8th ESPAnet Conference 2010Social Policy and the Global Crisis:
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17. Capital and Social Policy
The role of employers in pensions, childcare and active labour market policy
In liberal welfare regimes the engagement of business has long been important for the delivery of welfare. This model is broadening. Since the 1990s public policy makers in many European countries previously reliant on state provision have also looked to employers as social policy agents. In pensions this was often in the hope that business and other private actors would compensate for public retrenchment. In childcare some expansion of public provision has taken place alongside increased employer activity. Active labour market policies, finally, need employers’ cooperation. The most effective policies tend to be based on on-the-job training or work experience schemes taking place in real firms. Employers’ cooperation seems essential for an ALMP to be successful.
Comparative knowledge about the role of employers for the provision of welfare and for policy-making has not kept pace with such developments, despite important contributions that highlight the need for the systematic incorporation of the private realm into welfare state theory and empirical research.
Against this background, the panel invites papers that explore the following areas:
- The relationship between public and private provision
Changes over time in employers’ involvement in the provision in pensions, childcare and active labour market policies. Why has change occurred? What is the role of occupational provision: compensation or complementarity?
- Reasons for employers’ involvement or non-involvement in policy
Under what conditions can we expect employers to cooperate with the public sector for the provision of pensions, childcare or ALMPs?
- State regulation of occupational welfare
How can the state set up regulatory frameworks that allow the pursuit of social policy objectives such as equality or universality? Is there an inevitable tension between the state’s social policy objectives and private employers’ profit motive
Convenors:
| Giuliano Bonoli | Traute Meyer | |
| IDHEAP E-mail: Giuliano.Bonoli@idheap.unil.ch |
University of Southampton E-mail: tmeyer@soton.ac.uk |
Friday, 17:00-19:00 Room 06, Session 17./A
Presentations
1. Christian Albrekt Larsen & Patrik Vesan: Why Public Employment Services always fail. Double Sided Asymmetric Information and the Market for “Lemons” in six European Countries [abstract] [paper]
2. Lenka Klimplová: Opportunities and Barriers for Cooperation between Employers and Employment Offices in the Czech Republic – from the Perspective of Employers [abstract] [paper]
Contributed papers:
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Saturday, 9:00-11:00 Room 06, Session 17./B
Presentations:
1. Pierre Eichenberger: The Politics of Skills in Small Coordinated Market Economies. Employers and Continuing Vocational Training in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, and the Netherlands [abstract] [paper]
2. Sascha Muennich: Interest-seeking as sense-making. Ideas, power and business interest in the New Deal [abstract] [paper]
3. Katalin Tardos: Rethinking Workplace Childcare in the Context of Diversity Iniatives – The Case of Hungary [abstract] [paper]
4. Giuliano Bonoli and Karl Hinrichs: Statistical discrimination and employers’ recruitment practices for low-skilled workers [abstract] [paper]
Contributed papers:
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Important dates
17 November 2009 = Call for stream convenors
18 December 2009 = Deadline for stream convenors
25 January 2010 = Call for abstracts
29 March 2010 = Deadline for abstract submission
3 May 2010 = Registration starts
6 June 2010 = Reduced fee application deadline
21 June 2010 24:00 (CET) = Early bird registration deadline
13 August 2010 24:00 (CET) - Deadline for submission of papers
16 August 2010 - Deadline for Registrations and payments
Registration fee is 160 Euros for early birds, 210 Euros for late birds. Central and Eastern European PhD students and professionals can apply for a reduced fee of 60 Euros at info@espanet2010.net until 6th June.
Registration opens on the 3rd May, early bird registration closes on the 21th June at 24:00 (CET).
Theme of the Conference
The theme of ESPAnet’s 2010 Annual Conference is the social consequences of the global financial crisis and its differential impact across Europe. The main questions for consideration include:
How is the crisis affecting already existing inequalities? How are different social classes and groups, especially those in poverty, affected by the crisis? What are the adaptable capacities of the different “worlds of welfare”? Does the intensifying social vulnerability lead to the re-structuring of the programs to provide more security? How far have new programs been developed, and how far have new questions of social policy and welfare been opened up by the crisis?
We would like to broaden the horizon of social policy analysis and see global environmental concerns taken into account: How far are responses to the crisis re-thinking the role of the national and international/global state and the role of the European Union in creating economically, socially and environmentally sustainable societies?