Description
Policy makers across the world are confronting issues relating to lone parents and employment, with many governments seeking to increase the participation of lone parents in the labour market. This book is based on an up-to-date analysis of provisions within particular countries, examining whether and how policies support and encourage employment, and drawing out policy lessons. The countries examined are the UK, USA, Australia, France, the Netherlands and Norway. Unlike other studies which have considered this issue, this book includes both country-specific chapters and makes thematic comparisons across countries. Chapters are written by leading experts on lone parenthood in each country. Lone parents, employment and social policy is essential reading for students in social policy, sociology, human geography, gender and women's studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners in the field of lone parents and employment. It will be of interest to those who want to know more about these policy developments but also to those interested in broader issues about gender and welfare states.
Chapter
LONE PARENTS, EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL POLICY
List of tables and figures
Foreword: Lone parents: the UK policy context
Eradication of child poverty
Across the means-testing Rubicon
1. Comparing employment policies for lone parents cross-nationally: an introduction
Examining policy and understanding implementation
2. Helping British lone parents get and keep paid work
The development of policy
Demographic and employment patterns
3. Welfare reform and lone mothers’ employment in the US
Helping families with childcare
Lessons from the US experience
4. Lone parents and employment in Australia
Employment patterns and trends
Orientations to work and changing work requirements
Labour market programmes for lone parents
Making work pay for lone parents
Childcare and long day care
Family-friendly employment
5. Lone parents and employment in Norway
Lone parents in Norway: numbers and circumstances
Mothers and employment in the 1990s: the end of ambiguity
Overcoming the obstacles: social networks and individual guidance
Paid employment and the meaning of life: attitudes among politicians, the public and lone parents
The 1998 reform: incentives and distribution effects
6. Does it work? Employment policies for lone parents in the Netherlands
Characteristics of lone parents
Employment patterns and policies
The introduction of welfare reform in the Netherlands
Labour market and activation programmes
7. Lone parents, employment and social policy in France: lessons from a family-friendly policy
Lone parenthood in France: facts and trends
Lone parents and employment
Resources and poverty rate
Main policy reform issues
8. Orientations to work and the issue of care
The paid work/unpaid work equation
The obligation to work and the obligation to care
Care: ethics and policies
9. The social, economic and demographic profile of lone parents
Demographics, economics and culture
Routes into lone parenthood
Age of lone parent and age/number of children
Geographical distribution
Education and social class
10. Work-related activity requirements and labour market programmes for lone parents
Activity requirements for lone parents
Labour market programmes: ‘outcomes’
11. Making work pay policies for lone parents
Recent developments in making work pay strategies in the six countries
Comparative analyses of the value of the tax/benefit package for lone parents in work and out of work
Comparative analyses of the relationship between replacement rates and employment rates for lone parents
Placing making work pay strategies in context
12. Lone mothers, employment and childcare
The education and employment histories of lone mothers
The objectives and quality of childcare
Childcare work and workers
Combining employment and parenthood
13. Supporting employment: emerging policy and practice
Policy lessons from other countries
Targeting different types of lone parent
Lone parents, employment and social policy
：Cross-national comparisons
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