Journal articles on the topic 'European Unemployment Benefit cheme'

The purpose of the article is to present the analysis of the influence of unemployment benefit on the duration of registered unemployment spells. The authors made a hypothesis that the very fact of receiving the benefit extends the job seeking time and determines the intensity of unemployment exit. The power of this influence varies depending on a subgroup the unemployed person belongs to. The study was conducted on the basis of data from the Poviat Labour Office in Sulecin. The data were collected as a part of the European Union project implementation. The analysis covered two periods of time – before and after Poland’s accession to the European Union and the subsequent changes in legal regulations concerning unemployment benefits. The authors observed separate cohorts of the unemployed registered in 2001 and 2005. The closing dates of the observations were: the end of 2003 and 2007, respectively. Also, the authors examined whether the EU projects implemented after 2004 had an effect on the length of the unemployment spells as well as on the intensity of the unemployment exit. The study confirmed the research hypotheses. The fact of claiming the unemployment benefit prolonged the unemployment spells in both periods of observation. The loss of the right to the benefit increased the probability of de-registration in each sub-group.

In the study, the decisions of the European Court of Justice regarding the unemployment insurance of migrant workers were examined. In decisions; It has been stated that migrating to benefit from unemployment insurance cannot be interpreted against the worker. It has been stated that immigrating from the country of citizenship to another country and residing there will not prevent him from receiving unemployment benefits. A migrant worker must be insured for a certain period of time to benefit from unemployment insurance. Each country regulates this period of employment with its own domestic laws. The length of service in different member states of the European Union, excluding the domestic law rules in the countries of employment, by the Court of Justice, It has been determined that it has been interpreted that it can be combined to benefit from unemployment insurance.

European migration is a hotly debated topic in the United Kingdom. Using the Labour Force Survey data for 2012 this study analyses benefit claims among Central and Eastern European immigrants, immigrants from the old European Union member states and UK natives. Results of logistic regression modelling show that, compared to natives, social benefit claims are higher among immigrants from the eight Eastern European countries that became member states of the European Union in 2004. However, those immigrants have a smaller probability than natives to claim unemployment related benefit or income support indicating that the decision to migrate is not likely related to potential benefit support.

The paper considers two aspects of the targeting of unemployment benefit systems: (a) the probability that benefit is received in the population of those unemployed on standard international criteria of search and availability, and (b) the probability in the population of benefit recipients that search is conducted. The focus is on Hungary but stylised facts for a range of Central European countries and two EU comparators are derived in the first part of the paper. The second part of the paper finds that most of the large decline in coverage of the Hungarian unemployed by insurance benefit (received by only a quarter of the searching stock in 1997) cannot be explained by changes in the composition of unemployment observable in labour force survey data (including unemployment duration). The probability of active search (search other than through a state employment office) is found to be very similar for those receiving insurance and assistance benefit.

This article investigates attitudes towards the conditionality of benefits targeted to a specific needy group, the unemployed, and analyses their relationship with the structure of income inequality. The focus is on the deservingness of welfare recipients. The public seems to use five criteria to define deservingness and, consequently, the conditionality to which public support is subjected: need, attitude (i.e. gratefulness), control (over neediness), reciprocity (of giving and receiving) and identity, that is the similarity or proximity between the providers of public support (the taxpayers) and the people who should receive it. People’s willingness to help depends on how close they consider benefit recipients to be to themselves (i.e. the extent to which they belong to the same in-group). The identity criterion is the main object of our investigation. We argue that the operation of this criterion at the micro-level can be affected by macro-level variables. Specifically, we focus on different measures of the structure of income inequality which are indicators of the social distance between welfare recipients and taxpayers. Based on data from three waves of the European Values Study (1990–2008) collected in 30 countries, the study offers a comparative and longitudinal analysis. The picture emerging from the within-country analysis – which removed much of the between-country heterogeneity − shows that when the social distance grows, it is more difficult for the majority of citizens (upper and middle classes) to identify with the unemployed.

The post-2007 financial crisis has brought renewed interest in a European Unemployment Benefit Scheme (EUBS) as a manifestation of solidarity between citizens of different Member States and an economic stabiliser in the event of future asymmetric shocks. The EU-wide benefit would operate in tandem with existing national unemployment benefits. This creates challenges of compatibility given the diversity of approaches to social security within the Union, based on at least four philosophies of welfare: liberal, conservative, social democratic and southern European. This article examines potential legal, operational and political difficulties associated with marrying a EUBS that is at heart a conservative system of social insurance to the UK’s liberal welfare state. Few legal obstacles exist and although the addition of a new, earnings-related benefit to an already complex mix of social protection would raise significant operational issues, these need not be insurmountable. However, fundamental ideological differences would have rendered the EUBS as proposed politically ill-matched with the UK even absent the June 2016 vote to leave the EU. A contributory income maintenance benefit is a poor fit with a residual, largely means-tested national system whose role is limited to offering protection against severe poverty while maintaining work incentives and minimising costs.

Economic crises have a harmful effect on employment. However, whereas the resulting loss of jobs has been shown to have many negative consequences for the affected individuals, it may also push them into new activities, such as provision of service to their communities. In this paper, we show how individuals engage in socially useful activities after an increase in unemployment. Specifically, we document increased online content generation at Wikipedia, the world’s largest user-generated knowledge repository. Leveraging German district-level and European country-level unemployment data, we analyze the relationship between the economic crisis in 2008–2010 and contributions to Wikipedia. We find increased socially valuable activity in the form of knowledge acquisition and contributions to Wikipedia. For German districts, we observe an increase in the rate of content generation on Wikipedia in more severely affected districts. These effects are even stronger at the European country level. Our findings suggest that public goods provision increases as a positive side effect of economic crises. We stress that similar patterns could apply to other digital content platforms. Under the backdrop that the potential value of the outcome of online volunteering and its societal impact is expected to grow drastically in the next years, we show that platforms could benefit from negative economic conditions in attracting volunteers. Moreover, in the coming years, the rapid development of artificial intelligence will call for a rise of online volunteering platforms. Therefore, the potential value of the outcome of online volunteering and its societal impact is expected to grow drastically in the next years.

This article investigates the responsiveness of women’s labor supply to their husband’s job loss—the so-called added worker effect. The authors contribute to the literature by taking an explicit internationally comparative perspective in analyzing the variation of the added worker effect across welfare regimes. Using longitudinal data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey covering 28 European countries from 2004 to 2013, they find evidence of an added worker effect, which, however, varies over both the business cycle and the different welfare regimes in Europe. The latter result might be explained, in part, by differences in the design of the unemployment benefit system across countries, which create different incentives for the labor supply of wives of unemployed men.

Record-high levels of international migration both toward and across Europe have recently given rise to a new body of research on the social protection of immigrants. A recurring argument in this literature maintains that migrants are generally more likely to gain access to social benefits in generous welfare states. The article offers a critical review of this hypothesis with a focus on unemployment benefit provision. The tides of European welfare politics have produced a set of systems in the past which are today highly stratified on the basis of employment. This mechanism generates a considerable benefit gap in reference to migration, especially for those who arrived to their country of residency only recently. Empirical analyses with micro-level data for 14 Western European countries provide supporting evidence for this argument. The findings indicate a negative relationship between generosity and social protection which has not been accounted for in previous research.

