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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of local labour market conditions and pupil educational attainment as primary determinants of the post-compulsory schooling decision. Design/methodology/approach: Through the specification of a nested logit model, the restrictive independence of irrelevant alternatives (IIA) assumption inherent in the multinomial logit (MNL) model is relaxed across multiple unordered outcomes. Findings: The analysis shows that the factors influencing schooling decisions differ for males and females. For females, on average, the key drivers of the schooling decision are expected wage returns based on youth educational attainment, attitudes to school and parental aspirations, rather than local labour market conditions. For males, higher local unemployment rates encourage greater investment in education. Originality/value: The contribution of this paper to the existing literature is threefold. First, a nested logit model is proposed as an alternative to a MNL. The former can formally incorporate the structured and sequential decision-making process that youths may engage with in relation to the post-compulsory schooling decision, as well as relaxing the restrictive IIA assumption inherent in the MNL across multiple unordered outcomes, an issue the authors discuss in more detail in the Methodology section below. Second, the analysis is based on extremely rich socio-economic data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, matched to local labour market data and administrative data from the National Pupil Database and Pupil Level Annual School Census, which provide a broad set of unusually high-quality measures of prior attainment. The authors argue that such high-quality data and an appropriate model specification allows identification of the determinants of the post-compulsory decision in a more detailed manner than many previous analyses. Third, the data have the scale necessary to consider whether the determinants of post-compulsory schooling decisions vary by gender, a particularly important issue given the differential education participation rates of males and females (e.g. in this cohort, females are about 10 percentage points more likely to go on to higher education in the UK than males), and the gendered choices of occupation (see, e.g. Bertrand, 2011). The work will, therefore, provide recent empirical evidence from England on gender differences in the determinants of education choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative estimates on the impact of active labour market policy (ALMP) on youth unemployment in Europe based on a macroeconomic panel data set of youth unemployment, ALMP and education policy variables and further country-specific characteristics on labour market institutions and the broader demographic and macroeconomic environment for all EU-Member States. Design/methodology/approach: The authors follow the design of an aggregate impact analysis, which aims to explain the impact of policy on macroeconomic variables like youth employment and unemployment (see Bellmann and Jackman, 1996). This follows the assumption that programmes, which are effective in terms of improving individual employment opportunities, are going to make a difference on the equilibrium of youth unemployment. Findings: The findings show that both wage subsidies and job creation are reducing aggregate youth unemployment, which is in contrast to some of the surveys of microeconomic studies indicating that job creation schemes are not effective. This finding points towards the importance to assist young people making valuable work experience, which is a benefit from job creation, even if this experience is made outside regular employment and/or the commercial sector. Research limitations/implications: In terms of the variables to model public policy intervention in the youth labour market, only few indicators exist, which are consistently available for all EU-Member States, despite much more interest and research aiming to provide an exhaustive picture of the youth labour market in Europe. The only consistently available measures are spending on ALMP as a percentage of gross domestic product (in the different programmes) and participation stocks and entries by type of intervention. Practical implications: The different effects found for the 15–19 year olds, who seem to benefit from wage subsidies, compared to the effect of job creations benefitting the 20–24 year olds, might relate to the different barriers for both groups to find employment. Job creation programmes seem to offer this group an alternative mechanism to gain valuable work experience outside the commercial sector, which could help form a narrative of positive labour market experience. In this way, job creation should be looked more positively at when further developing ALMP provision, especially for young people relatively more distant to engagement in regular employment. Social implications: Improving the situation of many millions of young Europeans failing to find gainful employment, and more generally suffering from deprivation and social exclusion, has been identified as a clear priority for policy both at the national level of EU-Member States and for EU-wide initiatives. With this study, the authors attempt to contribute to the debate about the effectiveness of policies which combat youth unemployment by estimating the quantitative relationship of ALMP and other institutional features and youth unemployment. Originality/value: To research the relationship between youth unemployment and ALMP, the authors created a macroeconomic database with repeated observations for all EU-Member States for a time series (1998–2012). The authors include variables on country demographics and the state of the economy as well as variables describing the labour market regimes from Eurostat, i.e. the flexibility of the labour market (part-time work and fixed-term employment as a percentage of total employment) and the wage setting system (level and coordination of bargaining and government intervention in wage bargaining). