The limitations of activation policies: unemployment at the end of working life

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 977-1002 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINA WUEBBEKE
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Unemployed People ◽  
Gainful Employment ◽  
Employment Agency ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
The One

ABSTRACTIn several European countries, older unemployed people, after reaching a certain age, are entitled to unemployment benefit payments without having to seek new employment. The coexistence of this exemption clause and of reforms aimed at containing early retirement in the respective countries reflects a conflict of political aims – on the one hand, between an efficient labour-market policy at a time of high unemployment, and on the other hand, the goal of the comprehensive activation and labour-market integration of older workers as a response to demographic change. This paper deals with the reasons for the transfer of older long-term unemployed people on to ‘facilitated benefits’ for labour-market withdrawal in Germany. The empirical analysis shows that low or no propensity to work was rarely the motive for leaving the labour market; in particular, those anticipating a low retirement income actually wanted to be re-employed. The vast majority gave three reasons for the decision to retire: an inability to cope with requirements of available jobs; a lack of job opportunities; and an absence of proper support from the public employment agency. Thus the withdrawal of older long-term unemployed people into pre-retirement cannot be attributed to a utility-maximising decision in favour of leisure and against gainful employment, but is the primary result of the scarce re-employment prospects.

Equal Rights and Equal Duties? Activating Labour Market Policy and the Participation of Long-term Unemployed People with Disabilities after the Reform of the German Welfare State

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANGELA RAUCH ◽  
JOHANNA DORNETTE
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Complex Situation ◽  
Unemployed People ◽  
Labour Market Integration ◽  
Social Code

AbstractThe recent German welfare state reform with the introduction of Social Code II has created a complex situation for the labour market integration of long-term unemployed people with disabilities. A range of social laws with differing underlying principles is now applicable. In this article, we examine the effects that the implementation of this social code has on long-term unemployed people with disabilities. We show that their integration patterns changed. This is due to the building of new institutions responsible for labour market integration, followed by a temporary destabilisation of work routines at the operational level. Additionally, more persistent consequences occur because the inconsistencies of the relevant laws are creating an area of conflict, which is increasing the risk of marginalising people with disabilities in terms of labour market integration.

Older workers in the Russian labor market: Trends in employment reallocation

2019 ◽  
pp. 5-34
Author(s):  
Anna L. Lukyanova ◽  
Rostislav I. Kapeliushnikov
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Intellectual Labor ◽  
Market Trends ◽  
Trade Education ◽  
The One

The paper analyzes changes in job opportunities of older workers in Russia in the period 2005—2017. The study uses the data from the Russian Labor Force Survey conducted by Rosstat. Changes in the occupational and industrial composition of elderly workers follow the trends pursued by other age groups: employment shifts from low- to high-skilled occupations, from physical to intellectual labor, and from material production to the service sector. We find a stronger polarization among older workers as their occupational structure is biased in favor of, on the one hand, the most and, on the other hand, the least qualified types of jobs. Employment of the elderly has fallen sharply in agriculture and manufacturing with a significant increase in trade, education, and health. Although the employment structure of older workers is generally more “traditionalist”, recent decades have witnessed its transformation in “progressive” directions, similarly to other age groups. These findings suggest that the legislated increase in the state retirement age is not likely to give rise to sizeable unemployment among the elderly. Most of them will be able to work in the occupations and industries previously dominated by young and prime-age workers.

scholarly journals New administrative data on welfare dynamics in Germany: the Sample of Integrated Welfare Benefit Biographies (SIG)

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Bruckmeier ◽  
Sandra Dummert ◽  
Philipp Grunau ◽  
Katrin Hohmeyer ◽  
Torsten Lietzmann
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Welfare Benefit ◽  
Welfare Receipt ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Employment Agency ◽  
Integrated Employment ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
Extensive Information ◽  
Household Members

Abstract The Sample of Integrated Welfare Benefit Biographies (SIG) is a new administrative longitudinal microdata set representative of recipients of Germany’s main welfare programme, the Unemployment Benefit II (UB II, Arbeitslosengeld II). The data set contains detailed longitudinal information on welfare receipt and labour market activities, and hence enables researchers to analyse the dynamics of benefit receipt, income and employment. A distinct feature of the SIG is that it provides information not only for individual benefit recipients but also for family members, including children and partners. This is possible because eligibility for UB II benefits depends on the household structure, and it is means-tested on household income. In addition to socio-demographic and regional information, the SIG contains extensive information on the employment biographies of benefit recipients and their household members from the Integrated Employment Biographies (IEB) of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). This allows researchers to examine the interaction between labour market participation and benefit receipt. The SIG is available to researchers at the Research Data Centre (FDZ) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) at the IAB.

