Work and labour markets

Policy makers across the world confront issues relating to lone parents and employment, with many governments seeking to increase the participation of lone parents in the labour market. This book offers an analysis of policies and provisions in several countries, identifying policy lessons. Chapters are written by experts on lone parenthood.

Social marginalisation due to changing labour markets in a global, knowledge-intensive economy poses a major challenge to international welfare states. Addressing the problem from a citizenship perspective, this book contributes significantly to the understanding of policy problems and the development of appropriate strategies.

There is a growing recognition that people over the age of fifty experience discrimination in the labour market. This ground-breaking report provides new evidence that ageism and discrimination are also having devastating effects on the lives of people as young as forty, with a cost to the economy of up to £31 billion per year.

It is often argued that the regulated labour markets, relatively generous social protection and relative wage equality of European welfare states has become counter-productive in a globalised and knowledge-intensive economy. Using in-depth analysis of employment, welfare and citizenship in a range of European states, this book challenges this view.

Against a background of population ageing, policy makers in the majority of industrialised countries are developing policies aimed at extending working life and promoting the benefits of employing older workers. This report reviews developments in several countries and offers recommendations for public policy.

This report explores the possibilities of more flexible forms of work that bridge the gap between a steady career job and retirement. It examines such jobs in the wider context of the types of transition that are being made by people leaving work early.

Throughout the European Union, rates of unemployment among young people tend to be higher than among the general population and there is a serious risk of marginalisation and exclusion. This important new book presents the findings of the first comparative study of unemployed youth in Europe using a large and original data set.

With the increase in mothers' employment both the government and many employers are promoting flexible working policies to improve work-life 'balance'. This report considers the effects of these changes on the lives of both women and men. It examines three employment sectors in detail - banking, grocery retail and local authorities.

This report draws together the findings from 12 individual Joseph Rowntree Foundation research projects, published in the Transitions after 50 series.

This report looks at the role of finances in decisions about early moves out of work. Drawing on in-depth interviews with people who make an early retirement, it makes a distinctive contribution to understanding their experiences, looking at the importance of money alongside other influences, including health and domestic circumstances.

This book explores some of the diverse ways in which work helps to structure the relations between social policy and personal lives. Drawing on a wealth of theory, the authors explore questions that are central to our understanding of how the personal is not only shaped in and through work, but also contributes to social relations at work.

Any attempt by governments to stem the tide of early retirement will need to focus as much on employers' management of human resources as on the impacts of social policy. This report focuses on this previously neglected area: employers' policies and practice as a dynamic force in retirement decisions.