Myths of employment deregulation: how it neither creates jobs nor reduces labour market segmentation

This Working Paper tackles two questions: what counts as work within a deregulated labour market; and what are the implications for the study of precariousness? The paper addresses the traditional dichotomy between paid and unpaid work which obscures how unpaid activities often undercut paid employment. In this light, it suggests a new way of... Find out more

Unemployment rates in the EU rose after the economic crisis of 2008, passing 10% in 2012, but with big variations between countries. The worst afflicted had been subject to so-called policies of internal devaluation, aimed at curing unemployment by reducing wage costs. This book provides a comparative study of countries that to varying degrees... Find out more

European employment regulation has been repeatedly identified by policymakers as too stringent resulting in policy recommendations aimed at a more flexible labour market. This diagnosis has been reaffirmed, particularly by international policymakers, in the post-2008 economic and jobs crisis with high employment protection regarded as harmful for... Find out more

This Working Paper critically analyses Italy’s labour market reforms of 2012 (Fornero Reform). It focuses especially on a measure designed to cut unemployment and labour-market dualism by reducing the protection against dismissal enjoyed by permanent employees. The main argument of this paper is that labour market reforms focused on promoting... Find out more

This Policy Brief provides an overview of female employment in the EU and of how it is affected by a transition to motherhood, as well as of recent policies devised to remedy the post-2008 unemployment crisis. It also investigates the link between job quality and women’s employment patterns. The study concludes that the EU should concentrate on... Find out more

This paper investigates cross-company variation in the core-periphery configuration of the workforce. The empirical focus is on four automotive plants in Germany, which differ in terms of their organisation of agency work. The comparison reveals that there is no automatic relationship between skills, products and company workforce structure. As... Find out more

How the objective of a resource-efficient low carbon economy is to be reached and how the transition is managed are the key issues addressed by this publication. The two main focuses are industrial policy and employment prospects on the road to a green economy that retains its industrial base. Any lasting recovery of the real economy will... Find out more

This paper analyses whether developments on the labour market and in the welfare system during the economic crisis can be seen as perpetuating the trend towards labour market segmentation or whether the crisis may actually have contributed to containing some of the divisions forged in recent decades. The emphasis is placed on (involuntary) part... Find out more