This article examines the active employment policy for persons with disabilities of working age, ensuring the transition from social security to employment in welfare states. In the first part of the ...study, based on international research and EU statistics, the reasons for such a transition, the goals, and the principles of active employment policy in welfare states with social democratic, conservative-corporatist, and neoliberal models are revealed. Criteria and methods for assessing employability are presented to distinguish between persons with disabilities and the unemployed, followed by their allocation to programmes with temporary or permanent forms of support. The pathways for entering the labour market are shown, oriented towards insiders (individuals with preserved or temporarily impaired employability) and outsiders (persons with disabilities with low employment prospects). The socio-demographic characteristics of persons with disabilities affecting their productivity and employability, and determining their needs for selective support measures, are reflected. The principles of “offensive” and “defensive” active employment policies in relation to such individuals, increasing the likelihood of employment and retention in the labour market, are studied and revealed. This includes the obligations of the state, employers and persons with disabilities, aswell as incentive and punitive measures. The volume of public funds allocated to employment policy, the main directions in the expenditure classification system: services, active and passive measures are presented. The structure of expenditures and the purpose of each type of active employment measures for persons with disabilities are revealed, including job creation, start-ups, sheltered and supported employment, rehabilitation, employment incentives, and training. The priorities of active measures for persons with disabilities and employers, which contribute to their employment and retention in the labour market in welfare states with different models, are identified. The trends in the development of active employment policies over the past decade, strategies to increase its effectiveness, priorities for passive and active measures during periods of economic downturn are analysed. The results of the impact of active policies on the employment of persons with moderate and severe disabilities, as well as the consequences of changes in the accessibility of social security for disability and unemployment during the transition from social security to employment, are shown.
This article considers the extent to which Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) support the sustained inclusion of veterans in the civilian labour market. Drawing on the first in-depth research into ...veteran's interactions with the UK's Public Employment Services (PES) and other contracted providers, we present analysis of qualitative longitudinal data from 68 veterans. We demonstrate the important role ALMPs play in mediating the employment relationship, showing how veterans claiming out-of-work benefits are typically either 'pushed' towards inappropriate jobs or 'parked' through their exclusion from employment support when deemed unfit for work. This not only exposes veterans and other jobseekers to poor quality work but undermines both job match and inclusive employment practices. Furthermore, the potential for more positive outcomes through engagement with employers and HRM practitioners is not being realised. This is significant for veterans in the UK and beyond, where policymakers make broader commitments to post-Service integration into civilian employment. We critique Work First approaches centred on those deemed work ready and contribute to broader theorisation around interactions between the state and HRM, arguing the need for pluralist approaches which incorporate ALMPs.
This article uses multilevel analysis of 24 European countries to examine the effects of macroeconomic variables (GDP and unemployment) and welfare state interventions (active and passive labour ...market policies) on job insecurity and job quality in Europe from the mid‐1990s until the last 2021 COVID crisis. The paper makes a distinction between the crisis of the welfare state and the reaction of welfare states to crises and connects the job quality literature with that on the transformation of the welfare state. The article introduces several innovations to the literature by looking at the impact of welfare state interventions on multidimensional job quality, distinguishing between different types of active labour market policy spending and considering the generosity of benefits. The findings show that active labour market policies (ALMPs) and passive labour market policies (PLMPs) have a positive effect in reducing job insecurity across skill groups. ALMPs and PLMPs also improved several dimensions of job quality, but mostly among manual/low‐skilled workers, while they have a negative effect on work pressure which mostly affects medium‐ and high‐skilled workers. The article concludes by discussing how, due to the reach of ALMP and PLMP interventions, the positive effects of the welfare state on job quality are concentrated among lower‐skilled workers, thereby limiting the ambition of contemporary welfare states to generate positive spillover effects on the quality of work for all workers.
Public policy shapes the lives of individuals, and even more so if they depend on state support. In the case of unemployment, the financial situation is largely determined by cash transfers and daily ...routines depend on the involvement in active labour market policy measures. To what extent, however, can subjective well-being differences of European unemployed be traced back to the national design and generosity of labour market policy? This article applies multilevel and panel estimation techniques to identify the moderating effect of unemployment benefit generosity and active labour market policy on life satisfaction of the unemployed. While unemployment has strong negative life satisfaction effects in all 21 European countries under study, the generosity of passive labour market policy moderates this effect to a surprisingly large extent: the adverse effect of unemployment is almost doubled if unemployment benefits are meagre. This moderating effect can be explained both by a resource as well as a non-pecuniary mechanism. The positive moderating effect of active labour market policy is less robust across model specifications.
