Benefit Recipients Research Articles

How to retrench the welfare state: Attitudes in the general population

AbstractIn recent years, many countries have faced pressure to cut the costs of the welfare state, and different strategies have been utilized to achieve this, including stricter eligibility requirements, reduced level of benefits, and reduced maximum duration of benefits. This contribution reports the results from a Norwegian survey designed to measure which of these strategies the general population would prefer in a situation where the government has to tighten various social security schemes. For a given reduction in total costs, there is a trade‐off between the desire to avoid large individual benefit reductions and the desire to protect some groups of benefit recipients from any cuts. Different preferences for how to retrench the welfare state will reflect how individuals trade off these concerns. We find a striking association between political affiliation and preferred retrenchment strategy. Right‐wingers typically prefer to tighten the eligibility criteria, while left‐wingers typically prefer to reduce the benefit level. Furthermore, our results indicate that labor market outsiders are less in favor of tightening the eligibility criteria, but more in favor of reducing the maximum duration of benefits, than labor market insiders. This article contributes to the literature on welfare state retrenchment by examining which retrenchment strategy that the public prefers, which in turn sheds light on which measures that are likely to receive popular support from different demographics in the population.

Does Ischemia Free Liver Procurement Under Normothermic Perfusion Benefit the Outcome of Liver Transplantation?

BackgroundIn contrast to conventional static cold preservation, normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) provides a beneficial alternative preservation of donor livers. However, the liver still suffered cold ischemic injury before attaching to the perfusion device.Material/MethodsTo prevent cold ischemic injury during procurement, we describe a novel procedure called ischemia-free liver procurement (IFLP) under NMP. Two liver grafts were procured from brain death donor under NMP and underwent 2-hour ex vivo NMP followed by 3 and 6 hours of static cold preservation. From procurement to post-transplantation course, evidence was collected to prove that IFLP is safe and benefits recipients.ResultsThe post-transplantation course was uneventful, and the liver function tests and histological study revealed minimal hepatocyte and biliary epithelium injury during the preservation.ConclusionsThis preliminary experience demonstrates the clinical feasibility and safety of IFLP under NMP which offering opportunities to increase the number of donor livers and to improve the organ function.

Job search of men and women on long-term social welfare

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the job search probability in welfare receipt over time for men and women in different household constellations, because it is a major concern in welfare states that long-term receipt is driven by recipients’ low job search activity.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyses the likelihood to search for a job for a sample of unemployed recipients of means-tested welfare benefits in Germany. Data basis is the panel study “Labour Market and Social Security” (PASS), and growth curve models are applied in this study.FindingsJob search probability differs by household constellation and gender directly after the onset of welfare receipt; differences are less distinct for changes in job search probability over time. Only welfare recipients without children show a pronounced decline in search probability.Practical implicationsThere is no evidence that welfare recipients’ overall cease to search for a job by and by. Financial incentives alone cannot stimulate the job search of welfare recipients, when the diverse motives of male and female recipients in various household constellations are not considered as well.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to study the long-term development in the job search probability and gender differences by household constellations.

Public opinion towards targeted labour market policies: A vignette study on the perceived deservingness of the unemployed

The issue of welfare targeting is back on the political agenda in European welfare states. Benefit recipients are subject to different rules, depending on age, family status and work. For instance, strict conditions and harsh sanctions apply, in particular, to young unemployed people. This article investigates public opinion towards welfare targeting in three policy areas – unemployment benefits, conditionality of benefits and sanctions – and utilizes a factorial vignette experiment presented within a representative German survey. The results suggest strong support for welfare targeting. Respondents are more likely to offer generous benefits and fewer obligations and sanctions to unemployed people who are elderly, have caring responsibilities, are of German ethnicity and have high job-seeking ambitions. The negative effect of foreign ethnicity is moderated by the ideological standpoint of the respondent, highlighting the mechanisms underlying welfare chauvinism. Accordingly, policy support strongly depends on the individual circumstances of the affected target group.

Evaluation of a Placement Coaching Program for Recipients of Disability Insurance Benefits in Switzerland.