This article explores potential cleavages and conflicts between political support coalitions of social investment versus classical social transfer policies. To that extent, we analyse international survey data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 21 European countries. Our central finding is that different welfare state beneficiary groups perceive and react negatively to increased government involvement in policy fields from which they do not benefit themselves: single parents are more likely to oppose government support for the unemployed when long-term replacement rates in the unemployment benefit scheme are high. Vice versa, the unemployed are less likely to support the public provision of childcare services if the latter is already well-funded. This finding has implications for the study of welfare states in general because it implies that in mature welfare states, political conflicts may be less about the welfare state as such, but about the distribution of welfare state services and benefits between different groups of beneficiaries.

Abstract The system of unemployment insurance (UI) used in the United States has often been cited as a model for Europe. The American model illustrates that it is possible to create and maintain a UI system based on federal-state co-financing that intensifies during economic crises and thus reinforces protection and stabilisation. Central requirements and conditional funding can improve the aggregate protection and stabilisation capacity of the system. However, the architecture of the US system financially incentivises states to organise retrenchment of their own efforts for UI, which in turn leads to a divergence of benefit generosity and coverage levels. During the Great Recession, the federal government mitigated these incentives for retrenchment through minimum requirements attached to federal financial intervention. With regards to the European unemployment re-insurance system debate, the US experience implies both positive and encourageing conclusions and cautionary lessons.

Purpose Revitalising the debate about how to operationalise and measure the extent of welfare states – the so-called dependent variable problem – recent research claims a close theoretical interaction between three different indicators: aggregated data on social expenditure, social rights and social benefit receipt. It is suggested that they all serve as an approximation of welfare state generosity as a dependent variable and help understand variation between as well as change of welfare states. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how these three indicators statistically relate to each other, using data on unemployment cash benefits. Design/methodology/approach To this end, a time series cross-sectional analysis is carried out, covering 16 European countries for the period 2003–2011. Findings Results confirm theoretical reflections on the link between the different indicators, whereby higher levels of social expenditure are positively associated with more generous social rights as well as higher levels of benefit receipt. Additionally, the study points to an ambivalent relation between benefit access and benefit levels within indicators as well as across them. This suggests competing policy choices in European welfare states, whereby more generous benefit access implies lower benefit levels and vice versa. Originality/value The study contributes to the existing dependent variable literature in a twofold way. First, the conceptual link between the three different indicators and the assumptions they are associated with are critically reviewed. Second, by providing a statistical analysis of the relation between the different indicators across 16 countries, the study goes beyond theoretical elaborations about their association as well as existing small-N or medium-N case time trend studies.

As countries in Eastern and Central Europe attempt the transition to market economies, they challenge the theoretical and applied repertoires of political economy. It is the premise in this paper that the transition tests the social policy ‘wisdom’ of the pluralistic, democratic ‘Western’ societies and offers scholars the opportunity for monitoring and learning. The paper is focused on family benefits, a component of social policy, and is concentrated on Hungary, Poland, and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. A contrast is made to European countries of the European Community and the European Free Trade Association. The United States is also covered. The discussion is concentrated on maternity and parental leave, care for infants, toddlers, and preschool children, and family allowances. One important question addressed is whether with current financial constraints the East will be forced to relinquish its family benefit policies as the West expands such policies. Or, to the contrary, will these policies be expanded further in the East, as a substitute for unemployment insurance and to solve other labor-market problems?

This article investigates the main economic and non-economic determinants of population emigration from Lithuania. Our study offers a new approach for modelling the push and pull factors considering the push–pull link. We construct the relative variables and deploy mixed models for the macro data of Lithuania and 24 European destinations over 2010–2019. Our findings reveal that such economic variables as relative economic welfare, unemployment and income inequality are the key push–pull factors. The study results indicate that changes in relative welfare have the highest power to change Lithuanian emigration with the main impact recorded the same year, while changes in relative income inequality and unemployment affect fewer emigrants, and it takes one year for the effect to materialise. The obtained higher importance of relative welfare compared to the average wage suggests that the goods and services provided by the state play a role in the personal cost–benefit calculation of prospective emigrants. This study addresses the research gap on the quantitative push–pull factor evaluation, the timing of their impact, connectivity of the push–pull factors and structural changes, providing a foundation for future research on the root causes of emigration.

This article aims to assess the impact of the social security coordination policy on the welfare of mobile workers, defined here as the EU citizens who had previously worked in another EU country than the one where they currently reside. The following research question is investigated: "To whom does a mobile worker need to be compared: to a worker in their country of residence (domestic) or to an earner in their country of employment (mobile), and why?" The article seeks to identify the counterpart group of comparison of mobile earners, taking the case of Luxembourg and Belgium. This analysis enables us to disentangle the effects of coordination policy on more working groups, and it tries to elucidate the importance of inter-group comparison. The results illustrate that the most equally treated groups are domestic earners and mobile earners, who reside in the same country. The most unequally treated are mobile earners and domestic earners from the country of employment, the uneven contribution premiums and unemployment benefit contravenes with the principle of equal treatment praxis.Spanish El presente artículo busca evaluar el impacto de la política de coordinación de la seguridad social sobre el bienestar de los trabajadores móviles. Mediante el análisis de la cuestión ¿con quién se debe comparar un trabajador móvil?: ¿con un trabajador nacional en su país de residencia o con un trabajador móvil en el país donde trabaja, y por qué?, se trata de identificar la situación hipotética de los trabajadores móviles mediante la comparación de los ingresos de los trabajadores nacionales y móviles en el desempleo. Este análisis nos permitirá separar los efectos de las políticas de coordinación en más grupos de trabajadores, ya que trata de dilucidar el uso de las comparaciones de los diferentes grupos de trabajadores. Los resultados muestran que el nivel de las prestaciones de desempleo entre los trabajadores nacionales y móviles, es relativamente el mismo. Al mismo tiempo, aparecen grandes discrepancias en las ganancias cuando se comparan a los trabajadores móviles con los trabajadores de su país de empleo. En este caso, la desigual contribución a las primas/beneficios y las bajas prestaciones al desempleo de los trabajadores móviles y nacionales, contraviene con la práctica del principio de igualdad de trato. French Cet article a pour objectif d'évaluer l'impact de la politique de coordination de la sécurité sociale sur le bien-être des travailleurs mobiles en posant la question de savoir avec qui il faut les comparer. Faut-il comparer un employé mobile à un employé fixe travaillant dans son pays de résidence ou bien dans son pays d'emploi et pourquoi? Nous cherchons à me re en relief la situation hypothétique des travailleurs mobiles en comparant le revenu des travailleurs nationaux et mobiles au chômage. Cette analyse nous perme ra de mieux saisir les effets de la politique de coordination sur un grand nombre de travailleurs, tout comme elle nous permettra de montrer l'utilité qu'il y a de comparer ces différents groupes de travailleurs. Le résultat montre que le montant de l'allocation chômage est relativement similaire entre celui d'un travailleur fixe et mobile. Par ailleurs, on relève d'importantes différences entre le revenu des travailleurs mobiles et celui des travailleurs nationaux. Dans ce cas, la cotisation inégale aux primes et indemnités de chômage des travailleurs nationaux et mobiles contredit le principe d'égalité de traitement entre les personnes.

ABSTRACTIn several European countries, older unemployed people, after reaching a certain age, are entitled to unemployment benefit payments without having to seek new employment. The coexistence of this exemption clause and of reforms aimed at containing early retirement in the respective countries reflects a conflict of political aims – on the one hand, between an efficient labour-market policy at a time of high unemployment, and on the other hand, the goal of the comprehensive activation and labour-market integration of older workers as a response to demographic change. This paper deals with the reasons for the transfer of older long-term unemployed people on to ‘facilitated benefits’ for labour-market withdrawal in Germany. The empirical analysis shows that low or no propensity to work was rarely the motive for leaving the labour market; in particular, those anticipating a low retirement income actually wanted to be re-employed. The vast majority gave three reasons for the decision to retire: an inability to cope with requirements of available jobs; a lack of job opportunities; and an absence of proper support from the public employment agency. Thus the withdrawal of older long-term unemployed people into pre-retirement cannot be attributed to a utility-maximising decision in favour of leisure and against gainful employment, but is the primary result of the scarce re-employment prospects.

