Market Inclusion Research Articles

Diversity Management Policies for the Inclusion of LGBT People into the Labour Market: The Case of Naples

The goal of this paper is to analyze the experimental project ‘Diversity on the Job’ (DJ) carried out in the city of Naples. The project was meant to set a best practice for labor market inclusion of LGBT people. DJ created integrated territorial networks to help LGBT people find work through the involvement of associations and stakeholders. The project proved, since it promoted the employability of disadvantaged individuals at high risk of discrimination (through orientation and coaching services, three-month internships, and job placement services), but also since it performed a capacity-building action. The analysis shows why the implementation of the DJ Project in the city of Naples has achieved a virtuous yet at the same time ambiguous effect for the specific territorial context.

Constructing Inequalities: Tenure Trajectories of Immigrant Workers and Union Strategies in the Milan Construction Sector

AbstractIn this mixed‐methods study, we examined the employment trajectories of immigrant employees in the construction sector in Milan and the role of unions in promoting their labour market inclusion. Drawing on a unique dataset of 417,004 contracts representing more than 166,000 construction workers over a 12‐year period (2000–2011), we employed Growth Curve Modelling (GCM) to explore national group differences in contract, firm and sector tenure trajectories. We found Egyptian and Romanian workers suffer from lowest tenure levels. To investigate these results, we conducted 15 interviews with key informants. Results suggested firm characteristics and position along the production process (mono‐task), pervasive immigrant hiring queues (mono‐national) and union's use of class strategies are interlocking forces that shape deep labour market segregation. We recommend unions develop and apply tailored ethnic strategies to empower highly segregated immigrant groups.

Labour market inclusion of young people with mental health problems in Norway

People with mental health problems face barriers to labour market inclusion. In this study, we investigate the extent to which employers are attentive and willing to include young people with mental health problems. The study contributes to existing knowledge by exploring contextual factors that shape employers’ hiring behaviour. The findings show that taking on a social responsibility to contribute to an inclusive working life (as indicated by having entered the Norwegian Inclusive Working Life Agreement) and the degree to which recruitment practices are formalised (as indicated by labour market sector) is positively associated with enterprises’ inclusiveness towards young people with mental health problems. However, the general tendency is that few enterprises focus on including young people with mental health problems. Likewise, only a few enterprises would invite a qualified applicant with such problems to a job interview. Thus, our study supports research suggesting that employer reluctance towards hiring persons with mental health problems contributes to the latter's labour market disadvantages.

Accumulated unhealthy behaviors and psychosocial problems in adolescence are associated with labor market exclusion in early adulthood \u2013 a northern Finland birth cohort 1986 study

BackgroundThe relevance of health-related behaviors to exclusion from the labor market in early adulthood remains poorly studied in relation to the magnitude of the problem. We explored whether adolescents’ accumulated unhealthy behaviors and psychosocial problems are associated with later labor market exclusion, and whether multisite musculoskeletal pain (MMSP) impacts these relations.MethodsWe gathered questionnaire data on unhealthy behaviors and psychosocial problems and MMSP among adolescents aged 15 to 16 belonging to the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. The findings were combined with registry data on unemployment, employment and permanent work disability during a five-year follow-up between the ages of 25 and 29 (n = 6692). In the statistical modeling we used education, family leave and socioeconomic status of childhood family as potential confounders, as well as latent class and logistic regression analyses.ResultsThe Externalizing behavior cluster associated with over one year of unemployment (RR 1.64, CI 1.25–2.14) and permanent work disability (OR 2.49, CI 1.07–5.78) in the follow-up among the men. The Sedentary cluster also associated with over one year (RR 1.41, CI 1.13–1.75) and under one year of unemployment (RR 1.25, CI 1.02–1.52) and no employment days (RR 1.93, CI 1.26–2.95) among the men. Obese male participants were at risk of over one year of unemployment (RR 1.50, CI 1.08–2.09) and no employment days (RR 1.93, CI 1.07–3.50). Among the women, the Multiple risk behavior cluster related significantly to over one year of unemployment (RR 1.77, CI 1.37–2.28). MMSP had no influence on the associations.ConclusionsUnhealthy behavior patterns and psychosocial problems in adolescence have long-term consequences for exclusion from the labor market in early adulthood, especially among men. Simultaneously supporting psychological well-being and healthy behaviors in adolescence may reduce labor market inclusion difficulties in the early phase of working life.

