Supported Employment - The Bigger Picture

Professor Mike Danson, AcSS, FIED, FeRSAUniversity of the West of Scotland

+44 141 848 3936 t07948 276398 m

michael.danson@uws.ac.uk

Thursday 31 March 2011Venue - Macdonald Cardrona Hotel, Peebles

Getting the Measure of Employability: Some Evidence from Male Non-employment across the UK Regions, Michael Anyadike-Danes NIERC, Belfast, September 2002.

Components of Male Non-Employment by Region, ratio to Working Age Population, stacked, 1995-2001 av %

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

SE EN SW EM WM YH GL SC NW WA NE NI

region

ratio

%

SDUNEDRT

 

Now and future

• Higher inactivity• North – South divide• Public cuts everywhere, private growth in south

east• Capacity to support SUSE client groups reduced• LAs , NDPBs, VCS, private ... as employers,

support agencies, specialist skills, • Growth dominates• Changes to benefit system

Unemployed

100K

L.T.U,Drugs,Alcohol,Literacy,MentalHealth,Etc

Work

Job Ready HighLow

Recession

Key

JSA

Other Benefits (eg IncapacityBenefit)

100K

Tight Labour Market

20K(JSA)

Themes of presentationLabour market does not create fair and equal access to jobs, etc. Why?• employability issues; market failures • discriminationRationale for intervention: • varied and so need range of health, employment and development agencies• legislative (reserved powers)Who?• young & old, NEET, SUSE, EQUAL and other disadvantaged groups but long queueWhat?• ALMPs/ Supported EmploymentHow?• Employability Framework and Fora; Supported Employment Framework for

Scotland but sustainable funding, partnerships, priorities

Supported Employment Framework for Scotland

• Raise awareness about the contribution supported employment can make to economic growth, to employment, to social inclusion and to the health and wellbeing of disabled people.

• Ensure that supported employment is seen by local authorities and their partners as a valued and integral part of local mainstream employment services.

• Help agencies work together to make sure that individuals are not caught in a 'training cycle' but make the transition from training to paid employment.

Factors Affecting Employability (1)

PersonalAttributes

G enericSk ills

Em ploym ent Experience

Technical Skills

Occupational Skills

Judgem ent

Motivation/inclination to work

Leadership

Flexibility & adaptability

Confidence

G eneric Skills

VocationalSk ills

PersonalQ ualities

Understanding

Key Skills

Basic Skills

General Skills

LiteracyNum eracy

Language SkillsCom m unicationProblem solving

Team workingAbility to use IT

Application of a num berAbility to im prove

Ethics & valuesSociety

Business

Sequencing operationsPersonal m anagem ent

Ability to scheduleDiagnosis

Reasoning

Managing theLabour Market

C areer M anagem ent& Search ing Sk ills

Self awareness

Transition skills

Presentation

Presentation of CV

Qualifications possessed

References/testim onies

W ork experience/track record

Interview technique

Strateg icApproach

Adaptability to labour m arket

Geographical m obility

Realistic about opportunities

Occupational m obility

Opportunity awareness

Decision m aking skills

Factors Affecting Employability (2)

Factors Affecting Employability (3)

Labour m arket factors

Labour m arket regu lation

Benefit & tax credit leve ls

Job m atch ing processes

W ider in frastructure

(Perce ived)W age Leve ls

StructuralAspects

Recruitm ent & selection procedures

Identification & articulation of needs

Specific nature of skills required

Direct & indirect discrim ination

Training & developm ent strategies

Em ployerbehaviour

Factors Affecting Employability (4)

