The permanent restructuring of the economy, exacerbated by the digital transition and labour market dualization, is progressively increasing the risk of marginalization for semi- and low-skilled workers. This article analyses how Germany, France, Italy, and Spain balance employment and equality concerns in core private service sectors and examines the policy strategies implemented over the last decade for workers ‘at the margins’. The analysis considers multiple tools – skill upgrading, social benefits, incentives to reduce barriers to employment, and wage regulation – and reveals divergent trajectories. Germany and Spain share a common direction, adopting protective policies to mitigate long-standing labour market dualism and improve job conditions for low-wage and at-risk workers. France remains locked in a protective approach, prioritizing job stabilization through subsidies but neglecting skill development, which constrains long-term mobility. Italy, by contrast, exacerbates dualism by failing to improve job quality and training opportunities, resulting in persistent low productivity and rising in-work poverty.

Germany has long been portrayed as the best real-world example of an export-oriented economic model associated with a dualized labor market and welfare state. The success of this export-centered model over the last decades has typically been ascribed to competitiveness due to wage restraint and widening wage dispersion in line with declining collective bargaining coverage. This paper starts from this widely shared perception, but sheds a new light on the dynamics and structures of employment in Germany after a long boom period for the late 2000s to the most recent period. The paper argues that much of this change is rather market driven than to be explained by institutional reforms. Employment growth was driven by service sector expansion while wage dispersion and non-standard work stagnated and declined somewhat, reducing the extent of these forms of dualisms in the labor market. Following a cyclical argument about political decision-making, we only saw limited re-regulatory activity. However, the favourable economic climate has changed more recently.

This paper studies the crisis resilience of European welfare states. We analyse the capacity of social policy arrangements to contain poverty and inequality and avoid exclusion before, during and after periods of economic shocks. To achieve this goal, the paper takes a broad perspective to include different layers of protective arrangements, notably upstream systems such as unemployment insurance (UI), job retention and employment protection that are complemented by minimum income support (MIS) schemes. Together, these multiple layers play a crucial role in providing income and job protection in situations of crisis. In that respect we also distinguish systematically between regular/permanent policies (automatic stabilisers) and discretionary, typically temporary crisis response measures. We use a mixed-method approach that combines quantitative and qualitative research, such as descriptive and multivariate quantitative analyses and microsimulation methods based on EUROMOD. This is combined with in-depth case studies covering a sample of five countries that represent different welfare state types (Nordic, Continental, Mediterranean, Liberal and Central/East European) so that we can show the complex mechanisms of multi-layered protection at work and how the policies in place have evolved over time in response to crisis episodes, disentangling the role of automatic stabilisers and discretionary elements. Our observation period ranges from the mid-2000s to the early 2020s and allows us to cover both the Great Recession of 2008/09 and its aftermath as well as the Covid-19 pandemic. We find consistent differences in terms of crisis resilience across countries and welfare state types. In general, Nordic and Continental European welfare states with strong upstream systems and minimum income support show better outcomes in core socio-economic outcomes such as poverty and exclusion risks. However, labour market integration shows some dualisms in Continental Europe. The study shows that minimum income support holds particular importance if there are gaps in upstream systems or cases of severe and lasting crises.

This paper studies the role of social policies in different European welfare states regarding minimum income protection and active inclusion. The core focus lies on crisis resilience, i.e. the capacity of social policy arrangements to contain poverty and inequality and avoid exclusion before, during and after periods of economic shocks. To achieve this goal, the papier expands its analytical focus to include other tiers of social protection, in particular upstream systems such as unemployment insurance, job retention and employment protection, as they play an additional and potentially prominent role in providing income and job protection in situations of crisis. A mixed-method approach is used that combines quantitative and qualitative research, such as descriptive and multivariate quantitative analyses, microsimulation methods and in-depth case studies. We find consistent differences in terms of crisis resilience across countries and welfare state types. In general, Nordic and Continental European welfare states with strong upstream systems and minimum income support (MIS) show better outcomes in core socio-economic outcomes such as poverty and exclusion risks. However, labour market integration shows some dualisms in Continental Europe. The study shows that MIS holds particular importance if there are gaps in upstream systems or cases of severe and lasting crises.

