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Is greater flexibility in the labour market the answer to the unemployment crisis?

  • Unemployment
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Intereconomics

Abstract

In view of high and persistent unemployment in the European industrialised countries there is growing consensus that more flexibility is needed with regard to both the legal and institutional conditions governing the labour market (external flexibility) and the management of human resources within individual firms (internal flexibility). This article examines the interaction between internal and external flexibility with special reference to wages, working time and job security.

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References

  1. Cf. OECD: The OECD Jobs Study, Evidence and Explanations, Paris 1994.

  2. Cf. inter alia European Commission: Growth, Competitiveness, Employment (White Paper), Brussels & Luxembourg 1993.

  3. Cf. e.g. Christoph Schröder: Industrielle Arbeitskosten im internationalen Vergleich 1970–1994 in: iw-trends, No. 2/1994.

  4. Projections by the Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung indicate that employment would increase if unemployment insurance were to be funded out of higher value-added tax or mineral oil tax (cf. details in A. Barth: Finanzierung der Arbeitsmarktpolitik, in: IAB Werkstattbericht, No. 8/1994).

  5. Cf. European Commission, op. cit. Growth, Competitiveness, Employment (White Paper), Brussels & Luxembourg 1993.

  6. Cf. W. Franz: Chancen und Risiken einer Flexibilisierung des Arbeitsrechts aus ökonomischer Sicht, a discussion paper in “International labour market research” (Forschungsschwerpunkt “Internationale Arbeitsmarktforschung”), University of Constance, No. 10/1993.

  7. On the following, cf. Ulrich Walwei and Heinz Werner: Weniger Arbeitslosigkeit durch mehr Teilzeitarbeit?, in: Wirtschaftsdienst, No. 3/1996, pp. 131–138.

  8. For detail, see ibid. On the following, cf. Ulrich Walwei and Heinz Werner: Weniger Arbeitslosigkeit durch mehr Teilzeitarbeit?, in: Wirtschaftsdienst, No. 3/1996, pp. 131–138.

  9. On the following, cf. Christoph Büchtemann and Ulrich Walwei: Employment Dismissal Protection (forthcoming, Handbook of Labour Market Policy Evaluation).

  10. Cf. on this subject Ulrich Walwei: Atypische Beschäftigungsformen. Kongruenz und Divergenz der Interessen, in: Bernd Keller and Hartmut Seifert (eds.): Atypische Beschäftigung. Verbieten oder gestalten?, Cologne 1995, p. 9 ff.

  11. Cf. OECD, op. cit. The OECD Jobs Study, Evidence and Explanations, Paris 1994.

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Walwei, U. Is greater flexibility in the labour market the answer to the unemployment crisis?. Intereconomics 31, 159–165 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02928598

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