A Paradox of Activation Strategies: Why Increasing Labour Market Participation among Single Mothers Failed to Bring Down Poverty Rates

Jaehrling, Karen; Kalina, Thorsten; Mesaros, Leila

doi:10.1093/sp/jxu017

Cited by 25 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Comparison of lone mothers' employment in Germany, France, the UK and Sweden shows that the proportion of economically inactive lone parents has declined almost everywhere, but lone parents are more likely to be unemployed than partnered mothers, the largest gap being in the UK and the smallest in Germany (Jaehrling et al 2015). The success of welfare-to-work policy depends largely on the effectiveness of policy implementation, context (familialist or maternalist states) and on the types of jobs available.…”

Section: The Relative Failure Of Activation Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Lone Parenthood Patterns: New Challenges for Policy and Research

Letablier

Wall

2017

Lone Parenthood in the Life Course

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Section: The Relative Failure Of Activation Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Lone Parenthood Patterns: New Challenges for Policy and Research

Letablier

Wall

2017

Lone Parenthood in the Life Course

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“…Those most likely to seek reform or individualisation of the QA from the perspective of gender equality fear that calls for reform, individualisation or modernisation may hasten a similar conditionality or sanctions-driven reform agenda as that being experienced by lone parents in Ireland and by partners internationally. Jaehrling et al (2014) and Keck and Saraceno (2013) argue that activating partners into low-paid part-time work fails to achieve positive outcomes for women or children. Up to 100,000 Irish partners already utilise income disregards to work part-time as flexible workers in low-paid, casual employment in catering, hospitality, health care and tourism and retail industries.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ode to an invisible woman: The story of qualified adults and partners in Ireland

Murphy

2016

Irish Journal of Sociology

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Ireland used the Great Recession as an opportunity to pursue controversial reforms to lone parent social security payments while ignoring a significantly larger group of Irish women, qualified adults, the partners of coupled social welfare claimants. A review of the international literature about partners and recent policy trends is used to contextualise previously unpublished qualitative data capturing the practical experience of Irish partners and recent policy trends in relation to Irish partners. Despite the significant crisis-related rise in numbers of working aged qualified adults in Ireland, we see strong policy inertia in relation to this largely invisible group. The barriers to and lack of urgency for reform can be explained by several factors including fear of political backlash, ambiguous cultural norms about women’s roles, and practical capacity or lack of resources. The present policy architecture offers clear patriarchical dividends for male partners, employers and the policy elite, all of whom benefit from and remain attached to the concept of and the practice of a modified form of wifely labour. Policy avoidance cannot continue indefinitely, as reform of family-based welfare payments is central to resolving key policy problems including high participation rates and addressing child poverty. Options are briefly explored.

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“…When lone parenthood occurs at an earlier age, individuals who did not complete formal education can be excluded from the labor market or may end up in low income jobs due to their lower qualifi cation and employability levels. Hence, very young lone mothers often fi nd themselves in a spiral of cumulative disadvantage that affects life domains beyond employment; this makes it even harder for them to subsequently improve their qualifi cation level (Jaehrling et al 2015).…”

Section: Individual Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lone Mothers' Employment Trajectories: A Longitudinal Mixed-method Study

Struffolino

Bernardi

Larenza

2020

CPoS

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Using a mixed-method design, this study explores the heterogeneity in employment trajectories before and after the transition to lone parenthood in Switzerland. First, we perform sequence and cluster analysis on data from the Swiss Household panel to identify typical employment trajectories around the transition to lone parenthood, and then estimate their association with individual and household characteristics (N=462). Finally, we contrast these results with findings from a content analysis of narrative interviews with lone mothers residing in Switzerland (N=38), focusing on values and norms concerning work and care. We identify five employment patterns characterized by either an increase in labor supply (especially for those with more/older children) or by stability in or outside the labor market (for highly educated or younger mothers respectively). The analyses of the interviews provide insights on how employment opportunities and decisions differ by entry mode into lone parenthood, the post-separation relationship with the children’s father, and the ability to mobilize individual, social and institutional resources. The heterogeneity of employment trajectories calls for more attention to within-group differences rather than focusing exclusively on the divide between lone and coupled mothers. By identifying the multiplicity of factors shaping lone mothers’ decisions on their labor market participation, this work feeds into the literature suggesting that effective policies encouraging lone mothers’ labor-market participation should consider: (i) their normative priorities when facing work and care trade-offs, and (ii) the availability of informal and formal support.

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A Paradox of Activation Strategies: Why Increasing Labour Market Participation among Single Mothers Failed to Bring Down Poverty Rates

Cited by 25 publications

References 8 publications

Changing Lone Parenthood Patterns: New Challenges for Policy and Research

Changing Lone Parenthood Patterns: New Challenges for Policy and Research

Ode to an invisible woman: The story of qualified adults and partners in Ireland

Lone Mothers' Employment Trajectories: A Longitudinal Mixed-method Study

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