Welfare State Institutions and Individuals on the Labour Markets

Abstract

Unemployment policies are often discussed in terms of their powerful ability to reintegrate jobless people in the labour market. Even though activation is an important aspect of such policies, their impact on individuals and on society as a whole goes far beyond. Among others, unemployment policies are also related to issues such as poverty reduction and social investment, family consistency and responsibilities. Therefore, the aim of this panel is to bring together young researchers to debate on the consequences of unemployment policy designs in the broadest sense, shining a light on issues from both an economic and a sociological point of view. Three papers will be presented in this panel, each focusing on a different aspect of unemployment policies. The first paper examines the effect of change in industrial relations on the exit from unemployment during the crisis. Pavol Babos presents the case of Slovakia and highlights the negative impact of the stricter Labour Code on peoples chance to find a job. The second paper, by Nathalie Schuerman, touches upon the aforementioned issue of poverty and activation. Departing from a social investment perspective, the paper analyses the effects of policy changes aimed at activation on the net disposable income of three ‘typical’ at-risk-of-poverty households in Belgium: elderly long-term unemployed, disabled and lone-parent families. In the last paper, Wouter De Tavernier explores the concept of ‘defamilisation’ in relation to unemployment policies in an international comparison of European countries. While unemployment benefits are explicitly tied to the family consistency in some European states, policies in other countries implicitly shift the responsibility for the maintenance of the standard of living of the unemployed to the family. Hopefully, presenting these different views on unemployment policies will lead to a fruitful discussion in which also insights from other scientific fields will be shared.

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