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether family support, measured through the labor status of parents and the presence of both parents in the household during adolescence, may be an important determinant of unemployment in Spain. Design/methodology/approach: To address this issue, we follow the Quantity-Quality model of Becker–Lewis (Becker and Lewis, 1973), using data from the Survey of Living Conditions (2011). Findings: First, the results show that individuals living with both parents at home during their teenage years are less likely to be unemployed in the future. Second, the authors find evidence of the intergenerational transmission of unemployment outcomes, and that the unemployment status of the mother is strongly transferred to the child. Additionally, the authors extend this work to an analysis of other labor characteristics, finding that family support is an important determinant of self-employment and temporary employment. The findings are robust to controls for observable and unobservable characteristics by region, and to the use of different subsamples. Originality/value: This study can be considered as first evidence of the effect of family support during adolescence on the Spanish labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the priorities of formation of competencies during training of digital personnel for industry 4.0. Design/methodology/approach: The author performs two experiments for determining the scenario according to which industry 4.0 develops and will develop: the first experiment is aimed at determining the influence of the number of robots at unemployment level in 2019 and 2022 with the help of regression and correlation analysis (regression curves are built). The second experiment is connected to evaluation of the ratio of the number of robots to the number of population in 2019 and 2022. The research objects are countries with the highest number of robots in the world – i.e. with the highest level of development of industry 4.0; the information and empirical basis is materials of the International Federation of Robotics and the International Monetary Fund for 2019 and their forecasts for 2022. Findings: The results of the performed experiments showed that in 2019 and 2022 the level of robotization of socio-economic systems of the countries of the world will be very low, and robotization will not cause growth of unemployment. Based on this, it is concluded that industry 4.0 will be developing according to the scenario of moderate automatization and robotization with preservation of domination of human labor in most business processes and spheres of economy. Communications with people will constitute the basis of the activities of digital personnel, and social competencies (with obvious significance of technical competencies) will be of top priority for them. Originality/value: It is substantiated that technical competencies, with their large importance, will move to the background, while the key task will be society's adaptation to the new technological mode and making social competencies the highest priority. The social and technical competencies of digital personnel in view of the performed tasks for industry 4.0 are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To transcend the long-standing debate regarding whether workers are driven into the informal economy by either their involuntary “exclusion” or voluntary “exit” from the formal economy, the purpose of this paper is to propose and evaluate the existence of a dual informal labour market composed of an exit-driven “upper tier” and an exclusion-driven “lower-tier” of informal workers, and to explore its policy implications.Design/methodology/approach To do so, data are reported from a 2015 survey of the informal economy conducted in South-East Europe involving 6,019 face-to-face interviews in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia.Findings Identifying a dual informal labour market with three exit-driven informal workers for every exclusion-driven informal worker, a multinomial logit regression analysis reveals that, compared to the exclusion-driven “lower tier”, the exit-driven “upper tier” is significantly more likely to be populated by the formally employed, retired and those not struggling financially. Participation is not affected by the perceived severity of penalties and likely risks of detection, but relative to those in the exclusion-driven “lower tier”, there is a significant correlation between those doing so for exit rationales and their lack of both horizontal trust and vertical trust in formal institutions.Practical implications The outcome is a call to transcend the conventional deterrence approach of increasing the penalties and risks of detection. Instead, to tackle those driven by exit rationales, tackling both the lack of horizontal trust that other citizens are operating in a compliant manner and the lack of vertical trust in formal institutions is advocated. To tackle exclusion-driven informal workers, meanwhile, a focus upon the macro-level economic and social conditions which lead to their participation is required.Originality/value This is the first paper to empirically evaluate the existence of a dual informal labour market and to evaluate its policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between labour market integration and family satisfaction in a cross-country comparison perspective and takes important intervening factors into consideration such as the social policy and flexibility strategy as well as the cultural context of 27 European countries.Design/methodology/approach The authors rely on data from the European Quality of Life Survey 2012 and conduct multi-level analyses using both the one-step random intercept Model with cross-level interactions as well as a two-step hierarchical