Title: From Restart to the New Deal in the United Kingdom
Abstract: This paper was presented at a conference on 'Labour market policies and the public employment service: lessons from recent experience and directions for the future' convened in Prague on 3-4 July 2000 by the OECD's Directorate for Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic. The major themes of the conference were the 'activation' of the unemployed and the implementation of active labour market policies. This paper examines the development of the system of active labour market policies in the United Kingdom (UK) from the introduction in mid-1986 of Restart and the stricter benefit regime. The decade following the introduction of Restart witnessed several innovations that increased the work focus of benefits, culminating in the creation of an unemployment-related benefit called the Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) which remains the foundation of the current active labour market system. Employment policies now include New Deals for young people and the long-term unemployed and policies to assist economically inactive people of working age. The author examines the features of the UK labour market, their implications for the operation of labour market policies, and their affect on the Employment Service and the development of policies since the mid-1980s. Evidence is presented that suggests that this active and innovative approach has had a positive influence on unemployment. The paper examines the current welfare to work initiatives, compares the UK approach with those of the United States, Australia and the Netherlands, and considers the issues related to the strategies of profiling/early identification and 'one stop shop' employment services. The author concludes that a well structured welfare state can work efficiently and equitably, both as an economic and a social tool against unemployment.
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 16
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