Mapping the New Deal: local disparities in the performance of Welfare‐to‐Work

Abstract

In recent years, following the lead of the US, several OECD countries have introduced 'workfare' policies that link receipt of unemployment and related social benefits to compulsory participation on state-administered work and training schemes. The UK's New Deal (Welfare-to-Work) for Young People is one of the largest and most developed of these workfare programmes. Official evaluations of the UK's New Deal for Young People claim that it has been a national success, but overlook local variations in its results. This paper uses the Government's own performance measures, data on local unemployment flows, numbers of New Deal participants recycled through the scheme as second starts, and interviews with both local policy managers and participants, to demonstrate that these local variations have been substantial. These different indicators suggest that the programme has been noticeably less effective in many inner urban and depressed industrial labour markets. In such areas the 'recycling and churning' of participants through the programme are more significant, and suggest that local labour market structures play a significant role in shaping policy outcomes. The paper argues that recent additions to the New Deal to improve job search and matching fail to address this local variation, and that a longer-term approach is required that seeks to improve not only the employability of individuals, but also the local employment opportunities open to them. One key implication is clear: that local labour market conditions can exert a significant influence on the outcomes of national workfare type policies, not only in terms of geographical variations in the problem to be solved, but also in shaping and constraining the local nature of policy outcomes. key words Britain New Deal youth unemployment local labour markets employability workfare recycling

Sustaining transitions from welfare to work: the perceptions of employers and employment service providers

“…Those successful in finding work through employment service providers have been observed to be distinguished by their good health, stable housing, experience or qualifications and location in an area where suitable jobs were available (Murphy et al 2011: 114). Some research has also suggested that those with precarious attachment to the labour market may misunderstand employer expectations or have skills that do not match industry needs (Hershey & Pavetti 1997;Sunley et al 2001;OECD 2006 Discrimination against disadvantaged people may be overt, and even where it is not, employers may be uneasy about employing disadvantaged people (Fowkes 2011).…”

“…Some have argued that 'work first' approaches to activation have overemphasised the personal deficits of unemployed people and focused on disciplining non-compliance, rather than integrating job search and basic preparation with more supportive measures aimed at skill development and mobility into better quality jobs (Peck & Theodore 2000;Sunley et al 2001;OECD 2006;Watson 2008;Perkins 2010). Some have argued that 'work first' approaches to activation have overemphasised the personal deficits of unemployed people and focused on disciplining non-compliance, rather than integrating job search and basic preparation with more supportive measures aimed at skill development and mobility into better quality jobs (Peck & Theodore 2000;Sunley et al 2001;OECD 2006;Watson 2008;Perkins 2010).…”

“…Discrimination against disadvantaged people may be overt, and even where it is not, employers may be uneasy about employing disadvantaged people (Fowkes 2011). Some research has also suggested that those with precarious attachment to the labour market may misunderstand employer expectations or have skills that do not match industry needs (Hershey & Pavetti 1997;Sunley et al 2001;OECD 2006…”

Spatial Mobility, Workers and Jobs: Perspectives from the Northern Ireland Experience

“…Furthermore, the futility of increasing levels of training (and compulsion) in the absence of local job opportunities has been illustrated by SUNLEY ET AL. (2001).…”

Mapping Class and its Political Possibilities

“…This work highlighted the intersection of employment and gender relations, the ways in which ethnicity and nationality impact upon work, and the importance of age/generation differences in labour market experience (Hanson and Pratt 1998; McDowell 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006; Raghuram and Kofman 2004). Moreover, important studies also illuminate the ways in which labour markets are regulated and new narratives of class are deployed (Haylett 2003; Peck 1996, 2001; Sunley, Martin and Nativel 2001).…”