Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective

Book excerpt: Social protection systems and labour markets have undergone major changes in the past two decades. Welfare states are being reformed, scaled back and modernised; labour markets, at the same time, are more precarious, more feminised, more unequal, and throughout the OECD area, older. The interaction between labour markets and social protection has become increasingly crucial to the social and economic policy mix concerning unemployment, the transformation of work, the new poverty, and even demographics. Against this background, an interdisciplinary team of leading labour market and social protection experts from various OECD countries examine the multifaceted aspects of the changing relationship between social protection systems and labour markets. They identify and analyse key emerging issues, such as the link between employment and social protection financing, the adaptation of social protection systems to women's career patterns, and the development of new forms of social protection that aim at promoting employment. With practical policy guides and recommendations using case studies and comparative chapters, this will be engaging reading for policy-makers, social actors and academics alike.