Purpose During 2009‒2013 a pilot project was carried out in Zurich which aimed to increase the income of disability insurance (DI) benefit recipients in order to reduce their entitlement to DI benefits. The project consisted of placement coaching carried out by a private company that specialized in this field. It was exceptional with respect to three aspects: firstly, it did not include any formal training and/or medical aid; secondly, the coaches did not have the possibility of providing additional financial incentives or sanctioning lack of effort; and thirdly due to performance bonuses, the company not only had incentives to bring the participants into (higher paid) work, but also to keep them there for 52 weeks. This paper estimates the medium-run effects of the pilot project and assesses the net benefit from the Swiss social security system. Methods Different propensity score matching estimators are applied to administrative longitudinal data in order to construct suitable control groups. Results The estimates indicate a reduction in DI benefits and an increase in income even in the medium-run. A simple cost-benefit analysis suggests that the pilot project was a profitable investment for the social security system. Conclusion Given a healthy labor market, it seems possible to enhance the employment prospects of disabled persons with a relatively inexpensive intervention, which does not include any explicit investments in human capital.

Sąlygų griežtumas socialinės paramos sistemose: Lietuvos ir kitų Europos Sąjungos šalių palyginimas

Straipsnyje yra siūlomas socialinės paramos sąlygų griežtumo indeksas, leidžiantis išanalizuoti ir palyginti šalių paramos sistemų griežtumą. Indeksui sukurti naudojami MISSOC ir EUROMOD duomenys. Taip pat analizuotas sukurto indekso ir skurdo, socialinės atskirties bei pajamų nelygybės rodiklių ryšys. Rezultatai parodė, kad Lietuvos socialinės paramos sistema pasižymi dideliu griežtumu ES šalių kontekste pagal visas analizuotas dimensijas. Socialinės paramos griežtumui turėjo įtakos ir paskutinioji piniginės socialinės paramos reforma, kurios metu buvo sugriežtintos kai kurios paramos teikimo sąlygos. Taip pat paaiškėjo, kad šalyse, kuriose dominuoja griežtesni paramos trukmės ir dydžio apribojimai, vyrauja didesni skurdo, socialinės atskirties ir pajamų nelygybės rodikliai. Atkreiptinas dėmesys, kad būtent paramos trukmės ir dydžio dimensijoje pagal sąlygų griežtumą pirmauja Lietuva.

Social participation and psychosocial outcomes of young adults with chronic physical conditions: Comparing recipients and non-recipients of disability benefits

BackgroundLittle is known about any differences between young people with chronic physical conditions who do and do not apply for disability benefits in young adulthood for providing insights for future policy and rehabilitation care. ObjectiveWe aimed to identify predictors during adolescence of receiving disability benefits in young adulthood and to compare recipients and non-recipients of benefits in social participation and psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood. MethodsFollow-up study of 18 to 25 year olds with various chronic conditions who at adolescent age completed a web-based survey (n=518; T0). The outcome was receiving disability benefits (yes or no). Associations with background characteristics, social participation, and impact of the chronic condition were explored with stepwise multivariate modelling, using T0 variables. Differences between recipients and non-recipients were explored using chi-square tests and t-tests. ResultsReceiving disability benefits in young adulthood was associated with greater extent of physical disability, receiving less special education, absenteeism at school/work, and low health-related quality of life during adolescence. In young adulthood, recipients of benefits reported higher perceived impact of the chronic condition on their school/work career and lower quality of life than non-recipients. Social participation varied across domains. ConclusionThis study provides important insights into the characteristics of a vulnerable subgroup of young people with chronic physical conditions. Disability benefit recipients experienced more impact of their chronic condition and reported a lower health-related quality of life over time than non-recipients. Rehabilitation professionals are encouraged to use patient-reported outcomes to address the lived experiences and screen the need for psychosocial support of this vulnerable subgroup of young people with chronic physical conditions.

