Case study E: Labour market policies in MENA countries

Author(s):  
Ghada Barsoum
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 118-133
Author(s):  
Thomas Babila Sama

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to find the challenges confronted by NGOs in the implementation of the active labour market policies of Finland and Sweden, and how the challenges could be overcome. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative empirical case study where two NGOs were selected in Finland and one NGO was selected in Sweden for the data collection. The two selected NGOs in Finland were Jyväskylän Katulähetys in the City of Jyväskylä and Pirkanmaan Sininauha in the City of Tampere. Meanwhile, the one selected NGO in Sweden was Stockholm’s Stadsmission in the City of Stockholm. Primary data for this study were collected through interviews with two senior executives of the selected NGOs in Finland and Sweden. Secondary data were collected through the websites of the selected NGOs in Finland and Sweden, the organizational records, books, published and unpublished research and from internet websites. The data were analyzed through qualitative content and thematic analyses. Findings The findings revealed that the selected NGOs in Finland and Sweden were confronted with four main challenges in their work, namely: funding challenge because the NGOs did not have sufficient funds to carry out their activities effectively; credibility challenge mainly by the NGO in Sweden because Sweden is a very secular country where there is political resistance for public money being given to faith-based organizations in the country; workforce recruitment challenge because the NGOs have to employ specifically long-term unemployed people from disadvantaged groups in the case of the NGOs in Finland, and because whenever they have to compete with other stakeholders for a bid to win a project funded by the city council, the city council often demands that about 80 per cent of their staff need to have a social work qualification in the case of the NGOs in Sweden; and competition challenge because of competition with other stakeholders to win bids from the city council in the case of the NGOs in Sweden. On the other hand, the findings revealed that these challenges could be overcome if the Government of Finland and Sweden provide the NGOs with sufficient funds for them to carry out their activities. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this study are that this is a case study focused only on two NGOs in Finland and one NGO in Sweden. Thus, in order to generalize the findings to include the whole country, it is recommended that a more representative number of NGOs be studied in future studies. This study also focused only on NGOs with a religious background in Finland and Sweden. Future studies could include NGOs with a non-religious background. Practical implications The practical implication of this study is that the study may be useful to policy makers in the development of policies for NGOs involved in the area of social service provision. Social implications The social implication is that this study may contribute in making NGOs to become more effective in their work in the society. Originality/value This study is original in that it is an empirical research.


2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (4II) ◽  
pp. 531-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shujaat Farooq

In this study, an attempt has been made to estimate the incidences of job mismatch in Pakistan. The study has divided the job mismatch into three categories; education-job mismatch, qualification mismatch and field of study and job mismatch. Both the primary and secondary datasets have been used in which the formal sector employed graduates have been targeted. This study has measured the education-job mismatch by three approaches and found that about one-third of the graduates are facing education-job mismatch. In similar, more than one-fourth of the graduates are mismatched in qualification, about half of them are over-qualified and the half are under-qualified. The analysis also shows that 11.3 percent of the graduates have irrelevant and 13.8 percent have slightly relevant jobs to their studied field of disciplines. Our analysis shows that women are more likely than men to be mismatched in field of study. JEL classification: I23, I24, J21, J24 Keywords: Education and Inequality, Higher Education, Human Capital, Labour Market


Author(s):  
Vanessa Puig-Barrachina ◽  
Pol Giró ◽  
Lucía Artazcoz ◽  
Xavier Bartoll ◽  
Imma Cortés-Franch ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Lunau ◽  
M Rigó

Abstract Background Many studies have shown that psychosocial work stressors have a negative impact on health. It is therefore important to understand how psychosocial work stressors can be reduced. First cross-sectional studies have shown that working conditions are influenced at the political level. With this study, we want to extend the existing studies by specifically looking at the longitudinal dimension and test if changing labour market policies are related to changes in psychosocial work stressors. Methods We used comparative longitudinal survey data from the European Working Conditions Survey (27 countries; years 2005, 2010, 2015). The measure of psychosocial work stressors is based on two established work stress models: job strain and effort-reward imbalance. To measure labour market policies we used information on active (ALMP) and passive labour market policies (PLMP). 64659 participants were eligible for the ERI analysis and 67114 participants for the analyses on job strain. Estimation results are provided by three-level multilevel regressions. Results An increase in ALMP investments lead to a decrease of ERI and therefore to an improvement in psychosocial working conditions. The analyses for the subcomponents showed that these results are mainly driven by reward: an increase in ALMP investments lead to an increase in rewards. We didn't find significant associations between ALMP and job strain and between a change in PLMP measures and the observed work stressors. Discussion The study extends current knowledge with longitudinal information by showing that an increase in ALMP lead to an increase in rewards and a decrease of ERI. These longitudinal analyses are more closely related to a causal interpretation than previous cross-country analyses. The findings of this study may have important policy implications. Our main result suggests that investments into ALMP can improve certain working conditions and therefore improve workers' health. Key messages Psychosocial work stressors have a negative impact on health. Investments into active labour market policies can improve psychosocial working conditions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Christer Hyggen ◽  
Janikke Solstad Vedeler

Using Work Training in Norway as a case, this article provides insight into motivation and structural factors that impact employer engagement with active labour market policies (ALMP) targeting young people. Drawing on mixed-methods data, we find a substantial proportion of Norwegian employers engage in Work Training. Both social responsibility and the economic interests of the company influence employers’ motivation for committing to Work Training. The findings reveal that the structural factors of business size and sector are crucial determinants of employer behaviour when it comes to hiring Work Training candidates. Although improved outreach activities by local job centres may be important, the article argues that efforts towards opening up sectors closed by sector-specific regulations on hiring, and increased awareness of structural constraints, are similarly important.


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