Local Job Centres Research Articles

How administrative reforms influence the capacity for implementing the social investment state

For several decades, the social investment (SI) state has been heralded as the saviour of the welfare state, while at the same time being criticised for being just another instance of neoliberal downsizing of the welfare state. Recently, efforts have been made to provide clearer conceptualisations of how to assess the existence and impact of SI. However, these attempts have hitherto mainly focused on the policy functions and instruments of the SI state. This article contributes to existing research by offering a novel analytical framework on the capacity needed by street-level organisations (SLOs) to implement the central policy functions of the SI state, and by elucidating how administrative reforms influence this capacity. The article applies the framework to the implementation in Denmark of Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) in local job centres. This case is considered an SI ‘flagship’ in terms of formal policies, while also having undergone multiple administrative reforms, which makes it highly illustrative for the central argument of the article – that the success or failure of an SI approach is not only determined by politics and formal policies. The empirical analysis reveals how the capacity to implement SI policies has been enhanced by administrative reforms; this has been done by giving job centres more room for discretion and enhancing their ability to make long-term investments and to promote integrated service provision across different service areas. However, at the same time the local job centres remain closely monitored and controlled through an external accountability performance measurement system.

Employer Engagement and Active Labour Market Policies. Evidence from a Norwegian Multi-Method Study

Using Work Training in Norway as a case, this article provides insight into motivation and structural factors that impact employer engagement with active labour market policies (ALMP) targeting young people. Drawing on mixed-methods data, we find a substantial proportion of Norwegian employers engage in Work Training. Both social responsibility and the economic interests of the company influence employers’ motivation for committing to Work Training. The findings reveal that the structural factors of business size and sector are crucial determinants of employer behaviour when it comes to hiring Work Training candidates. Although improved outreach activities by local job centres may be important, the article argues that efforts towards opening up sectors closed by sector-specific regulations on hiring, and increased awareness of structural constraints, are similarly important.

Justice in the Digital State: Assessing the Next Revolution in Administrative Justice by JoeTomlinson (Bristol: Policy Press, 2019, 97 pp., £12.99 (pbk))

Justice in the Digital State: Assessing the Next Revolution in Administrative Justice by JoeTomlinson (Bristol: Policy Press, 2019, 97 pp., £12.99 (pbk))

Prevalence and correlates of ICD-11 adjustment disorder: Findings from the Zurich Adjustment Disorder Study

Background/Objective: The 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) will provide a new definition of adjustment disorder (AjD). The aim of the present study is to report on prevalence and correlates of ICD-11 AjD in a high-risk sample. Method: Three hundred thirty persons who had lost their job involuntarily were sampled by local job centres. The Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview was administered with a new AjD module. Associations between AjD and correlates were investigated with logistic regression analyses. Results: 27.3% of the participants reported the AjD core symptom pattern. 13.8% men and 17.2% women met diagnostic guidelines of ICD-11 AjD. Prevalence increased with age and exposure to multiple stressors. The AjD core symptom pattern was associated with various sociodemographic correlates (e. g., lower financial household budget), whereas the full ICD-11 diagnosis including the exclusion algorithm was not. Regarding work-related factors, AjD occurred with a lower probability if the last job position had higher responsibilities and more general confidence for the future. Conclusions: ICD-11 AjD has a high prevalence among persons who lost their jobs involuntarily. Healthcare professionals should be aware of this problem. Research to investigate the ICD-11 AjD concept in the general populations and other subpopulations is needed.

Cluster Sampling Bias in Government-Sponsored Evaluations: A Correlational Study of Employment and Welfare Pilots in England.

For pilot or experimental employment programme results to apply beyond their test bed, researchers must select ‘clusters’ (i.e. the job centres delivering the new intervention) that are reasonably representative of the whole territory. More specifically, this requirement must account for conditions that could artificially inflate the effect of a programme, such as the fluidity of the local labour market or the performance of the local job centre. Failure to achieve representativeness results in Cluster Sampling Bias (CSB). This paper makes three contributions to the literature. Theoretically, it approaches the notion of CSB as a human behaviour. It offers a comprehensive theory, whereby researchers with limited resources and conflicting priorities tend to oversample ‘effect-enhancing’ clusters when piloting a new intervention. Methodologically, it advocates for a ‘narrow and deep’ scope, as opposed to the ‘wide and shallow’ scope, which has prevailed so far. The PILOT-2 dataset was developed to test this idea. Empirically, it provides evidence on the prevalence of CSB. In conditions similar to the PILOT-2 case study, investigators (1) do not sample clusters with a view to maximise generalisability; (2) do not oversample ‘effect-enhancing’ clusters; (3) consistently oversample some clusters, including those with higher-than-average client caseloads; and (4) report their sampling decisions in an inconsistent and generally poor manner. In conclusion, although CSB is prevalent, it is still unclear whether it is intentional and meant to mislead stakeholders about the expected effect of the intervention or due to higher-level constraints or other considerations.

