Changing Scandinavian Welfare States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jørgen Goul Andersen ◽  
Mi Ah Schoyen ◽  
Bjørn Hvinden
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Political Challenge ◽  
Oil Revenues ◽  
Work First ◽  
Welfare Model

The Scandinavian welfare model is characterized by high spending, strong universal public services, high social investment, and relatively high equality in gender roles. The three main Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) have successfully reformed their welfare systems to contain costs and manage population ageing. They have reformed unemployment and disability benefits to increase labour force participation and have cut spending on activation, although it remains relatively high. They have maintained strong employment levels. There are real differences in development pathways: Denmark has experienced the most stringent financial pressures, has cut spending, and moved towards work-first benefits most strongly; oil revenues have sustained the tax base in Norway and permitted the country to make relatively few changes; Sweden has cut the rates of unemployment benefits sharply and moved furthest in expanding the private-market delivery of services. Immigration is a major political challenge in Denmark and is emerging as such in Norway, but not in Sweden.

scholarly journals Social policy in Slovenia and Montenegro: Comparing development and challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 689-712
Author(s):  
Maša Filipovič Hrast ◽  
Uglješa Janković ◽  
Tatjana Rakar
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Welfare Model

AbstractSlovenia and Montenegro have a common past; however, they have also experienced diverse developments in the field of social policy over the last three decades. The social policy of the two countries is based on a Yugoslav welfare model, and yet the positions of the two countries were quite rather different even as part of Federal Yugoslavia, with Slovenia being one of the most developed territories within the federation, while Montenegro was one of the least developed. In this article, we will describe the position and main challenges of the transition of the two countries from 1990 in relation to the developments and changes in the core fields of social policy, such as the labour market and social assistance, family policy and old age policy. The emphasis will be on linking the diverse starting points, the process of transition and the direction of developments, within the framework of path dependent changes in the two welfare systems, as well as a discussion of the relevant structural pressures, such as the economic and social situation of the two countries and ways of coping with these pressures that were employed. In the conclusion, the changes within the individual fields of social policy will also be discussed in relation to the prevalent discourses of the neoliberal transformation of modern welfare states, along with the development of social investment perspectives within social policy as a whole.

Commodification, vulnerability, risk: gendered social policy developments in the United States, 1980–2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Laperrière ◽  
Ann Shola Orloff ◽  
Jane Pryma
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Us ◽  
The 1960S

AbstractOver the last few decades, the position of women vis-à-vis the welfare state has changed dramatically. Welfare states have adapted to women's increased labour force participation and to the “new social risks” that characterize postindustrial societies. In this paper, we examine gendered policy developments in the US, focusing on conceptions of vulnerability that inform policies meant to mitigate gendered social risks. Focusing on three policy areas: parental leave, domestic violence and disability, we show that policies increasingly target women's integration into the workforce and self-regulation as strategies to mitigate gendered social risk. We also discuss how these policies rely on individual interventions implemented by what we call punitive therapy practitioners, who encourage women's workforce participation and psychological self-regulation. Finally, we argue that enduring gendered conceptions of vulnerability have shaped the specific designs of policies that emerged in the 1960s–1970s, intensified through the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and persist today.

Globalisation, Competitiveness, and the Social Democratic Model

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyne Huber ◽  
John D. Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
The Impact

For a long time, the discussion about the impact of economic globalisation on the full employment/generous welfare state policies pursued by social democratic governments was characterised by doom and gloom. Glib neo-liberal arguments about the impossibility of maintaining social democratic policies, that were presumably hindering competitiveness through excessive wages and taxes in the new international environment were difficult to counter, because social democrats could not resort to an equally elaborate and internally consistent economic doctrine that could substitute for evidence, and the evidence was not yet in to counter these arguments on empirical grounds. Recently, careful and comprehensive comparative studies have provided evidence that, despite undeniable problems posed by economic internationalisation, social democratic welfare states and employment regimes have proven to be highly resilient (Scharpf and Schmidt, 2000; Huber and Stephens, 2001). Indeed, some kinds of traditional social democratic policy, such as an emphasis on labour mobilisation through active labour market policy and social services that make it possible to combine labour force participation with raising children, and an emphasis on human capital formation have facilitated adaptation to the new economic conditions. Moreover, newly available data on skill distribution (OECD/HRDC, 2000) and income distribution (LIS) suggest that the egalitarian thrust characteristic of social democratic policy has made an important contribution to raising literacy skills at the bottom, which in turn facilitates the integration of the entire labour force into productive activities that are competitive in high-quality markets.

