scholarly journals Public service integration in hard times: Merging unemployment benefit and labour market activation measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-160
Author(s):  
Stephan Köppe ◽  
Muiris MacCarthaigh

AbstractThe creation of Intreo as a one-stop shop for jobseekers in Ireland occurred during the financial and sovereign debt crisis period of 2010–16. The organisational merger was the product of an extensive programme of successful administrative reorganisation and service integration that deserves attention. This article begins with an overview of the policy to merge insurance-based unemployment benefit, discretionary social welfare payments and labour market activation measures, as well as the various political and institutional rationales that led to this development. Drawing on the special issue framework concerning how the interaction of ideology, institutions and interests comes into play during policy change, we consider the contextual factors that facilitated the rapid implementation of the programme and its overall successful execution. Whilst focusing on the success, we also critically point out the inhibitors in the implementation chain, some of which predated the crisis, as well as problems during the implementation process, such as delays in the national rollout and back-office supports. We identify the main contributing factors for successful implementation of a one-stop shop for activation and unemployment services as (a) a high problem pressure, (b) a small and agile implementation team, (c) changing labour relations (e.g. binding arbitration, weakened unions) and (d) a modern communication strategy.

Author(s):  
Patrik Vesan ◽  
Emmanuele Pavolini

The Italian labour market has been put under very strong pressure since the onset of the financial and economic crisis. After the 2011 sovereign debt crisis a new wave of reforms started in relation to labour market policies. Although it is not possible to detect a single trajectory of change in Italian labour market policies, we can observe an overall tendency toward a peculiar version of ‘welfare readjustment’, a pattern of reform in which governments curtail such policies as income or job protection for insiders, while adopting new social policies. This ‘readjustment process’ has been realised through the adoption of some provisions that favour ‘outsiders’ and, at the same time, the drastic retrenchment of labour rights for workers on open-ended contracts. As a result, the boundaries between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ now appear more blurred than they were before the outbreak of the Great Recession.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Rathgeb ◽  
Arianna Tassinari

Abstract The marginalization of trade unions was a notable feature of the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone periphery. However, governments have recently imposed liberalizing reforms against union protests in the Eurozone core too. We argue that organized labour loses influence across the core-periphery divide because the ‘new economic governance’ puts national governments under enhanced pressure to compete against each other on wage and labour market flexibility—a process known as competitive internal devaluation. The article illustrates this argument through comparative quantitative indicators of liberalization and qualitative process-tracing in three core countries. Whereas Germany’s outstanding competitiveness position allowed its unions to extract significant concessions, their counterparts in France and Finland faced unprecedented defeats from governments aiming to restore economic growth by closing down the competitiveness gap to Germany. Our findings highlight the class power implications of the Eurozone’s reliance on the labour market as the main economic adjustment variable.


Author(s):  
Samir Ljajić ◽  
Danica Pirsl

Internal communications strategy influences and determines the way employees behave, observe, and maintain good vibes in their respective workplace. No company should allow the occurrence of inefficient communication between their workers and the management bodies, otherwise, it is doomed for failure. What happens inside organizations in terms of administering good communication channels, affects their business success equally so as to what happens outside them when public relations staff brings forth all the successful results to the society at large. Internal communication is very often neglected, which only shows the immaturity and lack of knowledge or incompetence of the leading figures in an organization about effective communication. This paper deals with the efficient execution of internal communication and its importance for the successful ranking and positioning of any business, whether it be small or big. First, it examines the main prerequisites for success such as trust and connecting with the employees and their establishment in big and small businesses as well, because small organizations find it easier to implement good internal communications than the big ones. Second, the paper explores higher education organizations and their ways to achieve excellent results through the positive impact of running good internal communication to the satisfaction of their employees, management bodies, and their wider community. The paper also argues that the essential preconditions of the organization’s good positioning are mutual trust, stemming from the efficient internal communication strategy implementation, and the creation of a good business climate. Labour market as a catalyst and a sieve distinguishes good from bad, recognizes good social interrelating competencies focusing on perceiving identities and favourable working contexts. Third, the paper deals with the working place language knowledge which facilitates human resources management, enables efficient implementation of the internal communication strategy, and provides for the efficient running of the organization. Conclusions are that the successful implementation of the all above said will consequently result in a good positioning and high ranking of the organization on the volatile labour market.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Efstathiou ◽  
Thomas Y. Mathä ◽  
Cindy Veiga ◽  
Ladislav Wintr

Abstract We analyse the use of active labour market policy (ALMP) measures by Luxembourg firms during the years of economic and financial crisis (2008–2009) and the subsequent European sovereign debt crisis (2010–2013). About 34% of Luxembourg firms used ALMPs between 2008 and 2013. Economy-wide, the use of ALMPs increased along both the extensive margin (more firms) and the intensive margin (more measures per firm). The likelihood that a firm hired with ALMPs is greater for firms that are large, multi-establishment, domestically oriented and firms facing strong demand and competition, with concerns about labour cost pressures.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
RUI BRANCO ◽  
DANIEL CARDOSO

Abstract This article describes and explains labour market reforms in Portugal during the sovereign debt crisis from 2011 to 2014. Policy outputs were not homogenous, but differentiated between a first phase where recalibration co-existed alongside hard liberalising measures and a second phase, from late 2012, where recalibration was dropped and liberalisation further deregulated employment protection and security and eroded collective bargaining. This variation is explained by the changing coalitional politics and blame allocation underpinning policymaking under conditionality. Initial reforms resulted from a broad informal political coalition spanning the governing centre-right parties, the main opposition party, a trade union and employer confederations; its breakdown in late 2012 led to the executive’s increasing centralisation, the shut down of social concertation, and more radical policy outputs. The article shows that cooperation between government and opposition and government and social partners is possible even under external conditionality, how coalition politics affects the nature and direction of reforms, and highlights how political dynamics of blame allocation drive the process of coalition building and breakdown.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 3255-3260
Author(s):  
Stelian Stancu ◽  
Alexandra Maria Constantin

Instilment, on a European level, of a state incompatible with the state of stability on a macroeconomic level and in the financial-banking system lead to continuous growth of vulnerability of European economies, situated at the verge of an outburst of sovereign debt crises. In this context, the current papers main objective is to produce a study regarding the vulnerability of European economies faced with potential outburst of sovereign debt crisis, which implies quantitative analysis of the impact of sovereign debt on the sensitivity of the European Unions economies. The paper also entails the following specific objectives: completing an introduction in the current European economic context, conceptualization of the notion of “sovereign debt crisis, presenting the methodology and obtained empirical results, as well as exposition of the conclusions.


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