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Anglo-Saxon liberal regimes provide limited social provisions and
target the needy with means-testing entitlements. In response to
young adults’ economic needs during the school-to-work transition,
although allowances are provided for first-time job-seekers in some
countries, benefits are low and vocational training tends to be
short-term (Cinalli & Giugni, 2013; Esping-Andersen, 1990, 1999;
Gallie & Paugam, 2000; Walther, 2006).
Corporatist conservative regimes focus on social insurance
programs that sustain status differences with different benefits for
different occupational groups, whereas residual social assistance
supports individuals in irregular sectors and those not in the labor
force. First-time job-seekers or workers in non-core sectors are not
covered by insurance-based unemployment protection (Cinalli &
Giugni, 2013; Esping-Andersen, 1990, 1999; Gallie & Paugam,
2000
;
Walther, 2006).
Because of similarities in some Southern European countries
such as Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, some scholars have
viewed them as a single cluster (Bonoli, 1997; Ferrera, 1996).
Their welfare systems have different provisions for workers in core
and non-core sectors and separate programs for different
occupational groups. Their welfare systems provide high levels of
transfer to the regular labor force but only limited social provisions
to irregular workers (Ferrera, 1996). Young adults, women, and
older adults, usually overrepresented in the irregular sectors or
informal economies, thus, are at higher risk of poverty (Guillen &
Matsaganis, 2000).
Post-socialist countries comprise the fifth type of welfare state.
These countries have experienced similar political and social
changes and challenges, including the legacy of socialism and new
social costs of transition. In the transition from centralized
economies and full social protection to market economies, these
countries have restructured their social programs, reducing pension
replacement levels, making social provisions more occupation-
based, and introducing means-testing for family allowances