Labour Market Programmes Research Articles

Activation programs for unemployment benefit recipients in Slovenia

Abstract Activation of the unemployed has been an important topic among policymakers during the last decades. This paper reviews the current measures in Slovenia in the area of activation of unemployment benefit recipients and it compares its formal requirements related to activation against the international background. The paper focuses on five activation areas: adjustment of unemployment benefit eligibility, improving employment services, participation in active labour market policies, monitoring and sanctions. The review lists several recommendations Slovenia should apply to activate unemployment benefit recipients, including introducing more demanding job search requirements and increased monitoring of the compliance with these requirements, introducing compulsory participation in active labour market programs, checking the consistency and effectiveness of the current profiling system, and strengthening the ex-ante effect of sanctions.

COVID-19 and a "crisis of care": A feminist analysis of public policy responses to paid and unpaid care and domestic work.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted gender inequalities, increasing the amount of unpaid care weighing on women and girls, and the vulnerabilities faced by paid care workers, often women working informally. Using a global database on social protection responses to COVID‐19 that focuses on social assistance, social insurance and labour market programmes, this article considers whether and how these responses have integrated care considerations. Findings indicate that, although many responses addressed at least one aspect of care (paid or unpaid), very few countries have addressed both types of care, prompting a discussion of the implications of current policy responses to COVID‐19 (and beyond) through a care lens.

Impact of social protection on gender equality in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of reviews.

Impact of social protection on gender equality in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of reviews.

The effectiveness of Polish active labour market policies

The task of active labour market policies evaluation consists of providing supporting empirical evidence about which policy types promise superior solutions. This paper aims to answer this question using a quasi-experimentally method. The causal effects of labour market programmes are examined using a propensity score matching method. The information concerning the unemployed come from the Public Employment Services database Syriusz. The empirical results show that the most effective impact on employment was induced by start-up incentives and intervention works. The positive employment effects were also generated by the supply–oriented instruments of the labour market policies, i.e., by vocational training courses and placements. Placements are becoming a more attractive instrument for employers than intervention works since placements provide employees who do not need to be paid for their work.

Do active labor market policies for welfare recipients in Germany raise their regional outflow into work?

While many studies estimate the effects of active labor market programs (ALMPs) on the participants’ labor market outcomes, far fewer studies are concerned with the effects of these policies on the regional job-matching process. We analyze which ALMPs are particularly effective at the regional level, as well as the role local labor market conditions play for their effectiveness. We find positive effects for a number of ALMPs, but for some of these the effects differ considerably between regions with high and low unemployment. This has important policy implications.

Divergent we fall: The challenges for welfare state - Social integration and unemployment policies in the Visegrad Countries

AbstractThis article examines the unemployment policy of Central-East-European countries applying mixed methods. First, fuzzy set analysis is used to determine the efficiency of unemployment measures for reducing the poverty gap. Three causal conditions are measured: the net replacement rate of unemployment benefits, labour law regulations related to job security, and public spending on labour-market programs. This analysis reveals two possible pathways: governments may either provide a high level of job security, or spend on active and passive labour-market measures. Second, the fuzzy set analysis was completed with a comparative legal analysis covering the Visegrad countries that examined the policy choices the Visegrad countries made after the economic crisis. The paper argues that due to the different approaches to the welfare state, any potential EU initiatives for regulating unemployment benefits under the European Pillar of Social Rights might put divergent adaptation pressure on the V4 states. The differences are significant, as they would not only challenge effective social integration but also hamper the envisioned political cooperation of the V4 countries in this policy area. Building on previous literature, this paper is written to contribute to research on the European Social Model and social integration within the European Union.

Theoretical underpinnings of active labour market programmes implemented by municipal and non-governmental organisations in Sweden

ABSTRACT Active labour market programmes (ALMPs) are a central aspect of labour market policies and are intended to combat the negative effects of long-term unemployment and increase the ability of individuals to obtain gainful employment and financial self-sufficiency. The purpose of this Swedish study is to explore the designs of six ALMPs and their sequential chains, through which participants are intended to transition from long-term unemployment to employment. Three of the ALMPs were delivered by the municipality and three by different NGOs. Programme stakeholders were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide followed by clarifying questions. The results reveal that the basic components of the ALMPs vary in terms of activities, programme durations and education of the employees. Moreover, the goals of the sequential chains differ, and it was found that the municipal ALMPs define paid work on the open labour market, or financial independence, as the most important goal for participants. The goals for participants in NGO-based ALMPs, however, focused on enhancing wellbeing, skills, and self-confidence. The study adds to our understanding of differences and similarities of the basic components and sequential chains of municipality and NGO based ALMPs.

