an article by Michelle Peterie and Greg Marston (University of Queensland, Australia), Gaby Ramia (University of Sydney, Australia) and Roger Patulny (University of Wollongong, Australia) published in Work, Employment and Society Volume 33 Issue 5 (October 2019)
Abstract
Contemporary governments employ a range of policy tools to ‘activate’ the unemployed to look for work.
Framing unemployment as a consequence of personal shortcoming, these policies incentivise the unemployed to become ‘productive’ members of society. While Foucault’s governmentality framework has been used to foreground the operation of power within these policies, ‘job-seeker’ resistance has received less attention. In particular, forms of emotional resistance have rarely been studied.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with 80 unemployed welfare recipients in Australia, this article shows that many unemployed people internalise activation’s discourses of personal failure, experiencing shame and worthlessness as a result.
It also reveals, however, that a significant minority reject this framing and the ‘feeling rules’ it implies, expressing not shame but anger regarding their circumstances. Bringing together insights from resistance studies and the sociology of emotions, this article argues that ‘job-seeker’ anger should be recognised as an important form of ‘everyday resistance’.
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Saturday, 12 October 2019
Monday, 19 August 2019
Persistency in the NEET state: a longitudinal analysis
an article by Dalit Contini, Marianna Filandri and Lia Pacelli (University of Torino, Italy) published in Journal of Youth Studies Volume 22 Issue 7 (2019)
Abstract
This article addresses the NEET phenomenon in a longitudinal perspective, by examining the case of Italy, a country experiencing one of the highest and increasing NEET shares in the EU.
We exploit the longitudinal sample of the 2008-2011 EU-SILC data, providing self-declared information on individuals’ educational and occupational status on a monthly basis for 4 years.
Firstly, we propose a classification of individual histories in education, employment and the NEET states. According to our estimates, more than 40% of the Italian young people report being NEET for at least 13 months out of 48, and more than 10% for (almost) the entire period.
Secondly, we examine the composition of the NEET groups and draw a long-term NEET risk profile for individuals from different sociodemographic groups.
Thirdly, we examine the longitudinal histories by distinguishing between unemployment and inactivity spells.
Our findings show that the NEET phenomenon among Italian young adults is largely an issue of unemployment. The only exception is represented by Italian older females with children, the majority of which portrays themselves as inactive. Still, a sizable portion of these women define themselves as being mainly ‘unemployed’ instead of ‘performing domestic tasks’, indicating an unsatisfied wish or need to work.
Abstract
This article addresses the NEET phenomenon in a longitudinal perspective, by examining the case of Italy, a country experiencing one of the highest and increasing NEET shares in the EU.
We exploit the longitudinal sample of the 2008-2011 EU-SILC data, providing self-declared information on individuals’ educational and occupational status on a monthly basis for 4 years.
Firstly, we propose a classification of individual histories in education, employment and the NEET states. According to our estimates, more than 40% of the Italian young people report being NEET for at least 13 months out of 48, and more than 10% for (almost) the entire period.
Secondly, we examine the composition of the NEET groups and draw a long-term NEET risk profile for individuals from different sociodemographic groups.
Thirdly, we examine the longitudinal histories by distinguishing between unemployment and inactivity spells.
Our findings show that the NEET phenomenon among Italian young adults is largely an issue of unemployment. The only exception is represented by Italian older females with children, the majority of which portrays themselves as inactive. Still, a sizable portion of these women define themselves as being mainly ‘unemployed’ instead of ‘performing domestic tasks’, indicating an unsatisfied wish or need to work.
Friday, 2 August 2019
Why Countries ‘Get Tough on the Work-Shy’: The Role of Adverse Economic Conditions
an article by Carlo Knotz (Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), University of Bremen & Jacobs University Bremen, Germany) published in Journal of Social Policy Volume 48 Issue 3 (July 2019)
Abstract
There has been a clear trend toward greater conditionality and coercion in labour market and social policy in recent decades, a key part of which is tougher sanctions for unemployment benefit claimants who refuse offers of employment or otherwise fail to comply with their obligations.
Our understanding of this trend and its determinants is so far built only on a corpus of small-N evidence, while systematic comparative large-N analyses are lacking. As a result, the broad patterns of policy change and their general political drivers remain underexplored.
This paper fills this gap by examining unemployment benefit sanction reforms in 20 democracies between 1980 and 2012 using an original dataset.