Homeschooling in Secler Region, Romania

Abstract Introduction: In the presented article, we are looking for the solutions and challenges of homeschooling in terms of further education and labour market inclusion. Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to discuss the conceptual framework of a research-initiative on homeschooling. What are the consequences? Because of a lack of adequate state language usage, is there a forced migration in the pupils’ career paths? To what extent are homeschoolers included into traditional compulsory education, lifelong learning, the labor market, and the society? Methods: This is a paper with the conceptual framework of a research, where snowball sampling based qualitative interviews are planned. Results: From the research to be conducted, the authors expect a reliable picture of the causes, challenges and consequences of homeschooling on lifelong learning, the labour market and social inclusion. Discussion: It seems that homeschooling in the Seclerland is a de-schooling solution, because it is usually opted by parents dissatisfied with the quality of education. It helps them avoid Romanian language tests of skills and maturity examinations. We assume that those with outstanding competencies (e.g. in music or sports) or those with a certain handicap (e.g. health problems), as well as those temporarily living abroad are choosing it. It can be a sort of forced solution, a self-defense strategy that protects students from increasing school conflicts, and a reaction to the lack of satisfactory educational offers, commuting, or school segregation. Limitations: Limitations of research are due to the snowball sample method and time/money limits. Conclusions: We hope that, above all, the results will help parents to take a wise decision on whether to choose this option or not, but also schools and decision makers in education to assess their roles in the process and make changes if they want to and can do so.

Worlds of last-resort safety nets? A proposed typology of minimum income schemes in Europe

ABSTRACTOver the past twenty years, minimum income schemes (MIS) have undergone major transformations in their functions and role. From mainly residual instruments that aimed to guarantee minimum income support and to prevent extreme marginality, in most countries they now have an ambiguous function of providing income support and favouring social and labour market inclusion. Against this background, this article provides an analytical grid that allows describing the different features of last-resort safety nets across Europe, building on the definition of key main dimensions of variation of MISs in Europe – generosity, eligibility and conditionality requirements, institutional configuration, active inclusion profiles. Then, it introduces a new typology of MIS in Europe, building on a new dataset with data on expenditures and coverage collected from National Statistical Offices.

Temporalities of Refugee Experience in Germany. Diversification of Asylum Rights and Proliferation of Internal Boundaries

In Germany, the large influx of refugees arriving in 2015 led to numerous changes in asylum legislation and to new administrative measures. Apart from humanitarian reasons, integration efforts such as language learning, labour market inclusion as well as cooperation with authorities gained weight and are increasingly factored into decisions on residency permits or extension of stay. On the basis of participant observation within a refugee accommodation, the article argues that the legal and administrative framework of humanitarian reception constitutes powerful inclusionary and exclusionary mechanisms that entail not only spatial and social but also temporal dimensions. They unfold within the speed at which the applications are processed, the different residency titles (and non-titles) refugees receive and with this the different access to integration measures which again influence the speed of the “integration” of refugees into the German society. These temporalities build differential internal boundaries which impact on the everyday life and the future perspectives of the refugees in Germany.

Employment Effects of Job Counseling for Disability Insurance Recipients

Many countries implement policies to promote labor market inclusion of disability support recipients. It is unclear whether such measures work. We exploit a quasi-experimental setting in Australia where compulsory job counseling was introduced in 2012 affecting only those social security disability insurance (DI) recipients below age 35. Using longitudinal administrative data on all DI recipients and applying a difference-in difference estimator, we find that the policy was largely ineffective and neither improved employment nor earnings.

An Integrated DC Microgrid Solution for Electric Vehicle Fleet Management

The coordinated development of charging points reveals to be crucial in supporting the envisaged diffusion of electric vehicles, along with their proper design to ensure smart and fast charging performances and economic advantages for drivers. The integration of charging points with local generation and storage can enhance this process. In this paper, the structure of a modular electric vehicle supply infrastructure is proposed. It is based on the integration of photovoltaic rooftops, energy storage and electric vehicle stations in a dc microgrid, enabling coordination and control as well as the functions of bidirectional charging and the possibility to provide grid services at connection point. The main features of the technical demonstrator are described, along with the targeted innovations for system manager and final user, and the possible control functions involving operation planning, real-time control, and ancillary service market inclusion.

People with intellectual disabilities and labour market inclusion: What role for EU labour law?

People with intellectual disabilities occupy a peripheral position in the labour market. They have low rates of participation in employment and this often takes the form of sheltered employment in settings segregated from persons without disabilities. Although their working lives have received limited attention in legal scholarship, this article argues that law can play a positive role in fostering greater inclusion. Taking into account the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, this article analyses EU legislation and case law in order to identify how these apply to those working in sheltered employment and how they may assist in tackling barriers to participating in the open labour market. While EU labour law already contains measures that have the potential to improve the position of people with intellectual disabilities, the article identifies scope for enhancing the effectiveness of these instruments.