‘Helping Workless Families’: Cultural Poverty and the Family in Austerity and Anti-welfare Discourse

The notion of ‘cultural poverty’ has a long history in the United Kingdom. The argument that there is something culturally distinct about poor, working-class, and/or benefit recipient populations that sets them apart from the rest of society, and moreover, that these cultures are self-perpetuating, has tended to be deployed in the service of a politics that blames the cultures of the poor for poverty and economic disadvantage. The most recent resurgence of such arguments can be found in the austerity and anti-welfare agendas of the Coalition Government (2010–2015) and the post-Coalition Conservative Government(s) (2015–present). This article examines the 2017 Department for Work and Pensions policy paper ‘Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families’ that sets out the Government’s vision for tackling poverty and engrained disadvantage and argues, first, that the policy paper reproduces the cultural poverty argument. Second, I argue that the paper positions the family as the location in which the cultures of the poor and disadvantaged are reproduced, and consequently also as the proper site for government action to interrupt the cycle of reproduction, highlighting familial gender dynamics, reproductive arrangements, and parenting practices as key aspects of the discursive framing of poverty within austerity and anti-welfare politics.

Frequency of ocular diseases among recipients of disability benefits in the metropolitan region of Recife, Brazil.

To identify the frequency of ocular diseases among recipients of disability benefits in the metropolitan region of Recife, Brazil. A review was performed of 217,221 cases of disability benefits granted between 2010 and 2015 by the executive managerial department of the Brazilian National Institute of Social Security (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social [INSS]) in Recife, which encompasses 14 municipalities of the metropolitan region, including the capital. The frequencies of the identified cases of ocular morbidity were then determined according to their group in the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10), their cause, the age, sex, and income of the recipient, and the type and duration of the benefit. Of all disability benefits granted, 5,324 (2.5%) were due to ocular disease, the majority (91.1%) consisting of sick pay. Most of the beneficiaries (64.6%) were males, were 20 to 59 years of age, and 61.2% earned the minimum wage or less. The principal ocular diseases for which sick pay benefits were granted were cataract (24.5%), conjunctivitis (21.1%), and pterygium (8.8%). Blindness and low vision were the principal ocular diseases in cases of accident indemnity and disability retirement. The results highlight the magnitude of the problem of ocular diseases to the social security system, with serious economic and social losses, and emphasize the need for measures aimed at their prevention. Moreover, integration between the national departments of health and social security needs to be improved.

Food Comes First, Then Morals: Redistribution Preferences, Parochial Altruism, and Immigration in Western Europe

Altruism is an important omitted variable in much of the political economy literature. While material self-interest is the base of most approaches to redistribution (first affecting preferences and then politics and policy), there is a paucity of research on inequality aversion. I propose that other-regarding concerns influence redistribution preferences and that (1) they matter most to those in less material need and (2) they are conditional on the identity of the poor. Altruism is most relevant to the rich, and it is most influential when the recipients of benefits are similar to those financing them. Using data from the European Social Survey from 2002 to 2012, I will show that group homogeneity magnifies (or limits) the importance of altruism for the rich. In making these distinctions between the poor and the rich, the arguments in this article challenge some influential approaches to inequality, immigration, and voting.

Дороги, ведущие молодежь в NEET: случай России

Causes and consequences of the so-called NEET status (Not in Employment, Educationor Training) are one of the popular foreign areas of youth labour markets research. NEET youth are one of the most vulnerable categories of the non-employed. Representatives of this group are common recipients of social benefits from the state and depend on the money transfers from relatives. The probability of finding a permanent job for young people who previously were in the NEET status is reduced. They have higher risks of informal employment, problems with physical and mental health, propensity to criminal activities and substance abuse, low level of trust in social institutions. Despite the relevance of the study, youth transitions between school, employment and different types of NEET status (so-called NEET-unemployment and NEET-inactivity) are relatively rare analyzed on panel data.Present study introduces the flows of young people entering and leaving the NEET group in the Russian labour market as the focus of the research for the first time. This topic is particularly relevant for Russia since, according to Rosstat, the share of Russian NEET youth in 2010-2015 was 12-15% of all young people aged 15-24 years. The source of the data for the study is the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey - Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) for 2000-2016. The main findings of the study are based on the analysis of the transition matrices and the results of the estimations of dynamic multinomial logit regression models on the subsamples of men and women aged 15-24 years. According to the results received the share of NEET youth in Russia by 2016 was about 15% of all young people aged 15-24 years. At the same time, during the economic crisis, the growth in the share of NEET youth was mainly due to the increase of NEET-unemployment. The share of the latter in 2015-2016 reached the maximum values for the entire period analyzed (9-10% of all young people aged 15-24 years). Despite the heterogeneous nature of the Russian NEET, the risks of falling into this state are mainly associated with education - either with its insufficient level (in the case of inactive NEETs) or with its low quality (in the case of unemployed NEETs). Thus, higher education in Russia is as sociated with the greatest risks of NEET unemployment, while the risks of transition to the state of NEET-inactivity are concentrated among those who received vocational education after incomplete secondary school or after graduating from high school. Changes in the marital status are also among important factors of NEET state. However the probability of finding a job next year reaches 50% for unemployed NEETs, and about 30-40% for inactive NEETs. Thus, NEET status at the moment does not seem to be unequivocal hopeless «trap» for Russian youth.