It is shown that governments introduce tougher sanctions in order to reconcile two competing pressures that arise during economic downturns: an increased need for social protection and reduced fiscal revenues. The findings, which are also applicable to other historical periods and policy areas, provide an impulse for future comparative large-N research on ‘demanding activation’ policies.
Abstract
There has been a clear trend toward greater conditionality and coercion in labour market and social policy in recent decades, a key part of which is tougher sanctions for unemployment benefit claimants who refuse offers of employment or otherwise fail to comply with their obligations.
Our understanding of this trend and its determinants is so far built only on a corpus of small-N evidence, while systematic comparative large-N analyses are lacking. As a result, the broad patterns of policy change and their general political drivers remain underexplored.
This paper fills this gap by examining unemployment benefit sanction reforms in 20 democracies between 1980 and 2012 using an original dataset.
It is shown that governments introduce tougher sanctions in order to reconcile two competing pressures that arise during economic downturns: an increased need for social protection and reduced fiscal revenues. The findings, which are also applicable to other historical periods and policy areas, provide an impulse for future comparative large-N research on ‘demanding activation’ policies.
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Population with Criminal Records and Racial Disparity in Labor Markets
Jasmine Boatner (no affiliation provided) published in IZA Journal of Labor Policy Volume 9 Issue 1 (2019)
Abstract
Background
Although unemployment rates are at historical lows, there is still a persistent gap between unemployment rates in black and white population. Some have proposed that part of the gap for men can be explained by the higher rate of criminal records in the black population.
Methods
This analysis aims to use negative binomial regressions and the detailed crime data available from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 survey to determine if black men with criminal records appear to be the driving force behind the gap.
Results
The author finds that there are significant deviations in labor market outcomes depending on race and ethnicity, even when controlling for a criminal record and premarket skills.
Conclusions
Lowering the disproportionate rate at which black men are incarcerated will not in itself eliminate the unemployment gap between white and black men.
JEL Classification: J01, J64, J71
Full text (PDF 13pp; HTML)
Abstract
Background
Although unemployment rates are at historical lows, there is still a persistent gap between unemployment rates in black and white population. Some have proposed that part of the gap for men can be explained by the higher rate of criminal records in the black population.
Methods
This analysis aims to use negative binomial regressions and the detailed crime data available from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 survey to determine if black men with criminal records appear to be the driving force behind the gap.
Results
The author finds that there are significant deviations in labor market outcomes depending on race and ethnicity, even when controlling for a criminal record and premarket skills.
Conclusions
Lowering the disproportionate rate at which black men are incarcerated will not in itself eliminate the unemployment gap between white and black men.
JEL Classification: J01, J64, J71
Full text (PDF 13pp; HTML)
Tuesday, 30 July 2019
Parents with an Unemployed Adult Child: Consumption, Income, and Savings Effects
an article by Kathryn Anne Edwards and Jeffrey B. Wenger (Rand Corporation) published in IZA Journal of Labor Economics Volume 8 Issue 1 (July 2019)
Abstract
The risk of labor market, health, and asset-value shocks comprise profound retirement savings challenges for older workers. Parents, however, may experience added risk if their children experience adverse labor market shocks.
Prior research has shown that parents support their children financially through an unemployment spell. In this paper, we also provide evidence of financial support from parents and investigate if this financial support is accompanied by adjustments to parental consumption, income, or savings behavior.
With longitudinal data on mothers and children from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we use within-mother variation in behavior to identify the effect of a child’s labor market shock on parent outcomes. We find evidence of a decline in consumption, an increase in labor supply, and a decrease retirement savings, though the results are heterogenous among mothers.
Our results point to aggregate inefficiencies and inequities that may result from family risk sharing.
JEL Classification: D64, J6, J20, D15
Full text (PDF 44pp) downloads rather than linking directly
Abstract
The risk of labor market, health, and asset-value shocks comprise profound retirement savings challenges for older workers. Parents, however, may experience added risk if their children experience adverse labor market shocks.
Prior research has shown that parents support their children financially through an unemployment spell. In this paper, we also provide evidence of financial support from parents and investigate if this financial support is accompanied by adjustments to parental consumption, income, or savings behavior.
With longitudinal data on mothers and children from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we use within-mother variation in behavior to identify the effect of a child’s labor market shock on parent outcomes. We find evidence of a decline in consumption, an increase in labor supply, and a decrease retirement savings, though the results are heterogenous among mothers.
Our results point to aggregate inefficiencies and inequities that may result from family risk sharing.
