| 1. |
- Baranowska-Rataj, Anna, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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When things go wrong with you, it hurts me too : The effects of partner’s employment status on health in comparative perspective
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : Sage Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 31:2, s. 143-160
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effects of changes in employment status on health within couples have attracted increasing attention. This paper contributes to this emerging research by investigating whether the impact of a partner’s employment status on individual self-rated health varies systematically across countries with varying decommodification levels. We use longitudinal data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and hybrid models. We find that a change in an individual’s employment status may affect the health not just of the person who experiences this transition, but that of his or her partner. The likelihood that such a spillover will occur varies across countries with different decommodification levels. The negative effects of a partner’s employment status on self-rated health are observed when the generosity of welfare state support is limited. The moderating effects of financial support from the state are not very strong, though. They are not robust across all our models and do not extend to all the dimensions of the generosity of welfare state support.
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| 2. |
- Boräng, Frida, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Unions and the rights of migrants in the long run
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 30:5, s. 557-570
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use historical data on union density and new historical data on policies toward migrants to study the long-run relationship between the strength of trade unions and the social and economic rights of migrants in the Global North. In countries with strong trade unions, there was, for a long time, a widening distance between the rights of migrants and the rights of citizens, probably because the rights of citizens expanded sooner and more quickly than the rights of migrants. Over time, however, the differences between countries with strong and weak unions have diminished, and in more recent years, the 'rights gap' between citizens and migrants has in fact been smaller in countries with strong unions than in countries with weak unions.
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| 3. |
- Daly, Mary, et al.
(författare)
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COVID-19 and policies for care homes in the first wave of the pandemic in European welfare states : Too little, too late?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 32:1, s. 48-59
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines COVID-19 and residential care for older people during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, comparing a range of countries – Denmark, England, Germany, Italy and Spain – to identify the policy approaches taken to the virus in care homes and set these in institutional and policy context. Pandemic policies towards care homes are compared in terms of lockdown, testing and the supply of personal protective equipment. The comparative analysis shows a clear cross-national clustering: Denmark and Germany group together by virtue of the proactive approach adopted, whereas England, Italy and Spain had major weaknesses resulting in delayed and generally inadequate responses. The article goes on to show that these outcomes and country clustering are embedded in particular long-term care (LTC) policy systems. The factors that we highlight as especially important in differentiating the countries are the resourcing of the sector, the regulation of LTC and care homes, and the degree of vertical (and to a lesser extent horizontal) coordination in the sector and between it and the health sector.
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| 4. |
- de la Porte, Caroline, et al.
(författare)
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An examination of ‘instrumental resources’ in earmarked parental leave : The case of the work-life balance directive
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : Sage Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 33:5, s. 525-539
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines factors that could contribute to explaining variation in take-up of leave among fathers in the light of the EU’s Work–Life Balance Directive (WLBD). The WLBD seeks to equalize care responsibilities between fathers and mothers, especially through reserved leave, with high compensation. The article begins with a cross-country overview of take-up of leave among eligible fathers, considering earmarking and the degree of compensation. Our results show variation, which cannot fully be explained by policy design (presence of high compensation with reserved leave for fathers). The article then theorizes that instrumental resources – information and accessible administrative application procedures – could be a missing link to understand the actual shift from de jure to de facto social rights. The article then carries out embedded case studies on these two aspects of instrumental resources, using original qualitative data collected during the implementation of the WLBD. The most striking finding is that countries with similar formal implementation of earmarked paid parental leave, display significant differences in commitment to instrumental resources. Put differently, the WLBD is being implemented differently, not regarding formal social rights, but on instrumental resources. This finding is important because it means that EU-initiated legislation on parental leave, could lead to differences in outcomes, that is, take-up of leave among fathers. The implication of our findings is that decision-makers and policy actors at EU level and in member states, should focus more on instrumental resources in the implementation process. This is particularly important for enhancing the de facto legitimacy of the EU in social policy, given that EU social regulation is increasing via the European Pillar of Social Rights.
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| 5. |
- Emilsson, Kajsa
(författare)
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Attitudes towards welfare and environmental policies and concerns: A matter of self-interest, personal capability, or beyond?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; Ahead of print
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In times of emergent emphases on how climate change will affect welfare societies, welfare policies and individuals’ welfare and vice versa, this study investigates public support for welfare and environmental policies and concerns. Since previous research and literature have pointed towards a socioeconomic divide between the welfare agenda and the environmental agenda in terms of public support, this article makes a thorough socioeconomic analysis of public welfare and environmental attitudes. The article analyses data from an original study in the context of Sweden (n = 1529). Through multinomial logistic regression analysis this study investigates if and which socioeconomic factors increase the likelihood of expressing mutual support for welfare and environmental policies and concerns compared to expressing support for welfare or environmental policies and concerns in isolation, as well as no support at all. The results indicate that both low and high socioeconomic status factors increase the likelihood of expressing mutual welfare and environmental support. These factors are low - to middle-range income levels, high educational attainment and low - to high-status occupations. Accordingly, this study finds that individuals expressing mutual welfare and environmental support are less easily placed in the low to high socioeconomic continuum. This suggests thatwe need to go beyond the two established theoretical perspectives of self-interest and personal capabilities when explaining mutual welfare and environmental support and, for example, direct the attention to factors and theoretical points of departure that take post-materialism and non-economic dimensions into account.