Self-regulation training and job search input: A natural field experiment within an active labor market program

Evidence suggests that self-regulation abilities play an important role for the job finding success of unemployed persons. We conduct a randomized controlled trial embedded in an established labor market reactivation program to examine the effect of a self-regulation training on job search input of long-term unemployed participants. Our treatment involves teaching a self-regulation strategy based on mental contrasting with implementation intentions. We find that the treatment has a positive effect on the quality of application documents as well as on the probability of participants submitting their documents on time. However, we do not find a significant treatment effect on labor market reintegration. We discuss several reasons for this null finding and conduct further exploratory analyses to learn about heterogeneous treatment effects.

REGIONAL FEATURES OF THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP SYSTEM IN THE FIELD OF PROFESSIONAL (VOCATIONAL) EDUCATION

Relevance: globalization processes in economic relations, organization of education and public life of the world, integration of public and private sectors of the economy in professional (vocational) education and employment highlight the need to analyze European experience in creating public-private partnership programs in education. The constant discussion of the development of public-private partnerships in European countries, the actualization of not only positive experiences that are common to several states, but also the debate on changing the role of public authorities indicates the presence of certain regional contradictions and peculiarities. Aim: to analyze the regional features of the European system of public-private partnership in the field of professional (vocational) education and on this basis to highlight the recommendations at the national level. Methods: theoretical (induction, synthesis, generalization); empirical (study and analysis of legal documents in the field of public-private partnership, vocational education, social protection and labor market, public-private partnership programs for training of skilled workers, the results of professional (vocational) education in Europe). Results: it is established that the common problems of public-private partnership development in European countries are: harmonization of rights and responsibilities of the public and private sector; introduction of clear and transparent mechanisms for regulating financial costs; formation of algorithms for project execution without delay; the existence of various forms of public-private partnership agreements and their compatibility with the legal (national, regional or local) base. Much of the population participates in Active Labor Market Programs (ALMPs), which are supported by both the state and the private sector. The development of such programs raises certain disputes and issues between public and private partners related to the division of rights and responsibilities, the struggle for financial resource management and the refusal to develop infrastructure. Conclusions: in the development process of the domestic system of public-private partnership in the field of professional (vocational) education it should be: taken into account the requirements of the European Union to the legislation on public-private partnership; modernized the provisions of the Law "On Professional (Vocational) Education" accordingly; developed algorithms of practical training of specialists on the basis of public-private partnership.

Welfare state change as a double movement: Four decades of retrenchment and expansion in compensatory and employment‐oriented policies across 21 high‐income countries

AbstractWe conceptualise and measure welfare state change across 21 high‐income countries as a continuum delineated by a double movement, that is, the combined change of compensatory and employment‐oriented policies. Our double movement framework readapts Polanyi's concept into the context of welfare state change. We analyse this double movement across four decades using Principal Component Analysis and a new indicator that compares spending in 2015 to maximum and minimum spending levels since the 1980. We contribute to the literature in three ways. First, we empirically document an overall change in spending for compensatory and employment‐oriented policies, with the latter becoming more prominent over time. This change is more pronounced in the 1990s and even more so in the 2000s, and partially reduced classic regime differences. The PCAs generate a Cartesian space where each country is positioned across time (the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s and the 2010s) and space (within four quadrants, i.e., ‘the strong employment‐oriented space’, ‘the weak employment‐oriented space’, ‘the strong compensatory space’, and ‘the weak compensatory space’). Second, we develop a fivefold taxonomy of welfare state change characterised by: (1) retrenchment in Canada, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom; (2) abridged adaptation in Australia, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Spain and the United States; (3) minor expansionary adaptation in Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal and Switzerland—where spending levels were low in the 1980; (4) adaptation with an equilibrium between the two movements in New Zealand and (5) strong expansionary adaptation in Austria, Denmark and France. Overall retrenchment and abridging adaptation prevail over expansionary adaptation—this is due to cutbacks of unemployment, family allowances and active labour market programmes not being counterbalanced by the expansion of childcare. Third, we critically interpret these changes, introducing the double movement concept into comparative social policy.

Fostering Soft Skills in Active Labor Market Programs: Evidence from a Large-Scale RCT

Fostering Soft Skills in Active Labor Market Programs: Evidence from a Large-Scale RCT

Heterogeneous Returns to Active Labour Market Programs for Indigenous Populations

Heterogeneous Returns to Active Labour Market Programs for Indigenous Populations

Fostering Soft Skills in Active Labor Market Programs: Evidence from a Large-Scale Rct

Fostering Soft Skills in Active Labor Market Programs: Evidence from a Large-Scale Rct

Heterogeneous Returns to Active Labour Market Programs for Indigenous Populations

Heterogeneous Returns to Active Labour Market Programs for Indigenous Populations

Gendered Activation at the Expense of Gender Equality? Activation and Gender Equality as Competing Logics in the Swedish Welfare State