JEL Classification: D64, J6, J20, D15
Full text (PDF 44pp) downloads rather than linking directly
Thursday, 18 July 2019
Transition Dynamics in European Labour Markets During Crisis and Recovery
an article by Vassilis Monastiriotis and Nikolitsa Lampropoulou (European Institute, London School of Economics, UK) and Corrado Macchiarelli1 (Brunel University London, UK; European Institute, London School of Economics, UK) published in Comparative Economic Studies Volume 61 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
The crisis has resulted in a substantial rise in unemployment in Europe and a notable divergence in unemployment rates and labour market outcomes post-crisis. In this paper, we offer a detailed examination of the transitional dynamics underpinning changes in employment, unemployment and inactivity across the EU member states during the long period from before the crisis until the recent recovery (2004–2016).
We document substantial differences in transitional dynamics across countries and disparate shifts in these over time.
We also find systematic cross-country differences in the medium- and long-run trajectories of employment and unemployment generated by these dynamics, which can broadly be associated with differences in labour market institutions and models of labour market regulation and industrial relations (varieties of capitalism or production regimes). Applying a counterfactual analysis, we further document how altering the dynamics of labour market transitions may contribute to reducing significantly the levels of unemployment, and cross-country disparities in these, across the EU.
JEL Classification: O52, J62, J88, P51, G01,
Abstract
The crisis has resulted in a substantial rise in unemployment in Europe and a notable divergence in unemployment rates and labour market outcomes post-crisis. In this paper, we offer a detailed examination of the transitional dynamics underpinning changes in employment, unemployment and inactivity across the EU member states during the long period from before the crisis until the recent recovery (2004–2016).
We document substantial differences in transitional dynamics across countries and disparate shifts in these over time.
We also find systematic cross-country differences in the medium- and long-run trajectories of employment and unemployment generated by these dynamics, which can broadly be associated with differences in labour market institutions and models of labour market regulation and industrial relations (varieties of capitalism or production regimes). Applying a counterfactual analysis, we further document how altering the dynamics of labour market transitions may contribute to reducing significantly the levels of unemployment, and cross-country disparities in these, across the EU.
JEL Classification: O52, J62, J88, P51, G01,
Wednesday, 10 July 2019
The impact of active labour market policies on the well-being of the unemployed
an article by Damaris Rose (University of Cologne, Germany) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 29 Issue 3 (July 2019)
Abstract
Asking whether social policies can alter the experience of unemployment, this article systematically evaluates whether participation in active labour market policies (ALMPs) influences the well-being of the unemployed. With consistently high unemployment rates in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, scholars have started to examine the impact of ALMP schemes on a variety of tangible economic outcomes, but place little focus on their sociological and psychological impacts.
Using a novel panel survey, the IZA Evaluation Dataset, I employ a propensity score matching approach combined with difference-in-differences to address selection on both observables and unobservables.
Consistent with my theoretical predictions, I find evidence that ALMP programmes that are most like regular employment, namely wage subsidies and subsidized self-employment, have the strongest impact on the well-being of the unemployed. Looking at regional and gender differences indicates interesting effect heterogeneity.
Abstract
Asking whether social policies can alter the experience of unemployment, this article systematically evaluates whether participation in active labour market policies (ALMPs) influences the well-being of the unemployed. With consistently high unemployment rates in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, scholars have started to examine the impact of ALMP schemes on a variety of tangible economic outcomes, but place little focus on their sociological and psychological impacts.
Using a novel panel survey, the IZA Evaluation Dataset, I employ a propensity score matching approach combined with difference-in-differences to address selection on both observables and unobservables.
Consistent with my theoretical predictions, I find evidence that ALMP programmes that are most like regular employment, namely wage subsidies and subsidized self-employment, have the strongest impact on the well-being of the unemployed. Looking at regional and gender differences indicates interesting effect heterogeneity.
Friday, 5 July 2019
Work must pay: Does it? Precarious employment and employment motivation for low-income households
asn article by Lucie Trlifajová and Jakob Hurrle (Charles University, Czech Republic) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 29 Issue 3 (July 2019)
Abstract
One of the core dilemmas of current welfare politics is the question of how to ensure social protection while providing incentives to seek employment at the same time. A way to address this dilemma is to base policies and policy models on the principle notion that ‘work must pay’; in other words, income from employment should be higher than the social support of the unemployed.
However, how accurately do these approaches and models represent the reality of benefit recipients, particularly in the context of increased employment precariousness?
