The marketization of employment services : the dilemmas of Europe's work-first welfare state

Description

Across Europe, market mechanisms are spreading into areas where they did not exist before. In public administration, market governance is displacing other ways of coordinating public services. In social policy, the welfare state is retreating from its historic task of protecting citizens from the discipline of the market. In industrial relations, labor and management are negotiating with an eye to competitiveness, often against new non-union market players. What is marketization, and what are its effects? This book uses employment services in Denmark, Germany, and Great Britain as a window to explore the rise of market mechanisms. Based on more than 100 interviews with funders, managers, front-line workers, and others, the authors discuss the internal workings of these markets and the organizations that provide the services. This book gives readers new tools to analyse market competition and its effects. It provides a new conceptualization of the markets themselves, the dilemmas and tradeoffs that they generate, and the differing services and workplaces that result. It is aimed at students and researchers in the applied fields of social policy, public administration, and employment relations and has important implications for comparative political economy and welfare states. Content: Cover The Marketization of Employment Services: The Dilemmas of Europe's Work-First Welfare States Copyright Acknowledgments Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations 1: Introduction The Conceptual Background: the Political Economy of Welfare and Work What Is the Change in Markets that Matters? What Are the Consequences of Marketization? How Do These Dynamics Vary between and within Countries? Methods The Book and its Findings 2: Employment Services: Three Marketization Stories What Are Employment Services? Assessment and Sorting Advice and Guidance TrainingJob Placement Organizing Make-Work Schemes Combining and Governing Tasks Denmark Great Britain Germany Conclusion 3: Marketization and Transaction Modes Purchasers, Providers, and Clients Elements of the Transaction Choice of Provider Can Procurement Law Apply? Openness Frequency Prescription Prices The Diversity of Transactions Grants Vouchers Public Purchasing Conclusion Appendix A: Contracting by Danish Municipalities Appendix B: Contracting on Britain's Work Programme Appendix C: Vouchers and Contracting in Germany Competitive Tendering Training Vouchers Placement Vouchers4: Employment-Services Sectors under Resource Scarcity and Uncertainty Denmark Great Britain Germany: Funder Dominance Discussion 5: Employment Relations and Labor Process: Institutional Disorganization and Management Control Marketization and Employment in Public Services Denmark Voice Pay Determination Job Insecurity Performance Management Professions Interaction with Clients Great Britain Worker Voice Pay Determination Job Insecurity Professions Performance Management Interaction with Clients Germany Worker Voice Pay Determination Job Insecurity ProfessionsPerformance Management Interaction with Clients Comparison and Conclusion 6: Governance Implications: Dilemmas and Tradeoffs Price versus Quality Payment by Results versus Equal Access to Services User Choice versus User Compulsion Openness and Transparency versus Transaction Costs Insourcing as a Response to the Dilemmas Marketization as a Governance Problem Conclusion 7: Conclusion How Marketization Has Reshaped Employment Services What Is New Here? The Meaning of Marketization The Effects of Marketization on Services Similarities and Differences between the Three CountriesFuture Directions in Employment Services Broader Lessons on the Changing Role of Markets in Europe Bibliography Index