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Personally affected, politically disaffected? How experiences with public employment services impact young people's political efficacy

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Unemployment experiences can have consequences for how people think about democracy and where they stand vis‐à‐vis the state. We investigate how young people's experiences with public employment services can shape levels of external political efficacy—the feeling that decision‐makers are responsive to citizen needs. The personal and direct experiences one gathers at this pivotal time in life can also leave their mark on political attitudes. We analyze an original dataset on German youth to test how encounters with such agencies affect young people's political efficacy, finding that perceptions of helpfulness and being treated fairly and with respect increase the likelihood of being politically efficacious. The findings highlight the importance of personal experiences and bureaucratic interactions for vulnerable young people's democratic attitudes.
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... Several studies have highlighted the many facets and the complexity of today's youth, in terms of a list of 'lacks' that makes this generation of 'grown-up children' appear choosy and passive compared with previous generations, but they are also portrayed as 'more active, more enterprising, and more inclined to work' (Beaudry et al, 2015: 383). As a whole, the levels of complexity that confront young people in all societal domains seem to require targeted policies and practices such as, for example, guidance and support in planning their lives (Shore and Tosun, 2019). The frequent transitions from one insecure job to another, the discontinuities in educational paths, the enrolment in training courses and, above all, work path constraints need to be taken into account in guidance practice, and career counselling practices should activate and encourage the exploration of possible selves (Oyserman et al, 2006). ...
... While aware of this close relationship, this study will try as far as possible to disentangle the assessment of policies from the assessment of their implementation by public servants. Although there are some analyses and meta-analyses on the efficacy of active labour market policies (ALMPs; see Kluve, 2006;Caliendo and Schmidl, 2016) that highlight the relationship between investment and the effects of ALMPs on education and employment, only a few studies have considered the opinions -the voice -of young people with respect to policy (Ariely, 2013;Shore and Tosun, 2019). However, these opinions are important in understanding the causes of the relationship (positive, negative, or zero) between the policies and the developments and conclusions for which they were carried out. ...
... Several studies have highlighted the many facets and the complexity of today's youth, in terms of a list of 'lacks' that makes this generation of 'grown-up children' appear choosy and passive compared with previous generations, but they are also portrayed as 'more active, more enterprising, and more inclined to work' (Beaudry et al, 2015: 383). As a whole, the levels of complexity that confront young people in all societal domains seem to require targeted policies and practices such as, for example, guidance and support in planning their lives (Shore and Tosun, 2019). The frequent transitions from one insecure job to another, the discontinuities in educational paths, the enrolment in training courses and, above all, work path constraints need to be taken into account in guidance practice, and career counselling practices should activate and encourage the exploration of possible selves (Oyserman et al, 2006). ...
... While aware of this close relationship, this study will try as far as possible to disentangle the assessment of policies from the assessment of their implementation by public servants. Although there are some analyses and meta-analyses on the efficacy of active labour market policies (ALMPs; see Kluve, 2006;Caliendo and Schmidl, 2016) that highlight the relationship between investment and the effects of ALMPs on education and employment, only a few studies have considered the opinions -the voice -of young people with respect to policy (Ariely, 2013;Shore and Tosun, 2019). However, these opinions are important in understanding the causes of the relationship (positive, negative, or zero) between the policies and the developments and conclusions for which they were carried out. ...
... Several studies have highlighted the many facets and the complexity of today's youth, in terms of a list of 'lacks' that makes this generation of 'grown-up children' appear choosy and passive compared with previous generations, but they are also portrayed as 'more active, more enterprising, and more inclined to work' (Beaudry et al, 2015: 383). As a whole, the levels of complexity that confront young people in all societal domains seem to require targeted policies and practices such as, for example, guidance and support in planning their lives (Shore and Tosun, 2019). The frequent transitions from one insecure job to another, the discontinuities in educational paths, the enrolment in training courses and, above all, work path constraints need to be taken into account in guidance practice, and career counselling practices should activate and encourage the exploration of possible selves (Oyserman et al, 2006). ...
