Keeping a distance but heading in the same direction: formal rules on unemployment benefit sanctions and social assistance benefit sanctions in Poland, 1989–2014

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the development of welfare conditionality and especially benefit sanctions in Central and Eastern Europe (the CEE) and to develop a methodology by implementing Institutional Grammar (IG) for studying rules on benefit sanctions relying only on legal text.Design/methodology/approachIG was used as a tool for analyzing legal regulations on benefit sanctions. It was incorporated into a social rights framework that provided a theoretical background for the study.FindingsThe paper shows the dynamic development of rules on benefit sanctions in Poland in social assistance and unemployment services. Both the harshness and strictness of these rules have increased. Simultaneously, the rules of benefit sanctions in social assistance remain more liberal than those associated with unemployment services.Originality/valueThe study presents the first comprehensive and concise overview of benefit sanctions development in the CEE and the first long-term comparison of these types of sanctions in two safety net systems operating in one country. The study also used IG for the first time in social policy research.

Spatial Constraints on Residency as an Instrument of Employment Policy: the Experience of Limited Employment Locations in New Zealand

<p><b>New Zealand is one of the only OECD countries to have attempted to impose spatialconstraints on residency as a policy tool in its welfaretoworkstrategy. The LimitedEmployment Locations (LEL) policy introduced in 2004 created 259 limited employmentlocation communities throughout the country in an attempt to influence the residentiallocation of Ministry of Social Development (MSD) clients so they are, “in the right placeat the right time to take advantage of growing employment opportunities” (MSD, 2004a,p1). The overarching goal of the LEL policy is to get more New Zealanders intoemployment (MSD, 2004b, p1) – in doing so reducing New Zealand’s overallunemployment rate and ensuring that, at a time of low unemployment and skill shortages,there are adequate numbers of job seekers available (MSD, 2004d, p2). Unemploymentbeneficiaries have a responsibility to seek work and, according to the new policy, if theymove into any of these mostly small, rural communities without access to reliabletransport, they risk losing their benefit following the end of a sanction process. The LELpolicy thus effectively limits the portability of the unemployment benefit (UB), creating anew geography of welfare eligibility.</b></p> <p>Through analysis of policy documents and interviews with MSD and Work and Incomestaff, this research outlines and critically evaluates the motivations and behaviouralassumptions behind the LEL policy. The research then uses the results of acommissioned panel survey, and results of field interviews exploring the views and actualbehaviour of UB recipients, to test the motivations and behavioural assumptions behindthe policy. The research uses as its case area the Opotiki District in New Zealand’s Bayof Plenty Region.</p> <p>The research traces the evolution of the zones themselves and describes a range ofreactions to the policy. One of the primary findings of the study is the importance of‘home’ in the motivation of beneficiaries moving to LELs, particularly Maoribeneficiaries who dominate movement to LEL areas in the district. This movement is shaped by the desire to maximise living standards and to take advantage of the social,family, and cultural networks that these areas offer. Returning to home LELcommunities occurs in spite of the new policy and the risks of benefit sanctions that itpresents, and there is also very little evidence to date that the LEL policy is encouragingbeneficiary movement to areas of better employment prospects.</p>

Spatial Constraints on Residency as an Instrument of Employment Policy: the Experience of Limited Employment Locations in New Zealand

<p><b>New Zealand is one of the only OECD countries to have attempted to impose spatialconstraints on residency as a policy tool in its welfaretoworkstrategy. The LimitedEmployment Locations (LEL) policy introduced in 2004 created 259 limited employmentlocation communities throughout the country in an attempt to influence the residentiallocation of Ministry of Social Development (MSD) clients so they are, “in the right placeat the right time to take advantage of growing employment opportunities” (MSD, 2004a,p1). The overarching goal of the LEL policy is to get more New Zealanders intoemployment (MSD, 2004b, p1) – in doing so reducing New Zealand’s overallunemployment rate and ensuring that, at a time of low unemployment and skill shortages,there are adequate numbers of job seekers available (MSD, 2004d, p2). Unemploymentbeneficiaries have a responsibility to seek work and, according to the new policy, if theymove into any of these mostly small, rural communities without access to reliabletransport, they risk losing their benefit following the end of a sanction process. The LELpolicy thus effectively limits the portability of the unemployment benefit (UB), creating anew geography of welfare eligibility.</b></p> <p>Through analysis of policy documents and interviews with MSD and Work and Incomestaff, this research outlines and critically evaluates the motivations and behaviouralassumptions behind the LEL policy. The research then uses the results of acommissioned panel survey, and results of field interviews exploring the views and actualbehaviour of UB recipients, to test the motivations and behavioural assumptions behindthe policy. The research uses as its case area the Opotiki District in New Zealand’s Bayof Plenty Region.</p> <p>The research traces the evolution of the zones themselves and describes a range ofreactions to the policy. One of the primary findings of the study is the importance of‘home’ in the motivation of beneficiaries moving to LELs, particularly Maoribeneficiaries who dominate movement to LEL areas in the district. This movement is shaped by the desire to maximise living standards and to take advantage of the social,family, and cultural networks that these areas offer. Returning to home LELcommunities occurs in spite of the new policy and the risks of benefit sanctions that itpresents, and there is also very little evidence to date that the LEL policy is encouragingbeneficiary movement to areas of better employment prospects.</p>

