90899 - Comparative Labour Market Policies

Academic Year 2022/2023

  • Docente: Roberto Rizza
  • Credits: 8
  • SSD: SPS/09
  • Language: Italian

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide an overview of labor market policies, highlighting the main areas of intervention and the beneficiaries: employment protection legislation, income support, promotion of job opportunities and training, employment services. A comparative analysis of the evolution of labor policy regimes will be carried out with particular reference to current demographic, social and economic challenges, considering the influence of politics on labor market policies. At the end of the course the students will be able to: - have a knowledge of the main areas of intervention of labor market policies and their beneficiaries - identify and compare the different labor policy regimes - gain an expertise as regards to the definition and planning of active and passive labor market policies - recognize the current characteristics of the labor market and the employment system, the emerging risks and the related needs in terms of labor market policies - interpret the influence of politics in labor market policies

Course contents

The course fucuses on labour market policies, and adopts a comparative and interdisciplinary approach.

A first section is descriptive and provides information on labour market policies (definition, programs, analytical dimensions), a second depicts their evolution interpreting the emerging regimes in the vast international panorama. An explanatory third dimension identifies the causal mechanisms of institutional change.

The course will address the following topics:

- Labour market policies: definition, characteristics and comparative aspects

- Labour market policies: programs

- Labour market policies in Europe and the United States: from the origins till the 1990s

- The emerging regimes of labour market policies in the 2000s

- Partisanship and Labour market policies

- Labour market policies and gender inequalities

 

Readings/Bibliography

Labour market policies: definition, characteristics, programs and comparative aspects

Required readings:

- Sjöberg O., Palme J., Carroll E. [2010], "Unemployment Insurance", in Castles F., Leibfried S., Lewis J., Obinger H., Pierson C., (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, Oxford University Press.

- Kenworthy L. [2010], "Labour Market Activation", in Castles F., Leibfried S., Lewis J., Obinger H., Pierson C., (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, Oxford University Press.

- Hemerijck A., [2012], "Changing Welfare States", Oxford, Oxford University Press, (Chapter 2:The New Politics of the Welfare State Revisited).

- Bonoli G. [2013], "The origins of Active Social Policy: Labour Market and Childcare Policies in a Comparative Perspective", (Ch.2: Defining Active Social Policy; Ch.5: Active Labour Market Policies in a Comparative Perspective).

- Clasen J., Clegg D., Goerne A. [2016], "Comparative Social Policy Analysis and Active Labour market Policy: Putting Quality before Quantity", in Journal of Social Policy, 45(1).

Labour market policies in Europe and the United States: from the origins till the 1990s

Required readings:

- Palier B. (ed) [2010], A Long Goodbye to Bismarck?: The Politics of Welfare Reform in Continental Europe,Amsterdam University Press: selected chapters: Palier B. "Ordering Change. Understanding the Bismarkian Welfare Reform Trajectory"; Palier B. "The Long Conservative Corporatist Road to Welfare Reforms"

- Clasen, J., Clegg, D. (eds) [2011], Regulating the Risk of Unemployment: National Adaptation to Post-Industrial Labour Markets In Europe, Oxford, Oxford University Press: selected chapters: J. Clasen and D. Clegg: "Unemployment Protection and Labour Market Change in Europe: Towards 'Triple Integration?"; G. Bonoli: "Active Labour Market Policies in a Changing Economic Context"; J. Clasen and D. Clegg: "The Transformation of Unemployment Protection in Europe"

The emerging regimes of labour market policies in the 2000s

Required readings:

- Hemerijck A., [2012], Changing Welfare States, Oxford, Oxford University Press: Chapter 3: "Challenges to Twenty-First Century Social Policy Provision"

- Vis B., [2010], Politics of Risk-taking: Welfare state reform in advanced democracies, Amsterdam University Press: Chapter 3:" Radical change or much ado about nothing?"

- Ferragina E., Filetti F.D, [2022], Labour market protection across space and time: A revised typology and a taxonomy of countries trajectories of change, in Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 32(2)

- Thelen K. [2014], Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity, Cambridge University Press: Chapter 3: "Vocational Education and Training"; Chapter 4: "Labour Market Policy"

- Dolvik J., Martin A. [eds] [2015], European Social Models from Crisis to Crisis, Oxford, Oxford University Press: selected chapters: Carlin W. et al., "The Transformation of the German Social Model"; Le Cacheux J. Ross G., "France in the Middle"; Mayhew K., Wickham-Jones M., "The U.K.'s Social Model"; Perez S., Rhodes M., "The Evolution and Crisis of the Social Models in Italy and Spain"; Dolvik E., Goul Andersen J., Vartiainen J., "The Nordic Social Models in Turbolent Times: Consilidation and Flexible Adaptation"

Partisanship and Labour market policies

Required readings:

- Vlandas T. [2013], "Mixing apples with oranges? Partisanship and active labour market policies in Europe", in Journal of European Social Policy, 23(1)

- Cronert A. [2019], "Unemployment reduction or labour force expansion? How partisanship matters for the design of active labour market policy in Europe", in Socio-Economic Review, vol. 17 (4)

- Iversen T, Stephens JD. [2008], “Partisan Politics, the Welfare State, and Three Worlds of Human Capital Formation”, in Comparative Political Studies, 41 (4-5)

Labour market policies and gender inequalities

Required readings:

- Orloff A. [1993], “Gender and the social rights of citizenship: the comparative analysis of gender relations and welfare states”, in American Sociological Review, 58 (3)

- Saraceno C., Keck W. [2010], “Can we identify intergenerational policy regimes in Europe?”, in European Societies, 12 (5)

- Mandel H., Semyonov M. [2006], “A welfare state paradox: state interventions and women’s employment opportunities in 22 countries”, in American Journal of Sociology, 111 (6).

- Korpi W. et al. [2013], Women’s opportunities under different family policies constellations: gender, class, and equality tradeoffs in western countries re-examined”, in Social Politics, 20 (1).

Street-level bureaucracy and labour market policies

Required readings:

- Brodkin, E. Z. [2011], “Policy work: Street-level organizations under new managerialism, in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21(2)

- Rice D., [2012], “Street-Level Bureaucrats and the Welfare State: toward a micro-institutionalist theory of policy implementation”, in Administration & Society, 45 (9)

- Paraciani R., Rizza R., [2021], “When the workplace is the home. Labour inspectors’ discretionary power in the field of domestic work: an institutional analysis”, in Journal of Public Policy, 41(1)

Teaching methods

The course is divided into modules and complementary activities. Lectures will be alternated with group discussions and case studies aimed at deepening the topics covered in class. Presentations will be conducted by students on the topics covered in class.

Assessment methods

Mid-term essay (1,500 words): two distinct questions on labour market policy.

24-hour take-home final exam (1,000 words): One scenario-based question requiring knowledge in the area of labour market policy

Teaching tools

Videos and papers not included in the texts, but particularly significant for the topics covered in class. Slides and other teaching materials will be available to the students in electronic format on Virtuale. Username and password are reserved for students enrolled at the University of Bologna.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Rizza

SDGs

Gender equality Decent work and economic growth Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.