... While aware of this close relationship, this study will try as far as possible to disentangle the assessment of policies from the assessment of their implementation by public servants. Although there are some analyses and meta-analyses on the efficacy of active labour market policies (ALMPs; see Kluve, 2006;Caliendo and Schmidl, 2016) that highlight the relationship between investment and the effects of ALMPs on education and employment, only a few studies have considered the opinions -the voice -of young people with respect to policy (Ariely, 2013;Shore and Tosun, 2019). However, these opinions are important in understanding the causes of the relationship (positive, negative, or zero) between the policies and the developments and conclusions for which they were carried out. ...
... In addition to the task of teaching knowledge and skills, schools also enable interpersonal experiences. From research on street-level bureaucracy we know that state institutions serve as places where the population comes into direct contact with lived political structures and policies and that the experiences made there have an impact on political attitudes (Ariely 2013;Bruch and Soss 2018;Lipsky 1980;Shore and Tosun 2019). Individuals' treatment by authorities in these institutions affects their recognition of their own standing and value in society, subsequently influencing their long-term expectations of procedural justice by the state (Weiss and Parth 2023). ...
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... However, the effect of PES support on multiple dimensions of young people in a situation of vulnerability remains uncovered beyond the GDP perspective. We do know that young people's perceptions based on their interaction and experiences with these services tend to be negative (Shore & Tosun, 2019), which in turn are associated with non-compliance, early withdrawal, or non-take-up (Van Parys & Struyven, 2013). All this can undermine young people's (re)entry into the labour market (Van Parys & Struyven, 2013), which in the long run is detrimental to young people's well-being. ...
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Subjective well-being is of paramount importance when support is offered to young individuals seeking employment and social inclusion in general. The present study looks at different dimensions of youth well-being and the growing demands for skills to enable labour market integration. Based on survey data, this article examines the relationships between the role of public employment services in providing support and their impact on the subjective well-being of youth. Specifically, 1,275 not in education, employment, or training (NEET) rural youths from Italy, Portugal, and Spain participated in the survey. Drawing upon Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model, the current study sets up a model which includes different factors at the micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-system levels. The results show that non-urban NEETs' subjective well-being is associated positively with public employment services availability, while the relationship with public employment services interaction and public employment services support is non-significant. A positive and significant relationship emerged also with self-efficacy and social support. Some recommendations for policymakers are discussed.
... External PE improves trust in government in both democratic and totalitarian systems (Hu, Sun, & Wu, 2015;McEvoy, 2016). This is important, given that public perceptions of the government such as its responsiveness to citizen needs (de Moor, 2016), physical proximity to government (McDonnell, 2020), contact with government (Shore & Tosun, 2019), and political inclusivity (Corcoran, Pettinicchio, & Young, 2011) affect internal and external PE as well as participation. For instance, when a local government encourages engagement in community activities such as jury duty or citizen forums, people report higher internal and external PE and are more likely to participate by voting, protesting, or joining political parties (Oh & Lim, 2017). ...
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This study surveyed a random sample of social media users (N = 813) to examine how following political social media influencers (PSMIs) affects political interest and political trust. The study also examined whether political interest and political trust affect internal and external online political efficacy (OPE) and political participation. Structural equation analysis indicated that following a PSMI increased political interest and political trust, with a pronounced effect on political interest. Additionally, political interest boosted both internal and external OPE, while political trust boosted external OPE only. Mediated effects analysis indicated that political interest improved the relationship between following a PSMI and internal and external OPE, respectively, while political trust did not. However, neither type of OPE improved political participation.
... We do not want to claim that school experiences alone condition the economic and political factors influencing satisfaction with democracy, but we are able to demonstrate the central influence of it. Experiences with the state in early life stages are an important indicator of how individuals in later stages of life will think and behave (Shore and Tosun 2019b). The evidence presented, namely that equal treatment in school reinforces other factors that are positively associated with or are even able to reverse factors that are negatively associated with satisfaction with democracy, reinforces the argument that "school matters" (Resh and Sabbagh 2014:67). ...
