GINI DP 5: Household Joblessness and its Impacts on Poverty and Deprivation in Europe

Working-age households where no-one is in work have become an increasing focus of policy concern even before the economic crisis, and the EU has included household joblessness in its new poverty reduction target for 2020. This paper focuses on the variation across EU countries in the prevalence of household joblessness and its impact on income poverty and deprivation, and on the implications for the new EU poverty reduction target. It brings out fi rst that there are some divergences across key data sources in the extent of joblessness. The prevalence of household joblessness varies substantially across EU countries, but there is little evidence of a consistent pattern among groupings of countries often categorised together in terms of welfare regime or geographically. In aggregate there is little association between the overall extent of household joblessness in a country and the percentage in relative income poverty or above a material deprivation threshold. At micro level, being in a jobless household has a substantial impact on the likelihood of being in relative income poverty or deprived, but the scale of these impacts is shown to be very much greater in some countries than in others, and to vary between single-adult and multiple-adult households. In most EU countries little more than half the working age adults in jobless households are either income poor or deprived, so including joblessness in the poverty reduction target does make a difference, without a clearly-articulated rationale.

WP 103 - Separate, joint or integrated?

This paper analyses the integration of active labour market policies for two groups of unemployed from a theoretical perspective. In general a model with only one type of agent performs better than a model with two types of agents. If there are two types of agents part of the effort of one agent leaks away to the other agent and decreases the incentives to get the unemployed back to work. A model where two agents work together and serve both types of unemployed performs even worse. This is because they are only partially compensated for their effort, which decreases the incentives to get the unemployed back to work even more.

WP 88 - Geïntegreerde dienstverlening in de keten van Werk en Inkomen

Dit rapport onderzoekt de voor- en nadelen van geïntegreerde dienstverlening in de keten van werk en inkomen, gebruik makend van een historische analyse. Het rapport geeft een beschrijving van alle ontwikkelingen op dit vlak in de Nederlandse geschiedenis, sinds de basis voor het sociale stelsel werd gelegd halverwege de negentiende eeuw. De visie van het huidige kabinet blijkt allerminst nieuw. Al voor 1900 zag men voordelen van geïntegreerde uitvoering van uitkeringsverstrekking en arbeidsbemiddeling. Toch is er sinds die tijd niet alleen een tendens geweest richting integratie van de dienstverlening. Perioden van (pogingen tot) integratie wisselden zich af met perioden waarin zowel in Nederland als internationaal de gedachte overheerste dat de uitvoering separaat moet gebeuren. Met het argument dat samenwerking kan helpen uitkeringsgerechtigden te activeren, keerde de integratievisie echter steeds terug. Dit rapport onderzoekt de voor- en nadelen die kunnen worden afgeleid uit de historische ervaringen van Nederland. Geïntegreerde dienstverlening heeft potentieel als voordeel dat het activering zou kunnen bevorderen, vriendelijker is voor werkzoekenden, de ruimte vermindert voor organisaties om kosten op elkaar af te wentelen en meer ruimte biedt voor gezamenlijk gebruik van middelen en inzichten. Daar staat tegenover dat koppeling van arbeidsvoorziening aan uitkeringsverstrekking in het verleden juist vaak heeft geleid tot verdringing van de bemiddelingstaak van de arbeidsvoorzieningorganisatie, vooral op momenten van hoge werkloosheid. Daarnaast bestaat het risico dat binnen de geïntegreerde dienstverlening onvoldoende ruimte is voor specialisatie, wat activering zou kunnen belemmeren. Bovendien is het de vraag of het optimale niveau van aansturing van arbeidsvoorzieningsorganisaties gelijk is aan dat van de verschillende uitkeringsverstrekkers. En dan zijn er nog de praktische problemen met de implementatie van samenwerking of integratie. Het blijkt dat de huidige opzet van geïntegreerde dienstverlening er niet in slaagt de valkuilen voor succesvolle samenwerking te ontlopen. De achterliggende partijen hebben nog steeds hun eigen doelen, worden op verschillende niveaus aangestuurd, worden op een andere manier gefinancierd, hebben hun eigen organisatiecultuur. h3. Abstract in English This paper examines the pros and cons of integrated benefit and employment services. The report describes the developments and trends in this field from the second part of the nineteenth century onwards, when the first social security and social welfare measures were implemented in the Netherlands. It appears that the current perspective on integrated services is not novel. Already in the nineteenth century integration of benefit and employment services was promoted. The trend towards increased integration has, however, not been stable during the observation period. There were periods, both in the Netherlands and internationally, when separate services were preferred over integrated services. Increased political pressure to activate benefit recipients, in combination with the argument that coordination and cooperation between benefit and employment services enhances the activating potential has been responsible for the even returning trend again towards integration of services. As benefits of integrated services this papers identifies the potential of enhanced activation, more friendly for and oriented to the benefit recipients, less room for organisations to free ride on one another and more potential to use each others knowledge and insights. On the other hand, history shows a tendency for the activating obligations to be oppressed by the tasks to register the unemployed, especially during economic recessions. Also, we identified the risk that there is not enough room for specialisation in an integrated organisation. Furthermore, the question has been asked in the past, and remains unanswered, whether the optimal level of organisation of employments services equals that of benefit services. On top of that there are various practical pitfalls, such as the own goals of the cooperating organisation, different levels of governing, different financial incentives and each organisation having its specific organisational culture. The present integration design appears to be unsuccessful in addressing the major integration pitfalls.