This paper explores the East-West dichotomy of outsourcing in the European Union in the context of its 2004 eastward enlargement. The purpose of the study is to shed light on the connection between outsourcing and the causal logic of regional integration. The conventional view is that the transfer of business operations from Western Europe to low-cost locations to the east represents a process of outsourcing West-European jobs which deprives the EU core of growth opportunities to the exclusive benefit of the new members from Eastern Europe. This analysis posits the systemic functions of EU outsourcing as a mechanism of economic homogenization in the regional market along its three principal dimensions: investment, commodity trade, and labor mobility. At the macro-level, outsourcing complements capital movements and trade, and acts as a substitute for labor mobility. Keeping labor mobility “down” is the main value added of EU outsourcing. Empirically, its relevance to the regional market is established in an input-output framework of relationships with indicators of economic convergence (homogenization effects) and labor mobility (substitution effects) in the EU. Positive correlations with indices of business synchronization and weak negative correlations with measures of labor supply and wages suggest that outsourcing fits well both with strategies fostering market integration and those counterbalancing the politically sensitive labor mobility in the EU. There is no significant evidence to suggest that, at the aggregate level, outsourcing has independent substitution effects with regard to unemployment rates and wages in Western Europe. The geographic expansion of EU integration, therefore, is not a proxy for losses of social welfare in the West. The paper concludes that as the cost efficiency and resource allocation functions of outsourcing facilitate the homogenizing dynamics of regional integration, it is likely to become increasingly subsumed under EU-level regulation and monitoring in a trade-off between the regional interest and domestic sectoral concerns.

The concept of ‘working time’ for a period of stand-by time according to a stand-by system applicable to firefighters was interpreted by the Court in MG (C-214/20). In the Y case (C-636/19), the Court interpreted the concept of ‘insured person’ for the purpose of reimbursement of healthcare costs under Directive 2011/24. In the TS case (C-538/19), the Court dealt with another cross-border healthcare case. This time the question was whether a Member State can require an authorisation for cross-border healthcare to be subject to the submission of a medical report drawn up by a doctor from its national public health insurance system in light of Article 20 of Regulation 883/2004 and Article 56 TFEU. In ASGI and APN (C-462/20), the exclusion of third-country nationals from the eligibility to the Italian family card was under scrutiny. In SC (C-866/19), the Court clarified that the principle of aggregation applies to the calculation of the theoretical amount of benefit but not to the calculation of the actual amount of benefit under Article 52(1)(b) of Regulation 883/2004. In K (C-285/20), the Court held that being on sick leave and receiving sickness benefits can be considered as equivalent to the pursuit of an economic activity for the purpose of applying the rules on unemployment benefits for wholly unemployed frontier workers under Article 65(2) and (5) of Regulation 883/2004.

Many European countries have implemented pension reforms to increase the statutory retirement age with the aim of increasing labor supply. However, not all older workers may be able or want to work to a very high age. Using a nation-wide register data of labor market transitions, we investigated in this natural experiment the effect of an unexpected change in the Dutch pension system on labor market behaviors of older workers. Specifically, we analyzed transitions in labor market positions over a 5-year period in two nation-wide Dutch cohorts of employees aged 60 years until they reached the retirement age (n = 23,703). We compared transitions between the group that was still entitled to receive early retirement benefits to a group that was no longer entitled to receive early retirement benefits. Results showed that the pension reform was effective in prolonging work participation until the statutory retirement age (82% vs. 61% at age 64), but also to a larger proportion of unemployment benefits in the 1950 cohort (2.0%–4.2%) compared to the 1949 cohort (1.4%–3.2%). Thus, while ambitious pension reforms can benefit labor supply, the adverse effects should be considered, especially because other studies have shown a link between unemployment and poor health.

The issue of welfare targeting is back on the political agenda in European welfare states. Benefit recipients are subject to different rules, depending on age, family status and work. For instance, strict conditions and harsh sanctions apply, in particular, to young unemployed people. This article investigates public opinion towards welfare targeting in three policy areas – unemployment benefits, conditionality of benefits and sanctions – and utilizes a factorial vignette experiment presented within a representative German survey. The results suggest strong support for welfare targeting. Respondents are more likely to offer generous benefits and fewer obligations and sanctions to unemployed people who are elderly, have caring responsibilities, are of German ethnicity and have high job-seeking ambitions. The negative effect of foreign ethnicity is moderated by the ideological standpoint of the respondent, highlighting the mechanisms underlying welfare chauvinism. Accordingly, policy support strongly depends on the individual circumstances of the affected target group.

The effects of crossing borders can be advantageous or disadvantageous for the persons concerned; these are all part of the game and cannot be challenged on the basis of EU law. After all, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) does not provide powers for harmonisation, but only for coordination. However, the coordination rules themselves may make a person worse off when he or she makes use of the right to free movement. More precisely, such an effect may occur in combination with differences between national systems to which coordination rules are applied. One example is that the coordination rules provide that a person is subject to unemployment benefits in the country of residence and, as a result, if that person becomes ill, also to sickness benefit in that country. If the duration of sickness benefit in the country of residence is 52 weeks, but the waiting period for disability benefit (supposing, for instance, that this is (mainly) due from the country of employment) is 104 weeks, there is a gap of 52 weeks in protection. The relevance of such gaps is not to solve particular cases as such; after all, these are closely linked to particular national systems. The relevance lies in the more general approach that is now being developed by the Court of Justice to address such gaps. This will be useful in cases other than those discussed here and may be further developed in order to be codified in the Coordination Regulation.

Productivity in Europe remains stagnant over a long period of time for several reasons: structural barriers hampering proper development and the diffusion of innovations; and also due to high structural unemployment. This puts a significant brake on growth and competitiveness. A high-potential alternative for improving productivity lies in increasing labour participation and the attraction/retention of talent as a result of European integration. Therefore, this study examines how economic growth is affected by labour productivity and the local and foreign workers' employment rates, as well as their level of achievement. Using the Durbin Spatial Model (DSM), we analyse OECD data from 13 European countries covering the period 2000-2017. Our results confirm, first of all, that there has been a positive convergence among European countries and that it is of considerable benefit for the growth of countries with different levels of development. In terms of labour productivity, it positively influences economic growth, especially for highly skilled local workers. Moreover, it is confirmed that increased participation has a statistically significant impact on each country's growth rate in the studied sample. In terms of educational levels, an increase in the number of workers with a high and medium level of education entails a growth that is also transferred to neighbouring countries. Also, these types of strategies serve to create conditions that allow for attracting and retaining talent in the long term, which also generates positive effects on growth itself, but also for neighbouring countries in the same area of integration.