The role of social enterprises in facilitating labour market integration for people with disabilities: A convenient deflection from policy mainstreaming?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
CHERYL HIU-KWAN CHUI ◽  
CHEE HON CHAN ◽  
YANTO CHANDRA
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Labour Market Integration ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Work Integration ◽  
Disability Employment

Abstract Policymakers have increasingly embraced social enterprises as a vehicle to create job opportunities for the disadvantaged. However, there is limited research on social enterprises in the context of disability in relation to labour market integration. Drawing on the perspectives of representatives of work integration social enterprises and people with disabilities employed in these enterprises (n=21), this study examines whether and how work integration social enterprises promote inclusion for people with disabilities, and also explores the role of WISEs in enabling people with disabilities to transition into open employment. Thematic analysis revealed three key emergent themes: Cocooned inclusion but not transition; Reinforced normative demarcation; and WISEs as a deflection from institutionalizing proactive disability policy measures. This article argues that, although WISEs were able to provide job opportunities for people with disabilities, their purported function in enabling disabled people to transition into open employment remains constrained by factors beyond their control including prevailing norms and the absence of proactive disability employment measures. This article cautions against the over-romanticisation of WISEs as the primary means to ensure the rights of people with disabilities to participate in the labour market. Implications on disability employment policies in relation to social enterprises are discussed.

Theoretical and conceptual issues in the extending working lives agenda

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clary Krekula ◽  
Sarah Vickerstaff
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
The One ◽  
New Research ◽  
Individual Choices

The policy debate on older people's extended participation in working life is not based on a social movement, such as the one putting forward demands on job opportunities for women, and has, by means of categorical stereotypes, mostly characterised older people as the problem. This narrative of individual choices and decisions presents older workers as de-gendered, de-classed individuals, shorn of their individual biographies and social contexts. It also treats the issue of extending working life as a phenomenon disconnected from surrounding society and trends. This line of reasoning points to the need for more sophisticated theoretical foundations. This chapter therefore provides a more encompassing framework for the discussion of extending working lives and outlines a new research agenda, including a power perspective with potential to shed light on age-based inequality, an intersectional perspective and a masculinity perspective which challenges the homogenous descriptions of older workers, a feminist understanding of work and a life course perspective which provides a framework which links the previous three.

Per Achterbahn zum Sozialen Arbeitsmarkt. Zur Vorgeschichte des „Teilhabechancengesetzes“

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. 797-824
Author(s):  
Matthias Knuth
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Unemployed People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
New Instrument

Zusammenfassung Mit Beginn des Jahres 2019 wurde in Deutschland ein neues Instrument der arbeitsmarktpolitisch geförderten Beschäftigung für Langzeitarbeitslose eingeführt. Die „Teilhabe am Arbeitsmarkt“ steht in der Tradition eines 2008 eingeleiteten Paradigmenwechsels: Statt die Förderung auf Arbeiten zu beschränken, die „zusätzlich“ und „wettbewerbsneutral“ sind und im „öffentlichen Interesse“ liegen, kann der Lohnkostenzuschuss von jedem Arbeitgeber und für jede Art von Tätigkeiten in Anspruch genommen werden. Dieser Paradigmenwechsel, von dem man sich bessere Chancen des Übergangs in ungeförderte Beschäftigung verspricht, war lange umstritten und wurde von Vielen nicht verstanden. Es ist deshalb erstaunlich, dass er durch die Irrungen und Wirrungen zweier Instrumentenreformen erhalten blieb. Der Beitrag folgt diesem Prozess und zeichnet die Entwicklung der Positionen verschiedener Akteure nach. Abstract: Roller Coasting Towards a “Socially Inclusive Labour Market”. On the Background of Recent Legislation for the “Creation of New Opportunities for Long-Term Unemployed People on the Labour Market in General and on the Socially Inclusive Labour Market” As of 2019, Germany introduced a new instrument of direct job creation for long-term unemployed people. Called “Social participation through labour market participation”, the new instrument preserves the tradition of a paradigm shift initiated in 2008: Instead of restricting direct job creation to activities that are “additional”, “in the public interest” and “neutral in terms of effect on competition”, the wage subsidy can be used by any employer for any kind of activity. This is expected to provide better chances of transition into unsubsidized employment. This paradigm shift has for long remained contested or not properly understood by many. It is therefore astonishing that it survived the trials and tribulations of two rounds of instrument reform. The article tracks this process and delineates how the standpoints of various actors evolved.

