6 - The Weakest Link? Job Quality and Active Labour Market Policy in the UK

Summary

Introduction

For many years the labour market model in the UK was bound up with a predominant concern with job quantity, but with considerably less attention to job quality (Lauder, 1999). Recently however, there has been a shift in policymaking towards a greater concern with the idea of ‘good work’. In active labour market policy (ALMP) the shift is most readily seen in a growing interest in labour market progression, and a process of policy searching for how employment services might support greater labour market mobility.

Within this context, this chapter explores ALMP approaches and practice in the UK alongside a wider national discourse about increasing good work. The chapter evaluates the extent to which ALMP is a weak link in seeking progress towards good work: firstly, as a result of the historically embedded nature of the employer engagement function within particular types of networks of employers with basic labour demand needs; and secondly how this has been supported by a work-first system in which jobseekers are encouraged, and can be mandated, to accept available opportunities. The argument is made that within this system there is only limited scope for public employment services to engage with a good work agenda, or to exert upward institutional pressure on job quality. However, the current context of labour and skills shortages offers ALMP an opportunity to capitalize on some upward pressures on job quality.

The chapter is structured as follows. The labour market context in the UK is described initially, followed by an appraisal of recent developments around the good work agenda and a discussion of the labour market trends which frame current opportunities. The following sections then provide a discussion of the evolution of ALMP in the UK, and the role of employer engagement within ALMP set against a changing policy context: but one in which work-first remains largely embedded. The final section provides a discussion of what this evidence suggests about the relationship between ALMP and job quality.

Context

Historically, the focus of employment policy in the UK has been on reducing unemployment. Hence, the quantity of jobs available has been a primary concern.