The implemention of a monetary union in Europe, to take full benefit of the Single Market’s potential benefits, has not up till now delivered the expected outcomes. On the contrary, the euro area has been afflicted by many difficulties, including weak growth, unemployment, and inequality. Many blame the euro’s malfunctioning design, and especially its inability to promote economic convergence and provide amendment and stabilization mechanisms. The latter view prevailed when shaping the austerity policies imposed on the countries more affected by the financial and sovereign debt crises, intensifying an economic recession with dramatic social consequences. Citizens’ distrust in the European Union’s institutions grew, along with support for nationalistic political forces opposing the European integration project. Some of EMU’s needed reforms will both promote convergence, and help smooth economic activity and maintain citizens’ wellbeing when crises occur. The creation of an autonomous budget for the euro zone was mentioned in a European Commission discussion paper on the future of the EU. This is an eminently political matter, very sensitive to domestic public opinions. In fact, the existence of a budget for the euro zone, in recognition of the fact that this subset of EU countries has specific needs, distinct from those of other non-EMU members, would translate into a situation requiring the design of different budgets within the EU. Such issue is at the heart of the intense debate between holders of different views concerning the future of the EU and of the euro zone, especially in what concerns the question of which of these geometries will in the future be the engine for further economic and political integration in Europe. This paper assesses one of the main deficiencies of the euro’s governance model – lack of automatic stabilization – and discusses proposals to overcome it.

The year 2011 will forever be known as the year of mass protests for regime change and democratization in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Opinions on causes and outcomes have focused on the role of young people, the demands of “the Arab street,” and the possible transition to a liberal, Islamist, or coalition type of governance. Middle East specialists have long been aware of the problems of authoritarian regimes, widening inequalities, high rates of youth unemployment, deteriorating infrastructure and public services, and rising prices attenuated only by subsidies. But something has been missing from recent discussions and analyses. Let us pose it in the form of a number of (socialist-feminist) questions. We have seen that “the Arab street” is not exclusively masculine, but what kind of democratic governance can women's rights groups expect? To what extent will Tunisian women shape the democratic transition and the building of new institutions? In Egypt, will an outcome be—to use a phrase coined by East European feminists in the early 1990s—a “male democracy”? How can a democratic transition benefit working women and the poor?

AbstractWhite privilege can be often overlooked and poorly understood in academic medicine, by those who wield it, and by those who suffer from its deleterious effects. Dr. Peggy McIntosh, a leader in research on equity and diversity in education, described white privilege as a set of unearned benefits that white people have based on being born white in a culture that favors the white race. White people have privilege because it was given to them by other white people, and it was taken by claiming superiority over people of color, starting before the European colonizations of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, and continuing through the present day. Many white people come from impoverished communities, suffer from socioeconomic disadvantage, and struggle with unemployment. They may also suffer from inadequate housing and limited education. Because they are white, they still benefit from privilege and positive stereotypes associated with light skin color. As our nation reckons with the murders of unarmed Black people by police, recognizing that many white people have been allies and agents of change forBlack and other minority people, discussing how the power of white privilege can be shared is needed. The authors discuss the power of white privilege and how that power can be shared to promote change in academic medicine.

This study aims to identify the optimal inflation target for the European Central Bank (ECB). It will argue that the current definition of price stability and thus, the target of 2% yearly increase in HICP is not relevant according to our macroeconomic projection in Eurozone. This study argues that very low inflation rates for the last years may signify a threat of deflation. Specifically, the study argues for asymmetric inflation targeting and recommend the ECB to reformulate its inflation target as “close to 2.5% from below and above”. This has to be done in order to counter possible deflation, lower unemployment, avoid the liquidity trap, and give more room for the ECB to conduct its macroeconomic policy under the threat of recession. It is also briefly illuminated some other benefits of higher inflation, such as the option of negative interest rates, seigniorage and money illusion, and the corresponding of the costs associated with higher inflation of 2.5%, such as shoe leather costs, menu costs, tax distortions and uncertainty due to price variability. It is assumed that the outcome of Cost-Benefit analysis for a 2.5% inflation target is not very different from that for a 2% level, while a greater increase in inflation target would produce unclear results.

Voluntary participation is thought to promote the well-being of engaged individuals, especially in old age, but prior evidence on this link is mixed. In the present studies, we used the cross-sectional data from Round 6 (2012) of the European Social Survey (ESS) to investigate the variation in the associations between voluntary participation and eudaimonic (e.g., sense of direction) and social (e.g., perceived social support) well-being across types of participation (nonpolitical volunteering vs. political participation), age groups, and European countries. Study 1 addressed individual-level associations and age differences therein (preregistered at https://osf.io/2p9sz and https://osf.io/6twqe). Two-level multiple regression with an extensive set of control variables showed that at the within-country level, the associations between voluntary participation and well-being indicators were small on average. Nonpolitical volunteering had significantly more positive effects than did political participation, whereas few significant age differences emerged. Study 2 focused on the country-level variables that might explain the substantial cross-national variation in the main effects of voluntary participation (preregistered at https://osf.io/mq3dx). Only GDP per capita was a significant moderator at the country level: The associations of nonpolitical volunteering with eudaimonic well-being were more positive in the European countries with lower GDP. Other country-level variables (Gini coefficient, social welfare spending, and democracy indices) yielded no consistent moderation effects. Study 3 considered potential country-level explanations for the substantial cross-national variation in whether younger or older adults appeared to benefit more (preregistered at https://osf.io/7ks45). None of the country-level variables considered (effective retirement age in men, life expectancy at 65, average age of members of the national parliament and cabinet, and youth unemployment rate) could account for this variation. We conclude that, given the large cross-national variation in the effects of voluntary participation on well-being and in age differences therein, more attention to national specifics is warranted.

Forms of EU Assistance for Small Farms in PolandSummary The latest CAP reform has pointed out the need to maintain the vitality and development of small farms. The basic principle of the reform is for these farms to perform an important role in the multifunctional development of rural areas throughout the whole EU. Alongside their traditional farming activities these farms have a unique favourable impact on the natural environment by maintaining its biodiversity. They also support the rich European traditions and customs in food production. They are producers of good, healthy food; they provide millions of jobs, thereby reducing unemployment, not only in rural areas. In appreciation of these assets, the new EU financial perspective envisages many forms of support, especially financial support for small farms, within both pillars of the CAP. This article gives a favourable preliminary assessment of these forms of assistance. But there are drawbacks as well. One is the small extent of the assistance, expressed by the relatively low amount of expenditure planned for the financing of the assistance. Another drawback is too strict criteria for access to certain forms of financial supports, which could be used by small farms, provided in the Rural Development Programme for the years 2014-2020. This will cause that a large group of small farms do not benefit from the aid provided there.

AbstractThe welfare state literature has recently identified a shift from the protection against traditional risks to social investment. In this new future-oriented and activation-based social policy, the focus is on the redistribution of opportunities instead of income. Even if vertical redistribution from the rich to poor may be only one rationale of social action, it should not be overlooked when directing social policy from insurance to investment. This article has two objectives: first, it investigates how real this shift is in macro-economic terms, and, secondly, whether the increased focus on new social risks and social investment has possibly changed welfare states’ commitment to redistribute from the rich to poor. I compare the distribution of benefits from ‘old’ spending categories (such as retirement or unemployment) with those from ‘new’ ones (such as having care responsibilities). Analysing six European countries representing different welfare state regimes, I find no evidence that new social spending would mean necessarily renouncing egalitarian ambitions. On the contrary, in all countries the distribution of new spending is more equal or pro-poor than the spending on old social risks. Different households benefit in distinct ways: the elderly benefiting the most from traditional spending (with the exception of elderly care that is categorised here as ‘new’ social spending) and families with children and single parents from new spending.

