IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/admini/v67y2019i2p137-160n7.html

Public service integration in hard times: Merging unemployment benefit and labour market activation measures

Author

Listed:
  • Köppe Stephan

    (University College Dublin, Ireland)

  • MacCarthaigh Muiris

    (Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland)

Abstract

The creation of Intreo as a one-stop shop for jobseekers in Ireland occurred during the financial and sovereign debt crisis period of 2010–16. The organisational merger was the product of an extensive programme of successful administrative reorganisation and service integration that deserves attention. This article begins with an overview of the policy to merge insurance-based unemployment benefit, discretionary social welfare payments and labour market activation measures, as well as the various political and institutional rationales that led to this development. Drawing on the special issue framework concerning how the interaction of ideology, institutions and interests comes into play during policy change, we consider the contextual factors that facilitated the rapid implementation of the programme and its overall successful execution. Whilst focusing on the success, we also critically point out the inhibitors in the implementation chain, some of which predated the crisis, as well as problems during the implementation process, such as delays in the national rollout and back-office supports. We identify the main contributing factors for successful implementation of a one-stop shop for activation and unemployment services as (a) a high problem pressure, (b) a small and agile implementation team, (c) changing labour relations (e.g. binding arbitration, weakened unions) and (d) a modern communication strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Köppe Stephan & MacCarthaigh Muiris, 2019. "Public service integration in hard times: Merging unemployment benefit and labour market activation measures," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 67(2), pages 137-160, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:admini:v:67:y:2019:i:2:p:137-160:n:7
    DOI: 10.2478/admin-2019-0017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/admin-2019-0017
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/admin-2019-0017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kelly, Elish & McGuinness, Seamus & Redmond, Paul & Savage, Michael & Walsh, John R., 2019. "An initial evaluation of the effectiveness of Intreo activation reforms," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS81.
    2. John Martin, 2015. "Activation and active labour market policies in OECD countries: stylised facts and evidence on their effectiveness," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-29, December.
    3. Ruud Muffels & Ruud Luijkx, 2008. "Labour market mobility and employment security of male employees in Europe: `trade-off' or `flexicurity'?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(2), pages 221-242, June.
    4. David Grubb & Shruti Singh & Peter Tergeist, 2009. "Activation Policies in Ireland," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 75, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Enda Murphy & Julien Mercille, 2019. "(Re)making labour markets and economic crises: The case of Ireland," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(1), pages 22-38, March.
    2. Martin, John P., 2016. "Whither Activation Policies? Reflections for the Future," IZA Policy Papers 114, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Philip O’Connell, 2013. "Cautious adjustment in a context of economic collapse: The public sector in the Irish crises," Chapters, in: Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead (ed.), Public Sector Shock, chapter 9, pages 337-370, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Liotti, Giorgio, 2020. "Labour market flexibility, economic crisis and youth unemployment in Italy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 150-162.
    5. Jujea (Vijulie) Corina Lavinia, 2024. "Existing Labour Market Measures – Support Or Stigmatisation," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 5, pages 371-382, October.
    6. Claudio Lucifora & Daria Vigani, 2022. "What if your boss is a woman? Evidence on gender discrimination at the workplace," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 389-417, June.
    7. Chiara Gigliarano & Francesco Chelli, 2016. "Measuring inter-temporal intragenerational mobility: an application to the Italian labour market," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 89-102, January.
    8. Xavier ST‐DENIS, 2021. "The changing importance of lifetime jobs in the United Kingdom," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(2), pages 243-269, June.
    9. Whelan, Adele & McGuinness, Seamus & Barrett, Alan, 2021. "Review of International Approaches to Evaluating Rural and Community Development Investment and Supports," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS124.
    10. Diana Frasquilho & Margarida Gaspar Matos & Candace Currie & Fergus Neville & Ross Whitehead & Tânia Gaspar & JM Caldas de Almeida, 2017. "Young People Living with Unemployed Parents during a Labour Market-Crisis: How Do Portugal and Scotland Compare?," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(4), pages 1135-1144, December.
    11. Katerina Gousia & Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Thomas Middleton & Olena Nizalova, 2021. "The Impact of Unemployment and Non-Standard Forms of Employment on the Housing Autonomy of Young Adults," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(1), pages 157-177, February.
    12. Margarita Atanassova & Elka Dimitrova, 2018. "Active labor market policy in Bulgaria and participation of the population aged 25-64 in education and training," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 3, pages 3-18,19-32.
    13. Michael Gebel, 2013. "Is a Temporary Job Better than Unemployment?: A Cross-Country Comparison Based on British, German, and Swiss Panel Data," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 543, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    14. Christopher J. O’Leary & Burt S. Barnow & Karolien Lenaerts, 2020. "Lessons from the American federal‐state unemployment insurance system for a European unemployment benefits system," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(1), pages 3-34, January.
    15. Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos & Voucharas, Georgios, 2023. "Firm Closures and Labor Market Policies in Europe: Evidence from Retrospective Longitudinal Data," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1288, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Furdas, Marina & Sajons, Christoph, 2016. "End-of-year spending and the long-run employment effects of training programs for the unemployed," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 16/08, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    17. Fabian Dekker & Romke van der Veen, 2017. "Modern working life: A blurring of the boundaries between secondary and primary labour markets?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 38(2), pages 256-270, May.
    18. Alexander Spermann, 2015. "How to fight long-term unemployment: lessons from Germany," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Roberto Iacono, 2017. "Minimum income schemes in Europe: is there a trade-off with activation policies?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, December.
    20. Tadashi Morita & Yukiko Sawada & Kazuhiro Yamamoto, 2020. "Subsidy competition and imperfect labor markets," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(3), pages 698-728, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:admini:v:67:y:2019:i:2:p:137-160:n:7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.