PersonalCircumstances

Fam ily circum stances

Peer group & wider com m unity

Em ployer's attitudes

Transport & accessibility

Child care

Managem ent of finances & debt

Understanding of benefit system

Socia lbarrie rs

Physica lrestric tions

Hom elessness

Physical & m ental health

Factors Affecting Employability

PersonalAttributes

G enericSk ills

Em ploym ent Experience

Technical Sk ills

Occupational Skills

Judgem ent

Motivation/inclination to work

Leadership

Flexibility & adaptability

Confidence

Generic Skills

V ocationa lS k ills

PersonalQ ualities

Understanding

Key Skills

Basic Skills

General Skills

L iteracyNum eracy

Language S killsCom m unicationProblem solving

Team workingAbility to use IT

Application of a num berAbility to im prove

Ethics & valuesSociety

Business

Sequencing operationsP ersonal m anagem ent

Ab ility to scheduleD iagnosis

ReasoningManaging theLabour Market

C areer M anagem ent& S earching S k ills

Self awareness

Transition sk ills

Presenta tion

Presentation of CV

Qualif ications possessed

References/testim onies

W ork experience/track record

Inte rview technique

S tra tegicA pproach

Adaptability to labour m arket

Geographical m obility

Realis tic about opportunities

Occupational m obility

Opportunity awareness

Decis ion m aking skills

PersonalCircum stances

Fam ily circum stances

Peer group & wider com m unity

Em ployer's attitudes

Transport & accessibility

Child care

Managem ent of finances & debt

Understanding of benefit system

Socialbarrie rs

P hys icalrestric tions

Hom elessness

Physical & m ental health

Labour m arket factors

Labour m arket regu la tion

Benefit & tax c red it leve ls

Job m atch ing processes

W ider in fras truc ture

(P erceived)W age Levels

StructuralAspects

Recruitm ent & selection procedures

Identification & articulation of needs

Specific nature of skills required

Direct & indirect d iscrim ination

Train ing & developm ent s trategies

Em ployerbehaviour

EMPLOYABILITY

The knowledge & skills an individual possesses & their attitudes

The way personal attributes are presentedin the labour market

The environmental& social context withinwhich work is sought

The economic contextwithin which work is sought

Individual Wider context

Supply

Demand

Navigation through the labour market and life?

• Increasingly complex labour market• Cuts mean fewer advisors, support agencies ,

but welfare ‘reform’ put huge pressure on services, staff and agents to process S&D

• New jobs, sheltered or supported jobs, ...• Barriers to retention, entry and sustainable

employment

Barriers to Employment

Supply side• unemployment incapacity benefit • incapacitated for work during their working lives

(priority?)• reduced attachment to the labour market • barriers to re-engagement (Glasgow Challenge, 2003)• “soft” skills e.g. customer handling, oral communication,

team working and problem solving skills as the most difficult to source (Future Skills Scotland, 2002)

Demand side• discrimination and lack of training opportunities

Barriers to Employability

• low personal confidence and self esteem;

• low motivation;• a lack of job related skills;• poor communication skills; and• a lack of qualifications.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WORKLESS HOUSEHOLDS • lone parent or a single adult• lacking qualifications• having a long term illness or disability• having a partner who is unemployed or inactive

• Job poor and job rich households • Men and women increasingly similar • Growth ~ the secondary labour market

CONCENTRATION OF PROBLEMS • Sickness & disability• Lone parents• Low skills or lack of qualifications• Carers• Social housing ~ labour and housing market

interactions• Social exclusion

no qualifications, sickness/ disability or

lone parent 43% 68% 85%

No problems 57% 32% 15%

All Working Some Working Workless

no qualifications, sickness/ disability or lone parent

43% 28% 29%

No problems 75% 18% 7%

All Working Some Working Workless

All households 100% 100% 100%

All households 57% 24% 19%

Active Labour Market Projects

More than half also help with overcoming:

• learning difficulties (although these are not that widespread);

• child and other caring responsibilities, transport and money difficulties.

and

About a third deal with problems with:

• criminal records;• substance misuse;• homelessness/accommodation• mental and physical health and disabilities.

Workforce PlusScottish progress towards employability framework

- Workforce PlusRecognition of significant spend in system in siloes• Recognition that historic spend skewed towards

skills training• Need for relatively greater investment in

engagement, assessment, soft skills and aftercare• Recognition that problem concentrated in key

areas

Structural Funds: Lowland and Upland Scotland

2007-2013Programme Objectives ~ The strategic vision of the

ESF Programme operates through three sets of Objectives, addressing market failures in the following areas:

• 1. Progressing into Employment• 2. Progressing through Employment• 3. Improving access to Lifelong Learning

Target groups: Unemployed/inactive people with mental health problems, long-term illness, disabilities or learning difficulties

EQUAL in Scotland

• Theme A: improving access to open labour market for disadvantaged groups

• Three partnerships in Scotland: EQUAL Access, ReFocus and Equal Employability

Summary across Strategies

• Stress on partnership, joined-up implementation and local ownership, greater share of investment in

• engaging and supporting clients, greater investment in hardest to help, developing soft skills, joining up with local services, sustaining progression/aftercare

How?• Know how and Know-how• Resources? Public expenditure cuts, ESF

reducing, charitable foundations struggling, ...• LAs, public sector, VCS = all affected by massive

cuts, efficiency savings, need to show vfm, ...• Changed roles = enabler (LAs, NHS, ...?), focused

(SE/HIE) , and enforcer (DWP) • VCS = contracting out and assert disposal

opportunities but reduced resources and capacities

Summary: Very difficult times• Greater individual need and government demand for

disadvantaged to be in work• Cuts and slow growth mean fewer posts and less protection for

SUSE client groups• Greater competition for any and all jobs• Know how, what, when and why to intervene• Resources and support means being dismantled• Return to fundamentals: procurement and contract policies,

living wage, LAs, NHS, Government, NDPBs, public sector, private employers, VCS

• Reserved powers and creative strategies