The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states that „everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment‟ (Auer, Efendioğlu & Leschke, 2005: 5). It is within this context that the International Labour Conference adopted the Employment Policy Convention (No. 122), pronouncing:
With a view to stimulating economic growth and development, raising levels of living, meeting manpower requirements and overcoming unemployment and underdevelopment, each Member shall declare and pursue, as a major goal, an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment. (ILO, 1964: 1)
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An active labour market policy is only one of the ways to „promote full, productive and freely chosen employment‟ (ILO, 1964: 1), but these policies are an increasingly important element of overall labour market policy, as witnessed from a growing reliance by the OECD countries on such programmes, particularly in the EU (Auer, 2000; Auer et al., 2005; de Koning, Mosley & Schmid, 2001; Kluve & Card, 2007; Martin, 2000; Nativel, 2004; OECD, 2009; Timonen, 2003). Labour market policies provide income replacement and integration measures to those seeking work, usually the unemployed, but also the underemployed and the employed looking for improved conditions. Policies concerned with affording alternative income during periods of joblessness or job search are termed passive policies, while active policies refer to labour market integration through demand or supply measures.
Commentators have maintained that the broader argument in favour of labour market policies in general, and active labour market policies in particular, is the need for insurance against the employment risks linked to globalisation, such as job losses and a more volatile labour market (e.g., Auer, 2006; Auer et al., 2005; de Koning et al., 2001; World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, 2004). The main thrust of active labour market policies is direct support for labour market (re)integration and they are explicitly contingent upon participation programmes that enhance this objective (Auer et al., 2005; de Koning et al., 2001; Kluve & Card, 2007; Hill & Halpen, 2008; Martin, 2000; Nativel, 2004; O‟Connell & McGinnity, 1997; OECD, 2000).
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The OECD (2000) delineates five main categories of active labour market programmes: 1. Public employment services and administration, encompassing the activities of job
placement, benefits administration and the referral of jobseekers to available places on labour market programmes.
2. Labour market training, involving spending on vocational and remedial training for the unemployed and training for employed adults for labour market reasons.
3. Youth measures, consisting of training and employment programmes targeted at the young unemployed and apprenticeship training, aimed predominantly at school leavers.
4. Subsidised employment, embracing hiring subsidies paid to private-sector employers to encourage them to hire unemployed workers, assistance to unemployed persons, who wish to start their own business and direct employment/job creation for the unemployed in the public/not-for-profit sectors. 5. Measures for the disabled, including vocational rehabilitation, involving training to
make this group more employable and sheltered work programmes that directly employ people with disabilities.
This study is located within the fourth group of active labour market programmes, subsidised employment, as Community Employment is an example of a direct employment scheme (Hill & Halpin, 2008; O‟Connell, 2002; O‟Connell & McGinnity, 1997).
Developing gradually over the twentieth century, the role of active labour market policy has undergone a fundamental transformation (Auer et al., 2005; Deloitte & Touche, 1998; de Koning et al., 2001; Hill & Halpen, 2008; O‟Connell & McGinnity, 1997). Specific measures, such as job creation schemes, were introduced extensively during the Great
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Depression in the 1930s. Training for the unemployed was applied on a wide scale after the Second World War, when there was a shortage of skilled labour. Active labour market policy, as an integral part of socio-economic policy, was first conceived and applied in Sweden, not as a response to widespread unemployment, but as a social democratic tool of macro-economic management to counter inflationary pressures resulting from full employment (Esping-Anderson, 1985). The Swedish model was taken up by the OECD in the 1960s, as a reaction to the combination of strong economic growth and full employment (OECD, 1964). At that time, active labour market policies included a range of measures designed to mobilise labour supply, improve the quality of the labour force through vocational training and augment the matching of vacancies and job seekers through enhanced placement and counselling services.
The sharp increase in unemployment throughout the advanced industrial countries in the aftermath of the first oil price shock in 1973 revealed marked changes in labour market relationships, as mass unemployment and slow growth coincided with rapid inflation (Auer et al., 2005; de Koning et al., 2001; Hill & Halpen, 2008; O‟Connell & McGinnity, 1997). Initial actions to counter unemployment were based on the assumption that the problems were cyclical, and, therefore, temporary, and there was a shift in labour market policies to demand side measures. These included wage subsidies to stimulate the demand for labour, as well as promotion of early retirement to reduce labour supply, and, by the 1980s, temporary direct job creation schemes to absorb surplus labour.
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The persistence of soaring unemployment, however, even during the expansionary periods of the 1980s, led to the realisation that high unemployment and other labour market problems were neither temporary nor simply due to insufficient demand. In the 1990s, this resulted in a further change in labour market policies based on the premise that structural difficulties in the market were primarily on the supply side, generating a renewed emphasis on earlier policies to mobilise the supply of labour (Auer et al., 2005; de Koning et al., 2001; Hill & Halpen, 2008; O‟Connell & McGinnity, 1997). This change was reflected in the policy recommendations of the OECD (1993) to transfer labour market expenditures from passive measures, which provide protection for unemployed workers, to active programmes, which mobilise labour supply, develop the skills and competencies of the labour force and strengthen the job search process.
From the 1990s onwards, European policymakers have viewed active labour market policy as a means of ameliorating unemployment, especially long-term unemployment. Unemployment was, and is, viewed as a major cause of poverty and social exclusion (de Koning, van Nes & van der Veen, 1999; OECD, 2009; Ramprakash, 1994). Consequently, the prevention of long-term and recurrent unemployment is perceived as a major contribution towards combating poverty and social exclusion (de Koning et al., 2001; Spicker, 2008). Active labour market policies are now recognised as important tools in combating social exclusion by reducing unemployment and, in particular, long-term unemployment (de Koning et al., 2001; Spicker, 2008).
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This emphasis is particularly evident in the UK, where involvement in waged labour is considered by the government to be the principal route out of poverty and social exclusion, as well as a means of increasing economic competitiveness (McDowell, 2004, 2005). The New Deal (renamed the Flexible New Deal in October 2009) is a programme of active labour market policies introduced by the Labour government in 1998, which combines labour market policy, fiscal policy and welfare policy to prevent social exclusion. It was initiated to encourage individuals to enter employment and, thereby, enhance national competitiveness, in addition to challenging social exclusion. These objectives are achieved by providing training, subsidised employment and voluntary work to the unemployed, offering tax credits to support the working poor, and instigating a reduction of the value of welfare benefits for those not in waged work (McDowell et al., 2005, 2006). The policies aim to address the underemployment of low-income families, especially female lone parents, in addition to combating the poverty, social exclusion and limited social capital of working class children in certain geographic locations in the UK (Scott et al., 2002). The rationale underpinning the New Deal is that it is the state‟s responsibility to remove potential barriers that prevent engagement in paid employment, such as a lack of childcare facilities that may discourage, for example, female labour force participation (McArthur, 1999; Scott et al., 2002). As part of an integrated set of policies focused on „making work pay‟ (McDowell, 2005: 367), tax credits have been introduced for low income parents with dependent children, as well as financial support for childcare, the establishment of a national childcare strategy, and the introduction of a programme (entitled Sure Start) to assist young children in inner city areas, by bringing together early education, childcare, plus health and family support (McDowell, 2005).
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