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The Impact of Welfare Conditionality on Experiences of Job Quality

Author

Listed:
  • Katy Jones

    (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)

  • Sharon Wright

    (University of Glasgow, UK)

  • Lisa Scullion

    (University of Salford, UK)

Abstract

This article contributes to emerging debates about how behavioural conditionality within welfare systems influences job quality. Drawing upon analysis of unique data from three waves of qualitative longitudinal interviews with 46 UK social security recipients (133 interviews), we establish that the impact of welfare conditionality is so substantial that it is no longer adequate to discuss job quality without reference to its interconnections to the welfare system. More specifically, we identify how conditionality drives welfare recipients’ experience of four core dimensions of job quality: disempowering and propelling claimants towards inadequate pay, insecurity and poor employment terms, undermining multiple intrinsic characteristics of work and creating what we term a new ‘Work–Life–Welfare balance’. Instead of acting as a neutral arbitrator between jobseekers and employers, the welfare system is exposed as complicit in reinforcing one-sided flexibility through one-sided conditionality, by emphasising intensive job-seeking, while leaving poor-quality work provided by employers unchecked.

Suggested Citation

  • Katy Jones & Sharon Wright & Lisa Scullion, 2024. "The Impact of Welfare Conditionality on Experiences of Job Quality," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(6), pages 1658-1679, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:38:y:2024:i:6:p:1658-1679
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170231219677
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Vanessa Beck & Tracey Warren & Clare Lyonette, 2025. "Is Any Job Better Than No Job? Utilising Jahoda’s Latent Deprivation Theory to Reconceptualise Underemployment," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 39(2), pages 404-425, April.
    2. Chris Warhurst & Angela Knox & Sally Wright, 2025. "Developing a Standard Measure of Job Quality," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 39(4), pages 927-948, August.

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