scholarly journals Changing Welfare States and the “Sandwich Generation” : Increasing Burden for the Next Generation?

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Künemund
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
State Spending ◽  
Sandwich Generation ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Second Wave

The burden placed on individuals aged 40 to 59 – especially on women – by competing demands from work and both older and younger family members is often addressed using the metaphor of the “sandwich generation”. Based on a systematization of the definitions used in the literature, empirical evidence on the frequency of such generational constellations and on their impact on the well-being of sandwiched adults will be presented. Analysing the second wave of the German Aging Survey shows that being sandwiched – defined as a generational constellation – is very common, but simultaneous care activities for both older and younger family members are rare, especially in combination with labour force participation, and that life satisfaction is not systematically related to being sandwiched. Implications for further research and future developments will be discussed, especially with respect to changes in family structure (e.g. the beanpole family) and changes in the amount of welfare state spending for the aged.

Commodification, vulnerability, risk: gendered social policy developments in the United States, 1980–2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Laperrière ◽  
Ann Shola Orloff ◽  
Jane Pryma
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Us ◽  
The 1960S

AbstractOver the last few decades, the position of women vis-à-vis the welfare state has changed dramatically. Welfare states have adapted to women's increased labour force participation and to the “new social risks” that characterize postindustrial societies. In this paper, we examine gendered policy developments in the US, focusing on conceptions of vulnerability that inform policies meant to mitigate gendered social risks. Focusing on three policy areas: parental leave, domestic violence and disability, we show that policies increasingly target women's integration into the workforce and self-regulation as strategies to mitigate gendered social risk. We also discuss how these policies rely on individual interventions implemented by what we call punitive therapy practitioners, who encourage women's workforce participation and psychological self-regulation. Finally, we argue that enduring gendered conceptions of vulnerability have shaped the specific designs of policies that emerged in the 1960s–1970s, intensified through the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and persist today.

The demography of grandparenthood in 16 European countries and two North American countries

2018 ◽  
pp. 23-42
Author(s):  
Rachel Margolis ◽  
Bruno Arpino
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Young Children ◽  
North American ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Intergenerational Relationships ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Future

Intergenerational relationships between grandparents and grandchildren can offer tremendous benefits to family members of each generation. The demography of grandparenthood – the timing, length and population characteristics – shape the extent to which young children have grandparents available, how many grandparents are alive, and the duration of overlap with grandparents. In this chapter, we examine how the demography of grandparenthood varies across 16 countries in Europe and two countries in North America, and why it is changing. Next, we examine variation in two key determinants of intergenerational relationships – the labour force participation and health of grandparents. Last, we comment on some important changes in the demography of grandparenthood that may come in the future.

scholarly journals Changes in Economic Status and Timing of Marriage of Young Canadians

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zenaida R. Ravanera ◽  
Fernando Rajulton
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Income Dynamics ◽  
Panel Surveys ◽  
Economic Well Being

Using the longitudinal panel data collected through the Canadian Surveys of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) from 1993 to1998, we examined the hypotheses that (a) higher education delays marriage; (b) labour force participation and earnings of women, like those of men, increase the likelihood of marriage; and, (c) the magnitude of the effects of education and income varies by life course stages of the youth. Analyses were done for men aged 17-19, 20-22, and 23-25 and for women aged 15-17, 18-20, and 21-23 at the start of the panel surveys. Our findings confirm our hypotheses, namely, a longer stay in school lowers the risk of marrying while greater economic well-being increases the risk. The results also show that the effects of wages and salaries are strongest among the middle cohorts of men (20-22) and women (18-20) who are at the stage of forming their own independent lives.

scholarly journals Silence or Voice? Agency Freedom among Elderly Women Living in Extended Families in Urban India

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (23) ◽  
pp. 8779
Author(s):  
Ildikó Asztalos Morell ◽  
Santa De ◽  
Pravina Mahadalkar ◽  
Carl Johansson ◽  
Lena-Karin Gustafsson
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Elderly Women ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Intergenerational Relationships ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Extended Families

The preferential form of living for the elderly in India is within the extended family. India is undergoing rapid economic development, an increase in mobility, and changes in gender norms due to an increase in women’s labour force participation, which places challenges on traditional intergenerational relationships. Ageing and the well-being of the elderly is a rising concern, especially considering that their proportion of the population is expected to grow rapidly in coming decades. There is a lack of universal state provision for the elderly’s basic needs, which is especially profound for elderly women, since most do not have an independent income. This leaves the elderly dependent upon the benevolence of their adult children’s families or other relatives. This paper explores, with help of narrative analysis and critical contributions from capability theory, elderly women’s agency freedoms and how this can be contextualised with their varying capability sets. With help of Spivak’s notion of the silent subaltern, the paper anchors elderly women’s abilities to voice to their agency freedom. The master narrative of the silent supportive wife and side-lined mother-in-law as well as three counter-narratives explore alternative agencies taken by elderly women.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 164-174
Author(s):  
Jonathan Moss
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Political Citizenship ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
Late Modern