In this article, we use the cases of two disadvantaged regions in Czech Republic in order to contrast the presumptions of ‘making work pay’ policies with the everyday experience of welfare recipients. As we show, their situations are strongly shaped by current changes in the labour market, particularly the precarious character of accessible employment and high levels of indebtedness.
The modelling of financial employment incentives and the public policies based on these calculations often do not correspond with the reality of welfare recipients that are often cycling in and out of precarious forms of employment.
However, the authors’ main claim is that the very idea of the ‘work must pay’ approach focuses on the wrong question. A truly functioning financial incentive would need to focus not solely on the difference in income between those who work and those who do not work, but rather should analyse what type of arrangements allow working households to rise permanently above the poverty line.
Abstract
One of the core dilemmas of current welfare politics is the question of how to ensure social protection while providing incentives to seek employment at the same time. A way to address this dilemma is to base policies and policy models on the principle notion that ‘work must pay’; in other words, income from employment should be higher than the social support of the unemployed.
However, how accurately do these approaches and models represent the reality of benefit recipients, particularly in the context of increased employment precariousness?
In this article, we use the cases of two disadvantaged regions in Czech Republic in order to contrast the presumptions of ‘making work pay’ policies with the everyday experience of welfare recipients. As we show, their situations are strongly shaped by current changes in the labour market, particularly the precarious character of accessible employment and high levels of indebtedness.
The modelling of financial employment incentives and the public policies based on these calculations often do not correspond with the reality of welfare recipients that are often cycling in and out of precarious forms of employment.
However, the authors’ main claim is that the very idea of the ‘work must pay’ approach focuses on the wrong question. A truly functioning financial incentive would need to focus not solely on the difference in income between those who work and those who do not work, but rather should analyse what type of arrangements allow working households to rise permanently above the poverty line.
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.
Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Estimating the Impacts of Area Regeneration Programmes in Scotland on Health and Unemployment: a quasi-experimental approach
Daryll Archibald (La Trobe University, Mebourne, Australia), Zhiqiang Feng (University of Edinburgh, UK) and Elspeth Graham (University of St Andrews, UK) published in People, Palce and Policy Volume 13 Issue 1 (2019)
Abstract
The last three decades have seen significant investment in area-based initiatives in the UK to regenerate areas experiencing multiple disadvantage. However, there is a dearth of robust evidence on the impacts that area regeneration has on residents’ lives. This is particularly so in the case of the Scottish Area Regeneration Partnership (SARP) Programmes initiated in the mid-1990s, the original evaluation of which was beset by a lack of baseline data and poor data collection through the life of the programmes.
This study investigated if residents who lived in SARP areas had improved health and employment outcomes compared to individuals living in similarly disadvantaged areas that had not been subject to regeneration over a ten-year period (1991-2001). A quasi experiment was undertaken using data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study.
Propensity score matching was used to identify comparator areas and a Difference in Differences analysis was conducted to investigate the impacts of the SARP programmes for three outcomes: limiting long-term illness, hospital admissions and unemployment. No positive (or negative) programme impact was found on any of the outcomes assessed. Thus, residents in SARP areas over the study period did not see their health and employment prospects improve compared with residents in similarly disadvantaged non-regeneration comparator areas.
Full text (PDF 28pp)
Abstract
The last three decades have seen significant investment in area-based initiatives in the UK to regenerate areas experiencing multiple disadvantage. However, there is a dearth of robust evidence on the impacts that area regeneration has on residents’ lives. This is particularly so in the case of the Scottish Area Regeneration Partnership (SARP) Programmes initiated in the mid-1990s, the original evaluation of which was beset by a lack of baseline data and poor data collection through the life of the programmes.
This study investigated if residents who lived in SARP areas had improved health and employment outcomes compared to individuals living in similarly disadvantaged areas that had not been subject to regeneration over a ten-year period (1991-2001). A quasi experiment was undertaken using data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study.
Propensity score matching was used to identify comparator areas and a Difference in Differences analysis was conducted to investigate the impacts of the SARP programmes for three outcomes: limiting long-term illness, hospital admissions and unemployment. No positive (or negative) programme impact was found on any of the outcomes assessed. Thus, residents in SARP areas over the study period did not see their health and employment prospects improve compared with residents in similarly disadvantaged non-regeneration comparator areas.
Full text (PDF 28pp)
Monday, 20 May 2019
Coming of age during a downturn can cause scarring – and it takes up to a decade to heal
a post by Stephen Clarke for the Resolution Foundation blog
Recessions are bad for people’s standard of living. And they’re particularly bad for young people. That’s the painful lesson we learnt after the 1980s recession where, for most of that decade, at least one in seven people under 30 were unemployed.
