Rethinking the Welfare State: The prospects for ... - e-Library

Rethinking the selfare state 188
The ends of job-training and the rationales for government
intervention
The outlook, attitudes and psychological well-being of many members of society are
influenced both directly and indirectly by the state of the labour market. For those who
are unemployed, the state of the labour market, for obvious reasons, plays a constant and
direct role in their lives. For those who are employed, unemployment rates often
influence worries about job security, economic self-sufficiency, and the well-being of
family members. In times of extremely high unemployment, the measures taken to
improve the performance of the labour market are important for almost everyone’s sense
of hope, well-being and security.
The primary goals of labour market training programs and other forms of government
intervention are relatively uncontroversial—to increase labour market participation (i.e.
to induce discouraged workers to return to the labour market) and to increase
employment rates (i.e. to employ a higher percentage of the labour market). Morley
Gunderson has described the goals of labour market training in these terms:
[T]he objectives of government sponsored training [are] to increase
productivity and hence growth, to reduce unemployment, inflation and
income disparities, and to provide workers with better-paid, steadier and
more satisfying employment, and to provide business with skilled labour. 6
This basis for labour market policy is supplemented by two key ends of government
intervention: providing for a more equitable distribution of resources and building social
solidarity. Although redistribution can also be consistent with efficiency, equity can, and
we would argue should, stand alone as a fundamental principle of a liberal society. 7 The
aim of equitable redistribution in this case is humanitarian: “to assist the more
disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in society.” 8
Social solidarity is quite distinct from redistributive ends. There are few aspects of
modern life so central to social participation as employment. Meaningful occupation, in
all its various forms, has a long history in Western civilization and philosophy as a
fundamental source of the personal fulfillment and self-respect vital for civic
participation. Not surprisingly, taxpayers (viewed as participating citizens) prefer to
contribute to social programs which bring the unemployed back into the fold, so to
speak. 9 Welfare recipients (non-participants) also tend to prefer such programs, troubled
by the “stigma” that flows from dependency. 10 Moreover, labels like tax-paying
“participant” and unemployed “non-participant” often carry the taint of “fault,” an elusive
concept as Gunderson notes and one that undermines social solidarity.
While social solidarity and equitable distribution of income are not directly equivalent
to reduced unemployment rates, a reduction in unemployment is a de facto step forward
for both—and therefore ties together a comparatively neat package of government ends.
The widespread agreement on what labour market training programs should seek to do
makes analyzing and determining the optimal way of going about achieving the desired
ends less complicated than in contexts in which there are multifarious and sometimes