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Previous studies have shown that economic and political experiences influence the level of satisfaction with democracy; however, they fail to explain whether these experiences have the same effect for everyone, whether there is interindividual variance and where these differences might be rooted. In this article, we investigate these roots of interindividual variance and base our argument on the observation that early experiences in school are formative and influence the effect of economic and political experiences on satisfaction with democracy. We analyze an original representative dataset on the German population to test how school experiences, more precisely equal treatment in school, interact with economic and political experiences in later life and thereby influence satisfaction with democracy. We find that school experiences play a significant role here. Voting for the governing parties especially increases satisfaction with democracy if respondents were treated equally in school. Similarly, past experiences of unemployment in particular decrease people’s levels of satisfaction with the political system if they were not treated equally in school. The findings highlight that early experiences made in school can have a relevant influence on satisfaction with democracy in later life.
... In this study, we strive to contribute to the recent body of research by examining whether work values play a role in young people's willingness to take action in order to get a job (in case they are currently in education or unemployed) or a better job (in case they are currently (self-)employed). We believe that it is essential to gain a better understanding of what young people are willing to do in order to stimulate the development of their career since this can help to improve the career information guidance and counselling services offered by government agencies (Shore and Tosun 2019a;2019b), as well as to inform labor market policies for young people (Tosun, Treib et al. 2019). ...
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Do work values affect attitudes and intentions regarding career development? Differentiating between work centrality, intrinsic and extrinsic work values, and using original survey data from German respondents, this study shows that these work values differ in their effect on career development. The empirical analysis examines three outcome dimensions which comprise the respondents’ willingness to: move within the same country or to a different country (mobility); lower expectations regarding earning or responsibility (rewards); learn new skills or participate in a retraining program (skills). The multinomial and logistic regression models show that higher scores for work centrality increase the odds of mobility and seeking less rewards. Intrinsic work values have a positive relationship with the mobility and the skills dimensions. Extrinsic work values have a negative relationship with the rewards dimension, but a positive one with the skills dimension.
... From this so-called spillover model (Visser et al., this volume), we may assume that work offers opportunities to learn how to participate in politics and how to start as self-employed. Moreover, work values may provide the ideological position and motivation required for political participation (Sobel 1993;Shore and Tosun 2019b). ...
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... Moreover, given the tendency in the extant literature on social policy effects to focus on only a single dimension of political efficacy (e.g., Marx and Nguyen, 2018b;Shore and Tosun, 2019), it remains unclear whether and how social policy matters for both dimensions. ...
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... Additional confounders are whether a person is married or not (support and discussion network). We further include whether respondents are currently employed: even though unemployment could be an outcome of severe health issues, the literature shows that both efficacy and health are driven by labor market attachment (Marx and Nguyen, 2016;Reher, 2018;Shore and Tosun, 2019). Moreover, we include whether the respondent is a citizen of the country of residence as well as migration background (none, one parent migrant, both parents migrants) as controls in the models. ...
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... Getting at the "lived experience" remains a challenge for many studies linking political behavior and public policies (Campbell 2012). Because large-scale surveys generally do not include detailed information on social program use and experiences (Shore and Tosun 2019), such approaches need to be complemented with more fine-grained qualitative work. Qualitative studies on single mothers' political participation would be better suited to capturing issues of race and ethnicity and the ways in which multiple sources of disadvantage affect political behavior. ...
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... From this so-called spillover model (Visser et al., this volume), we may assume that work offers opportunities to learn how to participate in politics and how to start as self-employed. Moreover, work values may provide the ideological position and motivation required for political participation (Sobel 1993;Shore and Tosun 2019b). ...
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We argue that the social construction of target populations is an important, albeit overlooked, political phenomenon that should take its place in the study of public policy by political scientists. The theory contends that social constructions influence the policy agenda and the selection of policy tools, as well as the rationales that legitimate policy choices. Constructions become embedded in policy as messages that are absorbed by citizens and affect their orientations and participation. The theory is important because it helps explain why some groups are advantaged more than others independently of traditional notions of political power and how policy designs reinforce or alter such advantages. An understanding of social constructions of target populations augments conventional hypotheses about the dynamics of policy change, the determination of beneficiaries and losers, the reasons for differing levels and types of participation among target groups, and the role of policy in democracy.
