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Importing Workfare: Policy Transfer of Social and Labour Market Policies from the USA to Britain under New Labour
Author(s) -
Daguerre Anne
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9515.2004.00375.x
Subject(s) - workfare , welfare , economics , labour economics , active labour market policies , unemployment , government (linguistics) , social policy , welfare state , politics , policy transfer , european social model , social welfare , welfare reform , market economy , political science , public administration , economic growth , law , linguistics , philosophy
Britain's New Labour government has put welfare reform at the top of its political agenda. It has followed a radical “workfare” agenda in relation to labour and social market policies and no longer aims to secure full employment mainly through direct job creation or Keynesian demand management. Instead, it promotes equal opportunity for all based on a contract between benefits claimants and the employment service. The New Deal is at the heart of British activation programmes for the unemployed. American policy paradigms have influenced the design of the New Deal. Policy transfer in activation policies from the USA to Britain is due to institutional similarities in British and American welfare states on the one hand, and to the comparable structure of their labour markets on the other hand. The influence of the European social model on British labour market policies thus remains limited.