We know a lot about the unemployment scarring of the 1980s – from the rich academic literature, to UB40 or Shane Meadows’ This is England. But we’re only now beginning to learn what kind of long-term impacts the last big recession has had on young people.
While there’s never a good time to experience a recession, it’s particularly unlucky to come of age during one. What that bad luck means in terms of how much you earn, or what job you do, is something the Resolution Foundation has explored by looking at the ‘crisis cohort’ who left school, college or university between 2008 and 2011.
First, the good news. Although the recent downturn was far bigger than the 80s and early 90s recessions, it didn’t spur the big spike in youth unemployment that many feared. The recovery was quick, and Britain returned to record employment by early 2015. Instead, the pain of the recession was shared across more young people, through a deep pay squeeze. Now the biggest pay squeeze since the Napoleonic Wars isn’t pretty. But spreading the pain of a recession through everyone’s pay packets is certainly much fairer than concentrating the pain on those joining the dole queues, as occurred in the 1980s.
Continue reading
Recessions are bad for people’s standard of living. And they’re particularly bad for young people. That’s the painful lesson we learnt after the 1980s recession where, for most of that decade, at least one in seven people under 30 were unemployed.
We know a lot about the unemployment scarring of the 1980s – from the rich academic literature, to UB40 or Shane Meadows’ This is England. But we’re only now beginning to learn what kind of long-term impacts the last big recession has had on young people.
While there’s never a good time to experience a recession, it’s particularly unlucky to come of age during one. What that bad luck means in terms of how much you earn, or what job you do, is something the Resolution Foundation has explored by looking at the ‘crisis cohort’ who left school, college or university between 2008 and 2011.
First, the good news. Although the recent downturn was far bigger than the 80s and early 90s recessions, it didn’t spur the big spike in youth unemployment that many feared. The recovery was quick, and Britain returned to record employment by early 2015. Instead, the pain of the recession was shared across more young people, through a deep pay squeeze. Now the biggest pay squeeze since the Napoleonic Wars isn’t pretty. But spreading the pain of a recession through everyone’s pay packets is certainly much fairer than concentrating the pain on those joining the dole queues, as occurred in the 1980s.
Continue reading
Thursday, 9 May 2019
Promoting temporary work as an active labour market programme
a column by Bas van der Klaauw and Lennart Ziegler for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Although temporary jobs are often characterised by lower pay, advocates of temporary work argue that taking up such jobs can increase the chances to find regular work in the long run.
This column reviews evidence on the effectiveness of a labour market ‘speed date’ programme in the Netherlands, where unemployed job seekers are matched with temporary work agencies. The speed dates are effective in reducing the costs of unemployment insurance but, in the long run, temporary work does not serve as a stepping stone towards regular employment.
Continue reading
Although temporary jobs are often characterised by lower pay, advocates of temporary work argue that taking up such jobs can increase the chances to find regular work in the long run.
This column reviews evidence on the effectiveness of a labour market ‘speed date’ programme in the Netherlands, where unemployed job seekers are matched with temporary work agencies. The speed dates are effective in reducing the costs of unemployment insurance but, in the long run, temporary work does not serve as a stepping stone towards regular employment.
Continue reading
Thursday, 21 March 2019
Gender differences and individual, household, and workplace characteristics: Regional geographies of extended working lives
an article by Nicola Shelton, Jenny Head, Paola Zaninotto, Gareth Hagger‐Johnson and Emily Murray (UCL, London, UK) and Ewan Carr (King's College, London, UK) published in Population, Space and Place Volume 25 Issue 2 (March 2019)
Abstract
Increasing labour market participation among older workers is embedded in government policy in the United Kingdom and many other industrialised countries with rises in the state pension age in response to increasing life expectancy.
Despite this, many workers stop working before state pension age with around a 20% reduction in the proportion of adults in work between ages 50 and 60 in 2011 in England and Wales. This paper considers the risk of remaining in work by region and gender between 2001 and 2011 for adults aged 40–49 in 2001.
Men had significantly higher risk of extended working in the East Midlands (1.4×) East of England (1.5×), South East (1.6×), and South West (1.6×) compared with the North East. Women in all regions apart from London and Wales had significantly higher risk of extended working compared with the North East: ranging from 1.15 times in the North West and West Midlands to 1.6 times in the South West.