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This case examines the design and practicalities of a survey conducted among young Germans (aged 18–35) and their parents. The survey presented is part of the CUPESSE (Cultural Pathways to Economic Self-Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship: Family Values and Youth Unemployment in Europe) project (2014–2018)—a large-scale research project examining young Europeans’ cultural pathways to economic self-sufficiency. The survey was designed to not only capture the economic and educational situations of young people but also how their family background and upbringing influence their relevant life choices. We provide insights into the planning and development of the survey instrument, paying particular attention to both the successes and setbacks encountered. The reader will gain an in-depth look into the practicalities of designing and executing survey research, as well as the trade-offs involved.
Article
Existing datasets provided by statistical agencies (e.g. Eurostat) show that the economic and financial crisis that unfolded in 2008 significantly impacted the lives and livelihoods of young people across Europe. Taking these official statistics as a starting point, the collaborative research project “Cultural Pathways to Economic Self-Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship in Europe” (CUPESSE) generated new survey data on the economic and social situation of young Europeans (18–35 years). The CUPESSE dataset allows for country-comparative assessments of young people’s perceptions about their socio-economic situation. Furthermore, the dataset includes a variety of indicators examining the socio-economic situation of both young adults and their parents. In this data article, we introduce the CUPESSE dataset to political and social scientists in an attempt to spark a debate on the measurements, patterns and mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of economic self-sufficiency as well as its political implications.
Article
This article tackles the question of how bureaucratic structures condition frontline implementers’ use of European Union (EU) migration law. Adopting an organisational perspective, the study expects that only under discretion do implementers draw independently on original EU law. Empirically, the article draws on qualitative interviews with migration law implementers in the Netherlands and the German Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia. The analysis reveals that in the nondiscretionary Dutch structure, frontline implementers only rely on EU law when receiving instructions from higher administrative levels. The use of EU law is more diverse in the German discretionary structure. Under legal tension, several German frontline implementers use EU law parallel to national law. However, not all German respondents feel comfortable in interpreting original EU law and jurisprudence. Although structural discretion conditions uses of EU law, the variation of the German case suggests that microlevel factors complement explanations for frontline uses of EU law.
Article
This article examines why unemployment is often experienced in a profoundly negative way, and explores the potentially mediating role of social policies. Three dominant theories of unemployment are described, which are often treated as competing, mutually exclusive explanations of the deleterious effects of unemployment. Subsequently, and through drawing upon a qualitative study of unemployed people, it is argued that all three theories are of worth and can be synthesized into a broader explanation of the experience of unemployment as an overarching process of loss. Three forms of loss are identified: loss of agency; loss of the functions of paid work; and loss of social status. The article then explores how these forms of loss can be both ameliorated and intensified through social policy interventions. Concluding, it offers policy recommendations to increase the efficacy of social policies in reversing the negative experience of unemployment, with the conclusion that this will require significant reform of the UK welfare state.
Article
Has the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) 2010 dependent coverage provision (DCP) created a positive policy-opinion feedback loop among its stated beneficiaries—adults under age 26? Such feedbacks are well documented around programs like Social Security that make explicit government transfers, but may be more limited around policies that—like the DCP—channel private-sector resources to their target populations. It is also unknown whether single provisions within multipronged policies can elicit feedbacks around the parent policy as a whole. This article tests whether 19–25-year-olds differ from adults aged 26–34 in support for the ACA, civic predisposition, political efficacy, and political participation in 2012. Analyses also compare 2012 to 2008. The article then studies insured 19–25-year-olds in 2014, testing whether those using parental insurance differed from those using other insurance in ACA support, responses to threats to the ACA, and beliefs that the ACA is personally helpful. Young adults show virtually no signs of DCP-inspired political feedbacks. These results do not appear strictly attributable to the youth of this target population. Rather, feeble feedbacks may owe to ACA attitudes resting on factors other than the DCP, to Democrats failing to mobilize young adults, and to the DCP's limited ability to reach low-income earners.
