FACES OF JOBLESSNESS

FACES OF JOBLESSNESS

A PEOPLE-CENTRED PERSPECTIVE ON

EMPLOYMENT BARRIERS AND POLICIES

Moving from Welfare to Work

NESC Seminar to Launch NESC Report No. 146

Dublin, 29 June 2018

Herwig Immervoll

Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs

[email protected]

www.oecd.org/social/faces-of-joblessness.htm

Faces of JoblessnessPremise and rationale

• The circumstances of jobless people are often “messy”

• But this is not systematically reflected in how we approach

policy, or the statistics that feed into policy design and delivery

• There is a need for good-quality information that captures the

complexity of the employment difficulties that people face

• People-centred info on employment barriers would help to:

facilitate a cross-sectoral perspective on policy challenges targeting & tailoring policy interventions

integrating services in a way that works for policy “clients”

consider priorities among competing challenges

understand why different policy approaches work (or not)

move from general principles of what works, to conversation on

specifics and implementation

Broaden out policy options that are “on the table”2

Faces of JoblessnessObjectives

Provide a systematic view on complex circumstances

Align statistics & indicators with real-world experience of

joblessness

Map of “disadvantaged”, “vulnerable” groups. Who are they ?

What employment barriers do they face ?

What policy levers to tackle those barriers ?

3

Faces of JoblessnessLinking policy debates with circumstances “on the ground”

4

activation & employment

support policies

?

5

activation & employment

support policies

1 2 3 4

Faces of JoblessnessLinking policy debates with circumstances “on the ground”

Gaps in existing information

Existing high-level labour-market indicators contain little

information on relevant employment barriers…standard breakdowns (age, sex, …)

no clear link with problems to be addressed(“being young is not a barrier”)

largely individual-based, little family context

Existing in-depth profiling systems designed for needs of

specific process / institution (e.g., PES)…

generally not used for higher-level policy dialogue

may not capture circumstances relevant for key policy

areas, eg. care responsibilities, incentives

miss big parts of jobless, eg. only registered unemployed66

Filling the gap: Main steps People-centred, “bottom-up” approach

1

• Select population of interest here: jobless + low-intensity / unstable employment

(household data: EU-SILC)

2

• Measure employment barriers(i) capabilities, (ii) motivation, (iii) opportunities

3

• Identify policy-relevant groups individuals with similar sets of barriers

(statistical clustering method)

4

• Policy inventory & gap analysis are existing programmes accessible for those groups? are they well-aligned with their main barriers ?

Co

un

try

dia

log

ue

• Initially a 2-year project 2016/2017, innovative partnership:

• Unified method and broadly similar process / outputs

• Extensions @OECD: eg Australia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania

• Main findings

employment difficulties very different across countries & groups

indicates different needs for support, even in demographically similar

population segments (“older workers”, “youth”, “mothers”)

traditional ways of presenting LM statistics cannot capture this

large majority face multiple barriers

existing programmes sometimes of right type but poor access, coordination

input into OECD country policy reviews, European Semester

A joint effort

8

Estonia Ireland Italy Portugal SpainLithuania

Bulgaria Croatia RomaniaGreece Hungary Poland

Scope for labour-market integration measuresUntapped sources of employment growth

% o

f w

ork

ing

-ag

e p

op

ula

tio

n

0

10

20

30

40

50

Inactive Persistently unemployed Weak labour market attachment

Sources: Australia, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain: OECD project “Faces of Joblessness”.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania: World Bank project “Portraits of Labor Market Exclusion”.

Links to all studies are in final slide.

18-64, excluding students, military serviceSource: EU SILC 2014

10

Individuals with potential

employment difficulties

Out of work32% of working-age individuals

Weak labour-market attachment

14% of working-age individuals

Unemployed

Retired

Domestic tasks

Other

inactive

Unfit to work

Restricted

hours

Near-zero

earnings

Unstable

jobs

What difficulties?

A typology of employment barriers

Adapted from Immervoll and Scarpetta, 2012

11

Work-relatedcapabilities• Education / skills

• Work experience

• Health problems

• Care responsibilities

Motivation / Incentives• Out-of-work

benefits

• Tax burdens on in-work earnings

• Non-labourincomes

• Earnings of other family members

Opportunities• Cyclical labour-

market weakness

• Limited hiring in relevant labour-market segment(eg, region, education)

Employment barriersIncidence across countries

12

% of individuals with potential labour market difficulties

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

capabilities incentives opportunity

Sources: OECD, “Faces of Joblessness” country studies. Links to studies are in final slide.

13

Most face multiple barriers

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

4 or more barriers 3 barriers 2 barriers single barrier No major barrier

% o

f job

less

& p

artia

lly e

mpl

oyed

Sources: Australia, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain: OECD project “Faces of Joblessness”.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania: World Bank project “Portraits of Labor Market Exclusion”.

Links to all studies are in final slide.

