The New Labour Project of Tony Blair in England and Mark Latham in Australia makes powerful claims for the innovative character of this politics. It's roots are in the Hawke/Keating Government, which melded neo-liberalism with a social democracy. This rationalised the provision of welfare (Centrelink and means testing and targeting) and regulated the activities of welfare recepients with an emphasis on waged work and a social justice concern to direct benefits towards those in greatest need.
This meant a shift in the management of unemployment from job creation schemes and employer incentives to education and training schemes. It was part of the shift by the state from occupying the commanding heights of the economy to investing in human capital in the context of the information revolution.
The central flaw in the welfare to work program is not the conception of citizenship behind it. The ethos of obligation, contribution and reciprocity means getting people back to work. This pathway makes a good deal of sense.
The problem lies in the consequences of getting the long-term unemployed back to work. The skilling level in terms of employability skills that would be required for this in an information economy is high. The cost of giving people the skills the appropriate skills to compete effectively in the job market is high and it depends on central and state government funding paid for out of taxation.
However, the government has a responsibility to ensure that work is available. Are there jobs for those equipped with the new skills. Does the state become the employer of the last resort? This is highly unlikely in a neo-liberal policy mode of governance. Will it be the funder of last resort? Again highly unlikely.
Is not the liberal state emphasizing contribution and reciprocity as a central condition of citizenship without being able to guarantee the jobs?
What is actually happening is that the state helps to give people the skills to take up economic opportunites and then relys on the market to supply such opportunities. Society is not keeping its side of the bargain because in many regions of Australia the market does not provide the economic opportunities.
So we have the social conservative shift to faith organizations and charities taking on a greater share of welfare provision. The social welfare functions performed by the social democratic state have been contracted out by church groups and private companies who, as part of the Job Network, now deal directly with the unemployed.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at December 4, 2003 04:44 PM | TrackBack