Speaking of: : Unemployment

Rules on job security in the industrialized world have tended to converge. In Japan and the United States, where laws place few explicit obstacles to the dismissal of workers, there has been movement in the courts and elsewhere to establish practices to protect workers. In Europe, on the other hand, rigid laws against dismissals have been relaxed.

Who Does What for the Unemployment?

“Passive labor market support, such as unemployment benefits and early retirement pensions, predominate among government programs.

Of 28 million people unemployed in member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 1988-89, close to 8 million entered various types of programs aiming to place them in existing jobs.

Training the Jobless: Where the Money Goes

New technology, trade liberalization, refrom of formerly planned economies--all promise economic growth and more jobs during the 1990s. Although there’s good reason to hope for lower unemployment, many current jobs will disappear and the ones that replace them will require more skills and greater adaptability. For governments, policies that focus only on income support for the unemployed won’t be enough, it is argued. More emphasis is needed on placement, counseling, training and vocational rehabilitation.

Only a few countries, such as Sweden, spend more on “active” measures that encourage job search, training and work motivation. Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Swedes all maintain relatively large programs of special work projects for the unemployed, although many other countries drastically reduced such efforts during the 1980s.