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate internships in terms of governance structures. Internships are being promoted as a European Union policy lever to address high youth unemployment. However, concerns exist that internships often have few developmental opportunities and poor employment outcomes, something this conceptual paper examines. Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop a conceptual framework for distinguishing between different types of internships based on “dimensions of governance” (contract, agreed duration and partnership). A distinction is made between “open market”, “educational” and “active labour market policy” internships, drawing on examples and evidence from Spain and Portugal. Findings – The authors argue that “governed” internships, linked to educational programmes or genuine active labour market policies, are much more likely to have beneficial outcomes than “open market internships”. This is because they provide the positive governance conditions relating to contract, duration and partnership arrangements under which employers, interns and third parties understand how they can benefit from the internship and what their responsibilities are. Research limitations/implications – The strength of the paper lies in outlining an analytical framework for future research. The evidence presented from Spain and Portugal provides support for the conceptual framework; future comparative internship research should further test the propositions made across a range of countries and contexts. Social implications – By increasing understanding of internship governance, employers, policymakers and educationalists will be in a better position to design successful internships. Originality/value – The paper broadens the focus beyond educational internships alone and proposes a conceptual framework for future research.

Purpose The literature on terrorism suggests a strong link between criminal offending and terrorism – the crime-terror nexus. Building upon a strain theory perspective, the purpose of this paper is to suggest that devalued socio-economic status (i.e. limited education and unemployment) and criminal past define the pool of people from which violent and terror offenders may be recruited. Design/methodology/approach The current study compares three sources of data on educational and employment characteristics of violent and terror offenders: Dutch statistical data (CBS) including the Police Recognition System (HKS) on violent criminals, the findings on jihadist networks and the open access on European terrorists. Findings The majority of Dutch violent offenders, foreign fighters and European terrorists have only completed secondary school (or lower) and were unemployed in the year of offending. Half of recent European terrorists had previously been involved in violent crimes and/or had joined jihadi groups abroad. Research limitations/implications One limitation of the study concerns the exploratory use of secondary and open-access data. While it was impossible to establish causality with the current methodology, these findings highlight the background conditions under which violent and terrorist crime can originate, and suggest one of the mechanisms that shapes the crime-terror nexus. Future research would benefit from more work identifying the causal antecedents to terrorism. Practical implications Whether relative deprivation is a direct cause or merely an amplifying factor in criminal motivation needs to be scrutinized in future research. However, its consideration may have great implications for policy and law enforcement agencies. Social implications An individual’s desire to improve status and personal significance by the virtue of illegal activity may be particularly salient in the context of cultural polarization, which manifests as decreased trust and loyalty toward national laws and institutions. Parallel to preventive and security measures, it may be worthwhile to encourage multicultural associations and community networks in support of mutual (interethnic and interreligious) understanding. Originality/value The paper explores one of the oldest factors that has been suspected of leading to terrorism in lack of economic or educational opportunity. However, the paper also offers a new perspective on how these factors may relate to participation in terrorism. Rather than claiming these factors directly cause terrorism, the authors take a strain theory perspective to argue that these strains induce fewer opportunities to engage in terrorism and provide individuals with the skills/strength to resist de-radicalization or counter-radicalization.

Introduction. International migration is accompanied by strong financial flows, which are formed due to money transfers of migrants. Ukraine is one ofthe largest suppliers of labours to the countries of the European Union and other countries and, in accordance with it, it is one of the largest recipients ofremittances. he purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of remittances of citizens from abroad on the socio-economic environment in Ukraine and to develop recommendations for improving theiruse forthe benefit of society as a whole. Results. It’s found out the reasons of the transfer of private money to Ukraine and the main factors influencing their volumes are determined. The dynamics of remittances of private money transfers to Ukraine from abroad is analyzed. It is ascertained that money transfers from Ukrainian migrants are significant, their volumes make up about 6% of GDP. The influence of remittances on the socio-economic development of Ukraine is researched. It is noticed positive and negative consequences for households and the state from remittances. It has been established that remittances are significant additional income of households and are mainly spent on consumption. Their positive impact on gross national income, balance of payments, welfare of the population, poverty level, unemployment rate is argued. Conclusion. In order to use remittances from abroad in the interests of the entire society as a motive for social and economic development, a focused and effective migration policy of the state is needed. One of the most important tasks of the macroeconomic policy of Ukraine should be the creation of such conditions that migrant remittances should be received by official channels and used not only forconsumerpurposes, but also for investing.

Albania has one of the world’s highest emigration rates, relative to its population, at -3.3 migrants per 1,000 people, and a total migrant population of more than 1.25 million in 2014, according to UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs data. In 2010 Albania was granted with visa-free travel to the Schengen area and this also affected the crossing of the borders and the circular migration across the land border between Greece and Albania was for many years, one of the most significant irregular migratory flows across the EU’s external borders. Although during the last years it is observed an increase number of return migrants, Albanian citizens continued to migrate and it is observed an increase of the number during 2014, and the new trend now is requesting asylum in EU member states increased during 2014. According to EUROSTAT data show that 65,000 Albanians applied for asylum in 2015, 55,000 of them sought asylum in Germany and 99 percent of Albanian asylum requests have been refused from European countries, half of them belong to the age group 18 – 34 years old. Due to the poor economic and living conditions in Albania, the labor market in Albania is still vulnerable and it affects the on-going migrant flows from Albania to the most developed labor markets of other countries. These migrant flows are directly linked with labor market development especially level of unemployment and poverty. Migration in Albania has major development impact and poverty implications in several levels. It has effects for individuals and their families, for origin and destination countries, and the national economy. At the individual level it shows that migrants benefit economically from their movements, their migration leads to better employment opportunities and income; at the household level in the home country migration reduces poverty at the family level and positively contributes to human capital formation, and improving education and healthcare conditions. Migration also has effects at the national level, bringing positive changes to the national economy.

