Six Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis
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Colin Lindsay
Abstract
This chapter provides an insightful appraisal of New Labour’s ‘Work First’ supply-side approach to unemployment policy in new circumstances. It reconnects with earlier work by Adrian Sinfield, from a previous period of mass unemployment, to ‘recognize more fully what unemployment means’ both for those who directly experience it and for society as a whole. It reviews in detail how the concept of ‘employability’ has been interpreted and put into practice by New Labour, revealing in the process the inadequacy of this approach, especially in a period when mass unemployment requires analysis and action on its demand-side aspects. It offers an analytical framework that allows us to recognise and make sense of the full range of factors that affect the ability of individuals to access meaningful employment.
Abstract
This chapter provides an insightful appraisal of New Labour’s ‘Work First’ supply-side approach to unemployment policy in new circumstances. It reconnects with earlier work by Adrian Sinfield, from a previous period of mass unemployment, to ‘recognize more fully what unemployment means’ both for those who directly experience it and for society as a whole. It reviews in detail how the concept of ‘employability’ has been interpreted and put into practice by New Labour, revealing in the process the inadequacy of this approach, especially in a period when mass unemployment requires analysis and action on its demand-side aspects. It offers an analytical framework that allows us to recognise and make sense of the full range of factors that affect the ability of individuals to access meaningful employment.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- List on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
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Current developments
- Education policy and policy making, 1997–2009 13
- Children’s social care under New Labour 31
- Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems? 51
- Towards a social democratic pension system? Assessing the significance of the 2007 and 2008 Pensions Acts1 71
- Minimum income standards and household budgets 97
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Current issues and debates
- Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis 121
- Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis 149
- ‘Flexibility’, xenophobia and exploitation: modern slavery in the UK 173
- Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy 199
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Service user involvement
- Service users and social policy: developing different discussions, challenging dominant discourses 227
- Participation and social justice 253
- Involving disabled children and young people in research and consultations: issues, challenges and opportunities 275
- Responding to unhappy childhoods in the UK: enhancing young people’s ‘well-being’ through participatory action research 291
- Service users as peer research interviewers: why bother? 317
- Index 337
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- List on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Education policy and policy making, 1997–2009 13
- Children’s social care under New Labour 31
- Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems? 51
- Towards a social democratic pension system? Assessing the significance of the 2007 and 2008 Pensions Acts1 71
- Minimum income standards and household budgets 97
-
Current issues and debates
- Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis 121
- Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis 149
- ‘Flexibility’, xenophobia and exploitation: modern slavery in the UK 173
- Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy 199
-
Service user involvement
- Service users and social policy: developing different discussions, challenging dominant discourses 227
- Participation and social justice 253
- Involving disabled children and young people in research and consultations: issues, challenges and opportunities 275
- Responding to unhappy childhoods in the UK: enhancing young people’s ‘well-being’ through participatory action research 291
- Service users as peer research interviewers: why bother? 317
- Index 337