Article
This paper investigates whether and how individual shocks of temporary employment translate into feelings of political alienation. Recently, research started to investigate cross-sectional associations between temporary employment, political attitudes and behavior. Yet, the cross-sectional research so far struggles to disentangle empirically whether the relationship between temporary work and political orientations is determined by structural factors only – such as skill-set and education – or whether we are also able to observe the dynamic patterns suggested in theoretical arguments. This paper takes up the task of tracing the dynamic relationship between temporary employment experiences and adjustments in political orientations. It is argued that temporary employment has ambiguous effects on political orientations and that we are in need for convincing strategies to tackle this heterogeneity. Using perceived risk measures as mediators, we propose a strategy to capture the dynamic effects of temporary employment. Fixed-effects regressions show that if temporary employment experiences are translated by increases in perceived job insecurity and perceived financial insecurity, trust in politics starts to erode. The identification of such dynamic patterns is highly relevant for research on the political effects of labor market disadvantages.
Article
This book examines patterns of political engagement of long-term unemployed youth. The authors show how unemployment affects the personal, social, and political life of young people. Focusing on the case of Geneva in Switzerland, the study shows the importance of socioeconomic, relational, psychological, and institutional resources for the political engagement of unemployed youth. The book shows specifically how the relationship between unemployment and the political engagement of unemployed youth is mediated by a number of factors: their socioeconomic status and more generally their individual background, their level of deprivation and the associated degree of subjective well-being; the social capital that unemployed youth draw from involvement in voluntary associations and interpersonal networks and relations, and the political learning stemming from interactions with welfare institutions and their perception of such interactions. Students and scholars in areas including Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Youth Studies and Social Policy will find this study of interest.
Chapter
Social scientists have long suspected that the rise of the modern welfare state has had a deep and lasting impact on public opinion formation.1 In contrast to what was the case prior to the postwar expansion, most citizens in developed nations now have regular and direct personal experiences with one public service institution or the other. As Kaase and Newton (1995, p. 65) explain, “It is not just the scope of government that has expanded, but also the depth of its influence on the everyday lives of citizens. This combination of scope and pervasiveness gives the state its paramount significance.” The message is that a whole new arena for public opinion formation has arisen with the welfare state. Inside that arena, citizens have frequent opportunities to directly observe how the political system and its policies perform in practice.
Article
A classical question in political sociology is whether unemployment depresses political involvement. However, we still know very little about how individual and contextual factors influence the involvement of unemployed citizens. We therefore provide a framework to study variation across countries as well as among the unemployed. Borrowing mechanisms from psychological unemployment research, we develop a set of hypotheses about individual and contextual moderators that mitigate or exacerbate the negative effect of unemployment on political involvement. Our empirical analyses are based on the European Social Survey and use internal political efficacy as a dependent variable. Multi-level models with interaction effects show that the negative effect of unemployment on political efficacy is stronger in countries with low welfare state generosity, low levels of economic development, high unemployment rates, and large income inequality. On the individual level, the negative effect is stronger for men, middle-to-high-income earners, and political independents. The effect of age is hump-shaped (stronger negative effect for the young and older citizens). An important implication of our results is that public policies can foster the political integration of vulnerable citizens and therefore make a contribution to the functioning of democracy.
Article
This paper examines the impact of interactions with welfare institutions on the political partici-pation of long-term unemployed youth in two cities. We assess the role of resource redistribution and of political learning on engagement in protest activities. We use a unique dataset of long-term unemployed youth to predict the probability that long-term unemployed youth participate in protest activities and be-come politically alienated as a result of their interactions with the state. Our study suggests that the impact of staid aid on political participation comes from providing services through the unemployment office and the social aid office rather than from direct payments. However, we do not find strong evidence revealing a process of political learning, as political alienation does not seem to mediate the effect of interactions with the state on protest. The most important finding of our study is that the connection between welfare insti-tutions and political learning is context-dependent. We find a differential effect of interactions with the unemployment office and with the social aid office across cities.
Article
This paper provides an overview of the employment situation of young and old workers in the EU Member States, setting out the most recent development during the crisis and dealing with policies implemented to promote the employment of both groups. The evidence collected shows that there is no competition between young and older workers on the labour market. Structural or general policies to enhance the functioning of EU labour markets are crucial to improving the situation of both groups. However, the responsibility for employment policies still predominantly lies within Member States of the European Union, although initiatives taken at the EU level can provide added value, particularly through stimulating the exchange of experiences and facilitating regional and cross-border mobility throughout the EU.