Adjustment for nonemployment‐related socio‐economic status, housing tenure, qualifications, and car ownership, and employment status in 2001 attenuated all significant regional differences in extended working in men and in women in most regions.
Workplace characteristics attenuated most of the remaining regional differences in women: women working in larger employers in 2001 or working at distances of 200 km or more, abroad or from home, had lower risk of remaining in work, whereas access to a car and higher working hours increased risk. Policies to increase qualifications and skills among older adults are recommended.
Full text (PDF 10pp)
Abstract
Increasing labour market participation among older workers is embedded in government policy in the United Kingdom and many other industrialised countries with rises in the state pension age in response to increasing life expectancy.
Despite this, many workers stop working before state pension age with around a 20% reduction in the proportion of adults in work between ages 50 and 60 in 2011 in England and Wales. This paper considers the risk of remaining in work by region and gender between 2001 and 2011 for adults aged 40–49 in 2001.
Men had significantly higher risk of extended working in the East Midlands (1.4×) East of England (1.5×), South East (1.6×), and South West (1.6×) compared with the North East. Women in all regions apart from London and Wales had significantly higher risk of extended working compared with the North East: ranging from 1.15 times in the North West and West Midlands to 1.6 times in the South West.
Adjustment for nonemployment‐related socio‐economic status, housing tenure, qualifications, and car ownership, and employment status in 2001 attenuated all significant regional differences in extended working in men and in women in most regions.
Workplace characteristics attenuated most of the remaining regional differences in women: women working in larger employers in 2001 or working at distances of 200 km or more, abroad or from home, had lower risk of remaining in work, whereas access to a car and higher working hours increased risk. Policies to increase qualifications and skills among older adults are recommended.
Full text (PDF 10pp)
Wednesday, 20 February 2019
The whys and wherefores of short-time work: Evidence from 20 countries
a column by Reamonn Lydon, Thomas Y. Mathä and Stephen Millard for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Short-time work schemes are a fiscal stabiliser in Europe. Between 2010 and 2013, they were used by 7% of firms, employing 9% of workers in the region.
This column uses ECB data to show that firms use the schemes to offset negative shocks and retain high-productivity workers. High firing costs and wage rigidity increase the use of short-time work, which in turn reduces the fall in employment brought on by a recession.
Continue reading
Short-time work schemes are a fiscal stabiliser in Europe. Between 2010 and 2013, they were used by 7% of firms, employing 9% of workers in the region.
This column uses ECB data to show that firms use the schemes to offset negative shocks and retain high-productivity workers. High firing costs and wage rigidity increase the use of short-time work, which in turn reduces the fall in employment brought on by a recession.
Continue reading
Thursday, 14 February 2019
Expanding the Impact of the Psychology of Working: Engaging Psychology in the Struggle for Decent Work and Human Rights
an article by David L. Blustein and Maureen E. Kenny (Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA), Annamaria Di Fabio (University of Florence, Firenze, Italy) and Jean Guichard (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (Paris), France) published in Journal of Career Assessment Volume 27 Issue 1 (February 2019)
Abstract
Building on new developments in the psychology of working framework (PWF) and psychology of working theory (PWT), this article proposes a rationale and research agenda for applied psychologists and career development professionals to contribute to the many challenges related to human rights and decent work. Recent and ongoing changes in the world are contributing to a significant loss of decent work, including a rise of unemployment, underemployment, and precarious work across the globe.
By failing to satisfy human needs for economic survival, social connection, and self-determination, the loss of decent work undermines individual and societal well-being, particularly for marginalized groups and those without highly marketable skills.
Informed by innovations in the PWF/PWT, we offer exemplary research agendas that focus on examining the psychological meaning and impact of economic and social protections, balancing caregiving work and market work, making work more just, and enhancing individual capacities for coping and adapting to changes in the world of work.
These examples are intended to stimulate new ideas and initiatives for psychological research that will inform and enhance efforts pertaining to work as a human right.
Abstract
Building on new developments in the psychology of working framework (PWF) and psychology of working theory (PWT), this article proposes a rationale and research agenda for applied psychologists and career development professionals to contribute to the many challenges related to human rights and decent work. Recent and ongoing changes in the world are contributing to a significant loss of decent work, including a rise of unemployment, underemployment, and precarious work across the globe.
By failing to satisfy human needs for economic survival, social connection, and self-determination, the loss of decent work undermines individual and societal well-being, particularly for marginalized groups and those without highly marketable skills.
