Adult Workers in Theory or Practice?
Lone Mothers’ Participation in Active Labour Market Programmes in Germany
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v7i2.89Abstract
This paper examines lone mothers’ participation in active labour market programmes in Germany. Since the 2005 Hartz IV employment and welfare policy reforms, expectations that non-em- ployed parents receiving means-tested benefits should be ready for employment or labour market programme participation have grown stronger. However, discretion for programme assignments is left to individual caseworkers. As a consequence, it is not clear to what extent the formal policy orientation towards an adult worker model of the family is reflected in practical policy implemen- tations. Thus, lone mothers’ participation in active labour market programmes is studied empiri- cally here on the basis of large-scale administrative data, using event-history analysis. Findings are that lone mothers are treated as adult workers with respect to workfare and training pro- grammes even when their children are still quite young. As soon as their youngest child is 3 - 5 years old, lone mothers’ transition rates into these programmes are as high as for childless single women. In the case of programmes that provide more direct pathways into regular employment, like job subsidies and in-firm training programmes, however, participation rates for lone mothers of young children are substantially lower than for childless single women.
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Trappe, H. (1995). Emanzipation oder Zwang? Frauen in Der DDR Zwischen Beruf, Familie und Sozialpolitik, Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Annesley, C. (2007). Lisbon and Social Europe: Towards a European ‘Adult Worker Model’ Welfare System. Journal of European Social Policy 17 (3): 195–205.
Bernhard, S., Gartner, H., & Stephan, G. (2008). Wage Subsidies for Needy Job-Seekers and their Effect on Individual Labour Market Outcomes after the German Reforms. IAB-Discussion Paper (21/2008).
Bruttel, O. & Sol, E. (2006). Work First as a European model? Evidence from Germany and the Netherlands. Policy & Politics 34 (1): 69–89.
Deutsches Jugendinstitut. (1998). Tageseinrichtungen für Kinder. Pluralisierung von Angeboten. Zahlenspiegel., München.
Dingeldey, I. (2007). Wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Wandel zwischen „Arbeitszwang“ und „Befähigung“. Berliner Journal für Soziologie 17 (2): 189–209.
Dorner, M., Heining, J., Jacobebbinghaus, P., & Seth, S. (2010). Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB) 1975 - 2008. FDZ Datenreport (01/2010).
Drasch, K. (2011). Zwischen familiärer Prägung und institutioneller Steuerung. Familienbedingte Erwerbsunterbrechungen von Frauen in Ost- und Westdeutschland und der DDR. in Berger, P. A. (ed.). Reproduktion von Ungleichheit durch Arbeit und Familie, Wiesbaden.
Eichhorst, W., Grienberger-Zingerle, M., & Konle-Seidl, R. (2010). Activating Labor Market and Social Policies in Germany: From Status Protection to Basic Income Support. German Policy Studies 6 (1): 65-106.
Francesconi, M. & van der Klaauw, W. (2007). The Socioeconomic Consequences of „In-Work“ Benefit Reform for British Lone Mothers. The Journal of Human Resources 21 (1): 1–31.
Geisler, E. & Kreyenfeld, M. (2011). Against All Odds: Fathers' Use of Parental Leave in Germany. Journal of European Social Policy 21 (1): 88–99.
Giddings, L., Dingeldey, I., & Ulbricht, S. (2004). The Commodification of Lone Mothers' Labor: a Comparison of US and German Policies. Feminist Economics 10 (2): 115–142.
Giullari, S. & Lewis, J. (2005). The Adult Worker Model Family, Gender Equality and Care. The Search for New Policy Principles, and the Possibilities and Problems of a Capabilities Approach. Social Policy and Development
Programme Paper (Number 19).
Henninger, A., Wimbauer, C., & Dombrowski, R. (2008). Demography as a Push toward Gender Equality? Current Reforms of German Family Policy. Social Politics 15 (3): 287–314.
Hohmeyer, K. & Wolff, J. (2010). Direct Job Creation Revisited. Is it Effective for Welfare Recipients and Does it Matter Whether Participants Receive a Wage? IAB-Discussion Paper (21/2010).
Hohmeyer, K. & Wolff, J. (2012). A Fistful of Euros: Is the German One-Euro Job Workfare Scheme Effective for Participants? International Journal of Social Welfare 21 (2): 174-185.
IZA, DIW, & infas. (2005). Evaluation der Maßnahmen zu Umsetzung der Vorschläge der Hartz-Kommission. Modul 1b. Bericht 2005 für das Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit 17/04.
Jacobi, L. & Kluve, J. (2007). Before and After the Hartz Reforms: The Performance of Active Labour Market Policy in Germany. Zeitschrift für Arbeitsmarktforschung 40 (1): 45 - 64.
