Unsocial Europe

How and why are European welfare systems and the labour market changing? How do they affect the daily lives of those facing unemployment or precarious work?

Anne Gray shows how the idea of unemployment benefits as a right is evolving into a regime closer to American 'workfare'. She explains how this policy forces the unemployed into low paid, temporary or part-time jobs associated with the new 'flexible' labour market. Drawing on unemployed people's own accounts of their experiences - in the UK, Germany, France and Belgium - Gray illustrates the job market as seen from the dole queue. Exploring the changing nature of work in Europe, Gray reveals why is there a shortage of full-time permanent jobs, what is to be done, and what the future holds for labour market regulation in Europe.

Providing clear explanations about shifts in welfare policy, this book is ideal for trade unionists, activists and students, and makes an important contribution to wider debates on globalisation and the future of work.

Auteur

Anne Gray is a Senior Research Fellow in the Families and Social Capital Research Group at London's South Bank University. In 2002 she completed a three year research project on benefits and welfare to work schemes in the European Union. A researcher in the field of labour market policy since the late 1980s, her writing has included a number of academic papers and popular pamphlets on labour issues, developing critical responses to workfare and casualisation.

Contenu

1. Introduction
   
   2. The Welfare State And The Unwaged: Past, Present And Future
   3. Globalisation, Welfare And Labour
   4. The Role Of The European Union
   5. Benefits Enforcing Work
   6. Flexploitation And The Unemployed
   7. Labour Market Deregulation: Debates And Struggles
   8. The Drift Towards Workfare In Europe
   9. Conclusion: Alternatives To Workfare And Flexploitation
      Glossary
      Web Sites
      Bibliography
      Index