Protected Mobility for Employment and Decent Work: Labour Market Security in a Globalized World

2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Auer
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Young Female ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Employment Tenure ◽  
Employment Rates ◽  
Globalized World

Recent ILO research found that a cluster of OECD countries that might be called ‘numerically flexible’ does in fact demonstrate good labour market results: employment rates overall and rates for relevant groups (young/female/older) are higher and unemployment is lower than in countries with less numerical flexibility as measured by employment tenure. However, when considering indicators of job quality the picture is mixed, with some countries exhibiting low shares of good quality employment and some others high shares. The discriminating variable seems to be labour market institutions and policies. A conclusion is that if efficiency and equity are sought in labour markets in open economies then institutions and policies for ‘protected mobility’ should exist. Institution building (or transformation of existing institutions) is important on several accounts. Firstly, globalization and technical change transforms employment relations and entail more volatility and less security. Secondly, collective bargaining agendas have to be extended to include labour market policies, as employers’ demands for more adjustment flexibility will increasingly be accompanied by worker representatives’ demands for better security in change. In other words: reduced employment protection has to be compensated by labour market security if decent work is a target. Protected mobility by sound labour market policies might result in real ‘flexicurity’ (adaptability for firms and security for workers) and become a common objective of both sides of industry while also reconfirming an enhanced role for the State.

scholarly journals Activation is not a panacea: active labour market policy, long-term unemployment and institutional complementarity

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUC BENDA ◽  
FERRY KOSTER ◽  
ROMKE VAN DER VEEN
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Active Labour Market Policies ◽  
Active Labour

AbstractEvaluation studies of active labour market policy show different activation measures generate contradictory results. In the present study, we argue that these contradictory results are due to the fact that the outcomes of activation measures depend on other institutions. The outcome measure in this study is the long-term unemployment rate. Two labour market institutions are of special interest in this context: namely, employment protection and unemployment benefits. Both institutions, depending on their design, may either increase or decrease the effectiveness of active labour market policies in lowering long-term unemployment. Based on an analysis of macro-level data on 20 countries over a period of 16 years, our results show that employment protection strictness and unemployment benefit generosity interact with the way in which active labour market policies relate to long-term unemployment. Our results also indicate that, depending on the measure used, active labour market policies fit either in a flexible or in a coordinated labour market. This suggests that active labour market policies can adhere to both institutional logics, which are encapsulated in different types of measures.

scholarly journals Left to right: labour market policy, labour market status and political affinities

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-654
Author(s):  
Brett Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Populist Radical Right ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
Market Status ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Labour Market Status

AbstractIn recent decades, there has been a gradual decline in working-class organisations, including social democratic parties and trade unions, and an increase in support for populist radical right parties across western democracies. These trends have a plausible common cause: an increase in labour market insecurity associated with deindustrialisation may cause disenchantment with establishment organisations and support for politicians who criticise them. In this article, I examine how individual labour market status interacts with labour market policies to affect attitudes towards trade unions and populist radical right parties. I find that individuals with insecure employment status become less likely to support trade unions and more likely to support populist radical right parties as employment protection for secure workers increases. This effect is offset somewhat by spending on active labour market policies. I find evidence for these predictions in data for 27 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development countries from 1995 to 2009.

Slovakia: perpetual austerity and growing emphasis on activation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Domonkos
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Fiscal Discipline ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
The Right ◽  
Excessive Deficit Procedure

This chapter provides an overview of labour market policies in Slovakia since the early 1990’s. Particular attention is given to the 2004 EU enlargement and the onset of EU fiscal stringency since 2010. Unemployment and underfunded labour market policies have been a problem well before EU institutions gained the right to evaluate national budgets and sanction member states. The difficult post-socialist transition, the fiscal discipline needed to introduce the euro and a mandatory private pension system, as well as the excessive deficit procedure between 2010-2014, allowed for limited fiscal space for labour market policies. Punitive measures and underfunded labour offices have become endemic to the system. Alongside budgetary constraints, the incumbent’s partisan leaning also plays a moderate role. Social-democratic governments have emphasised stronger employment protection and higher minimum wages, while right-of-centre parties have supported weaker employment protection, and some of them have proposed an abolition of the minimum wage.