The Nordic Countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 802-825
Author(s):  
Mikko Kautto ◽  
Kati Kuitto
Keyword(s):  
Social Performance ◽  
Family Resemblance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
Distinctive Type ◽  
Welfare Model ◽  
Core Features

This chapter discusses the descriptive premises of the notion of a distinctive Nordic welfare model. It asks in what sense the Nordic welfare states constitute a distinctive type, and whether its core features have remained stable in recent decades. The global interest in the Nordic model is best explained by Nordic countries’ long record of good economic and social performance, as well as its anticipated ideological foundations of egalitarianism and universalism. Despite the continuous challenges of past decades, and in part differing welfare policy responses to those, the Nordic countries still bear some ‘family resemblance’, especially when viewed in a broader comparative framework. The empirical assessment provided in this chapter shows that the strong emphasis on public services and social investment still distinguishes the Nordic welfare states from others. The inbuilt emphasis on labour market participation of the Nordic countries lays the foundation and continuity for the tax-based welfare state.

scholarly journals Changing Welfare States and the “Sandwich Generation” : Increasing Burden for the Next Generation?

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Künemund
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
State Spending ◽  
Sandwich Generation ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Second Wave

The burden placed on individuals aged 40 to 59 – especially on women – by competing demands from work and both older and younger family members is often addressed using the metaphor of the “sandwich generation”. Based on a systematization of the definitions used in the literature, empirical evidence on the frequency of such generational constellations and on their impact on the well-being of sandwiched adults will be presented. Analysing the second wave of the German Aging Survey shows that being sandwiched – defined as a generational constellation – is very common, but simultaneous care activities for both older and younger family members are rare, especially in combination with labour force participation, and that life satisfaction is not systematically related to being sandwiched. Implications for further research and future developments will be discussed, especially with respect to changes in family structure (e.g. the beanpole family) and changes in the amount of welfare state spending for the aged.

Employment Pattern and Extent of Under-utilisation of Manpower in Rural Baran; Areas of Pakistan

1993 ◽  
Vol 32 (4II) ◽  
pp. 1225-1233
Author(s):  
Sabur Ghayur
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Hydroelectric Power ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
North West ◽  
North West Frontier Province ◽  
Physical Infrastructure ◽  
Employment Pattern

The barani (rain-fed) region accounts for about a fifth of the cultivated area in Pakistan. It has the potential to significantly increase crop production levels. Similarly, considerable scope exists in this area for the development of forests, fruit and vegetable gardening, pasture and stock rearing. Most of the natural resources are also found in this tract. Its hilly areas possess a vast potential for tourism. Besides, significant opportunities exist for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation. An optimum utilisation of all this potential, obviously, is employmentgenerating and income-augmenting. Despite all such realisations this region as a whole, unfortunately, is identified as the least attended to area in terms of provision of socio-physical infrastructure, other development programmes and, even, research work. This led to a deterioration of the employment situation in the barani region as a whole. A poor information base and analysis thereof on employment and manpower related variables is also the consequence of such a treatment to this area. I This paper, using the data of a field survey, tries to fill, though partly, the vacuum on employment and related variables in the rural barani region. An attempt is made here to record and analyse the labour force participation rates, employment pattern (main economic activities) and unemployment/underemployment levels prevailing in the rural baran; areas of the provinces of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Modelling the cost of ill health in Health&WealthMOD (Version II): lost labour force participation, income and taxation, and the impact of disease prevention

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 32-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Schofield ◽  
Rupendra Shrestha ◽  
Emily Callander ◽  
Richard Pervical ◽  
Simon Kelly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Prevention ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact
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