This study computes a flexicurity index for the EU28 countries for 2001-2019 following the European Commissions four components of flexicurity model. The index allows the ex-post assessment of ...flexicurity efforts and efficiency. Following the computation of the index, we compare its values against the theoretical flexicurity typologies and against other empirical flexicurity groupings to assess their (dis)similarities. Even though Northern and Western countries generally have higher flexicurity scores than Southern and Eastern states, the study shows some countries deviate from their theoretical performance. Thus, some of the Continental and Mediterranean countries have flexicurity values like those of the Nordic group. Moreover, the flexicurity regimes are not static as the theoretical typology suggests: while Denmark and France are always in the top performers group, other countries change their performance throughout the 2001-2019 period. The flexicurity index correlates highly with empirical country groupings in the literature. The highest correlation is with country groupings using the European Commissions four components of flexicurity model, followed by the Golden Danish Triangle, and lastly, the Wilthagen and Tros flexicurity matrix. In the end, we compare EU countries performance in the flexicurity index scores with their performance in selected employment and unemployment rates, labor productivity, and poverty rates. Results suggest that higher flexicurity performance correlates generally with better labor market and social outcomes, the highest correlations being in the case of labor productivity rates.
Purpose This paper examines the relationship between flexicurity and employment inflows in the EU28 countries over the 2007–2019 period. Flexicurity is defined as the mix of flexible contractual ...arrangements, social security systems, active labor market policies and lifelong learning strategies. Design/methodology/approach Using two-way fixed effects two-stage least squares, we estimate the employment inflows as a function of an equal-weighted flexicurity composite indicator and other labor market, economic and business environment characteristics. To ensure the robustness of results, in additional specifications, we test the sensitivity of the flexicurity’s coefficient to: (1) the change of instruments; (2) the removal of different non-core variables and (3) the consideration of recessionary periods European regions. In addition, we estimate regressions with separate flexicurity components and with differently constructed flexicurity indices. Findings In all the estimations, increased flexicurity efforts are positively related to employment inflows. Increased flexicurity efforts benefit Eastern European countries more than the Northern and Anglo-Saxon groups. Not only a synergistic policy action that uses an equal combination of the four pillars of flexicurity has a positive impact on the employment inflow rate. Strategies that give more weight to the formation of skills seem to favor the labor market reinsertion most. Originality/value To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study in the flexicurity–employment inflows literature since it: (1) follows all the European Union countries over more than a decade; (2) brings some tentative findings on the socio-cultural moderation of flexicurity’s impact on employment inflows and (3) explores different country-level flexicurity indices.
The present paper aligns to the economic policy body of research granting intensive efforts to the sphere of analysing the unemployment rate’s evolution as well as its primary drivers and effects in ...the context of the Europe 2020 strategy. Considering one of the agenda’s main targets – increasing employability among the European Union’s states, this paper analyses the areas funded by the European Social Fund as well as the country policy specifics in deriving the behaviour of the Beveridge curve associated with the EU-13 countries given the shift of European Union’s funds from old member states to newer ones. As such, the study employs the tools of Simultaneous Equations Systems and examines the impact of four categories of components on the Beveridge curve’s behaviour - structure of the unemployed, labour market and business environment factors as well as business cycles.
This study examines the relationship between flexicurity policies and work–life balance, addressing the research question ‘How do higher flexicurity efforts in a country relate to employee ...perceptions of work–life balance?’ The European Commission adopted flexicurity in 2007 and proposed employment quality as an expected outcome. Work–life balance, a dimension monitored as part of employment quality, has so far been assumed as an implicit outcome of flexicurity, but no empirical research is dedicated to the topic per se. In this article the authors construct a composite indicator to proxy for national flexicurity efforts following the European Commission’s guidelines. For work–life balance and other individual characteristics, the authors employ data on about 74,000 EU27 employees from the three latest waves of the European Working Conditions Survey. First, findings show that the between-country differences in work–life balance were narrower in 2015 compared to 2005. Second, the multilevel analysis suggests that the higher a country scores as regards its flexicurity policies, the likelier its citizens are to report having a work–life balance.
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