a column by Yukiko Asai for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
One factor exacerbating gender gaps in employment is the cost of affording maternity and parental leave to women as primary caregivers.
This column analyses the relationship between the costs of providing parental leave and labour demand for childbearing-age women. As evidenced by a series of reforms in Japan in the last two decades, reducing the burden of parental leave costs from firms to social insurance systems increases both labour demand and starting wages for such workers.
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Showing posts with label social_insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social_insurance. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Friday, 28 June 2019
Benefit sanctions, social citizenship and the economy
an article by David Webster (University of Glasgow, UK) published in Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit Volume 34 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
Throughout the history of National Insurance in the UK, there has been relatively little emphasis on benefit conditions or sanctions (previously called disqualifications). The relevant academic literature has been correspondingly thin.
But over the past three decades there has been a dramatic shift to increased conditionality in social security, accompanied by increased harshness in the penalties. This has started to spawn a substantial new literature.
This review article considers three significant recent publications. Although written from different perspectives, they all conclude that the current UK sanctions system cannot be justified. The review article argues that more attention needs to be paid to the flaws in the economic case for conditionality.
It concludes that effective reform of the system depends on a reassertion of the concepts of social citizenship which underlay the development of National Insurance in the 20th century.
Abstract
Throughout the history of National Insurance in the UK, there has been relatively little emphasis on benefit conditions or sanctions (previously called disqualifications). The relevant academic literature has been correspondingly thin.
But over the past three decades there has been a dramatic shift to increased conditionality in social security, accompanied by increased harshness in the penalties. This has started to spawn a substantial new literature.
This review article considers three significant recent publications. Although written from different perspectives, they all conclude that the current UK sanctions system cannot be justified. The review article argues that more attention needs to be paid to the flaws in the economic case for conditionality.
It concludes that effective reform of the system depends on a reassertion of the concepts of social citizenship which underlay the development of National Insurance in the 20th century.
Monday, 18 March 2019
The Politics of Minimum Income Protection in OECD Countries
an article by Alain Noël (Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada) published in Journal of Social Policy Volume 48 Issue 2 (April 2019)
Abstract
Minimum income protection (MIP) determines the disposable income a person obtains when she has no market or social insurance income, few assets and no family support. This last-recourse income, usually social assistance benefits plus associated transfers, constitutes a significant indicator of a country's commitment to social justice.
Yet, we know little about the politics of MIP, in part because welfare state scholars have focused on more encompassing social insurance programmes, and in part because of a lack of good comparative data.
This article takes the measure of MIP adequacy in 18 OECD countries for the 1990–2010 period, for single, able-to-work individuals, tracks its comparative evolution, and proposes an explanation of its determinants, with a times-series cross-sectional model.
The main positive determinant of adequacy is a generous welfare state; the main negative force is the importance of the public debt. Overall, the politics of MIP appears consistent with that of the welfare state.
Abstract
Minimum income protection (MIP) determines the disposable income a person obtains when she has no market or social insurance income, few assets and no family support. This last-recourse income, usually social assistance benefits plus associated transfers, constitutes a significant indicator of a country's commitment to social justice.
Yet, we know little about the politics of MIP, in part because welfare state scholars have focused on more encompassing social insurance programmes, and in part because of a lack of good comparative data.
This article takes the measure of MIP adequacy in 18 OECD countries for the 1990–2010 period, for single, able-to-work individuals, tracks its comparative evolution, and proposes an explanation of its determinants, with a times-series cross-sectional model.
The main positive determinant of adequacy is a generous welfare state; the main negative force is the importance of the public debt. Overall, the politics of MIP appears consistent with that of the welfare state.
Wednesday, 24 June 2015
The impacts of vocational rehabilitation
an article by Simen Markussen and Knut Røed (The Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research, Norway) published in Labour Economics Volume 31 (December 2014)
Abstract
Based on local variations in vocational rehabilitation (VR) priorities, we examine the impacts of alternative VR programs on short- and long-term labor market outcomes for temporary disability insurance (TDI) claimants in Norway.
The analysis builds on rich and detailed administrative registers covering 345,000 claimants.
We find that a strategy focusing on rapid placement in the regular labor market is superior to alternative strategies giving higher priority to vocational training or sheltered employment. Strategies prioritizing subsidized regular education also tend to be relatively successful in terms of final outcomes, but at the cost of protracted periods of benefit dependency first.
JEL classification C21; C26; H55; I38; J24
Hazel’s comment:
Interesting to note that placing people into sheltered employment is counter-productive to their possibilities of entering the regular labour market.
This conclusion is, however, based on a sample of people with a temporary disability.
Abstract
Based on local variations in vocational rehabilitation (VR) priorities, we examine the impacts of alternative VR programs on short- and long-term labor market outcomes for temporary disability insurance (TDI) claimants in Norway.
The analysis builds on rich and detailed administrative registers covering 345,000 claimants.
We find that a strategy focusing on rapid placement in the regular labor market is superior to alternative strategies giving higher priority to vocational training or sheltered employment. Strategies prioritizing subsidized regular education also tend to be relatively successful in terms of final outcomes, but at the cost of protracted periods of benefit dependency first.
JEL classification C21; C26; H55; I38; J24
Hazel’s comment:
Interesting to note that placing people into sheltered employment is counter-productive to their possibilities of entering the regular labour market.
This conclusion is, however, based on a sample of people with a temporary disability.
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