Article
It is often argued that unemployment depresses political involvement, because unemployment deprives workers of important workplace-related resources. We challenge this argument from two sides. Theoretically, we argue that the resource approach neglects life cycle stages. Socialization theory suggests that workplace-related resources influence political involvement mostly during adolescence and early adulthood, but not later in life. Ignoring life cycle stages therefore risks underestimating unemployment effects on young workers and overestimating them for older workers. Our second criticism is methodological. Existing literature on unemployment and political involvement largely uses cross-sectional data, which makes it impossible to eliminate unobserved heterogeneity. Using German panel data, we show that unemployment depresses the growth of political interest in early adulthood, while it does not have an effect later in life. Moreover, we find that early unemployment experiences have scarring effects that reduce the long-term level of political interest and participation.
Article
In this article, the authors evaluate whether the provision of good quality social services has the potential to create social cohesion. In addition to examining the relationship between social services and social cohesion, the authors expand institutional theories of social capital by investigating whether this potential for building social solidarity may be resilient to the corrosive effects of economic strain. Multilevel analyses of variations in the perceptions of social cohesion amongst Europeans were conducted for 27 member countries of the EU using the Eurobarometer 74.1 on poverty and social exclusion from 2010. The results suggest that individuals receiving better quality social service provision perceived higher levels of social cohesion within the country in which they live. By contrast, individuals living in households experiencing economic strain perceive lower levels of cohesion. Further analysis revealed that the experience of economic strain does not weaken the positive relationship between social services quality and perceptions of cohesion.
Article
This article is about the impact of ‘One-Euro-Jobs’, a German active labour market programme, on the social integration of unemployed individuals. We examine, first, whether programme participation improves individuals’ sense of social integration. Second, we address the mechanisms behind this association by analysing subgroup-specific participation effects. Therefore, we analyse how specific programme features, the quality of interactions with welfare officials, and participants’ evaluations of the programme are related to their subjective integration. The analysis is based on the German panel study ‘Labour Market and Social Security’. Results from random-effects, fixed-effects, and hybrid random-effects regression models do not indicate a general positive participation effect, but point to some conditions under which the programme can be beneficial. First, One-Euro-Jobs bearing greater similarity to regular jobs in terms of working hours and duration imply stronger participation effects. Second, the quality of social interactions at the local unemployment agencies matters: participants benefit more from One-Euro-Jobs in case they feel well supported. Third, participants are more likely to experience an enhancement of subjective integration if they perceive participation as voluntary and beneficial in social and financial terms.
Article
We analyze the relationship between early-career unemployment and prime-age earnings with German administrative linked employer-employee data. The careers of about 720,000 male apprenticeship graduates from the cohorts of 1978 to 1980 are followed over 24 years. On average, early-career unemployment has substantial negative effects on earnings accumulated later in life. An identification strategy based on plant closure of the training firm at the time of graduation suggests that the revealed correlation is not the result of unobserved heterogeneity. Scarring effects also vary considerably across the earnings distribution. Workers with a high earnings potential are able to offset consequences of early-career unemployment to a large extent. Workers who are located at the bottom of the prime-age earnings distribution, in contrast, suffer substantial and persistent losses. Our findings imply that a policy with the aim of preventing early-career unemployment would have long-lasting beneficial effects on future earnings.
Article
We analyze the relationship between early-career unemployment and prime-age earnings with German administrative linked employer-employee data. The careers of about 720,000 male apprenticeship graduates from the cohorts of 1978 to 1980 are followed over 24 years. On average, early-career unemployment has substantial negative effects on earnings accumulated later in life. An identification strategy based on plant closure of the training firm at the time of graduation suggests that the revealed correlation is not the result of unobserved heterogeneity. Scarring effects also vary considerably across the earnings distribution. Workers with a high earnings potential are able to offset consequences of early-career unemployment to a large extent. Workers who are located at the bottom of the prime-age earnings distribution, in contrast, suffer substantial and persistent losses. Our findings imply that a policy with the aim of preventing early-career unemployment would have long-lasting beneficial effects on future earnings.
