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Employment Research Employment Research InstituteInstitute
1
Employability and
Disadvantaged Parents: the Case of Working for Families
Ronald McQuaid, Vanesa Fuertes, Sue Bond
Employment Research Institute,
Napier University, Edinburgh UK
Paper presented at the ERSA Conference, Liverpool
August - September 2008
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Structure of the presentation
• Background of Working for Families Fund (WFF)
• Aims of WFF
• Delivery Model
• Methodology for the evaluation
• Results
• Conclusions
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Background - policy issues• “Closing the Opportunity Gap” – eliminating child
poverty by 2020
• 23% of Scottish children in poor households (UK ranked 22nd of EU25 on child poverty in 2005)
• Link between worklessness and poverty (lone parents especially vulnerable to worklessness)
• UK: aim of 70% lone parents in work (57% in 2005); high levels of general employment (72% in 2005)
• 1998 – National Childcare Strategy
• Childcare: access and cost key barriers to work
• Childcare Subsidy
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‘Holistic’ approaches to employability
Scottish Government definition of employability:
• “The combination of factors and processes which enable people to progress towards employment, stay in employment, and ‘move on’ in the workplace”.
McQuaid and Lindsay (2005): Employability defined by:
• Individual factors – literacy, health, skills, confidence
• Personal circumstances – caring roles, household circumstances (‘chaotic lifestyle’), debt, social capital
• External factors – jobs, transport, benefits, services
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Approach of WFF• Key worker model – a single worker contact to
engage and support parents through providing and signposting mentoring, advice, counselling, etc.
• Help both inactive and those in work (breaking the low pay-no pay cycle)
• In rural areas, support also provided to combat the barriers created by poor transport, limited services and the lack of a critical mass of clients
• Referral by various means: Public Employment Service and other agencies, informal reputation-building and ‘word of mouth’
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Numbers of New Clients Registered by Month to 31 December 2008Total: 25,508 clients
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Total Phase 1 LAs Phase 2 LAs
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Type of Qualification of Clients Registered to 31 March 2008 (%) compared to Scotland (Census 2001)
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
No Qualifications/ below SVQ1
SVQ1-2 or equiv
SVQ3 or equiv
SVQ4-5 or equiv
Other
WFF
Scotland
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Barriers to Progression for sustained contact WFF Clients to 31 March 07
68.80%
75.10%
35.50%
44.70%
1%
6.30%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Opportunitiesand Skills
CaringResponsibilities
Transport Other Issues None Missing
Barriers to Progression
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TYPES OF OUTCOMES
Outcomes
‘Hard’ Outcomes(Key Transition)
‘Soft’ Outcomes
IntermediateActivities
Employability Measures
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Take up a Job offer
1% (71)
SelfEmploy2% (115)
Full-Time18% (1147)
Voluntary work 16+hrs week
0% (19)Training/Educ
22% (1368)
Move Employment
1% (91)
Improve Employment
3% (212)
Sustainted Activity
27% (1703)
PT Less16 hrs/wk
6% (342)
PT 16to29 hrs/wk
20% (1262)
Type of Latest KEY Transitions to 31 December 07
Total Number of Transitions = 13,095 by March 2008
47%
31%
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Intermediate Activity Outcomes (w/o Key Transition) to 31 March 07
Total IA outcomes without Key Transition = 850
Voluntary work btw 3 to 16 hrs
a week5% (45)
Work placement 30 hrs or more
3% (27)
Accumulated activity 20 hrs
or more92% (778)
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Distance travelled: Change on Employability Measures – Change in Average Score between Registration and at Six-Month Review
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
How confident are you when meeting new people?
How would you rate your job skills (in relation to thetype of work you are looking for or would like to do)?
If you are not currently in work, how confident do youfeel about starting work?
How confident are you that you know what benefitsyou are entitled to (include work-related benefits, tax
How aware are you of the childcare servicesavailable in your area?
How easy do you find it to organize childcareservices for your children?
How confident are you that your children would bewell looked after by the childcare services available
How able are you to call on friends and family in yourarea to help with looking after your children?
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All Client Outcomes to 31 March 2007 to 31 March 2008
Valid Six Month
monitoring
4% (906)
No significant
Outcome
28% (7,202)
Registered in
previous 6 month
(no outcome
expected)
7% (1,666)
Intermediate Activity
Outcome
10% (2,576)
Key transition
51% (13,095)
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Progress for unemployed• Unemployed at registration who had a
transition → 33% (1103) FT employment and 36% (1223) PT (>16 hrs) employment
• Sick/disabled at registration who had a transition → 27% (94) FT employment and 28% (97) PT (>16 hrs) employment
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Logistic regression model: transition
• Probability of achieving transition given range of independent variables/factors (individual, personal circumstances, external)
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Logistic regression model:
• More likely to move into work, major training or education if:
• the person has qualifications (SVQ level 2 or above).
• being in either part time or full time education
• having English as their first language, • being a lone parent
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Logistic regression model:
Less likely to move into work, etc. if:• pregnant, • having more than two children; • being over 45 years old;• being unemployed over 2 months; • having other forms of stress (such as drug
dependency); • living in accommodation that is not owner
occupied (especially if in hostel or supported care).
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Conclusions• Major initiative that reached targets
• ‘Holistic’ model works well
• Reached the relatively disadvantaged
• But within this ‘group’ the less disadvantaged had greatest progression
• Range of employability factors that are important is large, and need to consider motivations etc.
Employment Research Employment Research InstituteInstitute
Thank you for listening
www2.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/home.htm
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END
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Hard Outcomes• entered full-time employment;• entered part-time employment;• entered self-employment;• being able to take up a job offer;• moved into different employment (changed jobs, moved to a
better paid job, etc.);• improved current employment (gain promotion, change
hours or pay, etc.);• sustained activity (employment, education or training);• entered or completed education or training course of at
least Six-Months duration;• entered voluntary work of 16 hours or more a week.
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‘Soft’ Outcomes
• Intermediate Activity Outcomes
• Employability Measures: Distance Travelled