Welfare states amid economic turmoil: adjusting work-oriented policy

This article analyses the socioeconomic context within which a range of active labour market policies (ALMPs) were initiated in many countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the extent to which these measures had an impact on unemployment over the last several decades prior to the contraction of economic growth in 2008. Examining how the downturn of the economy has altered this context, the analysis goes on to scrutinise the choices that confront policy makers and the implications of alternative approaches to ALMPs in times of high unemployment.