This study aims to understand how goals of activation and gender equality interact in labor market programs directed towards activating unemployed participants. The study draws on interviews with 28 social workers and managers at four Swedish municipally governed labor market programs typically targeted towards poor, unemployed individuals with little to no attachment to the labor market or social insurance system. Our findings show that activation goals are understood to be clear cut and a dominant logic within the labor market programs. The gender equality goals are understood as fuzzy and subordinate to the activation logic. Our theoretical analysis, based on neo-institutional theory, shows that gendered activation as a hybrid logic is created within the four programs as a means of handling the competing logics of gender equality and activation. Gendered activation may be reasonable on an individual level, where women in long-term unemployment can sustain a higher income through work and become financially independent. In the context of the gender segregated labor market, gendered activation reproduces gendered inequalities when an increasing interest for activation policy among welfare states overshadows claims of gender equality. Furthermore, our study exemplifies the systemic reproduction of racist discourse within social- and labour market policies. Within the logic of gendered activation, migrant women become singled out as specifically problematic for Swedish society to handle when unemployment is given gendered and cultural explanations. Through the logic of gendered activation, gender equality goals become no-matter-what employment rather than employment leading to equal outcomes.

Implementation of Public Employment Services in a Philippine Local Government Unit

The Public Employment Service Office is responsible for implementing labor market programs to promote full employment and equality of employment services. This study assessed the level of implementation of the services of the public employment service office of a component city in the areas of local employment in terms of labor market information, referral and placement, career and employment coaching, provision of livelihood and employment programs, and special employment in terms of reintegration assistance, employability enhancement, pre-employment counseling, and other services as assessed by local and overseas jobseekers and local business and overseas employment agencies. It also investigated the challenges encountered by the respondents in availing these services. This descriptive-comparative study used a researcher-made survey instrument administered to randomly selected local and overseas job seekers and local and overseas business and employment agencies. Using descriptive and inferential analyses, the study yielded a very high level of implementation which implies that the services by the PESO promoted job generation and addressed unemployment although, a significant difference was revealed in the implementation of labor market information and self-employment programs and services. The study recommended the enactment of local laws to enhance employment facilitation.

Planning for a Job

Abstract. Like most OECD countries, unemployed people in Denmark have been subject to activation policies imbued with rights and obligations for decades. However, during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, activation and conditionality were temporarily suspended. This article explores what happens to the experience of unemployment when part of the system is put on hold. Based on in-depth interviews conducted during the COVID-19 crisis with 25 unemployed people, we apply the theoretical framework of regimes of engagement developed by Laurent Thévenot to explore how unemployed people cope with and reflect on their situation. In doing so, we explore how the plans of the unemployed to find a job interact with or create tension between other engagements related to everyday life (family life, ideas about quality of life, etc.) as well as living up to the demands of public employment services. In this way, the suspension provides an opportunity to examine the effects of the active labor market programs through their absence.

Raising employment and quality of life among people with disadvantages \u2013 results of a Hungarian project

BackgroundPeople with disadvantages are a high-risk group of unemployment or underemployment. Disadvantages include disability, under-education, or being a member of a minority, etc. Effective labor market programs could be a key in raising employment and quality of life among this high-risk group of society. The TOP 6.8.2.-15-NA1 project is one of the main Hungarian labor market programs. The project’s primary aims are increasing the employability of disadvantaged unemployed and supporting the efficiency of job-seeking.MethodsOur goal was to analyze the effects and methodology of the TOP 6.8.2.-15-NA1 project in Hungary. The sample of our study contains participants of the project (n = 300), based in Zala County, Hungary.ResultsAfter 28 days, 53.3% of participants had a job. At the 180th day status, the rate of employed people was 47.3%. We could identify low-educated participants and older participants as higher-risk groups of long-term unemployment.ConclusionsWe emphasize the role of these services (job-seeking clubs, organization of job fairs, and mentorship) in the long-term individual success of participants. Improving the employment rate for people with disadvantages is a critical factor for enhancing the quality of life for individuals with disadvantages.

Swimming against the tide? Street-level bureaucrats and the limits to inclusive active labour market programmes in the UK

Through a dynamic analysis of the interplay between structure and agency, this article explores the factors shaping an inclusive approach to labour market activation for clients who experience multiple barriers to work. While previous studies argue that ‘street-level bureaucrats’ (SLBs), such as advisers and job coaches, have minimal agency to shape the services they deliver, the pilot programme that is the focus of this article allowed SLBs greater discretion to support clients and to use their entrepreneurial skills to build relationships with local employers. However, the unresolved tension between personalisation and swift labour market insertion meant that SLBs often reverted to engrained employability interventions that simply prepare clients to compete for low-wage entry-level jobs. We argue that the ‘policy closure’ around a work-first model of activation in the UK constrains social innovation among SLBs, and limits the freedoms of citizens to navigate their own transitions into paid work.

A comprehensive impact evaluation of active labour market programmes in Slovenia

A comprehensive impact evaluation of active labour market programmes in Slovenia