Relationship between Social Policy and Employment in the 21st Century - Essay Example

Relationship Between Social policy and Employment in the 21st Century The term social policy is usually used to refer to the study of social welfare and it’s relationship to society and politics. It makes a reference to both the activity of policy making and in order to promote well being as well as to the academic study of such actions taken to promote welfare (Alcock, P., Erskine, A. & May, M. (Eds.) 2003). The study of social policy concentrates on the way in which social welfare is structured in a society to meet individual and group needs for shelter, health care, employment, food clothing etc. It also focuses on the way social problems are identified and dealt with (Alcock, P., Erskine, A. & May, M. (Eds.) 2003). Social welfare provision has become more complex over time. A majority of this complexity began occurring in the nineteenth century with the introduction and establishment of schools, hospitals, shops, factories etc. While social needs and social problems are subject to different definitions, the word policy in social policy implies that is a very vital part of the political process of any society and its modern institutions and these social needs and social problems are very much political. Social policy issues have grown largely in importance whether at a regional level or national level or in a much wider sense in a multi country level and most noticeably in the development of European social model. Unemployment, a major social problem that most societies face today, was experienced as early as the 1970s when the first oil crisis hit most western countries. It started spreading widely in the early 1990s. It then grew at an alarming pace between 1991 and 1993 and continued to grow till the turn of the century affecting almost 14 percent of the workforce. The growth of unemployment, in other words the expanding complexity of the labour market led to many other social problems. A larger percentage of the population experienced a downward turn in the standard of living with deterioration in health, increase in crime rates, suicides etc. Almost all societies, post industrial revolution, consider themselves to be working societies. In most of these societies work or employment defines an individual’s status and worth within the society. It is the only means to social acceptance. Work is a means of livelihood for most people living in working societies and is a prerequisite in order to qualify for social coverage. Hence unemployment is basically a social and political issue that can be dealt with only through social policies, which are a vital part of any political process. This paper will aim to provide a critical account of the relationship between employment and social policy in the 21st century. According to the European Union, high levels of unemployment at the dawn of the 21st century is a very serious social and economic problem for almost all of its member states. The EU statistics states that one in every ten EU citizens is looking for work in vain. The employment rate in Europe is only 61% and nearly 10% below the employment rates in the US and Japan. Despite an attempt by the EU to create as many jobs as possible, unemployment continuous to be a major problem with as many as half of the jobseekers being unemployed for over a year. Apart from the general rates of unemployment, certain groups in the population like the long-term unemployed, youngsters, older people, people with disabilities, women and certain ethnic groups have added difficulties in finding a job. The employment rate for women in Europe is 20% lower than the rate for men. For people with disabilities it falls to a steep 30% below the overall European employment rate. The EU therefore, took up as its major objective, apart from the creation of jobs, the provision of better opportunities on the labour market, especially for population groups, which have been at a disadvantage (European Commission, 2000). The main aim of the European employment and social policy is to further a decent standard of living and quality of life to all the people of the member states of the EU within an active, inclusive and healthy society. The European Union does not manage the European employment and social policy by itself. Neither does it take sole responsibility for the same. Social policy has been set as a core responsibility of the member states of the EU. Since solving Europe’s social problems needs the combined effort of as many players as possible, the European employment and social policy is carried out with the concurrence of both the Member States and other associations and non-governmental organizations. NGOs play a very vital role as competent partners of the EU, by implementing social policy measures and forming a link between EU and its citizens. The important tasks of employment and social policy included development of civil and social dialogue. By the early 1990s it became evident that economic growth alone was not going to help solve the problem of unemployment affecting so many countries. The European Commission’s White Paper Growth, competitiveness, employment gave rise to a detailed discussion on how the EU could ensure lasting jobs and better opportunity to the significantly disadvantaged job seekers. This discussion gave shape to the European Employment Strategy, which was the main focus of the Amsterdam Treaty. This treaty was a major milestone for European employment and social policy. In Amsterdam the Heads of State added employment as an entire chapter to the treaty, recognizing employment policy to be a common European task. The Heads of State took on a set of employment guidelines, which aimed at developing a more active labour market policy when compared to the past policies. Instead of focusing primarily on providing income support to the unemployed, preventive measures were focused upon, with specific stress on employability of jobseekers, entrepreneurship, adaptability of various employees and businesses to changes in economy and technology and equality in providing opportunity for men, women and people with disabilities. The Member States of the EU have adopted comprehensive policies under the above stated four key pillars, namely, employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability and equality. The policies are carried out by the Member States at regional, national and European levels. The Amsterdam Treaty is especially significant, as it has made employment and social policy EU-wide. In order to help Member States meet the goals that they have agreed to after the laws made by Employment Strategy, the European Social Fund (ESF) was introduced to help the EU invest in people. The ESF employs