scholarly journals Are we all in this together? Alleviating the childcare constraint for women in economic crises

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Cagliesi ◽  
Denise Hawkes
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Market Participation ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Women's Labor ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Labor Market Policies ◽  
Market Status ◽  
Gains And Losses

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to advocates the use of gendered economic policies to stimulate a post-COVID-19 recovery. It alerts on the risk of ignoring the female dimension of the current crisis and of resorting again to austerity programs that, like the ones enacted after the 2008 crisis, would hit women and mothers disproportionally harder than other groups.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data from the British Household Panel Survey on female participation and account for gendered constraints and enablers missed by mainstream economics. Using a sequential empirical approach, the authors simulate various welfare policy scenarios that address factors, such as childcare costs, personal and social nudges, that could help women back into the labor market in the aftermath of a crisis.Findings The authors found that incentive-type interventions, such as subsidies, promote female labor market participation more effectively than punishment-austerity type interventions, such as benefits' cuts. Policies oriented to alleviate childcare constraints can be sustainable and effective in encouraging women back to work. Considering factors wider than the standard economic variables when designing labor market policies may provide fruitful returns.Originality/valueThe sequential methodology enables to estimate current and counterfactual incomes for each female in the sample and to calculate their prospective financial gains and losses in changing their labor market status quo, from not employed into employed or vice-versa. Welfare policies affect these prospective gains and losses and, by interacting with other factors, such as education, number and age of children and social capital, prompt changes in women's labor market choices and decision.

Migration policies and practices at job market participation: perspectives of highly educated Turks in the US, Canada and Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cihan Aydiner ◽  
Erin Rider
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Labor Market Participation ◽  
Market Participation ◽  
Job Market ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Highly Educated

PurposeThis study aims to clarify the labor market participation of highly educated Turks who moved or were exiled to the Western countries after the July 15th, 2016 Coup attempt in Turkey. These recent Turkish flows create a compelling case for researching higher education connections and the administration of justice in migration policies/practices related to highly educated people's job market participation. This study aims to expand the discussion on migration policies, practices, job market participation, how highly skilled migrants perceive them in various contexts and understand the complexity of highly educated migrants' incorporation into destination countries and their perspectives and lived experiences with policy practice.Design/methodology/approachThe primary source of the data is the semi-structured 30 interviews with the highly educated Turkish immigrants and refugees in Western countries, which enables comparative data from individuals of the same origin. The qualitative data have been transcribed, coded and analyzed according to the grounded-theory design from this vulnerable community. The high education was determined as graduation from 4-years colleges, which was recognized by destination countries. Our methodological tools were driven by the obstacles to collect data from politically sensitive, forced, or exiled migrants.FindingsFirst, this article challenges the assumption that incorporating job market participation is a smooth process for highly educated migrants who moved to Western countries. Second, highly educated immigrants tried to reach their previous statuses and life standards as fast as possible by working hard, making sacrifices and developing innovative strategies. The immigrants in Europe have faced greater obstacles with policies while participating in the job market. Third, the importance of networking and the active usage of social media platforms to communicate with other immigrants in similar situations facilitated the job market participation and job preferences of highly educated migrants. Fourth, while fast job market participation experiences of immigrants in Northern America were increasing their positive feelings regarding belonging, people who have similar skillsets in Europe experienced more problems in this process and felt alone.Research limitations/implicationsThe research results may lack generalizability due to the selected research approach. Further studies are encouraged to reach more population for each country to compare them.Practical implicationsConsequently, higher education may be a more vital decision point in migration policies and practices. This study contributes to a better understanding of these factors by showing the perspectives and experiences of highly educated migrants comparatively. Thus, it broadens the discussion about migration policies and job market participation of highly educated migrants.Social implicationsBuilding on this work, the authors suggest more studies on the temporary deskilling of highly educated migrants until they reach re-credentialing/education or training to gain their former status.Originality/valueFirst, while most studies on immigrants' labor market participation and highly educated immigrants focus on voluntary migrants, this study examines underrepresented groups of involuntary migrants, namely forced migrants and exiled people, by focusing on non-Western Muslim highly educated Turks. Second, the trouble in the Middle East continues and regimes change softly or harshly. There is a growing tendency to examine these topics from the immigrants' perspective, especially from these war-torn areas. This article adds to this discussion by stating that rather than forced migration due to armed conflict, the immigrants from Turkey – the non-Arab Muslim state of the Middle East – are related to political conditions. Lastly, drawing on the relationship between social change in the origin country and migration and addressing the lack of reliable and comparative data, this study focuses on same origin immigrants comparatively in eight different countries.

Fighting Youth Unemployment

2020 ◽  
pp. 348-371
Author(s):  
Tom Chevalier
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Economic Institutions ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Youth Welfare ◽  
Labor Market Policies ◽  
Youth Citizenship ◽  
Citizenship Regimes

The chapter stresses that the transition to a post-industrial society has consequences on the life course, and especially on the transition from childhood to adulthood. However, this transition varies significantly between countries, because of different institutional arrangements. Accordingly, the chapter analyzes these different arrangements of socio-economic institutions, including education, labor market policies, and welfare policies (with student support), by presenting the typology of “youth welfare citizenship regimes.” The second part of the chapter proceeds to four “typical” case studies showing how different growth regimes presented in the first chapter shape these youth welfare citizenship regimes (France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). Then it analyzes how growth strategies (the reforms implemented by governments in order to boost growth and job creation) have recently been influencing the evolution of youth citizenship regimes, especially through reforms of active labor market policies (ALMP) that aim to fight youth unemployment. The argument here is not causal but rather contextual and systemic, and the objective of the case studies is therefore to present the coherence between a growth regime and the way socio-economic institutions structure the entry into adulthood, leading to a specific youth welfare citizenship regime, and how reforms inspired by a specific growth strategy contributes to transform youth welfare regime.

scholarly journals From Emancipation through Employment to Emancipation through Entrepreneurship: An Analysis of the Special Labor Market Initiatives (BRYT) and Tax Deduction for Domestic Services (RUT) in Sweden

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elin Kvist ◽  
Johanna Overud
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Segregation ◽  
Labor Market Participation ◽  
Market Participation ◽  
Women's Labor ◽  
Governmental Agencies ◽  
State Subsidies ◽  
Tax Deduction ◽  
Work Choices

Debates on gender equality policy in Sweden assume that women’s labor market participation is central to gender equality and should be promoted via special initiatives and programs. This paper examines how gender equality discourses have changed over time, analyzing Swedish state labor market policy in the 1980s and 1990s, special labor market initiatives to eliminate gender segregation and encourage nontraditional gendered work choices, and contemporary state subsidies for paid domestic work (i.e., tax deduction for domestic services). Critically interpreting these reforms reveals consistencies and continuities in how labor market participation is viewed as the key promoter of gender equality, revealing transformations in how gender equality is understood and constructed. A transition is discernible from state-funded programs and reforms to governmental agencies/authorities and state subsidies to promote enterprise and the growth of specific labor market sectors.

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