Where Now for European Social Democracy? - Policy Network

ROGER LIDDLE 63make it an effective delivery vehicle for promoting greateropportunity. Paying out benefits is a relatively uncomplicatedbureaucratic function; devising personal plans for the individual longtermunemployed, that will assist their labour-market integration, ismuch more complex and requires some localisation of decision-makingto reflect differing local circumstances. Similarly, among the non-Nordic members of the EU15 who have no tradition of comprehensivechildcare, establishing coherence out of the present patchwork ofprovision is a huge challenge for Welfare State modernisation.Fifth, Lisbon’s central focus on the target of ‘more and better’ jobsis a unifying challenge for social democrats throughout the Union. Thisis of far more concern to our supporters than Constitutions or IGCs(important though rapid agreement on them is). The recent reportfrom the Employment Taskforce 8 under the distinguished chairmanshipof Wim Kok sets a comprehensive and challenging agenda of labourmarket reform.It is, of course, nonsense to say any job is better than no job:otherwise, we would still employ children as chimney sweeps. But, aslong as a decent minimum of social and employment standards is inplace, a low-paid job is better than no job. Low pay need not meanpoverty. Tax and benefits systems can be reformed to ensure the lowpaid are not trapped in poverty, through the type of tax credits thatGordon Brown has pioneered in the UK. Tax credits are not simplya smart policy innovation. They are a key ideological tool forsocial democrats if, as many believe, the economic returns to differenttypes of labour are becoming more divergent, and therefore incomeinequalities are likely to increase, as advanced economies movebeyond the mass production stage.Work is the foundation of opportunity. For many long-termunemployed, any job is a first step in re-integration to the labourmarket. The responsibility of social democrats is not to make the initialcost to the employer of providing that fresh opportunity prohibitivelyhigh through excess regulation. Rather we should ensure there aremore rungs in place on the ladder up which the newly reintegratedworker could potentially climb. But this requires giving real policysubstance to the mantra of ‘lifelong learning’ from which we are still