Suchergebnisse

In activating social security policies, the unemployed are no longer expected to undergo interventions or treatment but are expected to contribute actively to their return to the labour market. The main efficiency rationale behind this shift is the idea, based on New Public Management (NPM), that increased levels of involvement improve placement results over time. With this shift, the instruments for the delivery of services have also undergone a conspicuous change. The voucher is one of the most distinct instruments that came with New Public Management. NPM is not regarded by some as flexible enough to incorporate voucher-like arrangements in employment service delivery when introduced from the bottom-up and against the will of policy makers. This article argues that this is a misconception. It explores the relationship between NPM and vouchers, and discusses the successful bottom-up introduction and incorporation of a voucher-like arrangement (Individual Re-Employment Contract) under New Public Management in the Netherlands, in spite of strong opposition from the top.

Under new dimensions of individualisation, decentralisation and particularly marketisation, new forms of public-private partnerships between the actors involved in the employment services for the unemployed have emerged. This is because for-profit providers have now entered the arena of welfare to work. The assumption behind these public-private arrangements is that the marketisation of public service delivery will lead to more flexible, responsive and innovative outcomes. Focusing on the implementation of back-to-work services for the unemployed for the UK, the Netherlands and Australia as forerunners of this development, this article sketches several theoretical backgrounds and conditions for effective and efficient back-to-work services and gives an insight to the struggles countries face in controlling recalcitrant practice, their policy lessons and the outcomes of these struggles so far.

Social benchmarks have become a popular instrument amongst public policymakers. The first part of the article reviews the application of benchmarks as an evaluation tool and their significance in the evaluation of activating social security policies under New Public Management. It offers a typology in terms of aims and types of benchmarks and several examples of applications of different types of benchmarks using examples from Dutch activating social security policies. The second part of the article analyses bench-learning by showing how to get the most out of benchmarks.

English
Work First has emerged as the dominant active labour market policy strategy in Anglo-Saxon countries. In this article, we analyse recent labour market policy developments in Germany and the Netherlands. On the basis of general policy developments and four specific indicators (active labour market budgets, unemployment benefit systems, the definition of suitable work and the use of sanctions), we find supporting evidence for the hypothesis that Work First is gaining popularity in both Germany and the Netherlands. In Germany we find Work First at an early stage in terms of rules, and in the Netherlands we identify numerous experiments that are already under way in practice with respect to Work First variants.

PurposeActivation policies in most Western countries have discovered the private tool of contract and in a short period of time the contract has penetrated the whole domain. Among the forerunner countries contracts in different forms, collective as well as individual, have become the central steering instrument. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on what this change can and does entail for the individual job seeker on benefit. Job seekers are no longer expected to passive undergo treatment but expected to contribute actively to one's own return into the labour market. The main rationale behind this shift is the idea that working with contracts increases the level of involvement and, therefore improves results over time: results in terms of better motivated clients, more focused policymakers, providers and frontline workers delivering client‐orientated services.Design/methodology/approachUsing qualitative research the article maps the different types of contracts using empirical material from eight countries.FindingsThe findings are presented in the form of the practical potentials and pittfalls of contracts for the individual.Originality/valueA major added value is the multidisciplinary approach used by the authors; the phenomenon of contracts is analysed from a social science and a legal point of view.