WP 95 - Uitzenden in tijden van crisis

Als gevolg van de economische crisis staat de uitzendbranche onder druk. Dit rapport doet verslag van een enquete onder 178 vestigingen van uitzendbureaus in heel Nederland en onderzoekt of rol van uitzendbureaus als bemiddelaar tussen werkzoekenden en werkgevers is verschoven als gevolg van de crisis en welke invloed heeft dit gehad op de werkwijze van de uitzendbureaus. Het inschrijvingsbeleid van uitzendbureaus is door de crisis weinig veranderd. De meeste uitzendbureaus namen ook in hoogconjunctuur alleen de kansrijke werkzoekenden op in hun bestand met werkzoekenden. Dit beleid is niet gewijzigd, het aantal afwijzingen wel. Het scholingsbeleid is onder invloed van de crisis wel aangepast. Veel uitzendbureaus die in hoogconjunctuur wel scholing aanboden aan hun uitzendkrachten doen dat momenteel niet of veel minder, vooral vanwege de kosten. Ook wordt er door inleners minder om gevraagd. Liever hebben de inleners uitzendkrachten die al helemaal aan de eisen voldoen. Momenteel biedt driekwart van de vestigingen die meewerkten aan ons onderzoek scholing aan haar uitzendkrachten aan. Het initiatief wordt meestal genomen door meerdere partijen (uitzendkracht, inlener en uitzendbureau) samen, of door het uitzendbureau zelf. Zowel uitzendkracht als inlener moeten graag willen scholen om het voor een uitzendbureau aantrekkelijk te maken om in scholing te investeren. In de uitzendbranche wordt vrijwel alleen onder bepaalde voorwaarden geschoold. Die voorwaarden kunnen twee vormen aannemen: kostendeling en/of opzegtermijnen. Beide worden zowel richting uitzendkracht als richting inlener toegepast. h2. Abstract in English The Dutch temporary agency sector has suffered severly from the current economic crisis. This report presents the results of a survey among 178 Dutch temporary work agencies and analyses to what extent the role of temporary work agencies as intermediaries between job seekers and client fi rms has shifted. Results show that temporary work agencies did not change their registration policy of unemployed job seekers dramatically. Not now, nor in the past, do the work agencies register every job seeker that walks into the office in their files. Only the most employable get an intake interview that registers them into the files. The policy has not changed, but the number of rejected job seekers has. What did change is the training policy of temporary work agencies. Many agencies that did offer training or schooling courses to their agency workers in the past do not offer it anymore, or to a lesser extent, mostly because of the costs involved. Also, client companies do not request training provided by the agency as much as before. They rather prefer workers that already full fi ll all job requirements beforehand, a demand they can easily make at the moment. Still, 75 percent of the temporary work agencies in our sample provides some training to their agency workers. The initiative is usually taken by the combination of client fi rm and agency worker, and occasionally by the temporary help agency as well. Only if both client fi rm and agency worker have a positive attitude toward schooling, it is attractive for the temporary work agency to invest. Even then schooling is only provided and paid for by the agency under conditions. Cost sharing and minimum lease terms are applied in nearly all occasions, both to the worker and to the client firm.

