Measuring employment readiness for hard-to-place individuals

In an era characterized by population aging and economic challenges in welfare states across the world, sustaining these welfare systems requires a large workforce. Many long-term unemployed individuals, receiving social assistance and only marginally attached to the labor market, aspire to work but encounter a labyrinth of obstacles. While various activation programs are available to unemployed individuals, their effectiveness in helping those who have been out of work for an extended period remains uncertain. Integrating these social assistance recipients into the labor market thus remains an unsolved challenge due to various disadvantages, including health-related, social, family, housing, and personal challenges that make it difficult for the group to establish a connection to the labor market. This study introduces the Employment Readiness Indicator Questionnaire (ERIQ), a tool designed to assess individuals’ progress toward employment and evaluate employment readiness among disadvantaged social assistance recipients. ERIQ demonstrates impressive predictive abilities and points towards actionable recommendations by identifying malleable traits, such as social skills, coping strategies, goal orientation, and self-efficacy, that are significantly associated with finding employment. ERIQ emerges as a valuable resource for policymakers and practitioners, advancing the goal of promoting labor market participation for disadvantaged individuals.