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| 6. |
- Goossen, Mikael
(författare)
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The gender gap in welfare state attitudes in Europe : the role of unpaid labour and family policy
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : Sage Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 30:4, s. 452-466
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous research has shown a prevailing 'modern gender gap' in socio-political attitudes in advanced capitalist economies. While numerous studies have confirmed gender differences in attitudes toward the welfare state in Europe, few have addressed the reason for this rift in men's and women's views about the role of government in ensuring the general welfare of citizens. In this paper, I examine the relationship between gender equality in unpaid labour, family policy and the gender gap in welfare state attitudes. Based on data from 21 countries participating in the European Social Survey (ESS) round 4, and using a mix of country- and individual-level regression models and multilevel models, I find that there is a clear relationship between country-level gender equality in unpaid labour and gender differences in support of an encompassing welfare state. A more equal distribution of unpaid care and domestic work correlates with women being increasingly supportive of a large and encompassing welfare state, in comparison with men. This pattern holds when controlling for individual-level economic risk and resources, cultural factors such as trust and social values traditionally related to support of an encompassing welfare state, and beliefs about welfare state efficiency and consequences for society in general. This pattern is evident for countries with a low level of familistic policies, while no distinguishable pattern is discernible for highly familistic countries. These findings have implications for the perception of gender as an emergent social cleavage with respect to welfare state attitudes. The results are discussed in the light of institutional theories on policy feedback, familism, social role theory and previous findings relating to modernization theory and 'gender realignment'.
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| 7. |
- Gschwind, Lutz
(författare)
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When free choice turns into a pitfall : conditional social protection for immigrants in voluntary unemployment insurance systems
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 31:1, s. 3-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Unemployment insurance systems are designed to provide income security for those who drop out of work temporarily. This form of social protection is particularly relevant for foreign-born workers who are, on average, more likely to become unemployed during layoffs. The article explores how the social protection of immigrants differs in cases where payments are tied to voluntary rather than mandatory contributions. This is done by focusing on a recent welfare reform in Sweden which led to both a sharp increase in costs and a decline in benefit generosity overnight. It is argued that migrants lost their social protection at a disproportionate rate over the course of the reform. Both their status on the labour market and position as newcomers to the norms and rules of society are expected to impede on their decision to obtain or prolong insurance membership, leading to a decline in eligibility to income security. Difference-in-difference estimates with administrative data from all unemployment insurance funds show that the share of benefit recipients with earnings-related payments decreased at a higher rate among the foreign-born as expected, especially if they had arrived in the country only recently.
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| 8. |
- Mewes, Jan
(författare)
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Welfare-state selectivity, universality, and social trust in Europe, 2002–2019 : Bringing deservingness back in
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - 1461-7269. ; 34:1, s. 20-35
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social trust is a moral resource with a normatively highly desirable pay-off. Previous research argues that universal welfare state programmes ‘make’ social trust whereas means-testing programmes ‘break’ it. Despite its important implications for welfare-state design, comparative longitudinal evidence for this hypothesis is scarce. To test whether within-country changes in social trust are associated with within-country changes in total, means-tested, and non-means tested social protection expenditure, I thus merge country-year specific ESSPROS welfare spending data with cross-country survey data from 30 countries that participated in the 2002–2019 European Social Survey. Results from multilevel regression models show that neither within-country changes in total nor means-tested or non-means tested social protection expenditure predict social trust. Based on insights from the welfare deservingness literature, the second part of my analysis concentrates on welfare spending directed at two different life-course risks, with sickness representing a risk that the public widely considers to be ‘deserving’ of welfare support, and unemployment acting as an ‘undeserving’ risk. I find that, within countries over time, means-tested healthcare expenditures predict decreases in social trust, whereas non-means tested healthcare expenditure is associated with increasing social trust. My results thus lend support for the hypothesis that welfare-state selectivity and universality can contribute to the making and breaking of social trust, but only when interventions target life-course risks that the public considers ‘deserving’ of welfare state support.
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| 9. |
- Mussino, Eleonora, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Parental leave use among newly arrived immigrant mothers in Sweden : Causes and consequences
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 34:1, s. 85-100
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Immigration to Sweden is dominated by women and men of childbearing age, and many arrive with children. The labour-market integration of newly arrived mothers is of concern, and well directed social policy is crucial. Parental leave is based on residence, and until recently it was granted to all parents of foreign-born children of preschool age. This study uses population and social insurance registers to investigate whether newly arrived immigrant mothers use parental leave upon arrival, and whether use is an obstacle to future labour-market activity. Our results indicate that the majority of the newly arrived mothers do not take any parental leave, but also that there are great differences in uptake in relation to country of birth and reason for residence permit. However, there seem to be only marginal associations between parental leave use and subsequent labour-market attachment. Nevertheless, moderate use is associated with labour-market activity rather than being an obstacle to it. Our results contribute to the debate on the unintended effects of social policy on the integration of immigrants.
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| 10. |
- Nelson, Kenneth, et al.
(författare)
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Towards a new consolidated framework for analysing benefit coverage
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 31:3, s. 352-362
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The conceptualisation and measurement of benefit coverage is muddled with considerable confusion. In this forum contribution, we propose a new consolidated framework for the analysis of benefit coverage. Three sequential steps in measurement are suggested, involving the calculation of coverage rates, eligibility rates and take-up rates in social protection. Each step of the analysis focuses on particular aspects of programme legislation and implementation, and together the new framework will substantially improve the possibilities of research to inform policymaking. We provide an empirical illustration of our approach based on Swedish data, and highlight how our new consolidated framework for analysing benefit coverage provides a reorientation of the research agenda on benefit coverage.
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