Social innovations are activities aiming at implementation of social objectives, including mainly the improvement of life of individuals and social groups, together with public policy and management objectives. The essay indicates and discusses the most important contemporary problems, solving of which requires social innovations. Social innovations precondition the progress of civilisation. The world needs not only new technologies, but also new solutions of social and institutional nature that would be conducive to achieving social goals. Social innovations are experimental social actions of organisational and institutional nature that aim at improving the quality of life of individuals, communities, nations, companies, circles, or social groups. Their experimental nature stems from the fact of introducing unique and one-time solutions on a large scale, the end results of which are often difficult to be fully predicted. For example, it was difficult to believe that opening new labour markets for foreigners in the countries of the European Union, which can be treated as a social innovation aiming at development of the international labour market, will result in the rapid development of the low-cost airlines, the offer of which will be available to a larger group of recipients. In other words, social innovations differ from economic innovations, as they are not about implementation of new types of production or gaining new markets, but about satisfying new needs, which are not provided by the market. Therefore, the most important distinction consists in that social innovations are concerned with improving the well-being of individuals and communities by additional employment, or increased consumption, as well as participation in solving the problems of individuals and social groups [CSTP, 2011]. In general, social innovations are activities aiming at implementation of social objectives, including mainly the improvement of life of individuals and social groups together with the objectives of public policy and management [Kowalczyk, Sobiecki, 2017]. Their implementation requires global, national, and individual actions. This requires joint operations, both at the scale of the entire globe, as well as in particular interest groups. Why are social innovations a key point for the progress of civilisation? This is the effect of the clear domination of economic aspects and discrimination of social aspects of this progress. Until the 19th century, the economy was a part of a social structure. As described by K. Polanyi, it was submerged in social relations [Polanyi, 2010, p. 56]. In traditional societies, the economic system was in fact derived from the organisation of the society itself. The economy, consisting of small and dispersed craft businesses, was a part of the social, family, and neighbourhood structure. In the 20th century the situation reversed – the economy started to be the force shaping social structures, positions of individual groups, areas of wealth and poverty. The economy and the market mechanism have become independent from the world of politics and society. Today, the corporations control our lives. They decide what we eat, what we watch, what we wear, where we work and what we do [Bakan, 2006, p. 13]. The corporations started this spectacular “march to rule the world” in the late 19th century. After about a hundred years, at the end of the 20th century, the state under the pressure of corporations and globalisation, started a gradual, but systematic withdrawal from the economy, market and many other functions traditionally belonging to it. As a result, at the end of the last century, a corporation has become a dominant institution in the world. A characteristic feature of this condition is that it gives a complete priority to the interests of corporations. They make decisions of often adverse consequences for the entire social groups, regions, or local communities. They lead to social tensions, political breakdowns, and most often to repeated market turbulences. Thus, a substantial minority (corporations) obtain inconceivable benefits at the expense of the vast majority, that is broad professional and social groups. The lack of relative balance between the economy and society is a barrier to the progress of civilisation. A growing global concern is the problem of migration. The present crisis, left unresolved, in the long term will return multiplied. Today, there are about 500 million people living in Europe, 1.5 billion in Africa and the Middle East, but in 2100, the population of Europe will be about 400 million and of the Middle East and Africa approximately 4.5 billion. Solving this problem, mainly through social and political innovations, can take place only by a joint operation of highly developed and developing countries. Is it an easy task? It’s very difficult. Unfortunately, today, the world is going in the opposite direction. Instead of pursuing the community, empathic thinking, it aims towards nationalism and chauvinism. An example might be a part of the inaugural address of President Donald Trump, who said that the right of all nations is to put their own interests first. Of course, the United States of America will think about their own interests. As we go in the opposite direction, those who deal with global issues say – nothing will change, unless there is some great crisis, a major disaster that would cause that the great of this world will come to senses. J.E. Stiglitz [2004], contrary to the current thinking and practice, believes that a different and better world is possible. Globalisation contains the potential of countless benefits from which people both in developing and highly developed countries can benefit. But the practice so far proves that still it is not grown up enough to use its potential in a fair manner. What is needed are new solutions, most of all social and political innovations (political, because they involve a violation of the previous arrangement of interests). Failure to search for breakthrough innovations of social and political nature that would meet the modern challenges, can lead the world to a disaster. Social innovation, and not economic, because the contemporary civilisation problems have their roots in this dimension. A global problem, solution of which requires innovations of social and political nature, is the disruption of the balance between work and capital. In 2010, 400 richest people had assets such as the half of the poorer population of the world. In 2016, such part was in the possession of only 8 people. This shows the dramatic collapse of the balance between work and capital. The world cannot develop creating the technological progress while increasing unjustified inequalities, which inevitably lead to an outbreak of civil disturbances. This outbreak can have various organisation forms. In the days of the Internet and social media, it is easier to communicate with people. Therefore, paradoxically, some modern technologies create the conditions facilitating social protests. There is one more important and dangerous effect of implementing technological innovations without simultaneous creation and implementation of social innovations limiting the sky-rocketing increase of economic (followed by social) diversification. Sooner or later, technological progress will become so widespread that, due to the relatively low prices, it will make it possible for the weapons of mass destruction, especially biological and chemical weapons, to reach small terrorist groups. Then, a total, individualized war of global reach can develop. The individualisation of war will follow, as described by the famous German sociologist Ulrich Beck. To avoid this, it is worth looking at the achievements of the Polish scientist Michał Kalecki, who 75 years ago argued that capitalism alone is not able to develop. It is because it aggressively seeks profit growth, but cannot turn profit into some profitable investments. Therefore, when uncertainty grows, capitalism cannot develop itself, and it must be accompanied by external factors, named by Kalecki – external development factors. These factors include state expenses, finances and, in accordance with the nomenclature of Kalecki – epochal innovations. And what are the current possibilities of activation of the external factors? In short – modest. The countries are indebted, and the basis for the development in the last 20 years were loans, which contributed to the growth of debt of economic entities. What, then, should we do? It is necessary to look for cheaper solutions, but such that are effective, that is breakthrough innovations. These undoubtedly include social and political innovations. Contemporary social innovation is not about investing big money and expensive resources in production, e.g. of a very expensive vaccine, which would be available for a small group of recipients. Today’s social innovation should stimulate the use of lower amounts of resources to produce more products available to larger groups of recipients. The progress of civilisation happens only as a result of a sustainable development in economic, social, and now also ecological terms. Economic (business) innovations, which help accelerate the growth rate of production and services, contribute to economic development. Profits of corporations increase and, at the same time, the economic objectives of the corporations are realised. But are the objectives of the society as a whole and its members individually realised equally, in parallel? In the chain of social reproduction there are four repeated phases: production – distribution – exchange – consumption. The key point from the social point of view is the phase of distribution. But what are the rules of distribution, how much and who gets from this “cake” produced in the social process of production? In the today’s increasingly global economy, the most important mechanism of distribution is the market mechanism. However, in the long run, this mechanism leads to growing income and welfare disparities of various social groups. Although, the income and welfare diversity in itself is nothing wrong, as it is the result of the diversification of effectiveness of factors of production, including work, the growing disparities to a large extent cannot be justified. Economic situation of the society members increasingly depends not on the contribution of work, but on the size of the capital invested, and the market position of the economic entity, and on the “governing power of capital” on the market. It should also be noted that this diversification is also related to speculative activities. Disparities between the implemented economic and social innovations can lead to the collapse of the progress of civilisation. Nowadays, economic crises are often justified by, indeed, social and political considerations, such as marginalisation of nation states, imbalance of power (or imbalance of fear), religious conflicts, nationalism, chauvinism, etc. It is also considered that the first global financial crisis of the 21st century originated from the wrong social policy pursued by the US Government, which led to the creation of a gigantic public debt, which consequently led to an economic breakdown. This resulted in the financial crisis, but also in deepening of the social imbalances and widening of the circles of poverty and social exclusion. It can even be stated that it was a crisis in public confidence. Therefore, the causes of crises are the conflicts between the economic dimension of the development and its social dimension. Contemporary world is filled with various innovations of economic or business nature (including technological, product, marketing, and in part – organisational). The existing solutions can be a source of economic progress, which is a component of the progress of civilisation. However, economic innovations do not complete the entire progress of civilisation moreover, the saturation, and often supersaturation with implementations and economic innovations leads to an excessive use of material factors of production. As a consequence, it results in lowering of the efficiency of their use, unnecessary extra burden to the planet, and passing of the negative effects on the society and future generations (of consumers). On the other hand, it leads to forcing the consumption of durable consumer goods, and gathering them “just in case”, and also to the low degree of their use (e.g. more cars in a household than its members results in the additional load on traffic routes, which results in an increase in the inconvenience of movement of people, thus to the reduction of the quality of life). Introduction of yet another economic innovation will not solve this problem. It can be solved only by social innovations that are in a permanent shortage. A social innovation which fosters solving the issue of excessive accumulation of tangible production goods is a developing phenomenon called sharing economy. It is based on the principle: “the use of a service provided by some welfare does not require being its owner”. This principle allows for an economic use of resources located in households, but which have been “latent” so far. In this way, increasing of the scope of services provided (transport, residential and tourist accommodation) does not require any growth of additional tangible resources of factors of production. So, it contributes to the growth of household incomes, and inhibition of loading the planet with material goods processed by man [see Poniatowska-Jaksch, Sobiecki, 2016]. Another example: we live in times, in which, contrary to the law of T. Malthus, the planet is able to feed all people, that is to guarantee their minimum required nutrients. But still, millions of people die of starvation and malnutrition, but also due to obesity. Can this problem be solved with another economic innovation? Certainly not! Economic innovations will certainly help to partially solve the problem of nutrition, at least by the new methods of storing and preservation of foods, to reduce its waste in the phase of storage and transport. However, a key condition to solve this problem is to create and implement an innovation of a social nature (in many cases also political). We will not be able to speak about the progress of civilisation in a situation, where there are people dying of starvation and malnutrition. A growing global social concern, resulting from implementation of an economic (technological) innovation will be robotisation, and more specifically – the effects arising from its dissemination on a large scale. So far, the issue has been postponed due to globalisation of the labour market, which led to cheapening of the work factor by more than ten times in the countries of Asia or South America. But it ends slowly. Labour becomes more and more expensive, which means that the robots become relatively cheap. The mechanism leading to low prices of the labour factor expires. Wages increase, and this changes the relationship of the prices of capital and labour. Capital becomes relatively cheaper and cheaper, and this leads to reducing of the demand for work, at the same time increasing the demand for capital (in the form of robots). The introduction of robots will be an effect of the phenomenon of substitution of the factors of production. A cheaper factor (in this case capital in the form of robots) will be cheaper than the same activities performed by man. According to W. Szymański [2017], such change is a dysfunction of capitalism. A great challenge, because capitalism is based on the market-driven shaping of income. The market-driven shaping of income means that the income is derived from the sale of the factors of production. Most people have income from employment. Robots change this mechanism. It is estimated that scientific progress allows to create such number of robots that will replace billion people in the world. What will happen to those “superseded”, what will replace the income from human labour? Capitalism will face an institutional challenge, and must replace the market-driven shaping of income with another, new one. The introduction of robots means microeconomic battle with the barrier of demand. To sell more, one needs to cut costs. The costs are lowered by the introduction of robots, but the use of robots reduces the demand for human labour. Lowering the demand for human labour results in the reduction of employment, and lower wages. Lower wages result in the reduction of the demand for goods and services. To increase the demand for goods and services, the companies must lower their costs, so they increase the involvement of robots, etc. A mechanism of the vicious circle appears If such a mass substitution of the factors of production is unfavourable from the point of view of stimulating the development of the economy, then something must be done to improve the adverse price relations for labour. How can the conditions of competition between a robot and a man be made equal, at least partially? Robots should be taxed. Bill Gates, among others, is a supporter of such a solution. However, this is only one of the tools that can be used. The solution of the problem requires a change in the mechanism, so a breakthrough innovation of a social and political nature. We can say that technological and product innovations force the creation of social and political innovations (maybe institutional changes). Product innovations solve some problems (e.g. they contribute to the reduction of production costs), but at the same time, give rise to others. Progress of civilisation for centuries and even millennia was primarily an intellectual progress. It was difficult to discuss economic progress at that time. Then we had to deal with the imbalance between the economic and the social element. The insufficiency of the economic factor (otherwise than it is today) was the reason for the tensions and crises. Estimates of growth indicate that the increase in industrial production from ancient times to the first industrial revolution, that is until about 1700, was 0.1-0.2 per year on average. Only the next centuries brought about systematically increasing pace of economic growth. During 1700- 1820, it was 0.5% on an annual average, and between 1820-1913 – 1.5%, and between 1913-2012 – 3.0% [Piketty, 2015, p. 97]. So, the significant pace of the economic growth is found only at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Additionally, the growth in this period refers predominantly to Europe and North America. The countries on other continents were either stuck in colonialism, structurally similar to the medieval period, or “lived” on the history of their former glory, as, for example, China and Japan, or to a lesser extent some countries of the Middle East and South America. The growth, having then the signs of the modern growth, that is the growth based on technological progress, was attributed mainly to Europe and the United States. The progress of civilisation requires the creation of new social initiatives. Social innovations are indeed an additional capital to keep the social structure in balance. The social capital is seen as a means and purpose and as a primary source of new values for the members of the society. Social innovations also motivate every citizen to actively participate in this process. It is necessary, because traditional ways of solving social problems, even those known for a long time as unemployment, ageing of the society, or exclusion of considerable social and professional groups from the social and economic development, simply fail. “Old” problems are joined by new ones, such as the increase of social inequalities, climate change, or rapidly growing environmental pollution. New phenomena and problems require new solutions, changes to existing procedures, programmes, and often a completely different approach and instruments [Kowalczyk, Sobiecki, 2017].

