Rewarding Responsibility? Long-Term Unemployed Men and the Welfare-to-Work Agenda

Kathryn Ray, Lesley Hoggart, Rebecca Taylor, Sandra Vegeris and Verity Campbell-Barr
Additional contact information
Rebecca Taylor: Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, 40 Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2RT, England
Sandra Vegeris: Policy Studies Institute, 50 Hanson Street, London W1W 6UP, England
Verity Campbell-Barr: Faculty of Education, University of Plymouth, Rolle Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, England

Environment and Planning C, 2009, vol. 27, issue 6, 975-990

Abstract: In this paper we explore the responses of a group of long-term unemployed men to chronic labour market insecurity and ‘active’ labour market policies promoting individual responsibility for employability. We draw from an evaluation of a recent pilot scheme: the UK Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration. We identify a range of responses, shaped through experiences which reflect gender, class, and age divisions. Despite significant labour market disadvantage, some of the men responded by proactively engaging with the employability agenda. Drawing on qualitative longitudinal data, we follow the trajectories of the men in work, examining how they fared in insecure, precarious labour markets. We conclude by looking at the strengths and limitations of the current policy agenda, suggesting that more creative ways need to be found to engage some of the most disadvantaged in the reskilling agenda and that employers are currently a ‘weak link’ in the package of support provided.

Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://epc.sagepub.com/content/27/6/975.abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:27:y:2009:i:6:p:975-990

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning C
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().