From Employment Policy to the Fight Against Poverty: the New Path for Social Investment States?
Description:
Since the "Axworthy Social Security Review", in 1993, the way the Canadian welfare state is dealing with unemployment has radically changed. Beyond retrenchment, which brought in a more stringent unemployment insurance program and lowered the participation rate in many provincial assistance programs, it is the whole philosophy of state intervention regarding unemployment that has changed. Aside from federal discourses emphasing the autonomy of workers, self-education, innovation and life-long learning, we are witnessing a transformation of employment policies towards a very limited range of aims. Long-term training has been replaced by short-term measures, targeting more the movement of people across the boundary between unemployment and work than the development of skills. New in-work benefits supporting low paid jobs help to alleviate workers’ poverty but have no impact on improving employment. Finally, more and more policies are designed to facilitate (or require) women to work, regardless of working conditions. Employment policy has come to be viewed mainly in the context of reducing poverty rates. [abstract]
Type of Resource:
Government Document
Publication Date:
2003
Location:
Ottawa