Abstract This paper investigates how being employed in public works exposes workers and their households to poverty. Public works consist of centrally planned and financed works targeting long‐term ...unemployed or inactive. Evidence is primarily negative concerning improved employment trajectories, while we still know little about the poverty outcomes. To examine this, we draw on the 2014–2019 cross‐sectional data of the EU‐SILC survey for Hungary. Hungary has invested significantly in these programmes over the last few years, and since 2014, it has provided a unique opportunity to access income and public works information within EU‐SILC. Results highlight the relevance of both quantity and quality of employment. Public workers are better off than long‐term unemployed. However, they show higher poverty risk than non‐public workers (about twice as much). Living with non‐public workers substantially reduces their poverty risk, while households of only public workers struggle more to avoid poverty.
This paper estimates the heterogeneous impact of three types of vocational training- preparation, qualifying, and combined – on jobseekers’ return to employment using the Modified Causal Forest ...method. Analysing data from 33,699 individuals over 24 months, it reveals a short-term negative lock-in effect for all programmes, persisting in the medium term for combined training. Only qualifying training shows a positive medium-term effect. Seniors, low-skilled, foreign-born, and those with poor job histories benefit most, while youth and higher education levels benefit less. Targeting foreign-born individuals could significantly enhance programme effectiveness, as indicated by the clustering analysis and optimal policy trees.
•On average, qualifying training has a positive impact on return to employment.•The effect of training types and individual features is heterogeneous.•Modified causal forest method enables the study of heterogeneity across many features.•Older, low-skilled, and foreign-born individuals benefit most from training.•Algorithmic targeting of trainees significantly enhances the impact of training.
This article provides empirical evidence on the relation between institutional characteristics of labour markets that frame allocation processes, and optimal skill matching at the individual level. ...We investigate the extent to which skill-based job-worker matches are associated with employment protection legislation (EPL), unemployment benefits, and enforcing and enabling activating labour market policies. Drawing on data of the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), and performing cross-country analyses of 28 industrial countries, we find that EPL can explain variance in the share of optimal skill matching across countries, displaying a positive relation. We also find a negative relation between strict enforcing activating labour market policies and optimal skill matching.
Discourse analysis (DA) has established itself as a widely accepted and legitimate approach to policy analysis. It is used to study issues such as the role of knowledge in policymaking, political ...cleavages and coalitions, and legitimacy. However, the proponents of DA have generally been reluctant to provide strategic policy advice. This reluctance limits the utility of DA for providing new and partly alternative policy ideas and advice on how to propagate new policies and to consolidate existing ones. This paper aims to extend the scope of DA to include advice that may change or modify how discourses are utilised in shaping policy. It elaborates on seven types of discursive agency allowing policy actors (including politicians, policy strategists, public managers, and citizen groups) to either consolidate existing policy or propagate new policy by manoeuvring within a given discursive framework, navigating between different and conflicting discourses, or transforming existing discourses.
Abstract We analysed a new counselling and support programme for people with low employment prospects in Austria. The Austrian Public Employment Service introduced regional pilots to investigate ...whether a new counselling strategy could improve labour market outcomes for this group. Eligible unemployed individuals could opt for third‐party counselling and support, access a wide range of low‐threshold services, and focus on personal stability rather than job placement. The goal was to achieve similar or even better labour market outcomes at lower cost. By comparing pilot and control regions, we found that introducing the offer resulted in higher costs without improving labour market outcomes.
Nordic welfare states are known for their universalistic and all‐encompassing approach to welfare and having a long tradition for active labour market policy as tool in economic crises with adverse ...impact on employment. They have had a long tradition for strong egalitarian approaches and their residents are consistently among the happiest in the world. A key issue is whether a crisis like the COVID‐19 outbreak is changing the Nordic welfare states. This article focuses on providing a description of what instruments the Nordic countries have taken or expect to use as part of dealing with the welfare challenges resulting from rising unemployment and greater social and economic insecurity in the wake of the crisis. The tentative conclusion is that the crisis so far has strengthened key characteristics of the Nordic welfare states by the state taking on a strong central role not only for the functioning of the market but also continued in a path‐dependent way with universal and relatively generous benefits such as for those who become unemployed or have reduced income because of the crisis.
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