Regional Factors Influencing Non-Take-Up for Social Support in Korea Using a Spatial Regression Model

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influential factors of non-take-up citizens, who do not receive social benefits, to increase their discovery rate. A spatial regression model was used to analyze the variables affecting the discovery rates. As a result of the study, there was a difference in the percentage of welfare blind spots by region. In addition, when the proportion of the elderly population, the number of unemployment benefit recipients, etc. increased, that of welfare blind spots also increased; the lower the population density was, the higher the rate of increase in welfare blind spots became. Accordingly, in order to resolve the welfare blind spots at the local level, it is necessary to reinforce policy support for the elderly population and reduce the unemployment rate. Particularly, the policy will have to be prepared to resolve the welfare blind spots in rural areas with low population density.

State Policy and Mental Health Outcomes under COVID-19

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous damage to physiological health and economic security, especially among racial and ethnic minorities. We examine downstream effects on mental health, how effects vary by race and ethnicity, and the role of existing state-level social policies in softening the pandemic’s impact. Methods: We analyze an online, multi-wave Census Bureau survey fielded to nearly a million respondents between late April and July 2020. The survey includes questions measuring psychological distress as well as indirect measures of experience with the pandemic. We combine these data with state-level measures of COVID cases, lock-down orders, unemployment filings, and safety net policy. Findings: We find significant mental stress among all respondents and a sizeable gap between non-white and white respondents. Adjusting for pandemic experiences eliminates this gap. The effect of losing work due to the pandemic is slightly offset by state policies such as unemployment benefit size and Medicaid expansion. The magnitude of these offsetting effects is similar across racial/ethnic groups. Conclusions: The racialized impacts of the pandemic are exacerbated by inequalities in state policy exemplifying structural racism. If the least generous states matched the policies of the most generous, inequalities caused by the pandemic would be diminished.

Health service use of Australian unemployment and disability benefit recipients: a national, cross-sectional study

Background Healthcare is funded and delivered separately from income support programs such as unemployment and disability benefits. Greater understanding of the health service use (HSU) of benefit recipients would support more effective design and delivery of health and income support programs. This study aimed to characterise the HSU of disability and unemployment benefit recipients relative to people earning wages, while controlling for personal, household and health-related factors associated with HSU in benefit recipients. Methods A cross-sectional national survey of 9110 working age Australian adults in three groups: (1) 566 receiving the disability support pension (DSP); (2) 410 receiving unemployment benefits; and (3) 8134 earning wages. Outcomes included prevalence and frequency of health professional consultations, hospital attendance and admission in the past 12 months, as well as medication and supplement use in the past 2 weeks. Analyses compared DSP and unemployment benefit recipients to wage earners using prevalence ratios and incident rate ratios, adjusted for predisposing, enabling and need factors that may affect HSU. Results In adjusted regression models, both DSP and unemployment benefit recipients were significantly more likely than wage earners to have consulted psychologists and social workers. DSP recipients also reported a significantly higher prevalence of consultations with General Practitioners (GPs), specialist physicians and podiatrists.. Both groups reported significantly more frequent consultations with GPs and DSP recipients with specialists. No differences were observed between groups for hospital attendance or admission, or supplement use in fully adjusted models, though the DSP group reported more prevalent medication use than wage earners. Inclusion of confounders including self-assessed health, disability severity, health insurance status, and financial resources attenuated the relationship between benefit receipt and HSU, however significant associations were still observed. Conclusions People receiving unemployment and disability insurance benefits use significantly more health services than wage earners. A range of personal and clinical characteristics explained much, but not all, of the association between greater HSU and benefit receipt. Greater coordination between health and income support systems may improve health, reduce HSU and improve work ability in unemployed and working age people.