Labour market research trends
Labour market transitions were the focus of the international conference Transitions & Risk: New Directions in Social Policy, reports Davina Jones, analyst on the Living Standards project at the Ministry of Social Development’s Centre for Social Research and Evaluation.
A small group of researchers and policy analysts from the Ministry of Social Development, the Department of Labour and the Treasury attended the conference, held in February 2005 at the Centre for Public Policy, University of Melbourne.
The conference centred on discussion of the model of Transitional Labour Markets (TLM), developed by keynote speaker, Professor Günther Schmid from the Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung (Social Science Research Centre), Berlin.
The TLM model is a response to the structural changes Professor Schmid has perceived as occurring across the developed Western economies, and the resulting exclusion of more and more people from full participation in economic and social life. In outlining this environment, Professor Schmid recognises that some Western countries have been able to significantly reduce unemployment, but suggests that in doing so they have paid a price with either increased income differentials or increased levels of “precarious” employment.
The model does not seek to work back towards an environment characterised by full employment. Rather, it suggests that the “bridges” associated with moving between different levels of engagement with the labour market need to be strengthened to provide for both flexibility of the labour market and security for those within the market (flexicurity).
The promotion of such bridges has been suggested as a way to help reduce the levels of “risk” faced by different individuals in seeking to engage in the labour market. The various “bridges” that individuals may need to traverse during the life course are summarised below. These, and the demographic groups to whom these may apply, formed the conference sessions’ themes:
- transitions between various working time regimes
- transitions between unemployment and employment
- transitions between education, training and employment
- transitions between private work activities and gainful employment
- transitions from employment and retirement.
Interesting papers for follow-up include:
- Ann Harding (National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, University of Canberra) – Redistribution, the Welfare State and Lifetime Transitions. This paper comprised a macroeconomic analysis of redistribution across the Australian system. The model provided for assessment of total tax payments (including indirect taxes) against total social benefits accrued by individuals. It would be interesting to see a comparable analysis for New Zealand and other countries.
- Peter Saunders (University of New South Wales) – Analysing the factors that contribute to successful Welfare-to-Work transitions. This paper made the key point that mutual obligations work, where they are applied appropriately.
- Per Konshoj Madsen (University of Aalborg, Denmark) – Labour Market Flexibility and Social Protection in European Welfare States – Contrasts and Similarities. This paper examined the Danish version of “flexicurity”, combining a high degree of worker mobility between firms with a well-developed system of income support for the unemployed. In this regard, the Danish model may be seen as a hybrid between a Nordic welfare state and a liberal regime.
- Dan Finn (University of Portsmouth) – Getting Jobs and Moving On: The limits to “work first” and the challenge to education and training. Presenting the only “English” perspective at the conference, Finn argued that New Labour’s social democratic agenda could be achieved through policies which contrasted interestingly with those of the north European states.
- Jeff Borland (University of Melbourne) – Ten Things to Know about Labour Market Programs. This paper gave an informative review of the international literature regarding the evidence as to what works for job search programmes, training and education programmes, and work experience programmes.