Addressing the Ethical Challenge of Market Inclusion in Base-of-the-Pyramid Markets: A Macromarketing Approach

Making transformative services such as healthcare accessible to low-income consumers is an ethical challenge of vital importance to marketers. However, most low-income consumers across the world are excluded from the market for such transformative services because of financial constraints arising from poverty. In this paper, instead of focusing on the micro-interplay between firms and consumers, we examine the macro-interplay among firms, consumers, and public policy in addressing the ethical challenge of market inclusion at the base of the pyramid. Specifically, we examine how the Vietnam government used a policy of free and universal health insurance for children under the age of six as a means of lowering affordability barriers and fostering market inclusion in the healthcare market. Overnight in 2005, all children under the age of six living anywhere in Vietnam became eligible for free health insurance. Using this policy intervention as a natural experiment, we compare market inclusion outcomes of children under the age of six with older children who were ineligible before and after the program was implemented. We show that lowering affordability barriers through public policy (1) increases access to target services, (2) increases consumers’ overall out-of-pocket spending, and (3) increases access to complementary services. By adopting a macromarketing lens, this study makes a strong case for collaboration among firms, governments, and communities in addressing the ethical challenge of system-wide market inclusion in base-of-the-pyramid markets.

Inclusive Business Models in Agri-food Value Chains: What Safeguards for Whom?

ABSTRACT Inclusive business models are promoted as unique opportunities to combine profitability for firms needing reliable supply from small-scale farmers with market inclusion for those farmers. In environments with weak public institutions, such agreements may be conducive to sustainable income, yet costly or even impossible to enforce. They rely on firms willing to provide investment while being exposed to high appropriability hazards. This paper explores the relationship between investments, appropriability hazards, and safeguards based on ten African case studies. Results suggest that in environments in which commitments are hard to secure, the business model chosen is largely determined by safeguarding against side-selling.

All we need is\u2026

The right to adequate minimum income protection is one of the key principles included in the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). The EPSR takes a right-based and normative approach, aiming specifically at fulfilling people’s essential needs, not only by guaranteeing sufficiently high income levels, but also by promoting labour market inclusion and access to affordable goods and services of good quality. This paper takes the EPSR as a starting point to propose a needs-based indicator that assesses the adequacy of minimum income protection including these three dimensions in a comprehensive way. We argue that Reference Budgets (RBs), priced baskets of goods and services that represent an adequate living standard, are well-suited to construct such an indicator. To illustrate this empirically, we use RBs for adequate social participation in Belgium which have been constructed for the first time in 2008 and have been regularly updated since then. Through a combination of hypothetical household simulations of essential out-of-pocket costs and designated tax-benefits for families living on different minimum income schemes, we are able to assess the adequacy of minimum income protection for a range of household types over the period 2008–2017. The paper shows that, the proposed indicator is a useful policy tool for both ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of the adequacy of social policy measures in light of the social protection and inclusion rights included in the Pillar.

Enhancing Skills for Employment in the Workplace of the Future 2020 Using the Theory of Connectivity: Shared and Adaptive Personal Learning Environments in a Spanish Context

European living environments are well placed as an essential means through which cities become functional, modern, and liveable places, and are the ideal setting for the innovation and implementation of businesses and ideas. In addition, they are a place in which existing gaps in labour market inclusion are easily widened amongst those who, for various reasons, have not received adequate training, such as immigrants (including unaccompanied foreign minors) and young people without qualifications that have several difficulties in the access to higher education. Further, as is noted in the Phoenix report entitled Future Work Skills 2020, our educational system suffers from a lack of training with regards to the employment skills that need to be integrated into current society, as these have a crucial role for achieving success in the workplace. The aim of this study is to analyse the key skills for the inclusion of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors (UFM) in the workplace, developing a scale for the assessment of ten basic skills for the work of the future. These individuals are mostly young people without qualifications trying to make it in the new environments of current Smart Cities. This study employs an empirical and experimental methodology with two comparison groups of UFM adolescents. The UFM population is contextualised by the migratory flow from North Africa to Europe. Multistage sampling was used to select 345 participants. An approximation scale of the level of Future Work Skills was created as a data collection instrument through simulations of Horizon 2020 (EA-HFL-SH2020). Multivariate analysis was performed which revealed significant differences between school variables, work experience and educational level. The results are aligned with the evaluation of skill acquisition level for the working future of UFM and with the proposed training model of work skills that facilitate their inclusion in the world of the European workforce, as a function of the significant differences found. In addition, the emphasis is placed on the interest of identifying this type of skills in this group in order to develop appropriate training programs in higher education for employment success.

