Thomas Bredgaard

Quasi-Markets in Employment Policy: Do They Deliver on Promises?

This article focuses on the contracting-out of Public Employments Services. Quasi-markets promise to deliver more efficient, effective and de-bureaucratised employment services. By comparing experiences from Holland, Australia and Denmark we investigate whether quasi-markets deliver on promises. Quasi-market models have difficulties in living up to the preconditions for a well-functioning market and political expectations. Efficiency gains and cost-savings are still largely unknown. Instead it is clear that quasi-markets create a new type of employment policy, and new conditions for governing the labour market and employment policy. Clouded in the ‘technical’ language of improved efficiency and effectiveness, such changes are often neglected and depoliticised.

Implementing public employment policy: what happens when non‐public agencies take over?

Purpose – The purpose of the article is to analyse the interconnections between formal policy reforms and operational policies, specifically between new governance and employment policy. The main question is what happens to public employment policies when they are contracted out to non‐public (for‐profit and not‐for‐profit) agencies?Design/methodology/approach – The case is the contracting out of the public employment services in Australia, Holland, and Denmark. The data consists of in‐depth interviews with key respondents in the three countries, observations at service delivery agencies, and desk studies of existing research.Findings – The new quasi‐market models seem to have difficulties in living up to the preconditions for a well‐functioning market, as well as political expectations. Contracted out employment systems do not seem to create higher efficiency, innovation, quality, and less bureaucracy than previous public bureaucracies. But a quasi‐market model, on the other hand, does seems to create a ...

Flexicurity: in Pursuit of a Moving Target

Flexicurity – the contraction of flexibility and security – has in a short time become a political celebrity. In this article we trace back the genealogy of this celebrity. We begin by analysing the reasons behind the current celebration of flexicurity by the European Commission, and describe the European evolution of the concept. Then we take one step backwards and describe the conceptualisation and development of the Danish case of flexicurity, which is currently the most prominent real-life example of flexicurity in action. Our final step back in time takes us to the Dutch origins of the concept. With the near-universal celebration of flexicurity in both policy and academic circles there is a real risk of the concept becoming diluted, and eventually meaningless. In order to understand what flexicurity could and should mean we discuss various definitions of flexicurity, and arrive at a new understanding of flexicurity as an analytical concept. We suggest distinguishing between internal and external dimensions of flexibility and security, and arrive at two ideal models of either internal or external flexicurity. This distinction opens up for empirical enquiry combinations of flexibility and security that go beyond simple trade-offs and include virtuous and vicious circles between flexibility and security. The distinction also raises the issue of the difficulty in shifting from one balance of flexicurity towards another – and, thus, uncritically trying to imitate specific flexicurity examples.

When the Government Governs: Closing Compliance Gaps in Danish Employment Policies

Governance theory and research start from the assumption that in modern decision-making systems no formal control system can dictate the terms of the relationship between the plurality of interdependent actors and organizations (Chhotray & Stoker, 2010). In this article, we present the story of a government fixated on reasserting control in the age of governance. The government would not accept compliance gaps in policy implementation and deliberately redesigned the governance structure to achieve greater compliance and central control. The case is implementation of employment policies in Denmark. After reviewing the available evidence, we find that central decision makers have been successful in narrowing the former compliance gaps between policy objectives and local implementation. Although compliant implementation is not the same as effective or successful problem solving, the case shows that determined governments can succeed in reinforcing central democratic control over complex implementation processes.

Employers and Active Labour Market Policies:Typologies and Evidence

Among scholars and practitioners, there is a growing recognition of the important role of employers in the success of active labour market policies in Europe. However, there is a lack of systematic evidence about why and how employers engage in active labour market policies. In this article, the preferences and behaviour of employers towards active labour market policies are untangled. A typology of four types of employers is constructed for analytical and empirical analysis. By distinguishing positive and negative preferences from participation and non-participation, four types of employers are identified: the committed employer, the dismissive employer, the sceptical employer and the passive employer. The utility of the typology is tested with survey data on employer engagement in Danish ALMPs. The findings indicate that only a minority of Danish employers can be classified as ‘committed employers’, and the majority are either ‘dismissive’ or ‘passive’ employers. In the final section, this finding and the usefulness of the typology for analytical and empirical research is discussed.

Farewell flexicurity? Danish flexicurity and the crisis:

Before the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, flexicurity topped the European labour market and social policy agenda. It was acclaimed for combining the flexibility of liberal labour markets with the security of social welfare states, thereby offering a viable formula for success in the new global economy. Nowhere was this better exemplified than in Denmark, with the Danish system repeatedly highlighted as a good example of flexicurity in action. In this article, we revisit the flexicurity concept, assessing how the Danish labour market came through the crisis. We argue that the economic crisis and especially political reforms of the unemployment insurance system have challenged the institutional complementarities of flexicurity, but that the Danish labour market is recovering and adapting to new challenges. The Danish case illustrates that institutional complementarities between flexibility and security are fragile and liable to disintegrate if the institutions providing flexicurity are not maintained and supported.

Er der evidens for antagelserne i beskæftigelsesindsatsen for sygedagpengemodtagere

Det seneste arti er beskaeftigelsesindsatsen for sygedagpengemodtagere udvidet og intensiveret. Der er nu krav i lovgivningen om, at kommunerne skal ivaerksaette en aktiv, tidlig, tvaerfaglig og helhedsorienteret beskaeftigelsesindsats for at fa sygedagpengemodtagere i arbejde. Men i hvilken udstraekning er der forskningsmaessigt belaeg for antagelserne i sygedagpengeindsatsen? Det undersoges i denne artikel: dels ved at synliggore og systematisere antagelserne i sygedagpengelovgivningen, dels ved en gennemgang og evaluering af den nyeste danske og internationale litteratur pa omradet.