Journal Articles

Work Enforcement in Liberal Democracies

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The paper aims to contribute to the normative debate concerning work enforcement in
liberal democracies. In the late 1980s, OECD countries began to revert to the pre-welfare-
state tradition of attributing unemployment to personal failure. The new welfare-to-work
policies emphasised individual responsibility for securing employment. Stepping up job
search requirements and sanctions for failure to meet them was presented as a public
intervention that helps unemployed individuals return from dependency to autonomy.
Jobseekers have been made to believe that success in obtaining employment depends on
how doggedly they search for work and how adaptable they become to employer needs.
These presumptions are challenged in the paper. Contracts that jobseekers are forced to
sign with providers of employment services curtail their autonomy not only to the extent
that they cannot avoid unproductive activity tests imposed on them, but also from a
lifetime perspective in cases where they are forced into inferior jobs. In job-short
economies, employers are also certain to discriminate against disadvantaged jobseekers
notwithstanding the intensity of their effort or openness to occupational change.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Journal of Social Policy

Call Number

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Publisher

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press., 2016

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

0047-2794

Classification

NONE

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Volume 45 - Issue 3 - July 2016, pp. 417-434

Subject(s)

Democracy
Work
Employment
Liberal

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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