abstract: 'Policy access biases worry social policy scholars because they generate

  Matthew effects that exacerbate socioeconomic divides. Yet, access

  biases in many social investment policies, like training during

  unemployment, remain under-researched. Such access biases may be

  detrimental to a critical objective of social investment: to improve and

  uplift workers with precarious economic prospects. We focus here on

  access bias in training provided by public employment services against

  lower-educated workers. They are vulnerable to unemployment and

  fractured employment and should thus be targeted for training. While

  there is burgeoning attention on access biases in training against

  disadvantaged youths and non-citizens, fewer studies have focused on

  similar access bias against lower-educated workers. We highlight that

  access bias against such workers may stem from their lower willingness

  and demand for training, as well as policy design, informal eligibility

  criteria and caseworkers'' creaming practices. We suggest, however, that

  greater availability of training opportunities may ease this access bias

  against lower-educated workers. Using the Finnish Income Distribution

  survey data (2007-2012), we find evidence of training access bias:

  primary-educated workers are significantly less likely to participate in

  training than upper secondary and vocationally educated workers.

  Concurrently, our results show that availability of training is not

  significantly associated with the extent of training access bias against

  primary-educated workers. With a Nordic welfare model that prioritizes

  training to remedy labour market vulnerability and stresses that access

  to benefits and services is based on need, Finland represents a least

  likely case to find such access bias in training. We therefore consider

  these results worrying: if it is found here, it may be prevalent in

  countries with other welfare models.'
affiliation: 'Im, ZJ (Corresponding Author), Copenhagen Business Sch, Dept Int Econ
  Business \& Govt, Frederiksberg, Denmark.

  Im, ZJ (Corresponding Author), Univ Helsinki, Fac Social Sci, Helsinki, Finland.

  Im, Zhen Jie, Copenhagen Business Sch, Dept Int Econ Business \& Govt, Frederiksberg,
  Denmark.

  Im, Zhen Jie; Shin, Young-Kyu, Univ Helsinki, Fac Social Sci, Helsinki, Finland.

  Shin, Young-Kyu, Korea Inst Hlth \& Social Affairs, Sejong City, South Korea.'
article-number: 09589287211066408
author: Im, Zhen Jie and Shin, Young-Kyu
author-email: zhen.im@helsinki.fi
author_list:
- family: Im
  given: Zhen Jie
- family: Shin
  given: Young-Kyu
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1177/09589287211066408
earlyaccessdate: JAN 2022
eissn: 1461-7269
files: []
issn: 0958-9287
journal: JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY
keywords: 'Social investment; job training; Nordic welfare state; access biases;

  Matthew effects'
keywords-plus: POLICIES; PARTICIPATION; EMPLOYMENT; PROGRAM
language: English
month: FEB
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '39'
orcid-numbers: 'Shin, Young-Kyu/0000-0002-2713-7547

  Im, Zhen/0000-0001-7854-1382'
pages: 3-18
papis_id: 403ca1b8bd1ccabc6ccafb17aa1a652a
ref: Im2022whogets
researcherid-numbers: 'Shin, Young-Kyu/AAE-1824-2022

  Im, Zhen/AAB-6296-2020'
times-cited: '1'
title: Who gets labour market training? Access biases of social investment in Finland
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000752684000001
usage-count-last-180-days: '3'
usage-count-since-2013: '7'
volume: '32'
web-of-science-categories: Public Administration; Social Issues
year: '2022'