Informed by innovations in the PWF/PWT, we offer exemplary research agendas that focus on examining the psychological meaning and impact of economic and social protections, balancing caregiving work and market work, making work more just, and enhancing individual capacities for coping and adapting to changes in the world of work.
These examples are intended to stimulate new ideas and initiatives for psychological research that will inform and enhance efforts pertaining to work as a human right.
Thursday, 15 November 2018
Job search assistance does not boost employment: New evidence
a column by Lionel Cottier, Yves Flückiger, Pierre Kempeneers and Rafael Lalive for VOX: CEPR&rsquo's Policy Portal
In contrast to other labour market interventions, job search assistance appears to be effective in helping job seekers to find jobs.
This column examines the effects of such a programme targeting the long-term unemployed in Geneva. Those participating in the programme experience a short-term increase in employment compared to other job seekers, but this gain evaporates in the second year after assignment.
These results suggest that the programme places job seekers in lower-quality jobs.
Continue reading
and discover what I found out a long time ago but, of course, for governments to listen there has to be a study!
There was one fellow I helped into work nine times in about 18 months. Easy peasy. At the same time I was moving heaven and earth to get a job for someone who had been out of work caring for family. Mr Bell stopped me in the street some time later and said "You won't remember me but you helped me find a job a couple of years ago. I'm still there."
That was, of course, in the days when employment advisers advised and supported.
In contrast to other labour market interventions, job search assistance appears to be effective in helping job seekers to find jobs.
This column examines the effects of such a programme targeting the long-term unemployed in Geneva. Those participating in the programme experience a short-term increase in employment compared to other job seekers, but this gain evaporates in the second year after assignment.
These results suggest that the programme places job seekers in lower-quality jobs.
Continue reading
and discover what I found out a long time ago but, of course, for governments to listen there has to be a study!
There was one fellow I helped into work nine times in about 18 months. Easy peasy. At the same time I was moving heaven and earth to get a job for someone who had been out of work caring for family. Mr Bell stopped me in the street some time later and said "You won't remember me but you helped me find a job a couple of years ago. I'm still there."
That was, of course, in the days when employment advisers advised and supported.
Thursday, 25 October 2018
Unemployment From the Perspective of the Psychology of Working
Chris Kossen and Peter McIlveen (University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia) published in Journal of Career Development Volume 45 Issue 5 (October 2018)
Abstract
Unemployment is a ubiquitous problem that is a complex of cultural, economic interpersonal, physical, and psychological dimensions.
Whereas the pernicious negative outcomes of unemployment are empirically established in the literature, there is a need to better understand the psychological experiences of unemployment so as to inform interventions that ameliorate its impact.
The present research is based on archival interview data and uses the psychology of working theory to understand 32 individuals’ experiences of unemployment. The findings include themes that are consistent with the hypothesized predictors posited in the theory, including marginalization, economic constraints, volition, career adaptability, proactive personality, critical consciousness, social support, and economic conditions.
The research findings affirm the conceptual precepts of the theory with regard to its predictors; thus, this contribution to the literature on the psychology of working and unemployment opens new perspectives on a perennial problem.
Abstract
Unemployment is a ubiquitous problem that is a complex of cultural, economic interpersonal, physical, and psychological dimensions.
Whereas the pernicious negative outcomes of unemployment are empirically established in the literature, there is a need to better understand the psychological experiences of unemployment so as to inform interventions that ameliorate its impact.
The present research is based on archival interview data and uses the psychology of working theory to understand 32 individuals’ experiences of unemployment. The findings include themes that are consistent with the hypothesized predictors posited in the theory, including marginalization, economic constraints, volition, career adaptability, proactive personality, critical consciousness, social support, and economic conditions.
The research findings affirm the conceptual precepts of the theory with regard to its predictors; thus, this contribution to the literature on the psychology of working and unemployment opens new perspectives on a perennial problem.
Friday, 19 October 2018
First fired, first hired? Business cycles and immigrant labor market transitions
an article by Huanan Xu (Indiana University, South Bend, USA) published in IZA Journal of Development and Migration Volume 8 Article 19 (2018)
Abstract
Using individual-level Current Population Survey (CPS) data matched across adjacent months from 1996 to 2013, this paper examines immigrant-native differentials in labor market transitions to changes in the business cycle.
The paper captures economic fluctuations by measuring deviations in local demand from national economic circumstances and examines monthly transitions among employment, unemployment, and nonparticipation.
