Incapacity to work in a European, comparative perspective: the influence of non-standard employment and labour market policies

该项目旨在调查欧洲各国“丧失工作能力”的发生率如何随时间变化。在此，无工作能力的定义是，尽管已到工作年龄，但由于一个人的身体或精神不符合劳动力市场对他的期望而不能就业的状态。研究首先假设社会经济和体制因素是属于这一类的个人的关键决定因素（以及个人特征和文化因素）。具体而言，该项目将设法了解两组结构性因素的影响：与工作质量和非标准就业广泛相关的不同劳动力市场特点;以及为被认为暂时无法工作的人提供收入保障并帮助他们融入劳动力市场的体制安排。我建议分析的“因变量”是就业和丧失工作能力之间的过渡-旨在阐明上述因素如何影响这些过渡的可能性，就业/非就业的持续时间，以及在一种状态和另一种状态之间过渡的群体的组成。研究设计依赖于对选定的欧洲国家进行比较分析;目前的建议是将联合王国、德国、西班牙和瑞典作为案例。这些案例是根据间接差异法逻辑广泛挑选的，以便在不同的特征之间进行三角测量，因为这些案例代表了两个主要解释变量-劳动力市场特征和与丧失能力有关的劳动力市场政策-的一系列特征。在对各国的劳动力市场和失业保障制度进行详细的描述性分析之后，使用欧洲的面板调查数据，推断这些因素在各国或各时期的差异对就业和丧失劳动能力之间的过渡特征的影响程度。本课题的研究课题是：1.非标准就业如何影响就业和丧失工作能力之间过渡的可能性和持续时间？2.各国对与丧失工作能力有关的劳动力市场政策采取的不同做法如何影响就业和丧失工作能力之间过渡的可能性和持续时间？预计这一项目将有助于社会学/社会政策领域内的若干学术研究领域：关于非标准就业及其在就业过渡中的作用的文献;关于有健康状况或残疾的人在非工业化劳动力市场中面临的不利处境的文献;以及围绕“新社会风险”背景下劳动力市场政策的不同方法的辩论。这项研究还将有助于政策的证据基础。它将提供经验证据，决策者可以用来回答这样的问题：“激活政策应该寻求鼓励工作无能力的个人进入所有形式的非标准就业，或只有那些具有可持续转型的特点？'; '我们能否期待工作福利循环与该群体的非标准就业一起增加？“;或”将丧失工作能力福利类别的范围收窄，是否符合对这类人士融入社会的期望？'.鉴于若干欧洲国家对丧失工作能力津贴申请人给予了极大的政策关注，并为这一群体制定了具体的积极劳动力市场方案（如英格兰和威尔士的“工作与健康”方案），这些调查结果将是一个相关和及时的贡献。

This project seeks to investigate how the incidence of 'incapacity to work' varies across European countries and over time. Incapacity to work is defined here as the state of not being in employment, despite being of working age, because a person's body or mind does not fit the expectations placed upon them by the labour market. The research starts with the assumption that socio-economic and institutional factors are key determinants (alongside individual characteristics and cultural factors) of individuals falling under this category. Specifically, the project will seek to understand the influence of two sets of structural factors: different labour market characteristics, broadly related to quality of work and non-standard employment; and institutional arrangements to both provide income security to those deemed temporarily incapable of working, and to help them integrate into the labour market. The 'dependent variable' I propose to analyse are transitions between employment and incapacity to work - aiming to shed light on how the aforementioned factors influence the likelihood of these transitions, the duration of spells of employment/non-employment, and the composition of the group transitioning between one status and the other. The research design relies on a comparative analysis of selected European countries; the current proposal is to include the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Sweden as cases. These cases have been selected broadly following an Indirect Method of Difference logic to triangulate between different characteristics, as these cases represent a range of characteristics with regards the two main explanatory variables - labour market characteristics and incapacity-related labour market policies. Following a detailed descriptive analysis of each country's labour market and unemployment protection system, I will use European panel survey data to infer the extent that differences in these factors across countries or over time have influenced the characteristics of transitions between employment and incapacity to work.The research questions that this project seeks to answer are:1. How does non-standard employment influence the likelihood and duration of transitions between employment and incapacity to work?2. How do different national approaches to incapacity-related labour market policies influence the likelihood and duration of transitions between employment and incapacity to work?It is expected that this project will contribute to several areas of academic study within Sociology/Social Policy: the literature on non-standard employment and its role in employment transitions; the literature regarding the disadvantages that people with health conditions or impairments face in relation to de-industrialising labour markets; and debates around different approaches to labour market policies in the context of 'new social risks'.This study will also contribute to the evidence base for policy. It will provide empirical evidence that policymakers can use to answer questions such as: 'should activation policies seek to encourage work incapacitated individuals into all forms of non-standard employment, or only those which have the characteristics associated with sustainable transitions?'; 'can we expect work-welfare cycling to increase alongside non-standard employment for this group?'; or 'is a narrowing down of the incapacity benefit category compatible with the increasing expectations of employment integration for this group?'. Given that there is a significant policy attention on incapacity benefit claimants across several European countries, with specific active labour market programmes emerging for this group (e.g. the 'Work and Health' programme in England and Wales), these findings will be a relevant and timely contribution.