In 2014, European countries began implementing the Youth Guarantee Programme (YGP), one of the European Commission’s most important initiatives designed to combat the issue of youth unemployment. This led to a decrease in the number of young NEETs over the subsequent 6 years. Based on data concerning the extent and size of the NEETs phenomenon at the European level, the number of NEETs who benefit from various measures, and data regarding programmes for NEETs financed by ESF, this paper presents an overview of the YGP implementation in Romania during the 2014−2020 period. It does so by identifying the main challenges and barriers that prevented the achievement of the proposed results. In that regard, the main barriers in the implementation of YGP in Romania are related to the lack of coordination of measures between institutions; a lack of flexibility in registering young NEETs; low levels of partnership with local authorities, companies, and NGOs; delays in funding measures; and a lack of centralised monitoring data in order to provide a picture of progress and thus necessary improvement measures. Keywords: NEETs; rural; youth; employment; education; Youth Guarantee. ······ În 2014, statele europene au început să implementeze programul Garanția pentru Tineret, una dintre cele mai importante inițiative ale Comisiei Europene în domeniul șomajului în rândul tinerilor, ceea ce a dus la scăderea numărului tinerilor NEETs în următorii șase ani. Pornind de la date privind amploarea fenomenului NEETS la nivel european, numărul tinerilor NEETs care beneficiază de diferite măsuri și programele pentru NEETs finanțate prin Fondul Social European, lucrarea prezintă o privire de ansamblu asupra implementării Garanției pentru Tineret în România în perioada 2014−2020 și identifică principalele bariere și provocări care au împiedicat atingerea rezultatelor propuse. Dintrea cestea, menționăm lipsa de coordonare inter-instituțională, lipsa flexibilității în ceea ce privește înregistrarea tinerilor NEETs, nivelul redus al parteneriatelor între autorități publice, companii, ONG-uri, întârzieri în primirea finanțărilor, lipsa monitorizării centralizate în vederea determinării progresului și a măsurilor de îmbunătățire necesare. Cuvinte-cheie: NEETs; rural; tineri; ocupare; educație; Garanția pentru Tineret.

The large increase in Eastern European migrants entering the Dutch labour market has led to concerns about their potential claim on Dutch unemployment benefits. We use a decomposition analysis to investigate differences in uptake of unemployment benefits between migrants and native Dutch employees by analysing register data for all employees in the Netherlands in 2015. The results show that Eastern European migrants, similar to other migrants, receive unemployment benefit more often than native Dutch employees. This difference can be largely ascribed to job characteristics. The inclusion of unemployment risk in the analysis reveals that non‐working migrants are much less likely to receive unemployment benefits than Dutch natives.

The need for the European Union to get involved in unemployment insurance has frequently been debated in the past decade, starting from exploratory discussions and eventually becoming a political commitment by the European Commission President. This article looks back at the origins of the idea of an EU-level unemployment benefit scheme and explains the political dynamics of the concept’s evolution. Following the 2009 Great Recession and the subsequent eurozone debt crisis, a new movement for a reinforced social dimension has been pushing the EU beyond its previous red lines. The case for counter-cyclical social stabilisation at EU level is now a touchstone for a materially meaningful EU social dimension. The COVID-19 crisis triggered a giant leap to a greater EU budgetary capacity, including financial support for job-saving schemes. This article argues that these new instruments will not suffice without also creating an EU safety net for those whose jobs cannot be saved in a period of economic downturn.