Immigrants are found to be first fired and first hired over the business cycle, and the aggregate unemployment gap is caused by immigrants’ higher rates in the unemployment entry flow. Although to some extent the gap can be explained by variation in the immigrant-native’s exposure to cycles across industry and occupation, the first fired and first hired pattern still holds.
Tests for heterogeneity show that low-skilled immigrants are more vulnerable to the business cycle. Tests of the structural changes from the 2007–2009 Great Recession show that since its start, there was a secular shift in the transition probabilities that would affect all workers negatively, but cyclical volatility was mitigated for immigrants in the post-Great Recession period.
JEL Classification: J15, J21, J23, J61, J63, J64
Full text (PDF 35pp)
Abstract
Using individual-level Current Population Survey (CPS) data matched across adjacent months from 1996 to 2013, this paper examines immigrant-native differentials in labor market transitions to changes in the business cycle.
The paper captures economic fluctuations by measuring deviations in local demand from national economic circumstances and examines monthly transitions among employment, unemployment, and nonparticipation.
Immigrants are found to be first fired and first hired over the business cycle, and the aggregate unemployment gap is caused by immigrants’ higher rates in the unemployment entry flow. Although to some extent the gap can be explained by variation in the immigrant-native’s exposure to cycles across industry and occupation, the first fired and first hired pattern still holds.
Tests for heterogeneity show that low-skilled immigrants are more vulnerable to the business cycle. Tests of the structural changes from the 2007–2009 Great Recession show that since its start, there was a secular shift in the transition probabilities that would affect all workers negatively, but cyclical volatility was mitigated for immigrants in the post-Great Recession period.
JEL Classification: J15, J21, J23, J61, J63, J64
Full text (PDF 35pp)
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Feeling useless: the effect of unemployment on mental health in the Great Recession
an article by Lídia Farré (Universitat de Barcelona, IAE (CSIC), MOVE and IZA, Barcelona, Spain), Francesco Fasani (Queen Mary University of London, CEPR and IZA, London, UK) and Hannes Mueller (IAE (CSIC), Barcelona GSE, CEPR and MOVE, Barcelona, Spain) published in IZA Journal of Labor Economics Volume 7 Article 8 (2018)
Abstract
This article documents a strong connection between unemployment and mental distress using data from the Spanish National Health Survey.
We exploit the collapse of the construction sector to identify the causal effect of job losses in different segments of the Spanish labor market.
Our results suggest that an increase of the unemployment rate by 10 percentage points due to the breakdown in construction raised reported poor health and mental disorders in the affected population by 3 percentage points, respectively. We argue that the size of this effect responds to the fact that the construction sector was at the center of the economic recession.
As a result, workers exposed to the negative labor demand shock faced very low chances of re-entering employment. We show that this led to long unemployment spells, stress, hopelessness, and feelings of uselessness. These effects point towards a potential channel for unemployment hysteresis.
JEL Classification: I10, J60, C26
Full text (PDF 34pp)
Abstract
This article documents a strong connection between unemployment and mental distress using data from the Spanish National Health Survey.
We exploit the collapse of the construction sector to identify the causal effect of job losses in different segments of the Spanish labor market.
Our results suggest that an increase of the unemployment rate by 10 percentage points due to the breakdown in construction raised reported poor health and mental disorders in the affected population by 3 percentage points, respectively. We argue that the size of this effect responds to the fact that the construction sector was at the center of the economic recession.
As a result, workers exposed to the negative labor demand shock faced very low chances of re-entering employment. We show that this led to long unemployment spells, stress, hopelessness, and feelings of uselessness. These effects point towards a potential channel for unemployment hysteresis.
JEL Classification: I10, J60, C26
Full text (PDF 34pp)
Monday, 8 October 2018
Underemployment in the US and Europe
a column by David Bell and David Blanchflower for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The most widely available measure of underemployment is the share of involuntary part-time workers in total employment.
This column argues that this does not fully capture the extent of worker dissatisfaction with currently contracted hours. An underemployment index measuring how many extra or fewer hours individuals would like to work suggests that the US and the UK are a long way from full employment, and that policymakers should not be focused on the unemployment rate in the years after a recession, but rather on the underemployment rate.
Continue reading
The most widely available measure of underemployment is the share of involuntary part-time workers in total employment.
This column argues that this does not fully capture the extent of worker dissatisfaction with currently contracted hours. An underemployment index measuring how many extra or fewer hours individuals would like to work suggests that the US and the UK are a long way from full employment, and that policymakers should not be focused on the unemployment rate in the years after a recession, but rather on the underemployment rate.
Continue reading
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