EASTERLOW, Donna

Health and employment : towards a New Deal - UK : Policy Press, oct. 2003

This article draws on lay perspectives to question some assumptions underpinning the government's New Deal for people with long-term illness or disability in Britain. Tracing out the interaction between health and employment trajectories, interviewees challenge the idea that over-generous benefits pave the route to non-employment.They also question the emphasis on matching skills to jobs as a pathway back to work. People experiencing ill-health do not lack the incentive to work and they are likely to be forced, rather than lured, into pensions and onto benefits.The New Deal aims to enhance labour supply, but the problems people experience are more about the organisation of work and the limited demand for their skills