Training Policy and Decentralization

Abstract

Labour law reform was the key source of public debate about social rights during Chile’s transition. However it was not the only arena through which citizenship could be deepened at this critical juncture. Social policy offered a parallel route. It was certainly the major channel through which the expansion of citizenship had been sought in the post-war period, not only in Europe but also in countries such as Chile, which had strived to establish the social mainstream in at least education and health. The potential for social policy to play a leading role in Chile was in some ways even improved during the authoritarian period, by the removal of sectoral distinctions in fields such as social insurance and the organization of labour. This both enhanced the prospects for social policy to enter the field of occupational rights, and the need for it to do so. The basic problem of occupational citizenship, as we have posed it, is related to ensuring continuity in productive existence. This might entail continuity in a particular job, or through the labour market broadly conceived, and through work or training experiences that are connected. If applied to a policy context, the key problem to examine is the nature of the incentives that policy instruments and available institutions provide to optimise such links.