ABSTRACT
This book is broadly framed by two main lines of analyses. The first involves an examination of how unemployed and economically inactive people can be helped back into the labour market; the second addresses the broader issue of how social security might address the needs of people who are unable to work or have unpaid caring responsibilities. Although there have been occasional nods to the latter issue, it is clearly the first line of analysis - how to activate the unemployed - that has shaped the political discourse, the research agenda and legislative reforms of social security in the OECD countries since the late-1980s.