A trade-off between the employment of older and younger workers? An historical approach to the political framing and reframing of labour market crowding out in the Dutch welfare state

Against a background of population ageing, rising welfare state costs, and the potential for intergenerational conflict, there is continued belief in the unsubstantiated idea that older and younger workers crowd each other out in the labour market. Taking a longitudinal approach, we historically describe the framing and reframing of the idea of crowding out in Dutch political discourse between 1977–2017. Using a rich dataset of all political party manifestos for this period, we demonstrate the continued belief in employment as a zero-sum game, highlighting how this idea is politically framed and reframed against a backdrop of political and institutional welfare state development. These findings offer empirical evidence on an under-researched topic, providing insights into political and policymaking processes

Labour market effects of job displacement for prime-age and older workers

This paper studies the effects of firm closures associated with bankruptcies on the employment status and wages of prime-age and older workers using Dutch administrative data for the period 2000–2011. Applying difference-in-differences techniques and non-parametric matching, we find adverse effects on the probability to be in work and on wages earned in the new job, which are larger for older workers than for prime-age workers. Within the older-age group, the effects are stronger for formerly long-tenured workers, for older workers who lost their job in declining sectors in the regional labour market and for workers who changed sectors. In the prime-age group, these differences are less pronounced. Our results suggest that job- and sector-specific factors are important for understanding the more vulnerable position of older workers after job loss

Inequalities' Impacts: State of the Art Review

By way of introduction This report provides the fi rm foundation for anchoring the research that will be performed by the GINI project. It subsequently considers the fi elds covered by each of the main work packages: ● inequalities of income, wealth and education, ● social impacts, ● political and cultural impacts, and ● policy effects on and of inequality. Though extensive this review does not pretend to be exhaustive. The review may be “light” in some respects and can be expanded when the analysis evolves. In each of the four fi elds a signifi cant number of discussion papers will be produced, in total well over 100. These will add to the state of the art while also covering new round and generating results that will be incorporated in the Analysis Reports to be prepared for the work packages. In that sense, the current review provides the starting point. At the same time, the existing body of knowledge is broader or deeper depending on the particular fi eld and its tradition of research. The very motivation of GINI’s focused study of the impacts of inequalities is that a systematic study is lacking and relatively little is known about those impacts. This also holds for the complex collection of, the effects that inequality can have on policy making and the contributions that policies can make to mitigating inequalities but also to enhancing them. By contrast, analyses of inequality itself are many, not least because there is a wide array of inequalities; inequalities have become more easily studied comparatively and much of that analysis has a signifi cant descriptive fl avour that includes an extensive discussion of measurement issues. @GINI hopes to go beyond that and cover the impacts of inequalities at the same time

Compensation of On-call and Fixed-term Employment: the Role of Uncertainty

In this paper I analyse the use and compensation of fixed-term and on-call employment contracts in the Netherlands. I use an analytical framework in which wage differentials result from two types of uncertainty. Quantity uncertainty originates from imperfect foresight in future product demand. I argue that workers who take over part of the quantity uncertainty from the employer get higher payments. Quality uncertainty on the other hand originates from the fact that employers are ex-ante unable to fully observe a workers ability and results in lower wages. Using a combination of propensity score and Mahalanobis matching I analyse wage differentials and find that on-call workers receive compensation for providing quantity flexibility. Compensation of fixed-term contracts on the other hand is dominated by the negative wage effect of quality uncertainty. I investigate whether this relation still holds after the 1999 policy change that had a substantial impact on the attractiveness of on-call and fixed-term workers from the employers perspective. I find that the policy change has not only influenced the use of on-call and fixed-term contracts, but unintentionally also their compensation.temporary employment; wage differentials; uncertainty

The Anatomy of Job Satisfaction and the Role of Contingent Employment Contracts

In this paper I analyse job satisfaction using fixed effect analysis and a multiple equation model. Overall job satisfaction is analysed as an aggregate of satisfaction with several job aspects. I find that overall job satisfaction is mainly determined by satisfaction with job content. All aspect satisfactions are subsequently explained from observed characteristics, with special focus on contingent employment contracts. Satisfaction with job security is the aspect satisfaction with the strongest relation to type of contract. Since this is also the aspect that receives least weight in overall job satisfaction this has little impact on workers total happiness. More influential is the low satisfaction with job content due to agency work. Overall, temporary agency work leads to the lowest job satisfaction. On-call work and fixed-term work arrangements do not differ from regular work in overall job satisfaction they provide, even though they do lead to highe! r or lower satisfaction with some aspects of the job.temporary employment; job satisfaction