Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/31892
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
IAB-Discussion Paper No. 19/2005
Publisher: 
Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg
Abstract: 
Employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits and active labor market policy are Janus-faced institutions. On the one hand they are devices of insurance against labor market risk that provide income and employment security. On the other hand they influence the capacities of labor markets to adapt to changing economic conditions since institutional features of the welfare state also affect actors' economic adaptation strategies. Insufficient labor market adaptability results in higher and more persistent unemployment. Hence, in order to increase the adaptability of European labor markets, reforms had to address these closely interacting policy areas. The first aim of the paper is to describe recent reforms of employment protection, unemployment insurance and active labor market policies in different European welfare states (Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany). The paper shows whether and to what extent national policy patterns converge in the direction of a new balance of flexibility and security with employment protection being eased and labor market policies being 'activated' through a combination of 'carrots and sticks'. Secondly, in terms of the political economy of welfare state reforms, the paper will answer the question whether consistent reforms of the three institutions are more likely in political systems characterized by relative strong government and/or social partnership since such institutional prerequisites may favor 'package deals' across policy areas.
Subjects: 
aktivierende Arbeitsmarktpolitik
Sozialpolitik - Reform
Sozialstaat - internationaler Vergleich
Arbeitsschutzpolitik
Beschäftigungssicherung
Arbeitslosenunterstützung
Sozialstaat
Regulierung
institutionelle Faktoren
politisches System
politischer Wandel
Dänemark
Schweden
Großbritannien
Schweiz
Niederlande
Spanien
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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