model. The country-specific framework is addressed with indicators for the level of social security, for external flexibility labour market characteristics, and for the predominant family solidarity norm of a country.Findings The paper provides empirical support for the thesis of social disruption according to insecure labour market attachment. This link is weakened in countries where flexible labour market conditions are accompanied by strong efforts on state-provided social security. High family support norms can only partially compensate a lack of social protection covered by the state.Research limitations/implications The paper reveals the increasing social vulnerability of people who are not or not completely integrated into the labour market. These risks cannot be convincingly weakened by social security measures. To know more about these mechanisms, the link between labour market integration and the quality of family life should be studied in more detail in a cross-country comparative perspective to develop ideas and give advice on reducing the potential insecurity of flexible employment.Originality/value The paper complements previous research by providing empirical findings about the link between insecure labour market attachment and the integration into family networks in a cross-country comparison perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the links between labor market conditions and academic performance by disentangling the effects of unemployment. The contribution of this study is, therefore, threefold: first, it provides new evidence on the link between labor market conditions and educational decisions; second, it quantifies separately the two separate effects of unemployment on academic performance at age 15; and third, it analyses heterogeneous effects of the “family” and “local labor market” – proxied through the unemployment rate of the school community – effects.Design/methodology/approach The analysis of the impact of unemployment on academic performance is performed through hierarchical linear regressions.Findings The results show that academic performance at age 15 is affected by labor market conditions, and, at the same time, previous performance determines future educational decisions. Thus, these results highlight the sensitivity of students’ educational decisions and academic performance to shifts in the labor market.Practical implications This suggests that strategies aimed at reducing early school dropout rates should not be restricted solely to the education system. In other words, school failure is not only dependent on schools and, hence, on education policies.Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing new evidence on the relationship between short-term labor market dynamics and academic performance. More specifically, this paper represents a significant step forward in comparison to the previous literature as it has provided responses to three key questions faced by countries with high unemployment and high early school dropout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of employability. It reviews and systematizes the two main current perspectives about employability, the individual and the critical. The individual perspective is dominant and currently determines the term; its basic premise is that an individual is responsible for his/her socio-professional career. By contrast, the critical perspective deconstructs the former concept and analyzes its role in maintaining the status quo.Design/methodology/approach Through a review of literature about employability this paper analyses the different conceptions and the consequences of the assumption of each perspective nowadays.Findings This paper provides an analytical framework of all the key elements involved in the notion of employability based upon the bioecological model (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006). This model offers a vision that encompasses the different explanatory elements of the employability concept.Originality/value The ultimate goal of this paper is to rekindle the debate on employability and to do so, it is necessary to explore the origins of the concept, the contexts it affects, who it benefits and, conversely, who it jeopardizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of perceived employability in the relationship between core self-evaluations (CSEs) and job search behaviour (preparatory and active job search). Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional survey data were obtained among a sample of 254 employed and unemployed graduate students from a university in Southeast Nigeria. Findings – Results of the hierarchical multiple regression show that CSEs was significantly and positively associated with only preparatory job search behaviour but not active job search behaviour. CSEs was positively associated with perceived employability. Perceived employability was positively associated with the preparatory job search but not active job search. Perceived employability also mediated the relationship between CSEs and preparatory job search but failed to mediate the relationship between CSEs and active job search. Research limitations/implications – The study makes important contribution to the literature on job search by augmenting our understanding on the mechanism that govern core self-evaluation and job search behaviour relationship. Practical implications – Human resources practitioners can use the insights of the present study in understanding aspects of jobseekers’ personality and perception that may be relevant in job search behaviour. The study has also implications for career development practice especially in the areas of counselling of job seekers in environments where there is high level of unemployment. Originality/value – There has been rarely any previous attempt at investigating the possibility that the relationship between CSEs and job search behaviour is mediated by perceived employability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Taking a broad review of the management and economics literature, the purpose of this paper is to examine how the recent "Great Recession" has had a disproportionate adverse impact on US labor markets and created social disruptions to professional workers experiencing persistent unemployment or underemployment. Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data analysis shows how the recent recession has had a disproportionate impact on employment. Recognizing underemployment as a potentially persistent state, the authors delineate the extent and consequences of underemployment. Findings – Analyses of unemployment and underemployment resulting from the recent recession suggest it has had a particularly severe detrimental impact on worker benefits, incomes and employment prospects for most US workers. Research limitations/implications – Secondary data analysis is a major limitation but results justify a call for further research into the potential increase in the long-term economic displacement of professional workers. Originality/value – This paper is unique in applying economic and management constructs in an analysis of the origins, consequences and recommendations for decreasing the rising level of underemployment among professional US workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to theoretically and empirically investigate the relative effects of wage subsidies and further vocational training on employment prospects. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts a theoretical approach that discusses the effects of two major active labor market programs; empirical test using a large administrative data set from Germany and statistical matching techniques. Findings – Previously subsidized individuals and trained individuals who found a job immediately afterwards have the same employment rates. Practical implications – Firms value training on a subsidized job as much as formal training programs. Originality/value – The paper presents a model that draws attention to the role of hiring decisions of firms and to the formation of human capital by training programs and by training on subsidized jobs; estimation of relative average treatment effects on the differentially treated, i.e. participants of two active labor market programs; and comparisons not only of all unemployed but also of unemployed persons taking-up or keeping a job after program end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of financial crises on the youth unemployment rate (YUR). The authors consider different types of financial crises (systemic banking crises, non-systemic banking crises, currency crises and debt crises) and different groups of countries, according to their income level. Design/methodology/approach – After a review of the existing (theoretical and empirical) literature on the determinants of the YUR in general and at the occurrence of economic crises, the authors present empirical estimations on the impact of past financial crises on young workers. The relationship between financial crises and YUR is investigated by employing fixed effects panel estimation on a large panel of countries (about 70) around the world for the period 1980-2005. The "persistence" over time of the impact is also investigated. Finally the Arellano-Bond dynamic panel is estimated, confirming the significance of the results. Findings – According to the authors' empirical estimates, two key results are relevant: financial crises have an impact on the YUR that goes beyond the impact resulting from GDP changes; and the effect on the YUR is greater than the effect on overall unemployment. The inclusion of many control variables – including in particular GDP growth – does not change the sign and significance of the key explanatory variable. The results suggest that financial crises affect the YUR for five years after the onset of the crises; however, the most adverse effects are found in the second and third year after the financial crisis. Research limitations/implications – Although fully aware of the peculiarities of the last crisis, the authors believe that the econometric results facilitate a better understanding of the impact of the 2007-2008 financial crisis on the youth labour market. Practical implications – The main policy implication is that effective active labour market policies and better school-to-work transition institutions are particularly needed to reduce the risk of persistence and structural (long-term) unemployment, since young people have been worst affected by the last crisis. Originality/value – There are many studies on the characteristics and causes of youth unemployment; considerable research has also been carried out into the labour market impact of financial crises. This paper brings the two strands of literature together, by econometrically investigating the impact of financial crises on YUR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to assess the evolution of labour-market performance in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) over the last decade, considering the robustness of the claims made in an important OECD follow-up study. