Models of gendered labour market policy

Labour market policy measures can be analysed in terms of their orientation towards investments (active labour market policies and human capital empowerment) aimed at establishing the due conditions for participation in the labour market, or towards protective measures such as employment protection legislation and income support benefits for the unemployed or for people at risk of losing their jobs. The balance between these two orientations is crucial to an understanding of their distributive effects in terms of gender inequality. The main indicators in this regard are: the strictness of employment protection legislation for permanent and temporary workers; the level of expenditure on passive and active labour market policies as a percentage of GDP and with reference to the level of unemployment; the type of active and passive labour market policies that are developed in the main (unemployment insurance vs unemployment assistance; training, employment services, work incentives, direct job creation) and (iv) the role of short-time working schemes.