Getting Young People back to
work….
ALAN FRANCE
Essay
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2000 words excluding bibliography (10 per cent margin either way)
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At least12 references – 8 of them from 2008 onwards
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Hard copy into Arts One plus submitted through Canvas and Turnitin
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Accept the submission time as the one sent to Canvas – will allow it for 12am on
the 10th of October
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Select one of the twelve options in the reading list plus if someone wants to do
their own title I am happy to agree it… just email me and we will work out an
appropriate title.
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Writing an essay…..key messages
Writing an essay – my expectations
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Answers the question
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Reflects and reviews positions/ approaches to the subject
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Draws upon a wide range of literature/ evidence
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Is presented in a professional format
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Has the title on top (don’t have me guess)
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Has an introduction
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Has a conclusion
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Has a professionally presented bibliography
Is within the word count (10% flexibility)
Social Policy responses to the NEET
‘problem’ (continuation from May 1st)
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What is not acceptable…
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Early intervention and prevention
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http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/329994/morefunding-from-govt-for-vulnerable-children,-families
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Compulsory post 16 education and training
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Targeted intervention for those most ‘at risk (16 – 24 year olds)
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The Youth Package in New Zealand
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The Youth Guarantee Scheme in New Zealand and does it work?
Social Policy responses towards NEETs
(what is not acceptable!)
‘it pays not to work….you are owed something for nothing…[and which] gave us
millions of working-age people sitting at home on benefits even before the recession
hit. It created a culture of entitlement.’ (David Cameron speaking on welfare reform
2012)
‘Cash benefits are essential to avoid extreme poverty in periods of hardship,
especially for youth not living with their parents. Income support can help them
engage in intensive job search and training activities. However, particularly for the
most disadvantaged, transfers must be complemented with specialised programmes
that aim at improving skills necessary for labour market integration and that help
overcome non-financial barriers.’ (Carcillo, S.et al. 2015 p48)
http://www.garanziagiovani.gov.it/Documentazione/Documents/Piano-di-attuazioneYouth-Guarantee-Danimarca.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1161
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/exclusive-govts-youth-guaranteeprogramme-failing-achieve-results
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPIceoxob6A
Should Governments target the NEET problem?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPIceoxob6A
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/education/news/article.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=11848773
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/education/news/article.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=11849164
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/329917/cost-of-study-in-australia-to-triple-fornzers
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/330009/nz's-wealth-divide-continues-togrow-report
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11850959
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11859371
Tackling the dependency culture
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What is the dependency culture?
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Active Labour market policies (ALMP)
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Workfare or Welfare to work?
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Programmes in the UK
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Programmes in Australia
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Programmes in other countries
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Do Welfare to work programmes (or workfare work?)
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The big business of welfare reform….
Benefits street….
Cultures of Worklessness
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There was no evidence of a ‘culture of worklessness’. Families remained committed to the value of work and
would have preferred to be in jobs rather than have ‘the miserable existence’ of a life on benefits.
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Workless parents were unanimous in not wanting their children to end up in the same situation as themselves
and actively tried to help them find jobs.
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Working-age children remained strongly committed to conventional values about work as part of a normal
transition to adulthood. They were keen to avoid the poverty, worklessness and other problems experienced by
their parents.
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The long-term worklessness of parents in these families was a result of the impact of complex problems
(particularly related to ill-health) associated with living in long-term and deep poverty. As one interviewee asked,
‘how can you work when you have a life like mine?’ In an already tight labour market, multiple problems
combined to place people at the back of a long queue for jobs.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/14/worklessness-culture-myth-exposed
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https://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/cultures-worklessness-we-need-focus-work-not-welfare
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http://www.socresonline.org.uk/19/3/1.html
UK Next Steps
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Work for benefit schemes (all have sanctions of cutting benefits for not attending)
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Mandatory work activity
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Mandatory Work Activity is a 'work for benefit' scheme for people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance who are aged 18 or over
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The scheme is intended to provide work or work-related activity for up to 30 hours a week over 4 weeks. To be on the scheme,
they have to be available for and actively looking for work, and you have to enter into a jobseeker's agreement. A workfare
programme
The Work Programme
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For those aged 18-24 and have claimed Jobseeker's Allowance for 9 months
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Those aged 25 or over and have claimed Jobseeker's Allowance for 12 months
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They are seriously disadvantaged in the labour market, for example because a disability has made it hard to find work.
