment.

Three pillars of just transition labour market policies

ABSTRACT In academia, just transition has received increasing interest, including the topical research on sustainable welfare states and integrative ecosocial policies. However, an analytical perspective of labour market policy has been surprisingly weak and studies associating just transition with labour security considerations in welfare states are lacking. By inductively synthesising labour-related just transition literature, this review identifies three intertwined approaches to labour market policies: green jobs approach, green skills approach, and green compensation approach. Respectively, they chime with three forms of labour security in terms of employment opportunities, skill reproduction, and income security. We argue that these three forms of labour security constitute three pillars of just transition labour market policies. Addressing three pillars in a holistic fashion is highlighted given that currently they are unbalanced in just transition discussion. Additionally, a critical reflection on the role of economic growth in labour market policymaking is advocated considering it is the labour security that unifies all three pillars. To steer the labour markets toward a greener future, more studies could focus on redefining green jobs, repurposing active labour market policy, and tackling work-welfare nexus from an ecosocial perspective. Exploring the potential of job guarantee for promoting labour security without growth is worthwhile.

Working, yet not working: Assessing labour underutilization in India

Labour market responses to past business downturns across countries have been ambiguous and paradoxical, including both pro‐ and counter‐cyclical reactions. In the absence of adequate social safety nets, including unemployment insurance, counter‐cyclical employment rates could signal distress rather than productive employment opportunities. Juxtaposing household employment‐ unemployment data with the recommendations of the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians on labour underutilization, this article critiques existing data on underemployment in India and calls for the review of data collection methods to better inform labour market policies.

Anti-pluralism, Labour Market Policy and the Pandemic: Political Uses and Social Consequences of COVID-19 in Hungary

Combining sociological, legal and political science approaches, our article investigates some pandemic-related national policy measures and analyses survey studies on the reactions of the labour market and its actors to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary, a neoliberal national-populist country. Our surveys conducted with employers and employees show that job losses and working time reductions especially hit vulnerable groups of employees, among them young people and low wage earners, increasing existing social inequalities. The legislative changes seriously damaged the employees’ individual and collective rights and did not prove to be overly helpful for the employers either. The pandemic did not initiate any substantial policy changes, as the Hungarian autocratic regime was not very interested in effectively tempering its shocking effects on public health and the labour market. Instead, the government took the situation as a pretext in order to further reduce pluralism in the country's policymaking processes.

The role of "global competence" in professional competencies of Kazakhstan future educational psychologists

Relevance. The study addresses the crucial need for training globally competent educational psychologists, particularly within the context of Kazakhstan universities. As professionalism becomes vital for effective labour market inclusion, the development of global competencies in future educational psychologists is essential. Purpose. The research aims to identify the training needs of globally competent educational psychologists, and graduates of the "Pedagogy and Psychology" educational program, and to pinpoint priority areas for the development of global competencies among Kazakhstan university students in this field. Methodology. A pilot survey was conducted among students in the "Pedagogy and Psychology" program to assess their current level of global competence and gather their views on international news, cultural diversity events, and global issues discussions. Results. The survey results indicate an overly optimistic view regarding the potential to train globally competent educational psychologists. The findings underscore the necessity for highly educated and qualified specialists, aligning with state policies on optimizing the national labour market. Conclusions. The study highlights the importance of developing global competencies in educational psychologists to ensure their effective inclusion in the labour force. Training programs must focus on enhancing professionalism to meet the demands of the national labour market and support state policies on workforce development. Keywords: educational psychologist; globalization; professional competencies; global competence

Understanding public support for workplace diversity and antidiscrimination policies in Europe.

Societal processes and public opinion can affect whether employers take action and which policy measures they choose to boost diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion, and to reduce discrimination in the workplace. Yet, public opinion regarding workplace diversity initiatives (other than affirmative action) has so far received little scholarly attention, especially in Europe. Consequently, we have very little evidence about how the general public feels about workplace diversity policies - particularly those that are more common or more often discussed in Europe - and about which factors shape public support for these workplace diversity initiatives. Yet, a better understanding of the patterns and antecedents of citizens' attitudes toward workplace diversity policies is of clear scientific and practical importance. Against this background, this study sheds light on public attitudes toward three different, commonly applied types of workplace diversity policies, and examines which individual-level and - innovatively - national-level conditions shape public support. To do so, we bring together insights from various different and so far largely disconnected strands of research and a range of theoretical perspectives. We use large-scale, representative survey data from two pooled waves of the Eurobarometer, covering 38,009 citizens across 26 European countries. We enrich these data with information on national-level income inequality as well as countries' labor market and antidiscrimination legislation and policies, obtained from Eurostat and the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX). Results show significant differences in public support across the three types of policies, with the strongest support for diversity training, followed closely by monitoring recruitment procedures, whereas support for monitoring workforce composition is clearly lower. This is in line with the idea that support tends to be lower for more preferential and prescriptive workplace policies. Furthermore, we find that, in addition to individual-level factors - particularly gender, ethnic minority group membership, personal experiences with discrimination, prejudice, intergroup contact and political orientation - national-level conditions are important antecedents of public support for workplace diversity policies. That is, differences in public attitudes regarding such policies are also shaped by country-level income inequalities, people's perceptions of how widespread discrimination and unequal opportunities are in society, and national-level laws and policies to fight unequal opportunities.