The Effects of Humanitarian Aid on the Advancement of Livelihood under Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Humanitarian aid continues to be under close scrutiny as the international community analyzes its effects on the receiving populations in the developing world. Although aid should not be stopped completely, there are areas that can be improved. In theory, aid should increase economic capabilities as it sustains populations and advances their quality of life. On the systematic level, data supports that there are more efficient ways to allocate aid to benefit recipient states rather than donor states. The allocation of aid is partly determined by individual political interests of donor nations and the promotion of their foreign policies. Logistics and the dispersal of aid in the receiving country can be highly politicized when the government oversees the process. Human rights are often forgotten in the allocation of aid on the ground as each country and situation is not considered under its unique circumstances. The current United States administration has not positively impacted the current crises in Venezuela as their history of foreign policy is being repeated. The following sections will seek to answer the question of: Does humanitarian aid in Latin America advance an adequate standard of living under Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Disaggregated Household Incomes in Hungary Based on the Comparative Analysis of the Reweighted Household Surveys of 2010 and 2015

In the period 2010–2015, the Hungarian employment rate recorded an outstanding increase even by European standards. During this period, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office recorded a 9 per cent increase in the number of employees, coupled with a 15.5 per cent rise in net real wages. This study presents the evolution of these indicators broken down by income groups. In addition to number of employees and labour incomes, changes in the total compensation of pension and social benefit recipients are also discussed in the study. Calculations are based on the 2010 and 2015 data waves of the household budget statistics. One disadvantage of using these data, however, is that they are distorted along the income distribution due to the phenomenon that high earners are typically represented by a low number of observations. The study presents a two-step recalibration procedure with previously unused cohort formation that addresses the aforementioned coverage deficiency with adjustment to external data sources. The material well-being of different household income groups can be tracked in the database produced by the applied method, and the macroeconomic indicators can be supplemented by pieces of distribution information. According to the results defined as the difference between the two years’ data under review, the employment growth in the interim period was determined by the employment of the two lower income quintiles. In the assessment of social benefits, with the limited information available, the chosen tool does not provide a comprehensive view of the changes in these income categories; therefore, the quantified differences between the reweighted sample years’ data should be considered with caution. Broken down by income group, real wage indices exhibited considerable fluctuations.

Entscheidungsspielräume im Sozialleistungsrecht – Konsequenzen für die Soziale Arbeit

AbstractIn German public law many legal norms award administrative discretion to authorities. This transition of decision-making from the legislative to the executive has recently increased. The article illustrates this development, which at first is placed in the context of the social rights approach. Afterwards the taxonomy of discretion is shown, and the rationales of areas of discretion in public and social law are discussed. In the third section, the increasing relevance of discretion in granting social benefits – or in imposing sanctions on recipients of benefits – is examined from a social work point of view using three examples in recent social legislation. Finally, the consequences of this development for social work and the required reactions by social work professionals and scholars are reflected.

