Demand-led programmes: challenging labour market inequalities or reinforcing them?

Demand-led programmes have been a key feature of US welfare-to-work and are being enthusiastically embraced by UK policymakers. The author, drawing upon findings emerging from the evaluation of the New Deal Innovation Fund (round three), discusses the extent to which such interventions are capable of meeting the needs of disadvantaged groups. The key findings are that pilots are primarily benefiting groups closest to the labour market and need to engage community-based organisations if they are to become more inclusive. Yet the risk remains that in using the hiring requirements of employers as a basic standard of job readiness such interventions may legitimate discriminatory behaviour which is a significant cause of the inequalities that some groups face in the labour market.