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper sets up an empirical framework calibrated on an important OECD follow-up study, and suggests some ways in which the impact of unobserved heterogeneity and outliers on policy estimates can be treated in a cross-section framework. The framework applies to the data for 30 OECD countries. Findings -- The paper finds that changes in labour-market performance are inversely linked to lagged unemployment. Changes in the share of construction workers are also significant even in the presence of various kinds of policy change indicators. As far as the latter are concerned, the results highlight the role of unemployment benefits and, especially, active labour-market policies. Research limitations/implications -- The kind of policy change indicators used do not allow the adoption of panel data techniques. Practical implications -- An important policy role seems to emerge for unemployment benefit reforms and, even more so, active labour-market policies. The evidence also supports the contention that the construction sector is important for labour-market performance. Originality/value -- The paper brings to the fore novel evidence about cross-country labour-market performance at a time when this issue is of high interest for citizens and policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The paper aims to present an analysis of the indirect and direct effects of active labour market policy measures at the regional level for Western Germany. Design/methodology/approach -- Most evaluation studies of active labour market policy focus on the microeconometric treatment effect using individual data and do not account for possible indirect effects like deadweight and substitution effects. The present study uses a dynamic specification of the augmented matching function at the regional level. A dynamic panel data model is estimated using monthly and regional variation of different labour market programmes as explanatory variables. Furthermore, spatial interactions are taken into account by adding a spatially correlated error term. Findings -- Almost no significant negative effects are found of the stock of participants in programmes of labour market policy on the number of outflows from unemployment into regular jobs. Thus, contrary to findings at the individual level, no lock-in effect is found. The number of programme participants does not reduce the number of outflows from unemployment. On the other hand when looking not at the stocks but on the outflows from programmes, no positive effects on outflows from unemployment at the regional level are found. Research limitations/implications -- Because of data limitations only a period up to six months after completing a programme is used. Originality/value -- The authors distinguish between the effects of the stock of programme participants and of the outflows from programmes. Furthermore, the authors account for spatially correlated error terms by using a GM estimator proposed by Muff in 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine how recent changes in labour market policy in Poland, such as the activation shift, formal incentives for policies integration and inclusion of private and civil society actors in the policy-making process, are actually put into practice on the local level. By applying Amartya Sen's capability approach, decisive factors in the process of implementation, the role of normative assumptions in the assessment of unemployed people and the impact of performance indicators on local civil officers' actions are analyzed. Design/methodology/approach - The text is based on the results of research conducted with a variety of methods: in-depth and semi-structured interviews, analysis of official reports, surveys among enterprises and among the employed, unemployed and inactive. Findings - The paper shows the limitations of the activation model in Poland. The normative assumptions underlying ALMP lead to reproduction of social inequalities and stigmatisation of unemployed people, whereas the disciplinary approach discourages employers from cooperating with employment services. The increase of resources for the active labour market policy is not translated into an improvement in the quality of services. Originality/value - Previous researches on labour market policies in Poland are mainly based on quantitative data and analysis of legal regulations. Not enough attention is paid to the actual uses of law and the role of normative assumptions in the process of implementation. The paper attempts to reintroduce the perspective of policy practitioners and beneficiaries that is completely absent from research on labour market policy in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to engage with the theme of activation policies and organisational innovation in the capability perspective, from the viewpoint of active labour market policies in the UK. Design/methodology/approach - The focus of the article is the City Strategy initiative in Great Britain, which encourages institutions to work together to develop solutions to concentrations of worklessness. The article presents findings from a case study of the introduction of the City Strategy in one English sub-region: Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. The empirical investigation is based on analysis of documentary evidence including strategy papers and "grey literature" such as minutes of meetings and internal briefings. In addition, the case study draws on in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with 18 local actors involved in the City Strategy. Findings - The empirical investigation provides selected evidence of successful public action undertaken through the City Strategy. It discusses issues concerning the benefits of partnership working and inter-agency cooperation, but also limits that are reached. Originality/value - The paper identifies elements of the capabilities approach - the idea of situated public action, the importance of local actors, and key concepts of empowerment and voice - as providing a helpful framework for analysis. While the City Strategy represents an interesting example of situated public action to tackle worklessness, it can be argued that what is missing in this instance is what the capabilities approach identifies as key elements of empowerment and voice for local actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of job search and human capital of the unemployed in the Russian Federation for obtaining a job the following year. Design/methodology/approach - Cross-sectional data on human capital and job-search strategies from different years of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey are used in different probit specifications to present and analyse empirical results. Findings - Searching through