“The way things get done around here…” Exploring spatial biographies, social policy and governance in the North East of England

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to argue that the application of social policy in the North East of England is often characterised by tension and conflict. The agencies and professionals charged with implementation of Westminster driven policies constantly seek to deploy their knowledge of local conditions in order to make them both practical and palatable.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines the region via established literature from history, geography, sociology and social policy. The paper gives illustrations via empirical work which has evaluated initiatives to improve the health of long term health-related benefit recipients and to sustain individuals in employment in the region.FindingsCentral to the paper’s argument is the notion of “biographies of place”. The core of this idea is that places have biographies in the same way as individuals and possess specific identities. These biographies have been shaped by the intersections between environment, history, culture and economic and social policy. The paper identifies the region’s economic development, subsequent decline and the alliance of labour politics and industrial employers around a common consensus that sought economic prosperity and social progress via a vision of “modernisation” as a key component of this biography.Originality/valueThe paper argues that an appreciation of these spatial biographies can result in innovative and more effective social policy interventions with the potential to address issues that affect entire localities.

Wahl- und Handlungsmöglichkeiten psychisch kranker Menschen im SGB II

Abstract The article examines the job centres’ role in promoting autonomy of benefit recipients with a mental disease under the Social Code II. Restricting factors are little knowledge of mental illnesses, lack of support for labour market integration and a hierarchic communication with placement officers. However, a trustful relationship with case workers and allowing clients to take an active role in the counselling process supports the notion of autonomy.

Wahlfreiheiten und Autonomieschranken bei der Deckung von Unterkunftsbedarfen durch die Grundsicherung

Abstract Welfare benefit recipients receive support to cover their housing costs. Restricted by a defined amount of money, they are free to act on the rental housing market. The idea is that they should be able to pursue their own housing preferences. Even though this policy contains a variety of autonomy-friendly elements, the housing market nonetheless entails several barriers to autonomy. We find that a broader scope of housing policy is required due to the lack of steering possibilities trough welfare benefits.

Measuring Employability for Disadvantaged Unemployed People? Evidence from Survey and Register Data

Disadvantaged unemployed Danes do not easily become re-employed. Previous literature has focused on unemployment versus employment. Expanding on this, the present article is a proposal to assess disadvantaged unemployed people’s employability. On the basis of the literature, I investigate whether variables measuring health, well-being, self-efficacy, alcohol use, and drug use can be included into this measure of employability measured as subsequent re-employment. Data are on disadvantaged unemployment cash benefit recipients from the Copenhagen Unemployment and Well-Being Panel Survey (2013, 2014, N = 2400, analytical sample N = 956) and detailed register data on employment status measured weekly. The results from the analysis reveal that only parts of the proposed indicator are linked with subsequent re-employment, and comprehensive robustness checks reveal that the indicator lacks stability. However, the findings from the study can inform future studies aiming at developing an indicator of employability for disadvantaged unemployed people in Denmark and the other Nordic countries.

Patterns of welfare-to-employment transitions of Croatian Guaranteed Minimum Benefit recipients: a preliminary study

In this paper we explore the transitions of social assistance beneficiaries to employment in Croatia. Data was sourced from the social welfare register for 208 persons from the 2015 cohort of new, unemployed social assistance recipients in one Centre for Social Welfare, their outcomes tracked until June 2017. About a quarter of the recipients became employed within one year, in most cases with wages slightly higher than the statutory minimum. Out of them, about a quarter relapsed into social assistance status within a year. Following the World Bank Employment Barriers approach, we examine whether outcomes are associated with disincentives to work (inactivity trap), lack of work-related capabilities, or gendered engagement with in- household work. We found the average participation tax rate (PTR) for recipients to stand at 57%, yet no effect of PTR, benefit level, debt or PTR level on transition to employment was identified. With respect to capabilities, the role of human capital (vocational in particular), work experience and age turned out to be consistent with prior research. Substitution of inhouse work is consistent with the finding that women are less likely to get employed if living in a household with dependents.

Disclosable, but not Necessarily Fatal? Welfare Overpayments in the Uncertain Landscape of Fitness for Practice

Recently, media reports and a Senate Inquiry raised the issue of widespread errors by Centrelink in sending out µdebt recovery’ letters to recipients of social security benefits alleging overpayments. Even in the absence of automated systems, overpayments arise under a wide range of circumstances in relation to welfare benefits accessed by students either before or during the course of study, ranging from administrative errors by Centrelink to calculated fraud by the recipient. Most overpayments exist against a background of financial hardship or troubled personal circumstances.