Gendered Activation at the Expense of Gender Equality? Activation and Gender Equality as Competing Logics in the Swedish Welfare State

This study aims to understand how goals of activation and gender equality interact in labor market programs directed towards activating unemployed participants. The study draws on interviews with 28 social workers and managers at four Swedish municipally governed labor market programs typically targeted towards poor, unemployed individuals with little to no attachment to the labor market or social insurance system. Our findings show that activation goals are understood to be clear cut and a dominant logic within the labor market programs. The gender equality goals are understood as fuzzy and subordinate to the activation logic. Our theoretical analysis, based on neo-institutional theory, shows that gendered activation as a hybrid logic is created within the four programs as a means of handling the competing logics of gender equality and activation. Gendered activation may be reasonable on an individual level, where women in long-term unemployment can sustain a higher income through work and become financially independent. In the context of the gender segregated labor market, gendered activation reproduces gendered inequalities when an increasing interest for activation policy among welfare states overshadows claims of gender equality. Furthermore, our study exemplifies the systemic reproduction of racist discourse within social- and labour market policies. Within the logic of gendered activation, migrant women become singled out as specifically problematic for Swedish society to handle when unemployment is given gendered and cultural explanations. Through the logic of gendered activation, gender equality goals become no-matter-what employment rather than employment leading to equal outcomes.

Raising employment and quality of life among people with disadvantages – results of a Hungarian project

Background People with disadvantages are a high-risk group of unemployment or underemployment. Disadvantages include disability, under-education, or being a member of a minority, etc. Effective labor market programs could be a key in raising employment and quality of life among this high-risk group of society. The TOP 6.8.2.-15-NA1 project is one of the main Hungarian labor market programs. The project’s primary aims are increasing the employability of disadvantaged unemployed and supporting the efficiency of job-seeking. Methods Our goal was to analyze the effects and methodology of the TOP 6.8.2.-15-NA1 project in Hungary. The sample of our study contains participants of the project (n = 300), based in Zala County, Hungary. Results After 28 days, 53.3% of participants had a job. At the 180th day status, the rate of employed people was 47.3%. We could identify low-educated participants and older participants as higher-risk groups of long-term unemployment. Conclusions We emphasize the role of these services (job-seeking clubs, organization of job fairs, and mentorship) in the long-term individual success of participants. Improving the employment rate for people with disadvantages is a critical factor for enhancing the quality of life for individuals with disadvantages.

The Distributional Impacts of Active Labor Market Programs for Indigenous Populations

We evaluate the distributional impacts of active labor market programming for indigenous peoples in Canada. Using administrative data and an empirical strategy that compares participants in high-intensity programs--skills interventions, job-creation partnerships, or wage subsidies--to those in low-intensity programs, such as employment assistance or job counseling, reveals large returns to high-intensity programming for above-median earnings. Returns are largest for women at the mean, suggesting that high-intensity programming may reduce gender gaps in earnings among participants, who represent 10 percent of all indigenous people in Canada. Larger returns at the top of the distribution indicate that overall inequality among participants could increase.

Raising Employment and Mental Well-being Among People With Disadvantages – Results of a Hungarian Project

Background: People with disadvantages are a high-risk group of unemployment or underemployment. Disadvantages include disability, under-education, being a single parent or a member of a minority, etc. Effective labor market programs could be a key in raising employment and quality of life among this high-risk group of the society. The TOP 6.8.2.-15-NA1 project is one of the main Hungarian labor market programs. Methods: The project’s primary aims are increasing the employability of disadvantaged unemployed and supporting the efficiency of job-seeking. The sample of our study contains participants of the project (n=300), based in Zala County, Hungary. Results: We could identify low educated participants and older participants as higher risk groups of long-term unemployment. Conclusions: We emphasize the role of these services in the long-term individual success of participants. Improving the employment rate for people with disadvantages is a critical factor for enhancing the quality of life for individuals with disadvantages.

Mental Health and Access to Active Labor Market Programs

This paper examines the often-overlooked precondition for successful implementation of active labor market policy, namely equal access to labor market programs. Focusing on a cohort of social assistance recipients, we compare program participation between individuals who were eligible for vocational training and had reported psychological distress, to possible participants with other health or social challenges. The study covers a period of six years. The results indicate that social services prioritize training for those without mental health problems. This is true independently of observed differences between the two groups in terms of demographic and human capital characteristics, work motivation and self-efficacy. Hence, the study concludes that there seems to be a mental health access bias in program participation among disadvantaged groups. Policy makers and future research should address possible organizational barriers to equal program access

Ethnic Stereotypes and Entry into Labor Market Programs

The authors examine the impact of ethnic bias based on public employment officers’ decisions when choosing whom to recommend for participation in a labor market program. On the basis of an experiment that uses job seekers’ own portrait photographs, their recorded voices, and their real names, findings show that when recommending job seekers for labor market programs, female caseworkers are not affected by job seekers’ appearance, but male caseworkers favor job seekers who are perceived to have a stereotypical Swedish appearance. Moreover, the authors find that, as intended by the guidelines of the Swedish Public Employment Service, both male and female caseworkers favor job seekers perceived, based on the job seekers’ recorded voice, to have a foreign background. The authors’ conclusions suggest that when no explicit guidelines are provided for addressing the impact of ethnic stereotypes on selection for training programs, a risk of bias based on ethnic stereotypes of physical appearance exists.