1. Human happiness is more affected by whether or not one has a job than by what kindof job it is.2. Thus, when jobs are to hand, we should insist that unemployed people take them. Thisinvolves a much more pro-active placement service and clearer conditionality thanapplies in many countries.3. But we should also guarantee unemployed people work within a year of becomingunemployed. In this way we put a reciprocal obligation on the state (to produce work)and on the individual (to take it). Such a guarantee requires a well- judged mix ofsubsidies, supported work, and training.4. Where there is low pay, the correct response is in-work benefits, together with a longtermstrategy to reduce low skill.
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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number
op19.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Di Tella, R. & MacCulloch, R.J.: Oswald, A.J., 1997.
"The Macroeconomics of Happiness,"
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19, Centre for Economic Performance & Institute of Economics.
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