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They have recently claimed Incapacity Benefit, after claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for 3 months
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They are claiming income-related Employment and Support Allowance, are in the work-related activity group, and are expected to
be fit for work within 12 months.
And there is more…..(aimed at 18 plus) all
with sanctions for not taking part
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Sector-Based Work Academies They last for up to 6 weeks and normally consist of:
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pre-employment training
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a work experience placement
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a guaranteed job interview
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in some cases, the chance to make progress towards a qualification
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Various employers, colleges and training providers in different parts of the UK run Sector-Based Work
Academies for Jobcentre Plus. This means the activities they involve vary from area to area and
according to your circumstances.
Skills Conditionality is a requirement for some benefit claimants to improve their skills
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Have an initial assessment of your skills at a college or other training organisation.
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If skills need improving, given training - again by a college or other training organisation. Skills which
might need improving include literacy, maths and information technology.
Work for Dole programme requirements
(with sanctions)
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Work for the Dole requires active involvement in a range of activities
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18 to 29 years need to complete 25 hours per week
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30 to 59 years, 15 hours per week
Types of activities include:
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Gardening or maintenance, computer graphics work, animal or wildlife shelter
activities, retail work, rehabilitation of public parks, office administration and
warehouse duties
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https://newmatilda.com/2016/05/03/work-for-the-dole-eased-but-not-in-blackcommunities/
New ‘voluntary internships’ in Australia for
the unemployed 2017
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The government wants to give A$840.3 million to a new program named Youth
Jobs PaTH (Prepare, Trial, Hire). The aim is to get 120,000 people aged 17 to 24
who are currently on income support into jobs.
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A core part of the scheme is to place as many as 30,000 young people each year
in a voluntary four-to-12-week internship program. This will require completing six
weeks of training and working 15 to 25 hours per week. Interns will earn an extra
$200 each fortnight in addition to their existing income support.
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Businesses providing the internships will receive a $1,000 bonus, as well as a
potential additional Youth Bonus wage subsidy of between $6,500 and $10,000.
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https://theconversation.com/will-the-internships-program-help-youngpeople-get-jobs-58397
New Zealand – tackling dependency
culture
Most working age people successfully provide for their own well-being
through paid work. Individuals who can work should take all reasonable
steps to secure paid work and they should be supported by policy settings
and a service delivery agency to find paid work. Individuals, Government,
whānau and family, employers and the broader community all have a role to
play in improving paid work outcomes. (Welfare Working Group Report
2011p.7
Welfare to work in New Zealand? A messy
business…
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To receive payments from Work and Income they have full-time work obligations while getting
Jobseeker Support. These are:
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be available for and take ‘reasonable’ steps to get a suitable job
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take any offer of suitable full-time, part-time or temporary work, or work that is seasonal or subsidised
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attend and take part in any suitable job interviews they are asked to attend
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take and pass any drug test potential employers or training providers require
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attend and take part in interviews with Work and Income as required
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work with us to plan how you’ll find a suitable job
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take part in any other activities that Work and Income propose i.e. job training courses, seminars, work
experience or work assessments that will improve work readiness or help you get work
Sanctions have been increased and for the first breach of the work obligations contract, the main
benefit of claimants will be reduced by 50%. For a second breach, all benefits will be suspended
and for a third, the claimant’s benefit will be cancelled.
Do welfare-to-work programmes work? Do
they get people into work?