The conclusion summarises the book’s main findings, arguing that labour force participation was often experienced or viewed as claim to political citizenship in late modern England. Women’s workplace protest was not simply a direct response to women’s heightened presence in trade unions and ‘second-wave’ feminism. The women involved in these disputes were more likely to understand their experiences of workplace activism as an expression of the economic, social and subjective value of their work and an assertion of their personal autonomy. They possessed specific skills and ability, which were closely tied to their sense of self. Revisiting women’s workplace protest from an historical perspective enables one to see how these women were both indirectly influenced by and contributed towards the development of British feminism. Women’s attempts to redefine how their work was valued and to speak with their own voice within the labour movement challenged gender norms and can be described as feminist. However, it is crucial to recognise that the majority of women interviewed did not view themselves or their behaviour as either feminist or political, and stressed their ‘ordinariness’ or individuality instead. The conclusion explains this tension and suggests the women believed they were practicing ethics rather than politics.

scholarly journals Becoming a wage earned or a self-employed: Does Young Educational Level determine the Choice of the Working Labour Force Status in Cameroon?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
KOUL NGWE MANGUELLE Maximilien
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Young People ◽  
Educational Level ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Discrete Choice Models ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Labour Force Status ◽  
Wage Earning

Abstract If employment is recognized as a key driver for growth, development and well-being improvement, human capital is probably a main determinant of the labour force participation. By often analyzing this relationship in wage earning jobs, studies used to leave self-employment untreated despite the fact that its proportion is growing significantly in several countries. This leads us to the following question: does the accumulating human capital determine access to all forms of employment? Focusing on young people, this article analyzes effects of the educational level used as a proxy of the accumulating human capital on the choice of the working labour force status in Cameroon. Using discrete-choice models on data drew from the second Employment and Informal Sector Survey carried out by the National Institute of Statistics, empirical findings reveal that educated young people are more likely to make a decision to work as wage earned and the corresponding probability rises with the increasing of their educational levels. However, the willingness to become self-employed decline with the rising of the educational level. Therefore, compared to the decision to work as a wage earned, becoming a self-employed does not appear as a human capital outcome. This paradoxical result for a low wage economy suggests a reform of educational and training systems starting at least from high school with emphasizes in sectors with a high potential of self-employment development and a setting-up of an apprenticeship plan.

scholarly journals Migration and welfare state spending

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart N. Soroka ◽  
Richard Johnston ◽  
Anthony Kevins ◽  
Keith Banting ◽  
Will Kymlicka
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Moral Hazard ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Social Expenditure ◽  
State Spending ◽  
Major Pathway ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
The Impact

Is international migration a threat to the redistributive programmes of destination countries? Existing work is divided. This paper examines the manner and extent to which increases in immigration are related to welfare state retrenchment, drawing on data from 1970 to 2007. The paper makes three contributions: (1) it explores the impact of changes in immigration on social welfare policy over both the short and medium term; (2) it examines the possibility that immigration matters for spending not just directly, but indirectly, through changes in demographics and/or the labour force; and (3) by disaggregating data on social expenditure into subdomains (including unemployment, pensions, and the like), it tests the impact of immigration on different elements of the welfare state. Results suggest that increased immigration is indeed associated with smaller increases in spending. The major pathway is through impact on female labour force participation. The policy domains most affected are ones subject to moral hazard, or at least to rhetoric about moral hazard.

Changing Scandinavian Welfare States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jørgen Goul Andersen ◽  
Mi Ah Schoyen ◽  
Bjørn Hvinden
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Political Challenge ◽  
Oil Revenues ◽  
Work First ◽  
Welfare Model

The Scandinavian welfare model is characterized by high spending, strong universal public services, high social investment, and relatively high equality in gender roles. The three main Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) have successfully reformed their welfare systems to contain costs and manage population ageing. They have reformed unemployment and disability benefits to increase labour force participation and have cut spending on activation, although it remains relatively high. They have maintained strong employment levels. There are real differences in development pathways: Denmark has experienced the most stringent financial pressures, has cut spending, and moved towards work-first benefits most strongly; oil revenues have sustained the tax base in Norway and permitted the country to make relatively few changes; Sweden has cut the rates of unemployment benefits sharply and moved furthest in expanding the private-market delivery of services. Immigration is a major political challenge in Denmark and is emerging as such in Norway, but not in Sweden.

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