In this article, the author engages with the authors of the articles in this Special Issue by clarifying some aspects of the arguments in Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: The Rise of Polarized and Precarious ...Employment Systems in the United States, 1970s to 2000s; addressing selected matters of controversy; and highlighting central policy challenges raised by the rise of polarized and precarious employment systems. The author organizes his comments around several key themes raised by these authors: The causes of changes in job quality; the polarization model; cross-national differences in precarious work; and policy recommendations and the politics of job quality.
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.
•We examine the impact of flexicurity on reactions to job insecurity.•Data were analyzed from 13,738 individuals nested within 19 European countries.•Greater flexicurity attenuated negative reactions ...to job insecurity.•Implications of flexicurity policies on the health and well-being of employees are discussed.
Increasing emphasis has been placed within the European Union on the development of flexicurity policies, which seek to simultaneously foster organizational competitiveness while ensuring employment security for workers. The purpose of the current study was to examine how country-level differences in European flexicurity policies impact employee psychosocial reactions to perceived job insecurity. By combining individual-level international survey data from 13,738 individuals nested within 19 European countries with country-level indices of flexicurity, multilevel modeling was used to empirically test whether and how employees in countries with differing levels of employment security protections and flexible work arrangements react differently to the perception that their job may be at risk in terms of their affective and stress reactions. Analyses indicated that employee perceptions of job insecurity were significantly related to greater affective insecurity and higher levels of job stress. However, greater enactment of country-level flexicurity (i.e., high flexibility coupled with high employment security) attenuated those relationships. These findings are discussed in light of recent European events, as well as implications of flexicurity policies on the health and well-being of employees during times of organizational change.
Higher employment rates among vulnerable groups is an important policy goal; it is therefore vital to examine which social policies, or mix of policies, are best able to incorporate vulnerable ...groups–such as people with ill health–into the labor market. We examine whether 2 “flexicurity” countries, Denmark and the Netherlands, have less labor market exclusion among people with ill health compared to the neighboring countries of Norway and Belgium. We analyze the 2 country pairs of Denmark–Norway and the Netherlands–Belgium using OLS regressions and propensity score kernel matching of EU-SILC panel data (2010–2013). Both unemployment and disability likelihood is remarkably similar for people with ill health across the 4 countries, despite considerable social policy differences. There are 3 possible explanations for the observed cross-national similarity. First, different social policy combinations could lead toward the same employment outcomes for people with ill health. Second, most policy instruments are located on the supply side, and demand side reasons for the observed “employment penalty” (e. g., employer skepticism/discrimination) are often neglected. Third, it is too demanding to hold (full-time) employment for a sizeable proportion of those who have poor health status.
Before the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, flexicurity topped the European labour market and social policy agenda. It was acclaimed for combining the flexibility of liberal labour ...markets with the security of social welfare states, thereby offering a viable formula for success in the new global economy. Nowhere was this better exemplified than in Denmark, with the Danish system repeatedly highlighted as a good example of flexicurity in action. In this article, we revisit the flexicurity concept, assessing how the Danish labour market came through the crisis. We argue that the economic crisis and especially political reforms of the unemployment insurance system have challenged the institutional complementarities of flexicurity, but that the Danish labour market is recovering and adapting to new challenges. The Danish case illustrates that institutional complementarities between flexibility and security are fragile and liable to disintegrate if the institutions providing flexicurity are not maintained and supported.
In the mid‐2000s, the flexicurity concept was developed into a key EU policy concept. It drew its inspiration from the Danish and Dutch practices to combine labor market flexibility and security. ...However, the crisis' focus on bringing down national deficits and debts left little room to advance the concept. Lately, more emphasis has been placed on the need to take into consideration the social aspect of economic policy‐making. Current EU level documents see flexicurity as a guidance for structural reforms. However, the European flexicurity initiatives seem never to have had much impact in Denmark and the Netherlands. There are few accounts of the recent adjustment to the flexicurity models, be it at the EU or at national levels. Therefore, this article assesses the fate of flexicurity by scrutinizing its (adjusted) use as a political concept as well as a socio‐economic model. Although the Danish flexicurity model resembles the European flexicurity concept to a large extent, recent reforms have, overall, weakened rather than strengthened the flexicurity model. The Dutch flexicurity model has a narrower focus on normalizing atypical work, while recent reforms support this narrow flexicurity model. Meanwhile, the EU level concept has been changing every year, encompassing a growing number of issues.
Flexicurity remains an important policy instrument in the EU and will be especiallyimportant in the changing economic and labor market environment, characterized with changing nature of work and ...development of new forms of work. Purpose. This paper examines the implementation of flexicurity policies in Slovenia and compares them with the EU countries. Design/methodology/approach. As there is no uniform measure of flexicurity, the analysis is structured in accordance with four elements of flexicurity policies, developed within the EU, and suitable indicators: (i) flexibility of contractual relations; (ii) lifelong learning; (iii) active labor market policies; and (iv) social protection system. Analysis uses descriptive statistics for last available years and compares these data with crisis year 2010. Data for international comparisons were obtained from the European Commission, Eurostat and Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia and the Employment Service of Slovenia. Findings and iImplications. Slovenia has in the past already performed labor market reforms that relate to flexicurity components, yet there is still room for improvement. These are especially needed in the field of lifelong learning and expenditures for active labor market policies, where Slovenia is at the tail of the EU countries. In the front of flexibility, a significant decline in the employment protection was noticed with the last legislative change in 2013, which aimed at reducing segmentation and increasing labor market flexibility. In the front of social protection, Slovenia is among the EU countries with the most generous social systems, which, on the other hand, create high work disincentives. Limitations. This study focuses only on the presentation of the recent indicators of flexicurity components, which is one of its major limitation. Future research should study in more detail the effects of flexicurity on labor market, reconsider the importance of flexicurity in assuring decent work and develop a more comprehensible measure of flexicurity. Originality. The paper adds to the existing literature on Slovenia by giving an overview of recent developments of flexicurity concept, pointing on the areas that require policy response.
The paper provides a theoretical rationale for flexicurity policies, consisting of low employment protection, generous unemployment insurance and active labour market programmes. Education efforts ...give access to high productivity firms, more likely to survive and thus exposing less their workers to unemployment risk. Activation programmes support reallocation from risky and unproductive to safer and more productive firms, reducing unemployment. Low employment protection can provide incentives for self‐insurance against unemployment risk through education, mitigating the moral hazard cost of unemployment insurance and activation programmes. The paper identifies conditions for flexicurity to be optimal and confronts theoretical predictions to the data.
COVID‐19 caused a major economic downturn, the like of which had not been seen since the Great Recession although the underlying causes of the two crises were very different; systemic risk versus a ...virus. Here we look at how flexible work practices, allied with adequate supports and lifelong learning opportunities, aided economic recovery following the earlier crisis in order to see if there are any lessons to be learnt for post‐pandemic recovery. Overall, the results indicated that flexicurity provided a modest growth dividend during the Great Recession, typically no more than one percentage point. Of the individual components, the short‐run results indicated that security along with life‐long learning and part‐time work proved the most beneficial, although flexible work practices also boosted growth, albeit to a lesser extent. For flexible labour markets, the long‐run results indicated that the growth gains were highest in trusting economies with, or without, social partner engagement.
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