Whatever works: Dualisation and the service economy in Bismarckian welfare states
The paper compares employment structures in five Continental welfare states. These countries feature broad similarities in their reliance on a more dualised model of labour market flexibility, particularly in service occupations with low skill requirements. However, a closer look also reveals considerable differences between national patterns of standard and non-standard work. In Germany (and to a lesser extent Austria), marginal part-time provides a fertile ground for low-paid service jobs, as non-wage labour costs are minimised. In France, fixed-term contracts are a flexible and also cheaper... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | doc-type:workingPaper |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2010 |
Verlag/Hrsg.: |
Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
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Schlagwörter: | ddc:330 / J38 / J41 / J21 / J58 / Labour market dualisation / Continental Europe / fixed-term contracts / part-time work / wage dispersion / Arbeitsverhältnis / Dualer Arbeitsmarkt / Arbeitsmarktflexibilisierung / Sozialstaat / Dienstleistungssektor / Lohnstruktur / Ungeschützte Beschäftigung / Lohnsubvention / Vergleich / Deutschland / Frankreich / Niederlande / Belgien / Österreich |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26860467 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | http://hdl.handle.net/10419/36976 |
The paper compares employment structures in five Continental welfare states. These countries feature broad similarities in their reliance on a more dualised model of labour market flexibility, particularly in service occupations with low skill requirements. However, a closer look also reveals considerable differences between national patterns of standard and non-standard work. In Germany (and to a lesser extent Austria), marginal part-time provides a fertile ground for low-paid service jobs, as non-wage labour costs are minimised. In France, fixed-term contracts are a flexible and also cheaper alternative to permanent contracts, especially for younger workers. Dutch service sector employers follow an eclectic approach, as can be seen from high shares of self-employed and part-timers, as well as temporary workers. Finally, Belgium has large proportions of very low-skilled, own-account self-employed and involuntary fixed-term contracts. On the basis of these results, we identify four transformative pathways towards a more inclusive or flexible labour market: growing wage dispersion, defection from both permanent full-time employment as well as from dependent employment, and government-sponsored labour cost reductions.