Nonstandard or atypical work has grown in many countries over the last decades. It takes many different forms, ranging from fixed-term contracts and temporary agency work to solo self-employment, platform-based work, on-call work, work at low or unpredictable working hours, and informal work (especially in non-Northern countries). Nonstandard work has major implications for job quality and employment trajectories over the life course. The chapter will discuss the main driving forces behind the rise of atypical work, such as the shift toward the service sector and labor market reforms. It will also show major trends and patterns of nonstandard work in OECD countries. Furthermore, in line with the volume, we discuss the consequences of atypical work with respect to its health and safety implications. We refer to core findings from existing research as it has emerged as nonstandard employment has gained prominence in postindustrial labor markets.

This chapter addresses the reconfiguration of the labour market led by the digitalization of the economy. It takes stock of major contributions to the state-of-the-art research to show how automation, artificial intelligence and the platform economy are affecting job content, business models and employment features. It then focuses on the institutional and policy response to digitalization. While standard economic analysis tends to neglect the role played by policies and institutions, comparative studies can shed some light on institutional differences and adaptational paths. To this aim, we use two country experiences to compare the politics of digitalization in Germany and Italy. We discuss recent changes in national labour market regulation, social policy and educational systems for addressing the digital challenge in these different contexts and explore the influence of technological change on the German and Italian growth models.

This chapter discusses how disruptive technological transformation puts pressure on existing welfare state arrangements and adopts social investment as the policy paradigm for rethinking current labor market regulation and social protection in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The second part of the chapter explores the ways in which the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy are currently preparing their welfare states for the intensification of technological change in the decade ahead. Here the discussion focuses on the strengths and vulnerabilities of the countries’ labor markets when it comes to digitalization, as well as their respective social investment aptitude.

The paper reviews economic developments and policy measures in the Nordic countries during the pandemic focusing in particular on the unconventional policies deployed to protect incomes, jobs, and firms in the short run.The recession was the deepest but also shortest on record, which indicates that the underlying economic policy logic of preserving production capacity and job matches to make a swift recovery possible worked.The policies also maintained domestic demand.The general structure of the Nordic societies, with a high level of trust and cooperation, a high degree of digitalization, and a comprehensive social safety net, contributed to the recovery process.

Kurzexpertise im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums fur Arbeit und Soziales, Bonn 2021 (42 Seiten)

Dual labour markets have been a specific feature of employment systems in Con-tinental Europe after an initial wave of deregulation that started in the 1980s in a situation of high and persistent unemployment. Since then, the institutional duali-sation of employment by type of contract has had massive implications on the quality and quantity of jobs. However, while dualisms were conceived as inevita-ble and stable, the perception has become more nuanced and dynamic, account-ing for partial dedualising steps observable over the last decade in particular. This paper gives an overview of the history of dualisation and dual labour markets before addressing current challenges arising from the digital transition and the COVID-19 pandemic. It concludes with a discussion about potential policies to overcome labour market dualisms.

Kurzexpertise im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums fur Arbeit und Soziales, Bonn 2021 (38 Seiten)

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewMaking the Cut: Hiring Decisions, Bias, and the Consequences of Nonstandard, Mismatched, and Precarious Employment. By David S. Pedulla. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. 208. $27.95.Werner EichhorstWerner EichhorstIZA Institute of Labor Economics Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 127, Number 3November 2021 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/716576 Views: 105Total views on this site For permission to reuse a book review printed in the American Journal of Sociology, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Kurzexpertise im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums fur Arbeit und Soziales, Bonn 2021 (41 Seiten)

Grupo de autores, para alem dos nacionais: Werner Eichhorst, Paul Marx, Ulf Rinne, Rene Boheim, Thomas Leoni, Steven Tobin, Arthur Sweetman, Pierre Cahuc, Tommaso Colussi, Egbert L. W. Jongen, Paul Verstraten, Priscila Ferreira, Joao Cerejeira, Miguel Portela, Raul Ramos, Martin Kahanec, Monika Martiskova, Lena Hensvik, Oskar Nordstrom Skans, Patrick Arni, Rui Costa, Stephen Machin, Susan N. Houseman

Kurzexpertise im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums fur Arbeit und Soziales, Bonn 2021 (52 Seiten)

Country reports for Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States (153 Seiten)