Article
Does economic adversity affect whether people vote? Data from the November 1974 Current Population Survey are used to estimate the effect that unemployment, poverty, and a decline in financial well-being have on voter turnout. Each economic problem suppresses participation. These individual level findings are corroborated with aggregate time-series data from presidential and midterm elections since 1896. When a person suffers economic adversity his scarce resources are spent holding body and soul together, not on remote concerns like politics. Economic problems both increase the opportunity costs of political participation and reduce a person's capacity to attend to politics.
Article
Job loss is an involuntary disruptive life event with a far-reaching impact on workers' life trajectories. Its incidence among growing segments of the workforce, alongside the recent era of severe economic upheaval, has increased attention to the effects of job loss and unemployment. As a relatively exogenous labor market shock, the study of displacement enables robust estimates of associations between socioeconomic circumstances and life outcomes. Research suggests that displacement is associated with subsequent unemployment, long-term earnings losses, and lower job quality; declines in psychological and physical well-being; loss of psychosocial assets; social withdrawal; family disruption; and lower levels of children's attainment and well-being. While reemployment mitigates some of the negative effects of job loss, it does not eliminate them. Contexts of widespread unemployment, although associated with larger economic losses, lessen the social-psychological impact of job loss. Future research should attend more fully to how the economic and social-psychological effects of displacement intersect and extend beyond displaced workers themselves.
Article
How does labour market disadvantage translate into political behaviour? Bringing together the literatures on political alienation, redistribution preferences and insider-outsider politics, we identify three mechanisms by which labour market disadvantages influence voting behaviour. Disadvantages can increase support for redistribution, reduce internal political efficacy or lower external political efficacy. This translates into support for pro-redistribution parties, vote abstention or support for protest parties. Using the Dutch LISS survey, we observe a twin effect of increased support for redistribution and decreased external efficacy. Mediated through redistributive preferences, we find a positive effect of labour market disadvantage on voting for left parties. Mediated through external efficacy we find a positive effect of labour market disadvantage on protest voting. In contrast, we do not find any effect of labour market disadvantage on internal efficacy. Hence, the observed effect of labour market disadvantage on political abstention is entirely mediated by external efficacy.
Article
This article examines the democracy–bureaucracy nexus by addressing the role of public administration in sustaining citizen satisfaction with democracy. Employing cross-national data across 35 countries, the multi-level analysis enables investigation at both the individual and the country level. With respect to the former, the findings indicate that citizens’ evaluation of public administration is related more strongly to their satisfaction with democracy than other explanations – such as political trust, electoral fairness, and political efficacy. With respect to the latter, they demonstrate that public administration quality is related to satisfaction with democracy to a degree similar to other macro-level factors – such as the level of democracy, political trust, and human development in a country. The results are discussed in the framework of the debate regarding the democracy–bureaucracy nexus. Points for practitioners This article points to the central role of public administration in sustaining citizen support of democracy. The analysis demonstrates that the image of public service correlated strongly with satisfaction with democracy and that public administration quality appears to be correlated positively with satisfaction with democracy to a degree comparable with alternative explanations. The implications for professionals working in public management and administration is that despite the ongoing castigating of the public service by politicians and pundits, its relevance for the democratic satisfaction of citizens should not be overlooked.
Article
The growing concern about economic inequality leads to a similar concern about political inequality. This article explores the seeming contradiction between the literature pointing to inequality in political representation in the United States and the literature showing that public policy does tend to represent public opinion in general. Low-income voters are much less likely to vote or to be politically knowledgeable than high-income voters, which limits their influence and creates an upper-income bias to effective public opinion. Considerable research suggests that low-income voters' opinions count for even less than would be implied by their low participation rate, a matter that should continue to be the subject of research. Seemingly contrary to any upper-income bias to policy making, major legislation usually moves policy in the direction favored by low-income voters (e.g., redistribution, government programs). Upper-income voters and interest groups, however, are able to slow the pace of liberal change.
Article
The past 20 years have witnessed a shift to work-based welfare conditionality within the advanced welfare states, as access to social benefits are increasingly predicated on individuals agreeing to behavioral conditions related to participation in the labor market. Existing literature on the political consequences of this shift offers contradictory expectations. While new paternalists claim that it should increase political participation among benefit recipients, others argue that it has a depressive effect. The majority of existing studies rely on cross-sectional analyses, which leaves them open to charges of selection bias. Utilizing multiple longitudinal research designs, this article finds that conditionality has a depressive effect on patterns of democratic engagement. Welfare conditionality reduces political and civic participation, political interest and efficacy, and personal efficacy. In disaggregating conditionality’s effects across two client groups, the article finds largely positive effects among recipients of the contributory disability benefit but negative effects among means-tested recipients of the lone parent benefit.
