PreSsing, Repressing and Accommodating: Local Modes of Governing Social Assistance Recipients In Welfare To Work Programmes in the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
pp. 211-236
Author(s):  
Josien Arts
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Local Modes

Pressing, repressing and accommodating: local modes of governing social assistance recipients in welfare to work programmes in the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
pp. 211-236
Author(s):  
Josien Arts
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Discretionary Power ◽  
Local Modes ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Republican Theory

This chapter shows the differences between local welfare-to-work programmes in the Netherlands in terms of the ways in which social assistance recipients are directed towards paid labour: through pressing, repressing and accommodating modes of governing. Based on 13-month ethnographic research in three Dutch social assistance offices, this chapter argues, first, that the observed local differences result from decentralisation of policy design and implementation as well as increased discretionary power for case managers. Second, that the different local practices can be understood as varieties of neoliberal paternalism legitimised through various forms of stigmatisation of social assistance recipients that leave little room for them to revolt against disfunctioning policy and wrongful treatment. Third, by means of using the republican theory of non-domination, this chapter argues that the observed local differences (between as well as within municipalities) and limited room for social assistance recipients to voice their concerns indicate that Dutch welfare-to-work policies work partly in arbitrary ways and are insufficiently democratically controlled.

Heeft de evaluatie van reïntegratiebeleid nog toekomst?

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Koning
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Active Labour Market Policies ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Proper Account

Does the evaluation of active labour market policies have any future? Does the evaluation of active labour market policies have any future? The literature on the effectiveness of welfare-to-work services (i.e. schooling and job counseling) in the Netherlands provides a gloomy picture. First, only a few studies take proper account of selectivity and endogeneity biases. Second, the results of this (subset of) studies suggest that both schooling and counseling have only a modest, or no significant impact. In this article, I discuss various explanations for these findings. Furthermore, I describe various avenues for future research in this area, as well as the organization of more sound evaluation studies.

scholarly journals Challenges and Risks of Individualisation in The Netherlands

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trudie Knijn
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Economic Independence

This article evaluates recent transformations in social policy that reflect the tendency towards individualisation in The Netherlands. Such transformations have taken place in old age pensions, widows' pensions, social assistance and taxation, and in respect of child support following divorce. Interestingly most reforms have not resulted in ‘full individualisation’, but rather have taken into account the fact that people, in particular women, are not or cannot be assumed to be full-time adult workers. Such a ‘moderate individualisation’, however, is not without risks for women's economic independence, especially when the developments of the Dutch ‘life course perspective’ on social security are considered.

Social Assistance Dynamics in the Netherlands: Exploring the Sustainability of Independence from Social Assistance via Labour Market Inclusion

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rik van Berkel
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare Work ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Current Emphasis ◽  
Dutch City ◽  
European Welfare States

The current emphasis in European welfare states on ‘activation’ increases the relevance of insight into social assistance dynamics and work–welfare/welfare–work transitions. This article reports on a study that explored the employment, unemployment and social assistance careers of a large group of people who managed to become independent from social assistance by finding a job. Using the databases of social security agencies in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, it investigates the sustainability of social assistance independence and labour market inclusion, and identifies groups that are more or less likely to be confronted with spells of renewed social assistance dependency or unemployment.

Cycling Off and On Welfare in Canada

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERNIE LIGHTMAN ◽  
ANDREW MITCHELL ◽  
DEAN HERD
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Shortest Route ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Data Files ◽  
Statistics Canada ◽  
Annual Earnings ◽  
Industrialised Countries ◽  
Traditional Approaches

AbstractInternationally, traditional approaches to social assistance (welfare) have increasingly been replaced with ‘active’ labour market policies. Alongside other industrialised countries, Canada embraced this shift, with its emphasis on the ‘shortest route’ to paid employment.There has been little research on the outcomes of these dramatic changes in Canada, especially longer term. This article explores the post-welfare labour market experiences of people who were on social assistance in Canada in 1996. It uses the longitudinal micro-data files of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) from Statistics Canada, which tracks a panel of recipients over five years. We examine the mixing of work and welfare, the transition from welfare to work, and selected labour market indicators – primarily hours of work and wages – that those in receipt of social assistance face in assuming paid work.Those leaving welfare for work face precarious employment opportunities. Leavers earn lower wages, work fewer hours and consequently have lower annual earnings than non-recipients. Over time the gap narrows but remains significant, even after six years. Returns to welfare are frequent. Overall, even after six years most social assistance recipients remained marginalised in the periphery of the labour market.

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