Employment Policies and the Struggle Against Workers’
Poverty: The Social Investment State in Liberal Welfare
Regimes
Jane Jenson and Pascale Dufour
I - The Post-War Period : Employment Policy as a protection against social risk
II - The Period of Retrenchment: Employability problematic
III - The Redesign of Welfare: The Social Investment State
The Post-War Period
Representation of social problems:
•stable image of working life
•stable image family life
low % of unemploymentMainly breadwinner model
Unemployment : accidental and temporary
Unemployment 1970-1995
0
24
6
8
1012
14
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
year
unem
ploy
men
t rat
eCanada
UK
OECD
Source: OECD Employment and Labour Statistics.
Source: OECD Employment and Labour Market Statistics.
Female Employment 1970-1995
0
10
20
30
40
50
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
year
Wom
en a
s a
perc
enta
ge o
f the
em
ploy
ed
Canada
UK
State Responses
Unemployment InsuranceUK : 1948: National Insurance ActCanada: 1940: first Unemployment insurance
Training and Education policies
Some specific elements for women in Canada
Social Assistance system for those not able to work
The Retrenchment PeriodRisks are changing
New target of public action: unemployed people and their employability
Source: OECD Labour Force Statistics 1982-2002.
Long-Term Unemployment 1985-1990
01020304050607080
1985 1990 1995
year
% o
f une
mpl
oyed
for o
ver
6 m
onth
s
Canada
UK
Source: OECD Labour Force Statistics 1982-2002.
Part-Time Employment
0
5
10
15
20
25
1985 1990 1995 2000
year
% o
f tot
al e
mpl
oym
ent
Canada
UK
Source: UK Labour Force Survey
UK Short-Term Employment
1717,5
1818,5
1919,5
2020,5
1986 1991 1996 2000year
% of jobs with tenure lessthan one year
Source: Andrew Heisz. 1996. “Changes In Job Tenure and Job Stability in Canada.” StatisticsCanada Business and Labour Market Studies, 95.
State response
Reduction of unemployment insurance system
Source: OECD Social Expenditure Survey
Unemployment Compensation
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
1980 1985 1990 1995 1998
year
% o
f GD
P
Canada
UK
Development of “active policies”
Source: OECD Social Expenditure Database
Active Labour Market Programmes
00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.8
1980 1985 1990 1995 1998
year
% o
f GD
P
CanadaUK
• The Work-Family nexus Still an individual and family problem
•Consequences: development of new types of poverty
Redesign of Welfare : the Building of Social Investment State
RiskWorking Poor
Source: Statistics Canada. Income Trends in Canada 1980-2001.
Low Earners Canada - Families with at least One Earner
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1981 1991 1996 1998
year
% low earners
Source: UK National Statistics. Households Below AverageIncomes Survey.
Working Poor UK - Families with at least One Earner in Full-Time Employment
05
101520253035
1981 1991/92 1996/97 1999/2000
year
% working poor
New Work opportunities for highly qualified workers
Source: Department of Trade and Industry. 1998. Building the Knowledge Driven Economy.
Job Growth Canada 1991-2001
05
101520253035
High-skilled Skilled Unskilled
skill level
% g
row
th
Source: The Canadian Workforce: Statistics on the Canadian Workforce from the 2001 Canada Census. Canada Online.
Bi-polarisation of work market
Canada Income Inequality
0
5
10
15
20
25
1981 1985 1990 1995 2000 2000
year
perc
enta
ge o
f ear
ners
Source: Statistics Canada. Income Trends in Canada 1980-2001.
UK Gini-Coefficient for Equalised Disposable Income
Source: UK National Statistics. 2003. Income Inequality: Gap Widens Slightly from mid-1990s.
Framework of Social Investment State
Two types of discourses:
• Investing today will bring some benefits in the future
• Investment today will lead to economy in the future
Two types of actions:
• Innovation and excellence policy
• Prevention and fight against social exclusion
Specific measures
Promotion of life-long learningCanada Valuing Literacy in
Canada, 1998Youth EmploymentStrategy (YES), 1997Aboriginal HumanResource DevelopmentStrategy, 1998
Québec Act to fosterdevelopment ofmanpower training,1995
UK New Deal for YoungPeople, 1998New Deal 25+, 1998New Deal 50+, 2000CommunityLeadership TrainingPilots, 2000
Fight against poverty and especially child poverty
National Child Benefit in Canada /Employment Tax Credit
Family Cash Benefits
00.20.40.60.8
11.21.41.61.8
2
1980 1985 1990 1995 1998
ye ar
% o
f GD
P
Canada
UK
Source: OECD. Social Expenditure Database.
Making “work pay”
Minimum wage in GB / bonus for social assistance recipients who work
Restrictions in social assistance provisions
Public Social Expenditure
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1980 1985 1990 1995 1998
year
% o
f GD
P
CanadaUK
Source: OECD. Social Expenditure Database.
Social Spending on Areas Unrelated to Aging Population
0
2
4
6
8
10
1980 1985 1990 1995 1998
year
% o
f GD
P
Canada
UK
Source: Derived from OECD. Social Expenditure Database.
Canada Alberta CommunityEmploymentProgram, 1993Ontario Works Act,1997
Québec Bill 186 – GuaranteedIncome Bill
UK Project Work, 1997New Deal forEducation andTraining, 1998
Popularity of Welfare to work programsStrategy of work first / active measures / short-term training
Specific target on lone mothers
Canada Ontario Learning,Earning andParenting Program,1999
Québec Bill 186 – “Paths toEmployment” forSingle Mothers, 1998
New compulsorymeasures coming for2004?
UK New Deal for LoneParent Families, 1997
Work/Family Nexus
Conciliation between the two become a problem for everybody
Solutions and actions are strongly different, depending on the society considered.
Conclusion
In the field of employment policies, the Social Investment States are characterized by:
1) Polarization of discourses that target two different groups of workers (but the reference of the boarder is no more the market but the nature of work)
2) Actions only for the most in needs (social assistance became, in fact, the main tool of employment policies)
3) Universality of thinking (and actions?) around the work-family conciliation problematic
