‘Unemployment Benefit II’ (Arbeitslosengeld II) is the newly created benefit in Germany for workless and needy people of working age who either lack or have exhausted entitlements in the contribution-based unemployment insurance system. This paper explores the effects of an ‘activating’ benefit regime on respondents with inferior health-related capacities by re-analysing data from a recent customer panel survey of this population of recipients. For one, the overall level of activation produced by the new system is differentiated with regard to the health status of the target population. Second, the effects of activation on two employment-related outcomes are estimated, taking health into account.

Paid work has traditionally been seen as a core element in the construction of masculine identities. Willis (1977) has, for example, linked working-class masculinity to shop floor culture. It is, however, clear that many communities cannot rely on the stable employment around which familiar models of working-class identity were forged. This paper examines how the male residents of a deprived former council estate in the north of England have responded to the loss of traditional employment opportunities. It is argued that paid informal work has become an important way for some working-class men to express their identity.

Employability initiatives are becoming increasingly popular in government discourse as a means of tackling worklessness. Here we discuss the findings of a small-scale, qualitative study which mapped the impacts of a multi-intervention programme on participants’ health, wellbeing and employability. Each of the 13 interventions was independently appraised through focus groups or semi-structured interviews. Thematic analyses revealed that participants from all interventions reported increased self-confidence, with several individuals suggesting that project involvement had facilitated their movement into the labour market. While the findings illustrate some positive outcomes, we argue that government policy needs to consider more carefully strategies that also address the demand side of the labour market.

The involvement of service users in the research process is becomingly increasingly required by many funders of research and is being seen as an indicator of quality in its own right. This paper provides original data from a study of social policy researchers’ views of service user involvement in research. It shows a diversity of stances which have been categorised here as belonging to Advocates, Agnostics and Adversaries of user involvement. The views of Agnostics and Adversaries pose serious challenges that need to be addressed if service user involvement is to be more widely accepted and valued by some researchers and academics in social policy.

In the past the House of Lords has generally, and arguably for good reasons, been ignored in discussions of the making and scrutiny of welfare. However, it has always played some role in this field, particularly in the scrutiny and passage of legislation, and since the removal of the bulk of hereditary Peers in 1999, some writers have argued that the House has become more assertive. This article examines the attitudes of Peers, including a comparison with the views of Members of Parliament, and draws a number of conclusions about the role of the upper House in relation to social policy.

Research over the last decade and more, has documented a resurgence of paid domestic and care labour (that is, work performed for pay in private households, such as household cleaning and maintenance and care for elders/disabled/children) across the Global North.1 Much of the research has revealed the increasing reliance on migrant, as opposed to home-state, domestic workers, and it has been suggested (Lutz, 2007: 4) that domestic and care work has contributed more than any other sector of the labour market to one of the key features of the ‘age of migration’ (Castles and Miller, 2009) – its feminisation. At the same time though, as Linton's (2002) research on immigrant-niche formation in the USA suggests, the availability of immigrants in itself, has probably contributed to the growth of the sector.

The phenomenon of migrant workers finding domestic and care work in the homes and institutions of countries wealthier than their own uncovers much about social change in the twenty-first century. First, it reveals the consequences of women taking on more responsibilities to earn income but without a significant rebalancing of their care responsibilities either with male partners or through state support. In the poorer regions of the world, unemployment, violence, poverty and aspirations for a better life push some women into emigrating to earn for their families. This also exposes an asymmetrical geopolitical solution to the so-called ‘care deficit’ pursued by richer states, accentuated by the demographics of ageing societies and restructured welfare regimes on the one side, and the care crises in the poorer regions on the other. The transnational movement of (mainly) women into care and domestic work, as well as nurses, pharmacists and doctors into health care saves social expenditure costs while intensifying the lack of care resources in the countries of origin of those migrant workers.

The role of migrant women as domestic and care workers is a main characteristic of the feminisation of migration to southern Europe. This article aims to understand how and why current patterns of female migration to Portugal are a key element, driving increased flows of domestic workers. The article focuses first on the path followed by Portugal in the fields of immigration, employment, welfare-state developments and care arrangements, and then presents results of a qualitative study on Brazilian immigrant women. Findings show that the new plurality of female migration trajectories is an important factor in explaining the rapid integration of immigrant women in the domestic sector. This does not mean, however, that a predominant ‘migrant in the family’ care model has emerged in Portugal. In contrast with other southern European countries, different policy perspectives and outcomes over the last three decades have made for a more diversified care model. National contexts in southern European countries must therefore be taken into account, since they provide particular conditions for the main forms and features of migrant domestic work.

This paper explores the increasing significance of domestic workers in Spain, a country that has the highest figures of registered household employees in the EU, many of them female migrant workers. The paper focuses on how the domestic sector has grown in recent years along with mass migration flows. The growth of the household sector in Spain is situated within the context of the welfare and migration regimes. The household sector in Spain is currently absorbing a large part of the demand for childcare and elderly care provision. Although the domestic sector in Spain is more regulated than in many other countries, greater efforts to formalise and improve the labour and employment rights of household employees are needed to counterbalance occupational segregation and social inequality.

In this article, we deal with contradictions and paradoxes of the German policies on migration and domestic care work. Although the demand for care workers in private homes is increasing, the German government has turned a blind eye to the topic of migrant care workers. As a result of the mismatch between demand and restrictive policies, a large sector of undeclared care work has come into being. This veritable ‘twilight zone’ can be coined an ‘open secret’ as it is the topic of extensive discussions among the populace and in the media. We will address various discrepancies in the debate on migrant domestic work in Germany by providing a view from multiple actors’ perspectives. Examining the intersections of gendered migration and care regimes, we assert that undeclared care migration is an integral part of German welfare state policies, which can be characterised as compliance and complicity.

The article discusses the welfare regime that emerged in Poland after the collapse of communism and the introduction of the market economy. It analyses policy in the sphere of child and elderly care, and household strategies related to care. It is argued that the care regime in Poland is a combination of the conservative and the social-democratic model. On the one hand, the state provides equal labour market access to women and men. On the other hand, publicly funded child and elder care is insufficient, resulting in a care deficit. The situation has created demand for domestic care workers, and while Polish women do such work, it is increasingly performed by migrant women, particularly from Ukraine. To summarise, the article argues how gender and care regimes in Poland boost the domestic work sector, where Ukrainian migrants play an important role, and how this development has contributed to changes in the Polish migration regime.

Research on the processes underpinning the contemporary growth in the commoditisation of domestic labour focuses on feminised areas of work, such as cleaning and care. Yet research examining trends in domestic outsourcing highlights how men's, as well as women's, household work is subject to increased commoditisation. Through a qualitative enquiry of households which outsource stereotypically male domestic chores – essentially, household and garden repair and maintenance – and men who do such work for pay, we seek to understand the processes underpinning its outsourcing. In doing so, we adopt a framework which treats the paid domestic-work sector as a critical nexus at which gendered care and migration regimes intersect. The focus on male domestic chores, however, requires that we broaden that framework in ways which can more fully illuminate men's positions within it.

The following section provides a guide to sources on a range of topics related to the theme of migrant domestic and care work. This includes sources for information on migration trends and policies, on welfare states regimes, particularly their care dimensions, on labour laws, on demographic trends and on gender equality. The focus of the guide is largely on international sources of information, since the individual articles will have references to sources related to specific countries, and, while the latter may not be in English, the international sources will be.