a joint-funding principle to add to the efforts taken by the Member States to improve job opportunities for people and to enhance their skills. The primary mission of the European Social Fund is to help the Member States to fight and prevent unemployment, to make Europe’s workforce and businesses equipped to face the newly arising challenges and to prevent people from losing touch with the labour market. It aims to develop the skills of people, who find it difficult to find and sustain a job, supports Member States in their efforts to make and implement new action plans to fight and prevent unemployment lastly it tailors the support it gives according to the requirement of certain regions facing specific problems. Although different measures have been taken to improve job opportunities and create new jobs, larger groups of the population still remain unemployed. Gap in skill is a major cause for this problem. There is an urgent need for people to develop new skills and for companies to keep up with change and develop the expertise to create a growth in job opportunities. The dawn of the 21st century has marked a new seven-year period for the European Social Fund in which its aim is to be fully integrated in policy and management terms into the actions taken by the Member States to put the Employment Strategy into practice. The ESF along with four other funds of the EU decided to meet three main objectives between the years 2000 and 2006. The first objective is to promote and further the development of regions whose development is behind the rest. The second objective is to support the economic and social conversion of those facing problems adapting to change, declining rural areas, urban areas facing difficulty and depressed areas. The third and final objective is to provide aid to all areas of the EU, except those mentioned in the first objective, in order to help them adapt and modernize education, employment polices and systems and training. During the 2000-2006 period the ESF financed Member State measures across five different areas, namely, expansion of a working labour market policy, provision of aid to people in danger of social exclusion because of unemployment, enhancement of general education and special skill training, encouraging employee adaptability, entrepreneurship and workforce skills and further self-employment and employment of women in an effort to combat inequality. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of workingwomen and women have been voicing their views on gender-based pay, job opportunities and other kinds of discrimination. The Sex Discrimination Act and Equal Pay Act have made it illegal for employers to discriminate between men and women and have laid it down that women taking on the same job as men are entitled to the same ay scale as men (Irwin, J L, 1994). Social policies in employment further stated that women must be given the same opportunities as men with reference to access to employment, training, career development etc., social security schemes must provide equal benefits to women alongside men, authorities must treat women seeking self employment the same way as they would treat men who start business and lastly women workers are entitled to maternity leave and benefits. This increase in the participation of women in workforce has led to an increase in their children being cared for by child-carers who are not family. The government’s National Child Care Strategy and its program Sure Start aims to ensure that a good standard of affordable childcare is made available for children aged between 0-14years. The child-care workforce has rapidly increased alongside the increase in provisions in terms of quality and flexibility to meet the new demands that have arisen although there is no significant increase in quantity. Chide-care workforce often referred to as childminders offer an unusual amount of flexibility to workingwomen. Childminders provide parents potential for parents to adjust and navigate their work times, which is otherwise not possible with daycare facilities. They are also most flexible during holidays and are one of the few groups who are successful in addressing the flexibility issue faced by many workingwomen today. But their fast declining number is a cause for concern among working women. The main motivational force that encourages childminders is the same as one that prompts women to go in for paid jobs. Childminders often feel that their job of looking after children from home is often not appreciated or valued by the society. Aside from social acceptance or value it is also considered to be a very lonely job. Hence most women prefer doing paid jobs, which offer higher status, social acceptance, societal interaction, higher material rewards and satisfaction (Dex, S, 2003). This may be the reason contributing to the steady dwindling in the number of childminders available. Families have been subject to an enormous amount of change since the beginning of the 21st century. In addition to changes in women’s education and participation in the workforce, men’s work and labour market institutions have seen much change. The decline in agriculture and manufacturing jobs usually taken up by men, the growth of service jobs, which is also seeing the participation of women, has changed the structure of employment. Families and family life has been most affected by these changes, as there has been much alteration in the structure of families. From the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, there has been an enormous increase in 1.5-earner households, where the family earns one full time and one part time wage. As stated above mothers have joined the workforce as a result of their increased qualifications and also the legislations passed in their favour to ensure equal opportunity and pay. The working of women is also a response to the decline in men’s wages and the growing instability of their jobs, which started in the agriculture and manufacture sector. The desire of many families to become 1.5-earner households is the result of insecurity of men’s jobs and high housing costs. Women, alongside men have become a vital part of the aggregate labour supply (Dex, S, 2003). The Work and Families Act of 2006 set out some key guidelines in the area of work and family. This act was established with an aim to ensure that each child gets a good start in life and to grant parents the choice and flexibility to balance their work and family. Under this act, maternity period and pay was extended from six to nine months, a new scheme for fathers where paid paternity leave was granted to care for their children was introduced, adults were given the right to request for flexible working hours and patterns to balance household