friends and directly are the most common search methods, implying a large trust in networks. Moreover, people tend to do the right thing when trusting their networks; in 1994, searching via friends and directly were the only methods with a positive impact. People used fewer methods in 1994 and the impact of job searching is also higher in the latter two samples. This indicates a society gradually adapting to unemployment. As regards human capital, it is worth noticing that the results in 2004 are in accordance with several predictions of human capital theory, whereas the impact of medium education and work experience in the samples based on earlier years is weaker. This suggests that more people have had time to upgrade their skills, to obtain relevant work experience and/or to obtain a post transition secondary education in 2003. Originality/value - This paper identifies the importance of both different job-search strategies and human capital when searching for a job in the Russian Federation. The result presented may be of interest to both policy-makers and scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The paper seeks to describe the multitude of pathways to early exit from the labour force and to estimate how individuals allocate into different pathways out of the labour force conditional on early retirement. Design/methodology/approach - A multinomial logit approach is used to analyse the characteristics of individuals who retire through each pathway compared to those remaining in the labour force. Findings - Eight pathways from work to an early retirement programme are identified. Overall, availability and/or generosity of retirement programmes are important for early retirement through the employment and unemployment insurance benefit dominated pathways, while personal characteristics seem to be at least as important for early retirement through other pathways. Research limitations/implications - An interesting approach in future work would be to gain access to health data, making it possible to build a competing risks model where some pathways are used due to health shocks and others are chosen based on economic optimisation comparing compensation rates with disutility from continued work. Originality/value - While the dominant approach in many retirement studies is on destinations, the analytical focus in this paper is instead on how people span the period from leaving the job until entry into an early retirement programme. The period the authors study contains a policy experiment, where a programme for early retirement conditional on age and unemployment is opened and closed down again later in the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aims of this paper are to measure the impacts of subsidy, work experience and training programmes on New Zealand male registered unemployed, and to examine the sensitivity of these estimates to the amount of time that participants are followed after an intervention. Design/methodology/approach - The impact of an intervention on those who participate in an active labour market programme is the key question addressed in this paper. A New Zealand panel data set is used, which includes both intervention and individual characteristics of the unemployed. Both a potential outcomes and single nearest-neighbour difference-in-differences matching approach are used to estimate the impact of participation. Findings - The key findings are that work experience programmes are the most effective in the short-term. Training programmes are the least effective. Programmes are more effective for the long-term unemployed than for short-term unemployed. The results are sensitive to the point of time examined in the post-intervention period, with short-term benefits disappearing completely three years after the intervention. Originality/value - This paper examines the relative effect of active labour market programmes in New Zealand using a consistent evaluation framework. The sensitivity of the results to different time periods, and matching estimator specifications are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper evaluates why activation programmes are still an important and core component of most European countries' social- and labour market policies when it has become increasingly clear that the employment effects are most often either unknown or very small. Design/methodology/approach — To answer this issue, an in!depth investigation of the evolution of activation programmes in the specific national context of Denmark is investigated. Findings — Charting in detail the evolution of labour market activation (or workfare) programmes in Denmark, this paper displays the ongoing intensification of activation policies and ways in which this has reduced the living standards of marginalised groups and explains this to be the result of a power block that has a wider intent of disciplining the whole workforce, not least by encouraging more people to work harder and for longer hours, and rarely with overtime compensation. Research limitations/implications — This paper explains the reasons for the continuing use of labour market insertion programmes when there is a lack of evidence that they are effective in achieving their goal of inserting people into employment Originality/value — This paper uses the notion of a power block to understand the reasons for advanced economies persisting with labour market activation programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the active labour market policies or job search policies in the UK known as the New Deal, a major part of the Labour Government's package of welfare-to-work policies. Topics covered include estimates of their overall impact on employment; their limited effectiveness with disadvantaged job-seekers, including increasing numbers of inactive, but not formally unemployed, people; and debates about these policies in relation to skill needs and areas of job decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]