Kennedy, S. (2010). Lone Parents and Jobseeker’s Allowance. House of Commons - Library.
Knijn, T. (2004). Challenges and Risks of Individualisation in the Netherlands. Social Policy & Society 3 (1): 57–65.
Knijn, T., Martin, C., & Millar, J. (2007). Activation as a Framework for Social Policies Towards Lone Parents: Is There a Continental Specificity? Social Policy & Administration 41 (6): 638–652.
Konietzka, D. & Kreyenfeld, M. (2005). Nichteheliche Mutterschaft und soziale Ungleichheit im familialistischen Wohlfahrtsstaat. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 57 (1): 32–61.
Kopf, E. (2012). Short Training for Welfare Recipients in Germany: Which Types Work? International Journal of Manpower. (forthcoming)
Kreyenfeld, M. & Geisler, E. (2006). Müttererwerbstätigkeit in Ost- und Westdeutschland. Zeitschrift für Familienforschung 18 (3): 333-360.
Kruppe, T. (2009). Bildungsgutscheine in der aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik. Sozialer Fortschritt (1): 9-19.
Lewis, J. (1992). Gender and the Development of Welfare Regimes. Journal of European Social Policy 2 (3): 159–173.
Lewis, J. (2001). The Decline of the Male Breadwinner Model: Implications for Work and Care. Social Politics 8 (2): 152–169.
Lewis, J., Knijn, T., Martin, C., & Ostner, I. (2008). Patterns of Development in Work/Family Reconciliation Policies for Parents in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK in the 2000s. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 15 (3): 261–286.
Lietzmann, T. (2011). Bedürftigkeit von Müttern. Dauer des Leistungsbezuges im SGB II und Ausstiegschancen. Zeitschrift für Sozialreform 57 (3): 339-364.
Lødemel, I. & Trickey, H. (eds.) (2000). 'An Offer You Can't Refuse'. Workfare in International Perspektive, Bristol: Policy Press.
Lower-Basch, E. & Greenberg, M. H. (2009). Single Mothers in the Era of Welfare Reform. in Bernhardt, A., Boushey, H., Dresser, L., & Tilly, C. (eds.), The Gloves-off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America’s Labor Market, Champaign, IL: Labor and Employment Relations Association, 163–190.
Mogstad, M. & Pronzato, C. (2008). Are lone mothers responsive to policy changes? The effects of a Norwegian workfare reform on earnings, education, and poverty. Statistics Norway, Research Department - Discussion Papers (533).
Orloff, A. S. (1993). Gender and the Social Rights of Citizenship: The Comparative Analysis of Gender Relations and Welfare States. American Sociological Review 58 (3): 303-328.
Pfau-Effinger, B. (2004). Socio-Historical Paths of the Male Breadwinner Model – An Explanation of Cross-National Differences. The British Journal of Sociology 55 (3): 377–399.
Pfau-Effinger, B. & Smidt, M. (2011). Differences in women's employment patterns and family policies: eastern and western Germany. Community, Work & Family 14 (2): 217-232.
Rosenfeld, R. A., Trappe, H., & Gornick, J. C. (2004). Gender and Work in Germany: Before and After Reunification. Annual Review of Sociology 30:103-124.
Sainsbury, D. (1993). Dual Welfare and Sex Segregation of Access to Social Benefits: Income Maintenance Policies in the UK, the US, the Netherlands and Sweden. Journal of Social Policy 22 (1): 69–98.
Scheuer, A. & Dittmann, J. (2007). Berufstätigkeit von Müttern bleibt kontrovers. Einstellungen zur Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie in Deutschland und Europa. Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren 28: 1-5.
Schratzenstaller, M. (2002). Familienpolitik - wozu und für wen? Die aktuelle familienpolitische Reformdebatte. WSI Mitteilungen 3.
Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland IVC/Statistik. (2011). Allgemein bildende Schulen in Ganztagsform in den Ländern in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Statistik 2005 bis 2009
Tabellenauszug - Berlin.
Statistics Department of the German Public Employment Service. (2010). Data-Warehouse,
Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder. (2010). Regionaldatenbank Deutschland,
Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) Kindertagesbetreuung regional. Wiesbaden.
Statistisches Bundesamt. (2004). Kindertagesbetreuung in Deutschland. Wiesbaden.
Statistisches Bundesamt. (2010). Alleinerziehende in Deutschland. Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus 2009. Wiesbaden.
Trappe, H. (1995). Emanzipation oder Zwang? Frauen in Der DDR Zwischen Beruf, Familie und Sozialpolitik, Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
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Published
2012-10-01
How to Cite
Zabel, C. (2012). Adult Workers in Theory or Practice? Lone Mothers’ Participation in Active Labour Market Programmes in Germany. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 7(2), 177–212. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v7i2.89
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