Confidence and Changes

by Pieters, Danny

• ISBN13: 9789041116819
• ISBN10: 9041116818
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Law Intl

Summary

The confidence of wage-earners, who depend on an administrative 'safety net' to protect them from loss of income, has virtually disappeared. Social exclusion and poverty have become inescapable threats For The average worker. It was to tackle this enormously important issue that the European Institute of Social Security (EISS), a leading multidisciplinary research group dedicated to exploring the frontiers of social security, met in June 2000 in Göteborg in Sweden. Twenty members of the Institute prepared papers for delivery at the conference, all of which are now printed in this book. These papers include discussion of such elements as the following: the shift in emphasis from compensation for loss of income to a more preventive approach based on income security; measures against social exclusion enacted by the European Union; the meaning of the term 'employability' as revealed in EU Member States' National Action Plans (NAPs); the growing pressure on beneficiaries to 'perform' rather than 'conform'; the interplay in international law between human rights and social security; labour market participation according to gender and educational level; labour market participation among families with young children; the promise of a 'federal' social security system in Europe; and objective standards vs. 'moral hazard' in labour market insurance. Various reform initiatives (including the controversial debate on private sector funding) are also covered, making Confidence and Changes the most wide-ranging and provocative book on the subject available today.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(4)
Danny Pieters
Dynamics of the Welfare State Regimes and Employability (A Study Based on the National Action Plans for Employment, 1998-2000)	5	(22)
Gilles Raveaud
Welfare States and Employment Policies	6	(4)
Guidelines and Employabilities	10	(6)
Dynamics of Employability Policies and Justice	16	(9)
Conclusion: Rights, Employability and Confidence	25	(2)
Activation Policies and Legal Safeguards: The Case of Finland	27	(18)
Paul Van Aerschot
Introduction	27	(1)
Legal Security	28	(4)
Activation Policies	32	(1)
Activation of Umemployed Jobseekers in Finland	33	(7)
Activation of Immigrants in Finland	40	(2)
Conclusions	42	(3)
Is There An Optimal Way Out of the Pension Crisis? An Investigation of Different Approaches	45	(34)
Jochen Jagob
Werner Sesselmeier
Introduction	45	(1)
Demographic Change as the Cause of Pension Reforms	46	(5)
Possibilities for Intra Pay-As-You-Go Reforms	51	(4)
Fully Funding Versus Pay-As-You-Go	55	(4)
Case Studies for a Pension Reform	59	(16)
Concluding Remarks	75	(4)
Human Rights and Social Exclusion: The New European Agenda	79	(26)
Gabriel Amitsis
Introduction	79	(1)
Social Exclusion as a Threat to the Enjoyment of Human Rights	80	(2)
Human Rights Instruments to Combat Social Exclusion	82	(9)
The New European Legal Framework on Human Rights and Social Exclusion	91	(4)
The Development of European Rights-Based Strategies to Combat Social Exclusion: Trends and Perspectives	95	(5)
Conclusions	100	(5)
Social Protection, Gender and Poverty Issues	105	(14)
Bea Cantillon
Joris Ghysels
Rudi Van Dam
Ninke Mussche
Introduction	105	(1)
Multi-Speed Emancipation	106	(2)
The Impact of Female Labour Market Participation on Poverty	108	(3)
Policy Conclusions: Female Labour Participation and Care	111	(8)
A New Crisis in European Populations. Do Modern Family Policies Help?	119	(24)
Siv Gustafsson
Eiko Kenjoh
Cecile Wetzels
Introduction	119	(1)
Is There a Crisis in European Populations?	120	(4)
Human Capital Investments and the Biological Clock	124	(2)
Can Public Policies Stop the Postponement Trend?	126	(3)
Patterns of Paid Work during the First Five Years of Maternity	129	(5)
Postponement of Maternity and Ultimate Childlessness	134	(3)
Conclusions	137	(6)
Managing Social Security for What?	143	(20)
Adrian Sinfield
Re-managing the Culture of the Social Security System	143	(6)
The Meaning of Social Security - An `Essentially Neglected Concept'?	149	(2)
The Objectives of Social Security Systems	151	(2)
Managing for Social Security	153	(3)
What Then Is To Be Done?	156	(7)
Reform of the Swedish Pension System	163	(16)
Tor Eriksen
Introduction	163	(1)
Background	164	(1)
General Service Pension	165	(2)
Policy Goal Formulation	167	(3)
Background Statistics	170	(3)
Reforms - Expansion and Contraction	173	(3)
Imbalances as an Argument for Retirement Reform	176	(1)
Reform	177	(1)
Conclusions	178	(1)
Social Protection: Public, Semi-Public or Private	179	(14)
Saskia Klosse
Introduction	179	(1)
Two Examples	180	(2)
The European Employment Strategy	182	(6)
Using Financial Incentives Originating in Private Law	188	(2)
Conclusions	190	(3)
From Unemployment to Labour Market Insurance	193	(12)
Jef Van Langendonck
The Basic Problems of Unemployment Insurance Schemes	193	(5)
Necessary Distinction between Three Types of Risk Situation	198	(1)
The Short Term Unemployed	199	(1)
The Medium Term Unemployed	200	(3)
The Long-Term Unemployed	203	(2)
Exporting a European Idea of Social Protection: The Fight Against `Competitive Flexibility' in the Globalised Economy	205	(10)
Edoardo Ales
Learning From the Past, Thinking to the Future: Towards a `Labour Market Integrated Social Protection System'	205	(3)
Modelling Social Protection: An EU Committment Against Social Dumping?	208	(3)
Preventing Internal Competitive Flexibility: The Enlargement Perspective	211	(1)
Globalisation, International Debt and External Competitive Flexibility: A Proposal	212	(3)
Confidence and the Question of Political Levels - Towards a Multilevel System of Social Security in Europe?	215	(22)
Alex Graser
Introduction: Social Security - A Promise without Promissor?	215	(3)
The Appropriate Political Level for Social Security	218	(7)
Cooperative Federalism and Social Security in the US	225	(7)
Cooperative Federalism as a Viable Option for the EU?	232	(5)
Social Security Reform and the Law	237	(14)
Eberhard Eichenhofer
Introduction	237	(1)
International Law	238	(6)
National Law	244	(5)
In What To Trust?	249	(1)
Confidence - How, if Protection is Not Provided for Now?	250	(1)
Social Workers, Their Approaches to Clients and the Credibility of Social Security Measures	251	(16)
Libor Musil
Dilemmas, Their Solutions, Confidence	252	(12)
Conclusions	264	(3)
Towards Social Protection: Lessons from a Comparative Perspective	267	(1)
Marius Olivier
Introduction	267	(2)
Towards Social Protection: A Theoretical Framework	269	(9)
The Existing Social Security Framework: An Overview	278	(2)
Labour Market Indicators	280	(1)
Exclusion and Marginalisation in South African Social Security	281	(8)
Salient Issues in South African Social Security: Lessons from a Comparative Perspective	289	(11)
Conclusions	300