Overeducation, persistence and unemployment in Spanish labour market

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuria Sánchez-Sánchez ◽  
Adolfo Cosme Fernández Puente
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
High Elasticity ◽  
The One ◽  
Term Labour

PurposeThe phenomenon of overeducation and the magnitude and persistence of the imbalance impact are analysed for the Spanish labour market from 2006 to 2013.Design/methodology/approachThe authors present random-effects probit estimations comparing individuals and their short-term and long-term labour mismatches.FindingsThe results support the existence of long-term persistence (status in the previous year) and short-term persistence (status at the beginning of the observed period) in overeducation. Precariousness in the labour market, measured by temporality or by the strong destruction of employment, could force individuals to choose a job below their qualification. Additionally, the phenomenon of overeducation is shown to have increased in the period 2010–2013 in relation to the period 2006–2009 independently of the region considered, though those regions with higher unemployment rates display greater imbalances.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the results come from two different samples, it is possible to conclude that overeducation is a phenomenon that tends to perpetuate over time in Spain.Practical implicationsOne of the issues of greatest interest that is crucial to assess the relevance of the spreading of overeducation is whether overeducation can be considered as a temporal mismatch, in which case the seriousness of the problem would not be so important, or, on the contrary, as a persistent one, in which case, governments should take it into account in their education reform programmes.Originality/valueOvereducation persistence has been studied in countries such as the United States, Canada, Switzerland or Germany; however, in Spain, there are hardly any studies. Spanish labour market has certain specificities that make the analyses relevant: the high unemployment rates and high elasticity of employment with respect to the economic cycles. Under these circumstances, workers could opt for more stable positions that require a lower qualification than the one they have. This option could be even more convenient during crisis. Additionally, the article includes a disaggregated analysis by Spanish regions. The differences in the unemployment rates within and between regions are significant (some of them had at the beginning of the crisis an unemployment rate close to 7%, while in others it exceeded 12%) which allows the authors to study the phenomenon in different contexts.

scholarly journals "I Didn’t Have the Luxury to Wait": Understanding the University-to-Work Transition among Second-Generations in Britain

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jawiria Naseem
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Uk ◽  
First Job

Second-generations—children of immigrants—experience particular university-to-work transitions in the UK, including precarious entry into the labour market This article examines the importance of intersecting social divisions, such as gender and ethnicity to these transitions, and also explores complexities within long-term economic progression. By comparing the educational achievement and labour market integration of British-born female graduates from one of the largest— Pakistani—and newly settled—Algerian—migrant groups and by focusing on long-term progression from the first job postgraduation to the most recent one. Using repeat semi-structured interviews with twelve British Pakistani and Algerian female graduates, this article produces a fine-grained analysis of key academic and economic stages. It reveals how the contextualised impact of intersecting social divisions—social class, ethnicity, as proxy for culture and religion, and gender— and the ability to maximise and increase one’s identity capital i prove employability, transforming initial disadvantages into pathways for success.

Long-term unemployed in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 17-34
Author(s):  
Ewa Flaszyńska
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Public Employment ◽  
Ability To Work ◽  
Employment Services ◽  
Unemployed People ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Unemployed

The COVID-19 pandemic has not significantly affected the increase in unemployment, including the change in the structure of long-term unemployment. Long-term unemployment increases with some delay after the recession. This article analyses the changes in the situation of long-term unemployed people in Poland before and during the COVID-2019 pandemic, presents actions taken at that time by employment and social services, and presents recommendations for the future, considering information collected from employees of poviat labour offices. In Poland, the reasons for the persistence of a relatively high level of long-term unemployment in general may include the following factors: registration in labour offices of people who, mainly for health reasons, are not ready to participate in processes of restoring the ability to work, a limited amount of funds allocated to activation of the unemployed activities and, finally, the lack of mechanisms rewarding the public employment services (PES) for bringing the long-term unemployed back to the labour market.

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