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Reconsidering ‘What Works’ in Welfare-to-Work with the Vulnerable Unemployed: The Potential of Relational Causality as an Alternative Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2019

Tanja Dall  and
Sophie Danneris
Tanja Dall
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University E-mail: dall@socsci.aau.dk
Sophie Danneris*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University E-mail: sophiedj@socsci.aau.dk
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Abstract

There is growing interest in research that informs more effective practices in employment services across Europe, Australia and the USA. However, despite the ever-expanding amount of research on the implementation and efficacy of various policy programmes in practice, the knowledge on how to bring unemployed individuals closer to the labour market remains ambiguous and inconclusive. This is especially so in the context of the more vulnerable unemployed, who face physical, mental and social challenges in addition to unemployment. In this article, we examine the existing literature in terms of its potential to inform (the development of) effective employment policies. On this basis, we outline an alternative approach based on the concept of relational causality, and discuss the implications of such an approach for applied policy research.

Keywords

Evidence based policyrelational causalitywelfare-to-workvulnerable unemployed
Type
Themed Section: Rethinking Welfare-to-Work for the Long-Term Unemployed
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , October 2019 , pp. 583 - 596
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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