Explores issues relating to the rapidly increasing number of men detached from the labour market.

This book provides a new perspective on joblessness among men. During the last twenty years vast numbers of men of working age have moved completely out of the labour market into 'early retirement' or 'long-term sickness' and to take on new roles in the household. These trends stand in stark contrast to rising labour market participation among women. Based on an unprecedented range of new research on the detached male workforce in the UK, and located within an international context, the book offers a detailed exploration of the varied financial, family and health circumstances 'detached men' are living in. It also challenges conventional assumptions about the boundaries between unemployment, sickness and retirement and the true health of the labour market. Work to Welfare represents an important contribution to debates about the labour market and benefit systems and will be of interest to readers and practitioners in social policy, economics and geography.

Preface
Part I. The Context for Labour Market Detachment: 1. The UK labour market
2. The international context
3. The benefits system
Part II. New Evidence from the UK: 4. The detached male workforce
5. Incapacity benefit and unemployment
6. The over 50s
7. Family, life course and labour market detachment
8. The role of health in labour market detachment
9. Getting by
10. Back to work?
Part III. The Policy Implications: 11. New roles, new deal
Appendix: Research methodology.