Fit for Purpose? Welfare Reform and Challenges for Health and Labour Market Policy in the UK

2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Lindsay ◽  
Donald Houston
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Fit For Purpose ◽  
The Uk

No longer ‘fit for purpose’? Consolidation and catch-up in Irish labour market policy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Dukelow
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Policy Regime ◽  
Employment Services ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Fit For Purpose ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Benefit System

This chapter discusses recent change to Irish labour market policy which, it argues, has been guided by the idea that Ireland’s policy regime prior to the 2008 crisis was no longer ‘fit for purpose’ being overly focused on a passive benefit system and a similarly passive approach to activation. The chapter maps three key changes related to consolidation and catch-up. First, retrenchment is further eroding the already weak social insurance underpinnings of the system. Second, existing activation programmes which focused heavily on direct job creation have been somewhat curtailed; new more market oriented programmes have been introduced and compulsion has been stregthened. Third, major institutional re-design is leading to greater integration of the benefit system with employment services and a turn towards privatisation and marketisation. By assessing these changes against recent labour market dynamics the chapter also considers how they are contributing to a more precarious labour market regime post-crisis.

scholarly journals Full Employment in a Green Society

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
Steve Dawe
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Contemporary Work ◽  
The Uk

This article is an attempt to re-conceptualise Full Employment. The UK context is the main geographical focus. A normative route to the rehabilitation of Full Employment is offered - recast here as ‘Green Full Employment’ - utilising a variety of Green perspectives from sociology, politics and economics. This contribution to the debate about Full Employment is ‘normative’, because without ethical values we may lack a moral compass to motivate policies. Green Full Employment is presented here not simply as a potential ‘active labour market’ policy, but as a contributory facet of the on-going ‘Green Industrial Revolution.’ Inevitably, this reconceptualization raises questions about the value of many forms of contemporary work and what purpose they serve. The potential resistance of neoliberal forces to Green Full Employment is noted, before future lines of research are suggested.

scholarly journals Active labour market policy in the UK: At a (local) crossroads?

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Orton ◽  
Anne E Green
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Local Labour ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Uk

Active labour market policy has developed into a widely used and seemingly embedded approach to addressing worklessness, both in the UK and internationally. But the future of UK active labour market policy looks far from certain. Some recent developments suggest demise and diminution. But at the same time there is also evidence of more positive points, including increasing recognition of the importance of employer involvement and activity at local level. Possible future trajectories are considered in the light of emerging developments, and two potential scenarios for future UK active labour market policy are posited: ‘less support, more sticks’ and an ‘active local labour markets approach’.

scholarly journals Zero-hours contracts and labour market policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (99) ◽  
pp. 369-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikhil Datta ◽  
Giulia Giupponi ◽  
Stephen Machin
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Alternative Work Arrangements ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Wage Cost ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
The Uk

SUMMARY The evolving nature of atypical work arrangements is studied. A particular focus is placed on one such form of work relation: zero-hours contracts (ZHCs). The paper uses existing secondary data and new survey data collected for the specific purpose of studying alternative work arrangements to describe the nature of ZHC work in the UK labour market. The interaction with labour market policy is explored, in the context of the 2016 introduction of the UK’s National Living Wage. ZHC work is shown to be an important feature of today’s work arrangements, and the wage cost shock induced by the new, higher minimum wage resulted in an increased use of ZHCs in the UK social care sector, and in low wage sectors more generally.

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