responsibilities, measures were initiated to help employers manage the administration of leave and pay and enable them to plan ahead and employers and employees were helped in order to benefit from enhanced communication during maternity leave. This act was introduced with a view to establish and present a balanced collection of rights and responsibilities for both employers and employees. The Employment Act of 2002 has similar provisions for employees and employers. The act came into force from April 2003. The provisions of the act stated that all employers are required to operate a standard and compulsory disciplinary and grievance procedure, employees are eligible to an extended maternity leave, employees are further eligible to request flexible working patterns, reimbursements will be made by the government on maternity, paternity and adoption payments made by employees, employees are also eligible for paternity leave, employees have the right to get leave in case of adoptive parents, unions will be established which highlights the right to paid time off work and establishment of a questionnaire procedure in Equal Pay cases in the employment tribunals. Tax Credits were introduced in April 2003. The primary aims of the tax credits were set out in Budget 2002. Those aims included, supporting families with children, recognizing the responsibilities that come with parenthood; tackling child poverty, by offering the greatest help to those most in need, such as low-income families; helping to make sure that work pays more than welfare and that people have incentives to move up the earnings ladder. Lone parents or single parents have been on the rise since the beginning of the 21st century. Employment policies towards lone parents have undergone many changes since late 1997 in the UK. The government has changed the way it has so far viewed lone parents and for the first time since the post war period is offering positive support for lone parents by urging them to enter into the labour market. Including lone parents in the policies to create an active welfare state represents a shift from the past assumptions about the role of women and mothers in general and the polices created based on those assumptions. The government has set a target to reach a lone parent employment rate of 70%. The government is aiming to reach this target by establishing and implementing policies that aim to support and induce lone parents to take up paid work, which has additional benefits including childcare. The policy requires lone parents receiving Income Support to compulsorily participate in work-focused interviews, although benefit will be made available to lone parents who choose not to take up paid work. According to the Treasury’s pre-Budget report in 2000, employment rates of lone parents are much lower in the UK hen compared to other countries and British lone parents participate much less in the labour market. To combat this issue the British welfare-to-work policy has four primary measures. The policy aims to provide wage supplementation and cash payments through a scheme called Working Families’ Tax Credit and a National Minimum Wage. It aims at an active case management and effective child support payments. And lastly the government has put forth a National Childcare Strategy to provide quality and feasible childcare which included cash additions to wage supplements. The last few years have seen two major policy changes. The policy has increased cash incentives to work and the introduction of an active case management system that is moving towards a non-voluntary system. In addition to the above two key policy changes, policies aiming to further the quality and availability of childcare, improve children’s and parents’ health and to increase the available flow of child support payments have been introduced. These policies offer a considerable advantage to lone parents. These policy reforms will ensure that those gaining very little assistance from Family Credit because of their earnings will now receive more, those receiving child support from non-resident parents will also get more and those paying for childcare from their minimum earnings can get 70% of their outlay in addition to the payment they receive from Family Credit (Miller, J and Rowlingson, K, 2001). Following all of the above policies at the dawn of the 21st century, governments of countries are aiming to become competitive economies which are capable of sustaining continuous economic growth with better opportunity to create better jobs and sustain those jobs. The governments are also aiming to acquire greater social cohesion. The working patterns of citizens have changed enormously since the post war period. With the decline and instability of jobs in agriculture and manufacturing, the employment and organizational structure have changed considerably. Additionally women have started doing paid jobs primarily because of the insecurity that arises from men’s jobs and also due to increasing housing costs. Women have become a major part of the labour workforce. The dawn of the 21st century has also seen a significant increase in the number of lone parents and their efforts to cope with life. Employment policies have been introduced in order to ensure that there is no discrimination between men and women in opportunities given or the pay scale. Policies have also been introduced to improve childcare facilities for working women and lone parents. Maternity leave and paid leave are extended to women and men are entitled to paid paternity leave. In addition to this men and women are eligible to request flexible working hours and patterns to enable them to balance work and life’s responsibilities. While all of the above policies have contributed significantly to improvement of quality and standard of living for citizens, the problem of unemployment as such needs more focus and centered attention. The strengthening of jobs and creation of a sustainable economy which creates opportunity is very essential to combat this social problem of unemployment. References Alcock, P., Erskine, A. & May, M. (Eds.) (2003) The Student's Companion to Social and Policy. (2 Edition) Oxford, Blackwell, Chs IV.7, IV.8, III.9 Dex, S. (2003) Families and Work in the Twenty-First century, Joseph Rowntree Foundation/Bristol, The Policy Press. European Commission (2000). European Employment and Social Policy: A Policy for People. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2000. Government of UK (2006). Work and Families’ Act of 2006. The Stationery Office Limited Irwin, J L (1994). Modern Britain : An Introduction. Routledge, 1994 Miller, J and Rowlingson, K (2001). Lone Parents, Employment and Social Policy: Cross-National Comparisons. The Policy Press, 2001. Read More