How stable is labour market dualism? Reforms of employment protection in nine European countries

Werner Eichhorst and Paul Marx
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Paul Marx: Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Germany; University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2021, vol. 27, issue 1, 93-110

Abstract: Labour market segmentation is at the forefront of national and European policy debates. While the European Commission and the OECD claim to promote what they see as more inclusive policies, academic observers remain sceptical. The dualization literature in particular points to stable equilibria that sustain divisions between labour market insiders and outsiders. In this article, we trace recent reform trajectories in a diverse group of nine European countries marked by a high share of temporary employment: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Our case studies show that recent reforms of employment regulation involve much more dynamism than one would expect based on the experiences of the two preceding decades, or from dualization or insider–outsider theories. The reform trajectories display rather contradictory approaches, sometimes in close succession.

Keywords: Employment protection; fixed-term contracts; France; Germany; Italy; labour market dualism; labour market reforms; Poland; Portugal; segmentation; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; the Netherlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: How Stable Is Labour Market Dualism? Reforms of Employment Protection in Nine European Countries (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:eurjou:v:27:y:2021:i:1:p:93-110

DOI: 10.1177/0959680119899199

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