diff --git a/scoping_review.qmd b/scoping_review.qmd index 1fe082b..6489c6f 100644 --- a/scoping_review.qmd +++ b/scoping_review.qmd @@ -1319,7 +1319,52 @@ the consensus seems a requirement for structural approaches enabling this agency # Conclusion -The section with conclude with reflections on the implications of findings for policy. +The preceding study undertook a systematic scoping review of the literature on inequalities in the world of work. +It focused on the variety of approaches to policy interventions, from institutional to structural to more agency-driven programmes, +and highlighted the inequalities targeted, analysed in subsequent study, their methods and limitations, +to arrive at a picture of which lays out the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches. + +Wide gaps exist between the research on existing topics within the areas and intersections of inequalities in the world of work. +First, while regionally research on such inequalities seems relatively evenly distributed, +focus prevalence on individual inequalities varies widely. + +Research into interventions preventing income inequality are still the dominant form of measured outcomes, +which makes sense for its prevailing usefulness through a variety of indicators and its use to investigate both vertical and horizontal inequalities. +However, care should be taken not to over-emphasize the reliance on income inequality outcomes: +they can obscure intersections with other inequalities, +or diminish the perceived importance of tackling other inequalities themselves, if not directly measurable through income. +Thus, while interventions attempt to tackle the inequality from a variety of institutional, structural and agency-oriented approaches already, +this could be further enhanced by putting a continuous focus on the closely intertwined intersectional nature of the issue. + +Gender inequality is an almost equally considered dimension in the interventions, +a reasonable conclusion due to the inequality's global ubiquity and persistence. +Most gender-oriented policy approaches tackle it directly alongside income inequality outcomes, +especially viewed through gender pay gaps and economic (dis-)empowerment, +tackling it from backgrounds of structural or agency-driven interventions. +While both approaches seem fruitful in different contexts, few interventions strive to provide a holistic approach which combines the individual-level with macro-impacts, +tackling both institutional-structural issues while driving concerns of agency simultaneously. + +Spatial inequalities are primarily viewed through rural-urban divides, +concerning welfare, opportunities and employment probabilities. +Spatially focused interventions primarily tackle infrastructural issues which should be an effective avenue since most positive interventions are focused on the structural dimension of the inequality. +However, too many interventions, especially focused on reducing income inequalities, +still do not take spatial components fully into view, +potentially leading to worse outcomes for inequalities along the spatial dimension. + +Disabilities are rarely viewed through lenses other than employment opportunities. +While most interventions already focus on dimensions of strengthening agency and improved integration or reintegration of individuals with disabilities into the world of work, +a wider net needs to be cast with future research focusing on developing regions and the effects of more institutional-structural approaches before clearer recommendations can be given based on existing evidence. + +Ethnicity and migration provide dimensions of inequalities which are, while more evenly distributed regionally, +still equally underdeveloped in research on evidence-based intervention impacts. +Currently, there is a strong focus on institutional-structural approaches, +which seems to follow the literature in what is required for effective interventions. +However, similarly to research on inequalities based on disability, there are clear gaps in research +on ethnicity and especially migration, before clearer pictures of what works can develop. + +The intertwined nature of inequalities, once recognized, requires intervention approaches which heed multi-dimensional issues and can flexibly intervene and subsequently correctly measure their relative effectiveness. +To do so, perspectives need to shift and align towards a new, more intersectional approach which can incorporate both a wider array of methodological approaches between purely quantitative and qualitative research, +while relying on indicators for measurement which are flexible yet overlapping enough to encompass such a broadened perspective. {{< pagebreak >}} @@ -1349,3 +1394,4 @@ print(f""" ``` {{< pagebreak >}} +