Role of Socialization in Business: Lessons from Dalit Enterprises

Market inclusion of marginalized groups is a major challenge in mature and emerging markets. We argue that opportunities for socialization are critical for the success of business-owners from margi...

From Problems to Barriers: A Bottom-Up Perspective on the Institutional Framing of a Labour Activation Programme

Human resource development (HRD) approaches aim to increase service users’ labour market prospects through training and upskilling. However, research on activation policy implementation suggests that individualised, tailored measures may be difficult to implement because of organisational structures, standardised procedures, contradictory professional interests, and broad framework laws. This qualitative study explored the institutional framing of the Norwegian Qualification Programme and how that framing created barriers in service users’ trajectories towards labour market inclusion. The study applied a bottom-up perspective to analyse how these barriers are entangled in a multidimensional web of interrelated and sometimes contradictory relations. Highlighting the service users’ perspective, the study aimed to examine how institutional framing may interfere with the activation policy goal of qualifying service users for the labour market. The results point to how institutional framing governs local practice and creates barriers that ultimately may impede activation policy goals.

Better Late than Never? How Late Completion Affects the Early Careers of Dropouts

Across the OECD countries, dropouts from upper secondary schooling fare worse in the labor market, with higher NEET rates more spells of unemployment and lower earnings. Among the dropouts, there are however significant shares who complete at a later age. In this paper, we thus ask the question: Does it pay for young adults who do not complete upper secondary schooling by the age of 21, to do so at some point during the subsequent 7 years, that is, before turning 28? In all four Nordic countries under scrutiny, we find that late completion lowers the probability of being outside employment, education or training (NEET) at age 28. Moreover, the exact age of completion does not seem to matter. Our estimates are robust to the inclusion of extensive controls for socioeconomic background and early schooling paths, and similar to the ones produced by event history analysis with individual fixed effects. This indicates that late completion of upper secondary schooling plays an important role for the labor market inclusion of young dropouts.

Wage subsidies targeted to jobseekers with disabilities: subsequent employment and disability retirement

In many countries, a non-negligible percentage of the working-age population has impairments that also entail reduced work capacity, and disability retirement is increasing. Despite this, studies on the effects of policies aimed at enhancing the labour market inclusion among people with disabilities, such as targeted wage subsidies, are surprisingly few. In an attempt to fill this gap, we have studied how wage subsidies affect future labour market outcomes for jobseekers with disabilities, in terms of employment and disability retirement. By using inverse probability weighting applied to rich Swedish register data, we contrast participants in the wage subsidy program to observably similar non-participants during a 19-year period. We find that participation was associated with both positive and negative labour market outcomes. On the negative side, participants were less likely to have unsubsidised employment. On the positive side, leaving the labour market through the disability insurance program was somewhat less common among participants. Moreover, using a broader employment measure including subsidised jobs, the participants were found to be employed to a larger extent, which could be interpreted either as locking-in effects or as fostering labour market inclusion.

On the link between financial market inclusion and trade openness: An asymmetric analysis

This study investigates the impact of financial market inclusion, the existence of shadow economy and real output on trade openness for a select group of emerging economies. Trade openness potentially is a major source of economic growth and development. This study is the first employing mixed methods and approaches of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) to estimate the long-run and short-run models for a large group of emerging economies. The more advanced the financial market inclusion is in a country, the higher the financial market development and, eventually, the level of trade openness. This paper examines the asymmetry cointegration approach in line with nonlinearity attribution, using annual data from 1983 to 2014 for 18 emerging economies. Estimate from all models indicate that financial market inclusion has played a significant role in the short run and has symmetric effects on the trade openness of the majority of emerging economies. Also, the nonlinear model and asymmetry cointegration provide more backing.

Regulatory interaction with the long-term insurance industry in pursuit of market stability and financial inclusion

This study explores how the financial regulator through interaction with the long-term insurance industry can give effect to greater market inclusion and financial stability. It follows a qualitative approach and we interview both industry representatives and the regulator. The results show that there is a possible tension between the regulatory objectives of market stability and financial inclusion and that an unbalanced focus on either objective could adversely affect the other. It suggests that the best way to ensure this balance is for industry, the regulator and government to coframe issues, rather than being obliged to rely on the regulator to draft regulation in isolation. The entry level (base of the pyramid) insurance market may require a different paradigm to ‘usual’ insurance constructs and this requires a more innovative approach from all stakeholders. The findings highlight strategic measures that may assist regulators in giving effect to greater market inclusion without prejudicing the stability of the market.