Postgraduate Course: Labour Market Policy: International and Comparative Perspectives (PGSP11304)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Labour market policies have been a fast growing sphere of state activity in developed countries in recent decades, and are being implemented increasingly widely throughout transition and emerging economies too. This course provides a thorough overview of these policy instruments and strategies that are deployed to protect particular working-age individuals from economic risks while supporting the efficient functioning of the labour market. Policies covered by the course include classic labour market interventions such as employment protection regulations, unemployment benefits and so-called active labour market policies, as well as newer instruments of labour market policy such as benefit conditionality, negative income taxes and reforms to public employment services. The course will focus in particular on the systematic comparison of policies across countries, the costs and benefits of alternative policy approaches and mixes, and the economic and political drivers of labour market policy development. Though the main focus is on developed/OECD countries, analytical and policy issues addressed are relevant for labour market policy across the world. |
| Course description |
Part 1: Concepts and Contexts
Labour Market Policy: Evaluation, Comparison, Understanding
Employment, Non-Employment and the State: Evolving Relationships
The Politics of Labour Market Policy
Part 2: Classical labour market policies
Unemployment and other out-of-work benefits
Active labour Market Policies
Employment Protection Legislation
Part 3: New Directions in Labour Market Policy
¿Making Work Pay¿
Activation: Conditionality and Personalisation
Reforming the Governance and Delivery of Labour Market Policy
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students will
- Have a thoroughgoing knowledge of the range policy instruments through which governments intervene to protect working-age individuals from economic risks
- Be able to systematically compare a range of labour market policies across national contexts, based on a critical awareness of the advantages and limitations of alternative policy indicators
- Be able to read, and engage critically with, the evidence from individual- and aggregate-level evaluations of labour market policy interventions
- Understand the socio-political and economic determinants of labour market policy variation and change
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Reading List
Auer, P. et al. (2005) Active Labour Market Policies Around the World; Coping with the Consequences of Globalisation, Geneva, ILO
Bonoli, G. (2015) The Origins of Active Social Policy: Labour market and childcare policies in a comparative perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Clasen, J. and Clegg, D. (eds.) (2011) Regulating the Risk of Unemployment: National Adaptations to Post-Industrial Labour Markets in Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Theodoropoulou, S. (ed.) (2018) Labour Market Policies in the Era of Pervasive Austerity, Bristol: Policy Press
Weishaupt, T. (2011) From the Manpower Revolution to the Activation Paradigm, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Exercises, group work and class discussions will enable students to develop transferable skills in working with publicly available macro-data, cooperative group work and the synthesis and presentation of policy evaluation evidence. One of the components of assessment (the 'Country Report') will enable students to develop their skills in the synthetic description and analysis of information for policy audiences. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Daniel Clegg
Tel:
Email: Daniel.Clegg@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Cath Thompson
Tel: (0131 6)51 3892
Email: cthomps7@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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