Published in 1997, this book is an examination of the Irish experience with active labour market policy. This text looks at training in comparison with employment programmes and examines this in the context of strong and weak market orientation. The study is based on a survey which is used to analyze the effect of programme participation on short and long-term employment prospects and on income. The results show that market-orientation is a significant factor in employment scheme success, a factor that has not been taken into account in recent policy changes. The book also points out the applications of this sort of study in other European countries.

Published in 1997, this book is an examination of the Irish experience with active labour market policy. This text looks at training in comparison with employment programmes and examines this in the context of strong and weak market orientation. The study is based on a survey which is used to analyze the effect of programme participation on short and long-term employment prospects and on income. The results show that market-orientation is a significant factor in employment scheme success, a factor that has not been taken into account in recent policy changes. The book also points out the applications of this sort of study in other European countries.

In recent decades, the problem of unemployment has generated fierce political and academic discussion on how national governments should address this issue. This book sheds light on a key debate in unemployment policy - that of whether unemployment benefits should be insurance-based or means-tested. It carefully compares the impact of the British and German benefit systems on poverty, the duration of unemployment and the spread of workless households during the 1990s. In Germany unemployment is regarded as a risk which individuals insure themselves against through the state, whereas in Britain compensation for the unemployed is allocated primarily through means-tested benefits paid for from tax revenue. These contrasting welfare scenarios make this study of the differences in welfare provision and the effect on the lives of the unemployed especially valuable. The author combines an in-depth study of unemployment policies with extensive statistical analysis, to examine the experience over time of unemployed individuals and the households in which they live. In particular, she focuses on the important interactions between the state, labour markets and household structures. This book presents a large amount of new empirical material and employs an innovative methodology by applying event history analysis to social policy questions. Academics and policymakers working in the fields of unemployment, comparative welfare analysis and labour market sociology will welcome this rigorous and highly rewarding volume.