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Commentary: 'Work First': Workfare and the Regulation of Contingent Labour Markets

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  • Peck, Jamie
  • Theodore, Nikolas

Abstract

The paper presents a critical review of UK and US welfare-to-work strategies, stressing their implications for changing forms of labour regulation. The favoured policy orientation--"work first"--forcefully redistributes the risks and burdens of job-market instability from the state to unemployed individuals, the solution to whose "welfare dependency" is presented in terms of a one-way transition into (low) waged work. At a systemic level, the analysis suggests that a regressive regulatory accommodation may be emerging between mandatory welfare-to-work programming on the one hand and the lowest reaches of deregulated, "flexible" labour markets on the other, as the destabilisation of welfare via work-activation measures creates a forced labour supply for contingent jobs. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Peck, Jamie & Theodore, Nikolas, 2000. "Commentary: 'Work First': Workfare and the Regulation of Contingent Labour Markets," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 24(1), pages 119-138, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:24:y:2000:i:1:p:119-38
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    Cited by:

    1. Haddad, Lawrence James & Adato, Michelle, 2001. "How effectively do public works programs transfer benefits to the poor?," FCND discussion papers 108, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Herwig Immervoll & Stephen P. Jenkins & Sebastian Königs, 2015. "Are Recipients of Social Assistance 'Benefit Dependent'?: Concepts, Measurement and Results for Selected Countries," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 162, OECD Publishing.
    3. Karen Soldatic & Helen Meekosha, 2012. "The Place of Disgust: Disability, Class and Gender in Spaces of Workfare," Societies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Peichl, Andreas & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2012. "Accounting for labor demand effects in structural labor supply models," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 129-138.
    5. Jurgen Essletzbichler, 2003. "From Mass Production to Flexible Specialization: The Sectoral and Geographical Extent of Contract Work in US Manufacturing, 1963-1997," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(8), pages 753-771.
    6. Dina Bowman & Michael McGann & Helen Kimberley & Simon Biggs, 2017. "‘Rusty, invisible and threatening’: ageing, capital and employability," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(3), pages 465-482, June.
    7. Gary Slater, 2002. "The Poverty of Flexibility," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 243-251.
    8. Georgia van Toorn, 2021. "Neoliberalism’s friends, foes and fellow travellers: What can radical feminist and disability perspectives bring to the policy mobilities approach?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(4), pages 723-740, June.
    9. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Serrano-Padial, Ricardo, 2007. "Wage Growth Implications of Fixed-Term Employment: An Analysis by Contract Duration and Job Mobility," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 829-847, October.
    10. Anne Gray, 2002. "Jobseekers and Gatekeepers: the Role of the Private Employment Agency in the Placement of the Unemployed," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 16(4), pages 655-674, December.
    11. Holzner, Christian & Meier, Volker & Werding, Martin, 2010. "Workfare, monitoring, and efficiency wages," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 157-168, March.
    12. Julian Clarke, 2014. "Pre-employment training for the unemployed: A case study of a call centre foundation programme," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(1-2), pages 113-128, February.
    13. Maite Blázquez, 2009. "Earnings mobility in Spain: the role of job mobility and contractual arrangements," Spanish Economic Review, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 179-205, September.
    14. Daniel Perkins & Rosanna Scuttella, 2008. "Improving Employment Retention and Advancement of Low-Paid Workers," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 11(1), pages 97-114.
    15. Karen Soldatic & Kelly Somers & Kim Spurway & Georgia van Toorn, 2017. "Emplacing Indigeneity and rurality in neoliberal disability welfare reform: The lived experience of Aboriginal people with disabilities in the West Kimberley, Australia," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(10), pages 2342-2361, October.
    16. Holland, Brian, 2018. "Defining and Measuring Workforce Development in the United States in a Post-Bipartisan Era," GLO Discussion Paper Series 234, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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