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In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Spain either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the employment rate bottomed out in 2013, 30 per cent were without employment during the entire year, and a further 15 per cent had weak labour market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities; (ii) incentives; and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved ('latent') groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers.

The resulting typology of labour market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how the empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Spain were a lack of work experience, low education and skill levels, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives, health limitations and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A striking finding is that 45 per cent of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.

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In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Estonia either did not work or only to a limited extent. By 2013, several years after the start of the labour market recovery, 18 per cent were still without employment during the entire year, and a further 13 per cent had weak labour market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities; (ii) incentives; and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved ('latent') groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers.

The resulting typology of labour market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how the empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Estonia were low skill levels, health limitations and limited work experience. Financial disincentives, care responsibilities and scarce job opportunities were less widespread overall, although important barriers for some groups. A notable finding is that almost one third of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.

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This paper proposes a novel method for identifying and visualising key employment obstacles that may prevent individuals from participating fully in the labour market. The approach is intended to complement existing sources of information that governments use when designing and implementing activation and employment-support policies. In particular, it aims to provide individual and household perspectives on employment problems, which may be missed when relying on common labour-force statistics or on administrative data, but which are relevant for targeting and tailoring support programmes and related policy interventions.

A first step describes a series of employment-barrier indicators at the micro level, comprising three domains: work-related capabilities, financial incentives and employment opportunities. For each domain, a selected set of concrete employment barriers are quantified using the [European Union-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions] EU-SILC multi-purpose household survey. In a second step, a statistical clustering method (latent class analysis), is used to establish profiles and patterns of employment barriers among individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment. A detailed illustration for two countries (Estonia and Spain) shows that 'short-hand' groupings that are often highlighted in the policy debate, such as 'youth' or 'older workers', are in fact composed of multiple distinct sub-groups that face very different combinations of employment barriers and likely require different policy approaches. Results also indicate that individuals typically face two or more simultaneous employment obstacles suggesting that addressing one barrier at a time may not have the intended effect on employment levels. From a policy perspective, the results support calls for carefully sequencing activation and employment support measures, and for coordinating them across policy domains and institutions.

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In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Ireland either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the labour market recovery gathered pace during 2013, 32 per cent were without employment during the entire year, and a further 14 per cent had weak labour market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities; (ii) incentives; and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved ('latent') groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers.

The resulting typology of labour market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how the empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Ireland were limited work experience, low skill levels, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives, health problems and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A notable finding is that just under 40 per cent of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.

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In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Italy either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the employment rate bottomed out in 2013, 32 per cent were without employment during the entire year, and a further 7 per cent had weak labour market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities; (ii) incentives; and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved ('latent') groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers.

The resulting typology of labour market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how the empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Italy were limited work experience, low education and skill levels, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives, health limitations and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A striking finding is that more than half of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.

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In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Lithuania either do not work or only to a limited extent. By 2013, several years after the start of the labour market recovery, 21 per cent were still without employment during the entire year, and a further 11 per cent had weak labour market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities; (ii) incentives; and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved ('latent') groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers.

The resulting typology of labour market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how the empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Lithuania were health limitations, limited work experience, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A notable finding is that just over one third of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.

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In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Portugal either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the employment rate bottomed out in 2013, 29 per cent were without employment during the entire year, and a further 10 per cent had weak labour market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities; (ii) incentives; and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved ('latent') groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers.

The resulting typology of labour market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates how these empirical results can inform people-centred assessments of existing labour market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Portugal were low education/skills, a lack of recent work experience, scarce job opportunities and health problems. Financial disincentives and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, although important barriers for some groups. A striking finding is that 45 per cent of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less