Article
The 2008 presidential election saw the highest voter turnout in over a generation. This elevated level of electoral participation took place at a time when the country was in the midst of deep economic recession. Despite the timeliness and theoretical importance of this question, the scholarly literature has surprisingly little to say about whether the economy affects turnout. We tackle this question with a comprehensive empirical strategy that focuses on unemployment. Using a variety of data sources and statistical models, we explore the effects of unemployment on voter turnout both longitudinally and at multiple level of analysis: state, county, and individual. In every case – regardless of the unit of analysis and the level at which unemployment is measured – we find a positive effect on voter turnout. In both standard regression and difference-in-difference models, we show that increases in unemployment increase voter participation. We also elucidate the interaction between unemployment rates and personal experiences with unemployment.
Article
Exploiting retrospective data from the SHARELIFE project, we investigate long-term associations between early and later life unemployment spells of at least six months in a sample of more than 13,000 men and women from eleven European countries. Our findings provide, first, evidence for significant differences in the life-course pattern of unemployment occurrence between welfare state regimes. Second, childhood conditions are shown to bear significant associations with the odds of experiencing periods of unemployment throughout one's employment career. Third, and finally, our analysis confirms previous research in that we provide clear evidence for long-term scarring effects, showing that they are indeed permanent ones, as we observe them even among older workers close to retirement. The paper concludes with a discussion of perspectives for future research.
Article
In the era of activation, which is characterized by the decentralization and individualization of social services, welfare caseworkers play an increasingly important role in shaping the policy outcomes of the welfare state. In this article, it is argued that to theoretically accommodate the complex institutional and systemic environments in which today's caseworkers operate, the street-level bureaucracy approach introduced by Lipsky should be married with institutionalist theory, thereby laying the groundwork for a micro-institutionalist theory of policy implementation.
Article
This article surveys the policy feedback framework developed in political science and clarifies its implications for public administration. A feedback perspective encourages us to ask how policy implementation transforms the webs of political relations that constitute governance. Administrators play a key role in shaping the political conditions of bureaucratic performance and the organization of power in the broader polity. At the same time, this perspective underscores that policies are more than just objects of administrative action. Policies are political forces in their own right that can alter key components of administration, including phenomena such as organizational capacity, structures, routines, authorities, motivations and cultures. These sorts of administrative themes have received little attention in policy feedback research, just as the political effects of policies have been overlooked in public administration studies. Bridging these perspectives offers a basis for exciting new agendas and advances in public administration research.
Article
This article fills a gap in the existing literature by investigating how public employment service (PES) staff actually deal with their clients under a continental regime of activation. The results reported here are based on interviews both with PES staff and their unemployed clients in Germany. We argue that due to its Bismarckian origins as an insurance-based system of ‘unemployment protection’, Germany's system of unemployment compensation is attractive not only for the marginalized, but also for core workers. As a result, PES staff deal with clients from very heterogeneous class backgrounds. We demonstrate that social class is a significant factor in client outcomes, and that earlier research has perhaps overemphasized the role of frontline staff as ‘street-level bureaucrats’. While staff do have considerable power, the result of the encounters between the administration and clients also depends on the capabilities of the clients, which, in turn, are strongly related to social class.
Article
It is well known that individuals who voted for the winning party in an election tend to be more satisfied with democracy than those who did not. However, many winners deviate from their first choice when voting. It is argued in this article that the mechanisms that engender satisfaction operate less forcefully among such winners, thereby lessening the impact of victory on satisfaction. Results show that the gap in satisfaction over electoral losers among these ‘non-optimal winners’ is, in fact, much smaller than that of ‘optimal winners’, who voted in line with their expressed preferences. A win matters more for those who have a bigger stake in victory. The article further explores how the effect of optimal victory on satisfaction varies across electoral systems.