« Messy » circumstances …

14

Lower-income

rural mothersexperience,

care, skills,

incentives

10%

14

Older

inactive menhealth, skills,

experience

low income

incentives

14%

Older inactive

womenexperience,

skills, access to

other incomes

14%

Unemployed

prime-age menopportunities,

recentexperience

skills, low income

10%

Well-educated

jobbing

mothers

care, access to

other incomes

9%

Unemployed

fathersopportunities

low income

incentives

6%

Younger part-

time jobbersaccess to other

incomes

17%

Poor

mothersskills, care,

no experience

opportunity

4%

Older

womenno expernce,

skills, health,

opportunity

3%

Early retirees

incentives

health

no recent

experience

5%

Unemployed

educated

youthno experience

skills

opportunities

8%

Sources: see previous slides

« Messy » circumstances …

15

Lower-income

rural mothersexperience,

care, skills,

incentives

10%

15

Older

inactive menhealth, skills,

experience

low income

incentives

14%

Older inactive

womenexperience,

skills, access to

other incomes

14%

Unemployed

prime-age menopportunities,

recentexperience

skills, low income

10%

Well-educated

jobbing

mothers

care, access to

other incomes

9%

Unemployed

fathersopportunities

low income

incentives

6%

Younger part-

time jobbersaccess to other

incomes

17%

Poor

mothersskills, care,

no experience

opportunity

4%

Older

womenno expernce,

skills, health,

opportunity

3%

Early retirees

incentives

health

no recent

experience

5%

Unemployed

educated

youthno experience

skills

opportunities

8%

Sources: see previous slides

Are groups “on the radar”of employment-support policies ?

Should they be ? Which groups are a priority for support?

16

Lower-income

rural mothers

experience,

care, skills,

incentives

10%

16

Older

inactive men

health, skills,

experience

low income

incentives

14%

Older inactive

women

experience,

skills, access to

other incomes

14%

Unemployed

prime-age menopportunities,

recentexperience

skills, low income

10%

Well-educated

jobbing

mothers

Care, access to

other incomes

9%

Unemployed

fathers

opportunities

low income

incentives

6%

Younger part-

time jobbers

access to other

incomes

17%

Poor

mothers

skills, care,

no

experience

opportunity

4%

Older

women

no

experience,

skills, health,

opportunity

3%

Early

retirees

incentives

health

no recent

experience

5%

Unemployed

educated

youth

no experience

skills

opportunities

8%

16

Sources: see previous slides

On-the-job training,

subsidised

employment

Workplace

adaptation, anti-

discrimination

Income support More accessible &

“active”

Facilitate

part-time

work

Combat

informal

work

On-the-job training,

subsidised

employment

Apply

activation

Incentives for

2nd earners

Tackle support

fragmentation

Childcare

affordable,

accessible

Flexible maternity

& parental leave

« Messy » circumstances …

… and their policy implications

17

Lower-income

rural mothers

experience,

care, skills,

incentives

10%

17

Older

inactive men

health, skills,

experience

low income

incentives

14%

Older inactive

women

experience,

skills, access to

other incomes

14%

Unemployed

prime-age menopportunities,

recentexperience

skills, low income

10%

Well-educated

jobbing

mothers

Care, access to

other incomes

9%

Unemployed

fathers

opportunities

low income

incentives

6%

Younger part-

time jobbers

access to other

incomes

17%

Poor

mothers

skills, care,

no

experience

opportunity

4%

Older

women

no

experience,

skills, health,

opportunity

3%

Early

retirees

incentives

health

no recent

experience

5%

Unemployed

educated

youth

no experience

skills

opportunities

8%

17

Sources: see previous slides

On-the-job training,

subsidised

employment

Workplace

adaptation, anti-

discrimination

Income support More accessible &

“active”

Facilitate

part-time

work

Combat

informal

work

On-the-job training,

subsidised

employment

Apply

activation

Incentives for

2nd earners

Tackle support

fragmentation

Childcare

affordable,

accessible

Flexible maternity

& parental leave

« Messy » circumstances …

… and their policy implications

Client-focussed policy inventory

Are policies aligned with their needs ? A need for coordination across policy domains ?

• Patterns of LM problems both heterogeneous and evolving

• Need for high-level monitoring on a regular basis

• A people-centred perspective helps to – assess potential sources of employment growth

– complement existing institution/sector-specific profiling

– identify policy gaps, access problems

– highlight incidence of simultaneous barriers, and need for

coordination, suitable sequencing

• “Bird’s-eye” or “microscope”?

• Need both: Additional insights from qualitative data– What personal and family histories precede joblessness?

– What quantitative information do we need to collect systematically ?

– What are subjective perceptions of support services?

(Why) do they differ between service providers & clients?

What next? Summary and outlook

18

Contact: [email protected]

Links & further information:

All country studies on the project website: http://www.oecd.org/social/faces-of-joblessness.htm.

Connecting People with Good Jobs

www.oecd.org/social/benefits-and-wages.htm

Skills and Work

Investing in Youth

Ageing and Employment Policy

Displaced Workers

Mental Health and Work

Follow us: @OECD_Social

Thank you

Additional slides

Participation in education and training

21

Economically inactive mothers with young children, %

Sources: OECD, “Faces of Joblessness” country studies. Links to studies are in final slide.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Pre-school coverage

22

2014, %

Sources: OECD, “Faces of Joblessness” country studies. Links to studies are in final slide.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Less than 30 hours 30 hours or over

Participation tax rates with and without childcare costs

23

Lone parent, 2015, %

Sources: OECD, “Faces of Joblessness” country studies. Links to studies are in final slide.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Without childcare With childcare

Participation tax rates with and without childcare costs

24

Low-earning couple 2015, %

Sources: OECD, “Faces of Joblessness” country studies. Links to studies are in final slide.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Without childcare With childcare

Low employment rates for mothers continue throughout childhood

25

Employment rate of mothers by age of youngest childIreland and other EU countries, 2014

Sources: OECD, “Faces of Joblessness” country studies. Links to studies are in final slide.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Ireland EU average

Contact: [email protected]

Links & further information:

All country studies on the project website: http://www.oecd.org/social/faces-of-joblessness.htm.

Connecting People with Good Jobs

www.oecd.org/social/benefits-and-wages.htm

Skills and Work

Investing in Youth

Ageing and Employment Policy

Displaced Workers

Mental Health and Work

Follow us: @OECD_Social

Thank you