The OECD and the European Union have been advising governments to reform income support systems to facilitate greater activation of out-of-work claimants alongside enabling job-seekers to find work through activation programmes. Income support provided to unemployed people can be linked with activation at an administrative level through greater integration and co-ordination between social security benefit systems and public employment services. For unemployed people, the link can be strengthened through better coverage of income support and greater access to activation services, which may or may not be conditional on receipt of income support.
The objective of this evidence review is to assess whether or not the strength of the link between income support and activation is an important factor affecting the effectiveness of labour market policy. The link between activation and income support for the working age population varies across EU countries and within countries overtime.