Bøger af Joel F. Handler

A detailed view of the world of low-paid women workers. It provides a realistic picture of the issues, whilst also offering strategies and innovations that could alleviate some of the worst effects. Topics include balancing the demands of work and family, health care and child care.

This book compares workfare policies in the United States and 'active labor policies' in Western Europe that are aimed primarily at the long-term unemployed, unemployed youth, lone parents, immigrants and other vulnerable groups often referred to collectively as the 'socially excluded'. The Europeans maintain that workfare is the best method of bringing the socially excluded back into mainstream society. Although there are differences in terms of ideology and practice, Joel F. Handler argues that there are also significant similarities, especially field-level practices that serve to exclude those who are the least employable or lack other qualifications that agencies favor. The author also examines strategies for reform, including protective labor legislation, the Open Method of Coordination, the reform of social and employment services, and concludes with an argument for a basic income guarantee, which would not only alleviate poverty but also provide clients with an exit option.

With the passage of the 1996 welfare reform, not only welfare, but poverty and inequality have disappeared from the political discourse. The decline in the welfare rolls has been hailed as a success. This book challenges that assumption. It argues that while many single mothers left welfare, they have joined the working poor, and fail to make a decent living. The book examines the persistent demonization of poor single-mother families; the impact of the low-wage market on perpetuating poverty and inequality; and the role of the welfare bureaucracy in defining deserving and undeserving poor. It argues that the emphasis on family values - marriage promotion, sex education and abstinence - is misguided and diverts attention from the economic hardships low-income families face. The book proposes an alternative approach to reducing poverty and inequality that centers on a children's allowance as basic income support coupled with jobs and universal child care.

This work points out the fallacies in proposals for welfare reform, arguing that they merely recycle old remedies that have not worked. It analyzes the prejudice that has historically existed against "the underserving poor", and shows stereotypes of single women as being untrue.

The authors of this text discuss current policies, efforts and programmes designed to deal with the poor and analyze what works, what does not work, and why. They promote policies that would facilitate leaving welfare for work - particulary in the case of single mothers.