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'Regulating the Risk of Unemployment' offers a systematic comparative analysis of reforms to unemployment protection systems in European countries since the early 1990s. The volume sheds new light on important changes in a core field of welfare state activity.

This is the first in-depth comparison of the UK and Germany as two large, but highly distinct, European welfare states. This analysis provides a systematic comparison of policy change across each country in three core areas: unemployment support pensions, and family policy

It is widely assumed today that the "welfare state" is contracting or retrenching as an effect of the close scrutiny to which entitlement to social security benefits is being subject in most developed countries. In this book, 15 authorities from nine different countries - the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the US - investigate to what extent this assumption is warranted. Taking into account developments and initiatives at every administrative level from sub-national employment agencies to the OECD and the World Bank, they draw on both data and theories in a broad spectrum of related disciplines, including political science, economics, sociology, and law. Detailed materials allow the reader to formulate well-defined responses to such crucial questions as: Is there indeed waning public support for social security? Is the "Demographic time bomb" of an ageing population as serious as we are often to believe? How seriously do supranational reform proposals tend to underestimate cross-national differences? To what degree is "activation policy" merely rhetorical? To what extent do employment office staff reformulate and redefine policies "on the ground" to accommodate specific case-by-case realities? Specific criteria for entitlement (eg disability) and such central issues as "gendered" assumptions, access to benefit programmes, and the involvement of trade unions are examined in a variety of contexts.

AbstractIn‐work benefits (IWB) have become mainstream social policy programmes in modern welfare states. Aimed at employment promotion as well as poverty reduction, their introduction and expansion have been supported by both centre‐right and centre‐left governments. However, the article argues that policy positions towards IWB are essentially unstable. Political preferences can alter fast, with the same actors advocating IWB growth at one time and containment at another. In part, this is influenced not only by prevailing socio‐economic conditions but also by the institutional shape of IWBs, their interaction with complementary policies, and their inherently ambiguous nature. Characterized by multiple aims, IWBs occasionally offer political opportunities but often create challenges and even confound policymaking. Thus, the understanding of the politics of IWB requires a careful consideration of the particular properties of concrete IWBs and the ways in which they relate to other policy arenas. The article discusses this with reference to relevant debates and reforms in Germany.

AbstractIncome maintenance during sickness absence is an under‐researched field within social policy analysis, and yet it is conducive to exploring the interplay between statutory, corporate and private forms of income protection. Drawing on original qualitative interview data, the article shows that British middle‐class couples largely ignore or dismiss public provision, which is due to a relatively low level of sickness benefits, but also based on misconceptions about social rights and the role of employers as mandatory (and voluntary) sick pay providers. Despite a considerable degree of mistrust, mortgage‐related private sickness insurance mattered to some extent, although this does not necessarily reflect policyholders' strategic choices vis à vis current household needs for income security. Other potential sources of income replacement, such as savings, are relied on much less. In general, the analysis shows a heavy middle‐class reliance on, and strong confidence in, employer‐based sickness pay. This finding may be contrasted with questions about the sustainability of voluntary corporate provision, as well as its capacity to provide income security for the workforce as a whole.