Do Political Leaders Impact Economic Freedom at the Local Level? Evidence from Close Elections

This paper examines whether state and local political leaders’ partisan affiliations affect economic freedom at the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level. Because political leaders’ partisan affiliations likely correlate with unobserved state- and local-level characteristics that also affect the economic freedom levels of MSAs, we use a regression discontinuity design that leverages close elections as natural experiments to identify a causal effect. Using Stansel (2019)’s index, which aggregates a bundle of policies into a single measure of economic freedom, we find that close Republican majorities in the lower State House increase overall MSA-level economic freedom. This effect is realized through consistent governments (i.e., Republican governor and Republican State House majority) and primarily through changes in labor market policy. At the city level, Republican mayors also increase overall MSA-level economic freedom levels.

From segmentalist to liberal skill formation system: A comparative analysis of labour market activation policies in Japan and South Korea

Abstract This study provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of skill formation systems in Japan and South Korea, considering the nuances in active labour market policies (ALMPs) and institutional transformations in the post-industrial landscape. Both nations initially adopted segmentalist skill formation systems; however, they now exhibit divergent paths. Korea, in particular, has undergone institutional changes from segmentalist to a liberal skill formation system, with firms reducing their involvement in skill formation, resulting in a pronounced skill formation gap. Firms have curtailed their role in skill formation in alignment with environmental changes, and ALMPs have primarily centred on job creation for the elderly and small- and medium-sized enterprise employment subsidies. Conversely, Japan has maintained consistent policy approaches despite similar environmental changes. This study highlights that these divergent trajectories are rooted in the different stages of institutional maturity established during industrialization.

Back from the Cold? Progressive Politics and Social Policy Paradigms in Southern Europe after the Great Recession

This article examines the programmatic evolution of social democratic parties in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, three countries in which the center-left has governed in the last decade. To do so, the article develops an analytical framework for mapping social and labor market policy reforms and assessing their liberalizing, regularizing, or recalibrating character. In explanatory terms, the article studies the coalitional politics behind social democratic reforms as being conditional upon the relationships between organized interests, electoral social blocs, and party system dynamics. The comparative analysis shows both commonalities and differences: the cases range from postindustrial recalibration (Italy) to inclusive egalitarianism (Spain), with Portugal taking a middling path, closer to that of Spain. Overall, in these countries a move away from both traditional “social protectionism” and crisis-era internal devaluation has taken place, but it has taken different forms depending on country-specific coalitional dynamics within the left and trade union camps.

Policies for young adults with reduced work capacity. Labour market impact in Sweden and Norway

The rising numbers of young people with disability pension concerns many advanced economies. We present results from a comparative analysis of the neighbouring countries Sweden and Norway on the impacts of differing policy mixes aimed at enhancing the employability of the work disabled. Using rich longitudinal data, we follow unemployed young adults (ages 25-29) with work-impairment up to four years after they became unemployed to investigate the effect of different types of labour market policies. Our results indicate that, despite differences in programme composition and strategies, there are surprisingly small country differences in treatment effect patterns and signs of estimated impacts. In line with previous studies, we find strong lock-in effects of both workplace-related programmes and training/educational programmes. After participation, workplace-related programmes about double the likelihood of entering regular employment or education. Participating in training courses also increases this likelihood, but effect sizes are smaller.

ИЗМЕНЕНИЕ ВОЗРАСТНОЙ СТРУКТУРЫ НАСЕЛЕНИЯ ТРУДОСПОСОБНОГО ВОЗРАСТА И ВОЗРАСТНОЙ ПРОФИЛЬ ЗАНЯТОСТИ В РЕГИОНАХ СЕВЕРО-ЗАПАДНОГО ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОГО ОКРУГА

The paper is a continuation of studies of changes in the age structure of the regions of the North-Western Federal District. Since the process of population aging affects not only the population as a whole, but also its various subgroups, the transformation of the age structure of the working age population (20–64 years), consisting of three subgroups: 20–34 years, 35–49 years and 50–64 years, is considered. Some demographic aspects of employment are also analyzed – the age structure of the employed and the age profile of employment in the regions of the North-Western Federal District. The results of the study can be used to harmonize labor market policies.

Labor Market Institutions and Employment

The role of labor market institutions and policies has received great attention throughout the history of labor economics. Labor market institutions are responsible for a wide range of policies, regulations, and organizations that affect the labor market, though their impact on employment can vary depending on the specific institutions and the economic context across countries. This entry attempts to provide an overview of five main labor market institutions and policies, i.e., the minimum wage, employment protection, the power of unions, active labor market policies, and unemployment insurance/unemployment benefits. It also presents theoretical expectations of their effects on employment outcomes and collates relevant results from the related literature, focusing mainly on the most recent empirical evidence. Finally, this entry provides insights regarding labor market institutions and offers proposals for shaping the labor market landscape.

Does employment assistance promote employment of the impoverished in China? Evidence from a mixed methods approach

AbstractThe issue of employment is extremely significant, and employment assistance programs work for special social assistance and employment support for the impoverished in China. Are employment assistance programs, particularly those providing job recommendations and free vocational training, effective in promoting employment in China? This study answers this question using a mixed methods approach. Logistic regressions and propensity score matching–difference in differences models using unique data from the “Construction of Social Policy Support System for Urban and Rural Impoverished Families in China” project demonstrates that providing either job recommendations or free vocational training does not significantly promote employment. Qualitative analyses of in‐depth interviews show that the ineffectiveness of providing job recommendations and vocational training programs can be attributed to three reasons: (1) lack of coordination among employment assistance providers, (2) mismatch between employment assistance provision and recipients' needs, and (3) employment assistance as subordinates to Dibao and labor market policy. This study has important theoretical and practical implications for research on and improvement of employment assistance.