Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/307202 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17378
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The permanent restructuring of the economy, exacerbated by the digital transition and combined with labour market dualization, is progressively increasing semi- and low-skilled workers' risk of marginalization. This article analyses how countries balance employment and equality concerns in core private services sectors and inquires the policy strategy that governments in Germany, France, Italy and Spain have implemented over the last two decades for workers 'at the margins'. The analysis encompasses multiple policy tools – skill upgrading, social benefits, incentives to reduce barriers to employment and wage regulation – and reveals varied trajectories. A common direction is followed by Germany and Spain, which have adopted policies to mitigate long-standing labor market dualism by implementing protective policies that aim at improving job conditions for low-wage and at-risk workers. France is stuck in its protective approach, focusing on job stabilization through subsidies without addressing the need for skill development, which limits long-term labor market mobility. Italy is exacerbating dualism by failing to improve job quality and training opportunities, leading to persistent low productivity and increasing in-work poverty.
Subjects: 
labour market dualism
welfare
low wage sector
semi- and low-skilled
adult learning
JEL: 
J21
J31
J38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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