Social Democracy and Active Labour-Market Policies: Insiders, Outsiders and the Politics of Employment Promotion

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID RUEDA
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Employment Promotion

Active labour-market policy is an important tool for governments interested in the promotion of employment. This article explores a topic in the comparative political economy literature in need of more attention: the politics behind the promotion of active labour policies. It is argued here that social democratic governments are often not interested in employment promotion measures; labour is divided into those with secure employment (insiders) and those without (outsiders); it is contended that social democratic governments have strong incentives to pursue labour-market policies that benefit insiders but not outsiders. There are factors, however, that either exacerbate or limit the effects of insider–outsider differences on social democracy. These claims are tested in three ways. First, the interplay of government partisanship and employment protection is explored in the British case. Secondly, the individual preferences assumed in the model are tested with Eurobarometer data. And thirdly, the effects of social democracy on active labour-market policy are analysed using data from sixteen industrialized democracies.

scholarly journals The disability employment gap in European countries: What is the role of labour market policy?

2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872110024
Author(s):  
Roos van der Zwan ◽  
Paul de Beer
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Employment Gap ◽  
Disability Employment

Across Europe, the labour market participation of persons with disabilities remains lower than that of persons without a disability. Our research examines this disability employment gap, looking specifically at its variation by country and gender. Additionally, we test the influence of labour market policies – testing both the social investment perspective and the welfare scepticism perspective – on the size of the gap, in an effort to determine whether a more generous welfare state raises or lowers the employment rate of people with disabilities. Using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), we show that Southern European countries have the smallest disability employment gap. Whereas stricter employment protection legislation is found to be beneficial for people with disabilities on the labour market, other labour market policies specifically intended to benefit this group do not strongly affect their chances on the labour market. These findings support the social investment perspective and show that social policies can have a positive effect on the employment of people with disabilities.

scholarly journals Educational differences in macro-level determinants of early exit from paid work: a multilevel analysis of 14 European countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha de Breij ◽  
Martijn Huisman ◽  
Dorly J. H. Deeg
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Educational Differences ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
Low Educated

Abstract The aim of this study was to identify macro-level determinants of early work exit and investigate whether the effects of these determinants differ across educational groups. We used data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (2011–2013) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) (2010/2011–2012/2013) as well as macro-level data and included 10,584 participants in 14 European countries. We used logistic multilevel analyses to examine educational differences in macro-level determinants of early work exit. Macro-level determinants were: minimum unemployment replacement rates, expenditure on active labour market policies (aimed to help the unemployed find work) and passive labour market policies (unemployment and early retirement benefits), employment protection legislation (costs involved in dismissing individuals), unemployment rates, statutory pension age and implicit tax on continued work. We found low-educated workers to be more at risk of early work exit than higher educated workers. In low-educated men, higher unemployment replacement rates, higher expenditure on passive labour market policies, stricter employment protection legislation and a higher implicit tax on continued work were associated with a higher risk of early work exit, whereas no macro-level factors were associated with early work exit in highly educated men. In women, a higher expenditure on passive labour market policies and a higher implicit tax on continued work were determinants of early work exit, regardless of educational level. To conclude, low-educated men seem to be especially responsive to the effects of pull factors that make early retirement financially more attractive.

scholarly journals Retrenchment, conditionality and flexibility – UK labour market policies in the era of austerity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Heins ◽  
Hayley Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Employment Protection Legislation ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Deficit Reduction ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
Training Programmes

This chapter examines the changes and continuities in the areas of unemployment benefits, employment protection legislation, active labour market policies, training and human capital formation, and needs-based social protection for the unemployed in the United Kingdom. A number of significant welfare reforms driven by the aim of deficit reduction since 2010 led to increasing labour market flexibility and less income protection despite growing problems of precariousness. Many training programmes have been redefined either as a work test or turned into an opportunity for employers to undercut existing employment protection legislation and the minimum wage. Rather than being a turning point, the crisis led to a continuation of policies that further retrenched social investment-type policies that were already weak to begin with.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document