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Drop out rate from some of these programmes have been high….although when people stay with them there is
not strong evidence of them getting people into work
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Also limited evidence that these schemes bring about a reduction on benefit spending by the state (when you
add in the cost of running such programmes it is a negative)
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Lack of evidence to show that participants get ‘quality’ secure work’ – tend to move people into short term low
paid work…and strong evidence that people get ‘churned’ through the system
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Depends on what you mean by does it get people into paid work – in the payment by results model – it can be
something like - in a job for 12 weeks….
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International evidence shows that in those geographical areas with high unemployment and lack of good
permanent jobs – they are likely to be unsuccessful in getting young people into the labour market
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Those most likely to get jobs are the one’s with higher levels of qualifications and in good labour markets – not
just the job ready although this is important there also needs to have a good labour market with available jobs
“... sanctions for employment-related conditions (full-family
sanctions in the case of US welfare systems) strongly reduce
benefit use and raise exits from benefits, but have generally
unfavourable effects on longer-term outcomes (earnings over
time, child welfare, job quality) and spill-over effects (i.e. crime
rates).” (Griggs and Evans, 2010 p.5)
Are sanctions effective? An unknown
question…
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International evidence continually shows that benefit sanctions substantially increase the
number of people coming off benefits but also increases short-term job entry and that
there are negative longer term effects in terms of earnings, job quality and keeping a job
(Watts et a l, 2014)
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Recent New Zealand report on sanctions showed that in New Zealand government does
not keep fata on who is sanctioned and what happens to them when they are sanctioned
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Recent UK report on the effectiveness of sanctions concluded;
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that those under 25 are hit hardest by the sanctions.
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The vulnerable and those with multiple and complex needs, such as lone parents, disabled
people or homeless people, have been disproportionately affected by the recent expansion of
welfare conditionality and sanctions.
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That this policy has a number of unintended consequences that include distancing people from
social support; creating hardship; and displacing rather than solving issues such as long-term
worklessness and substance misuse (Watts et al, 2014)
The Workfare State
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Welfare-to- work tends to ‘churn’ the most vulnerable and poor into ‘poor work’
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It not only acts to socialise and discipline participants but also to shift poverty from ‘out-of-work poverty’ to ‘in-work poverty’ helping
to reduce the welfare budget of national economies.
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It police’s and monitors the poor – embedded with forms of surveillance that dehumanises or ignores human rights i.e. unannounced
home visits, welfare fraud hotlines
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Penalises the poor – use of sanctions and penalties for minor infringements i.e. missing appointments/ being late – re-enforcing the
idea of the poor as freckles, lazy and undeserving…
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It does bring the unemployed closer to the labour market but also creates a ‘reserve army’ of labour that can be drawn in on when
required
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But such regimes also have a strong role in contributing to the ‘moral economy’ of neoliberalism, in that not only does it shift locate
the problem in the individual
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It also introduces and normalises a discourse on welfare reform that rejects ‘entitlement’ as a right to one that emphasises the ‘new
social contract of ‘personal responsibility’
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Such discourses are moralising and powerful in shaping public opinion and perspectives of what is right and wrong in the welfare
system
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In this context it is ‘fit for purpose’ for the new political and economic context driven by neoliberal ideals and principles
Workfare….
‘Workfare is a creature of these political-economic circumstances mobilizing
and socializing workers for jobs at the bottom of the new economy. Under
conditions of wage stagflation, growing underemployment, and job
casualization, workfarism maximizes (and effectively mandates) participation
in contingent, low paid work by churning workers back into the bottom of the
labour market’ (Peck 2001 p80)
New Zealand delivery of Welfare ALMP
System
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More effective delivery – An outcomes-focused delivery agency will need new
skills and capacity to deliver effective services to people at risk of long-term
welfare dependency. Responsiveness can be increased through a greater focus
on community-based solutions (including for Māori, Pacific people, migrants,
refugees and young people). Contracted not-for-profit and private sector providers
also need to be part of the solution and such contracts need to be rigorously
designed and managed. The delivery agency needs to be accountable for
reducing the forward liability and the associated reduction in long-term welfare
dependency. (p2)
Should young people work for their
benefits?