In recent decades, European welfare states have adopted demanding active labour market policies (ALMPs), aimed at increasing labour market participation through imposing stricter work-related obligations and benefit cuts in case of job offer rejection. This article investigates whether support for such demanding ALMPs is driven by risk perceptions of future unemployment and negative stereotypes about unemployed persons. Insights into the role of risk perceptions and stereotypes offer opportunities to gain a better understanding of the impact of structural variables. Drawing on data from the European Social Survey 2016 in 21 European countries, the analysis reveals that higher subjective risk of unemployment decreases support for these ALMPs substantially, whereas negative perceptions of the unemployed increase support. However, these factors play at the individual level only and do not explain country-level differences in support of demanding ALMPs. The notable cross-national variation in support of activation policies is found to be unrelated to economic factors and to the strictness of activation requirements for unemployment benefits.

Abstract The idea of universal basic income (UBI) has been attracting increasing attention globally over recent years. However, research on the individual and institutional determinants of UBI support is scarce. The present study attempts to fills this gap by analysing workers’ attitudes towards UBI schemes in 21 European welfare states and focusing on the roles of precarious work (i.e. part-time work, temporary employment, low-skilled service employment, and solo self-employment) and unemployment benefit generosity (i.e. net replacement rate, payment duration, and qualifying period). We estimate fixed and random effects logistic models by merging country-level institutional data with the European Social Survey Round 8 data collected in 2016. The findings show that temporary employment is associated with positive attitudes towards UBI schemes, whereas other types of precarious work do not have significant influences. In addition, the results reveal that the more generous a country’s unemployment benefits, the less likely are workers in that country to support UBI schemes.

PurposeThis research considers the question of whether unemployment insurance benefit and labour-market activation measures induce the likelihood of re-employment and whether this effect differs for natives and immigrants.Design/methodology/approachStatistical processing was carried out on the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions cross-sectional data for Finland for the period 2004 to 2016. Propensity score matching analysis was undertaken to investigate whether a treatment effect (unemployment insurance benefit) was a predictor of success in increasing re-employment rates, when controlling for participation in labour-market policy measures, subsidized employment and personal background characteristics.FindingsWe find that the probability of re-employment for recipients of unemployment benefits is half that of non-recipients of benefits. Due to the influence of subsidized employment, subsequent employment income decreases for recipients of unemployment benefits and especially for immigrants. Finally, we find that due to the influence of subsidized employment, time spent as a full-time employee decreases for recipients of unemployment benefits and especially for immigrants.Originality/valueAlthough our results indicate that benefit determination has a marked impact on re-employment probabilities, unobserved variables turn to play a significant role in selection of labour-market activation measures. In this respect, we find the treatment assignment to activation policy measures depends on influence of unobserved variables and this effect is more important for the re-employment rates of natives than it is for immigrants.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2019-0668.

SummaryAn important feature of the European unemployment problem is the disincentive to supply labour for low-productivity workers due to generous levels of non-labour income in conjunction with marginal effective tax rates of around 100 % for low levels of income (poverty trap). Targeted employment subsidies are proposed to overcome this problem. Snower (1994, 1997) suggests a targeted employer subsidy scheme called “Benefit Transfer Programme (BTP)”. Jerger/ Spermann (1997) suggest a targeted employee subsidy scheme called “Targeted Negative Income Tax (TNIT)”. Both proposals solve the poverty trap problem for a limited time period without additional fiscal costs. In this paper, the employment effects of BTP and TNIT are compared in an extended model of equilibrium unemployment. It turns out that TNIT may in practice be associated with higher employment effects than BTP due to the role of transaction costs and asymmetric information.

The labour movement has long fought for the social protection of unemployed workers as a major social right in capitalist economies across Europe. Employers, on the other hand, have often been reluctant to accept such intervention in the labour market. Hence, scholars explaining differences in the evolution of unemployment benefit systems need to consider the power distribution of labour relations, the context of the welfare state and the variety of capitalism in which they are embedded. This article makes three contributions. First, it offers a heuristic that systematically identifies the analytical affinities between unemployment protection and its institutional context. Second, it offers a succinct overview with a focus on major crises and subsequent adaptations in labour market regimes, ranging from the oil shocks in the 1970s to the Great Recession and the current COVID-19 pandemic. And third, it discusses whether European economies have adjusted their unemployment protection to recent crises and assesses the effects on labour market regimes.

Abstract Dual or multiple earnership has been considered an important factor to prevent in-work poverty. The aim of this paper is to quantify the impact of second earnership on the risk of in-work poverty and the role of the tax-benefit system in moderating this risk. Our analysis refers to 2014 and employs EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union and the United Kingdom. In order to assess the role of second earners in preventing in-work poverty we simulate a counterfactual scenario where second earners become unemployed. Our results show that the effect of net replacement rates (i.e. the ratio of household income before and after the transition of second earners to unemployment) on the probability of in-work poverty is negative and statistically significant, but in relative terms it appears to be small compared to the effects of individual labour market characteristics, such as low pay and part-time employment.

Abstract A prominent demographic trend throughout the industrialized world is population aging. Concerns about economic growth and labour force shortages have led many European nations to enact policies aimed at prolonging working life. Understanding how paid work among late-middle-aged and senior adults is associated with health is therefore important. Using a sample of persons who were 50–75 years of age in 2015 from waves six (2015) and seven (2017) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (n = 38,884), this study shows how a comprehensive set of six workforce involvement/transitions patterns are associated with health. The results show benefits of paid work, especially among respondents having financial difficulties. There is further heterogeneity by gender. The more fragmented employment histories of 50–75-year-old women are associated with stable paid work being of less benefit for addressing financial difficulties and with their health being especially vulnerable to unemployment while they are undergoing financial troubles.

Abstract Background One priority of the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 was to increase the labor market participation of individuals with disabilities. Switzerland shares this priority: The guiding principle of disability insurance is ‘rehabilitation before pension'. Access to rehabilitation measures to restore, maintain or improve the earning capacity of individuals with disabilities via disability insurance benefit (DB) application is essential. The aim of this study was thus to identify factors associated with DB application in Switzerland. Methods A novel dataset was created linking survey information from the 2010 Social Protection and Labour Market with administrative data on DB application (2009-2018). Multiple logistic regression was used to examine the association between health-related, demographic and socioeconomic factors and DB application in adults aged 18-55 (N = 18,448). Results Higher odds of DB application were found for those suffering from long-term health-related activity limitations (OR 2.88; 95% CI 1.29-6.44); born outside of Switzerland (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.32-2.32); living without a working partner (OR 1.54; 95% CI 1.17-2.02); living without a child aged 0-14 years (OR 1.70; 95% CI 1.29-2.26); aged 18-39 (OR 1.41; 95% CI 1.09-1.83); with an occupation in ‘Manufacturing' (OR 2.75; 95% CI 1.68-4.50), ‘Construction and mining' (OR 2.03; 95% CI 1.13-3.66), ‘Trade and transport' (OR 2.12; 95% CI 1.30-3.45), ‘Business and administration' (OR 1.68; 95% CI 1.03-2.72), and ‘Health, teaching, culture and science' (OR 1.55; 95% CI 1.05-2.29); and renters (OR 1.44; 95% CI 1.07-1.94). No statistically significant association was found between sex or registered unemployment within five years preceding the survey and DB application. Conclusions This study confirmed limited European evidence suggesting that DB application is more than a health-related phenomenon. However, it presented a less consistent picture on the role of marginalisation in DB application. Key messages One of the main contributions of this study stems from the promising and innovative method of linking detailed survey information to highly reliable administrative records. As such, the study not only offered novel results but also demonstrated the potential of the dataset for public health research.