The Local Integration of Employment Services: Assessing Network Effectiveness of Local Job Centres in Flanders

In the Flemish region of Belgium, as in many other countries, the network paradigm is the emerging model for the establishment of local job centres. Based on a one-stop service model, similar basic work-focused services which were previously offered by separate organisations are now integrated and locally embedded. What is the added value of the local establishment of public service delivery based on the network paradigm? This question is answered by using a set of evaluation criteria which we derive from Provan and Milward's framework for evaluating the effectiveness of local, public service networks for health care and welfare. The objective of this research is twofold: (a) a methodological assessment of Provan and Milward's framework; and (b) the empirical evaluation of job centres' effectiveness. Our empirical analysis is based on a mixed method approach, combining registration and organisational data analyses with qualitative findings as reported by stakeholders. We conclude that the network effectiveness of the job centres in Flanders for the year 2006 is not unanimously positive.

New Governance and the Case of Activation Policies: Comparing Experiences in Denmark and the Netherlands

AbstractThis article explores the importance of new forms of governance in active labour market policies (activation) in two countries: Denmark and the Netherlands. Drawing on research with key stakeholders in these countries, we analyse how new governance, and particularly processes of contracting‐out and localization, have found expression in recent reforms to activation. We conclude that localization and contracting‐out may have a future role to play in the development of more locally responsive and individually focused services. But both countries have encountered problems in promoting joined‐up services through local jobcentres, while contracting‐out has not always led to the tailored, individually focused services envisaged by policy‐makers. In both countries, there are also concerns that the restriction of the Public Employment Service to a ‘gatekeeping and signposting’ role will lead to inconsistencies in the quality of services, exposing the most disadvantaged to greater social risk.

Die Arbeitsverwaltung als Versicherungskonzern?

One of the main pillars of the German social security system, the Federal Labour Agency has undergone the most extensive reorganization of a public sector organisation in Germany in recent years. The contribution describes the main principles of this management-driven reform process and its conseguences for the service quality in the local job centres. It leads to the conclusion that a gain of efficiency in labour administration faces problems of exclusion for specific groups of job seekers from measures of active labour market policy.

Barriers to rehabilitation and return to work for unemployed chronic pain patients: A qualitative study

This paper explores the perceived barriers to return to work presented by unemployed patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. The findings are based on one to one in depth semi-structured interviews conducted with patients from four sites in the UK. Interview data were recorded from 38 patients (15 male, 23 female) aged between 29 and 62 years the sample included patients who had participated in a vocational rehabilitation scheme, those who had refused to participate and a naı¨ve group. Patients were in receipt of long-term social welfare benefits (incapacity benefits) and recruited via local Job Centres. The mean duration of work absence was over 5 years. The data was transcribed and analysed by means of thematic analysis. Several themes were identified as barriers to return to work from the data including pain related issues, uncertainty (both financial and physical), the healthcare system, interaction with benefits providers, perceptions of employers and personal limitations. The uncertainty and the pain condition itself were the overarching barriers from which other obstacles stemmed. This is the first qualitative study of long term unemployed benefit recipients with chronic pain. Others authors have reported psychosocial factors as barriers to work among disabled populations however, this qualitative study has identified barriers specific to unemployed chronic pain patients. The themes identified will help with the planning and development of future initiatives for returning chronic pain patients to employment.

LA Code of professional conduct: A Contradiction

I wish to examine one particular contradiction in the LA's Code in a little depth. As I write, two persons I know well who used a number of libraries, are now serving prison sentences. The first was convicted of manslaughter; he is young, very tall, and his only use of libraries was to read electoral registers together with the related telephone directory. At his trial ninety‐eight witnesses gave a picture of persons being tracked down by him and living in fear as a result. It has been claimed that because of paragraph hi in the Code, his activities in the library cannot be mentioned to the police as the Code here forbids members to divulge to a third party, material or information entrusted to them in confidence. The second is an undischarged bankrupt with superficial charm. He tried to sell a non‐existent directory he said he was “publishing” to a number of libraries at the end of 1984. He advertised for staff in the local job centre, and had a limited company. His legal credit limit was £10, yet he was convicted of obtaining £7,210 credit by fraud. One person's conduct is sometimes very destructive to the whole community!