Werner Eichhorst - Böcker

Why is unemployment higher in some countries than others? Why does it fluctuate between decades? Why are some people at greater risk than others? Layard and Nickell have worked on these issues for thirty years. Their famous model, first published in 1986, is now used throughout the world. It asserts that unemployment must be high enough to reduce the real wages for which workers settle to the level justified by productivity. So what affects 'wage push'? The authors showed early on that the key factors affecting 'wage push' are how unemployed workers are treated and how wages are negotiated. If unemployed people get benefits without being required to accept jobs, vacancies go unfilled and mass unemployment results. The solution is welfare-to-work policies like those now introduced in most parts of the world. The authors have proposed these policies for the last twenty-five years in a series of key articles reproduced in this book. Their original analysis explains the subsequent movement of unemployment over the last two decades. They conclude the book with a new chapter on what should be done in the recession: no-one, they say, should be given unemployment benefit beyond a year, after which they should be offered work.

Why is unemployment higher in some countries than others? Why does it fluctuate between decades? Why are some people at greater risk than others? Layard and Nickell have worked on these issues for thirty years. Their famous model, first published in 1986, is now used throughout the world. It asserts that unemployment must be high enough to reduce the real wages for which workers settle to the level justified by productivity. So what affects 'wage push'? The authors showed early on that the key factors affecting 'wage push' are how unemployed workers are treated and how wages are negotiated. If unemployed people get benefits without being required to accept jobs, vacancies go unfilled and mass unemployment results. The solution is welfare-to-work policies like those now introduced in most parts of the world. The authors have proposed these policies for the last twenty-five years in a series of key articles reproduced in this book. Their original analysis explains the subsequent movement of unemployment over the last two decades. They conclude the book with a new chapter on what should be done in the recession: no-one, they say, should be given unemployment benefit beyond a year, after which they should be offered work.

Work is a strange and paradoxical thing. We need it, we are afraid of losing it, yet it has become more demanding and its future appears uncertain. Is this inevitable? Can our current experience of work and perceptions of the future of work get any better?Werner Eichhorst provides a fresh view on the conditions of employment and working environments, investigating the evolution of paid work and mapping out ways it may develop in the future, considering what more liveable and productive working habitats for individuals could look like. He takes a comparative perspective on job quality and quantity and labour market institutions across Europe, offering a particular focus on the Rhenish countries. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, he brings together insights from the fields of economics, sociology, political economy and psychology, alongside everyday observations to discuss the key mechanisms behind paid work. This book also demonstrates the important contribution of individuals, public policies, and firm-level HR management to encourage productive and sustainable working environments.Students and scholars of labour policy and economics, the sociology of work and organisations and political economy will greatly benefit from this incisive book. This accessible book also provides thought-provoking impulses to anyone concerned with the future of work and the individual situation at work.

Examining the occupational variation within non-standard employment, this book combines case studies and comparative writing to illustrate how and why alternative occupational employment patterns are formed.Non-standard employment has grown significantly in most developed economies, varying between countries. Different institutional settings have been deemed accountable for this variation, although inadequate consideration has been given to differences within national labour markets. Through an occupational perspective, this book contends that patterns of non-standard employment are shaped by flexibility in hiring and firing practices and the dispensability of workers' skills. The framework integrates explanations based on labour market regulation, industrial relations and skill supply, filling the gaps in previous scholastic research.A necessary and discernible insight into employment patterns, academics in the fields of economics and sociology will find this book of great value. Policy makers and practitioners alike will benefit from the comparative analysis of rich empirical material.Contributors: F. Berton, M.R. Busemeyer, H. Chung, M. Dieckhoff, W. Eichhorst, B. Francon, V. Gash, A.C. Gielen, M. Keune, A. Koslowski, J. Leschke, P. López Roldán, P.K. Madsen, P. Marx, C. McLean, A. Mertens, O. Molina, R. Muffels, M. Nelson, M. Richiardi, L. Romeu-Gordo, S. Sacchi, T. Schils, K. Thelen, V. Tobsch

Der Bericht 2004 bringt die Analysen des ersten Benchmarking-Berichts von 2001 auf den neuesten Stand. Er untersucht anhand einer breiten Zusammenstellung von Zahlen und Fakten die Entwicklung von Beschäftigung und Arbeitslosigkeit in Deutschland im Vergleich zu den OECD-Ländern und geht der Frage nach, inwieweit konjunkturelle, in erster Linie aber institutionelle Faktoren hierauf einwirken. Konkret stellt der Bericht die wesentlichen Kennziffern aus den Bereichen Arbeitsmarkt- und Sozialpolitik, Arbeitszeit- und Arbeitsmarktregulierung, Unternehmertätigkeit, Lohn- und Tarifpolitik, Bildung sowie Innovation und Makroökonomie dar. Insbesondere zeigt er auf, inwieweit die jüngsten Reformen in Deutschland zur Behebung von Schwächen im deutschen Beschäftigungssystem beigetragen haben oder entsprechende Effekte zu erwarten sind und wo weiterhin Handlungsbedarf besteht. Darüber hinaus weist er auf bewährte Praktiken im Ausland hin, die als Anregungen in die deutsche Reformdiskussion einfließen könnten.

Der Bericht Benchmarking Deutschland beurteilt den Wirtschafts- und Sozialstandort Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Entwicklung des Arbeitsmarktes und der Politikbereiche, die im Wesentlichen auf die Beschäftigungsdynamik einwirken. Ziel dieses Berichts ist die Erkennung von Stärken und Schwächen und die Suche nach praktisch umsetzbaren Reformansätzen. Das Benchmarking Deutschland, das erste seiner Art, ist in enger Zusammenarbeit mit der Arbeitsgruppe Benchmarking des Bündnisses für Arbeit entstanden. Es gründet sich auf einen umfassenden Bestand an international vergleichbaren Daten sowie die führende einschlägige Literatur und gibt in der kompakten und leicht zugänglichen Form eines Kompendiums die von den Akteuren gemeinsam anerkannten Datenlage wieder.

Over the last decade, many industrialized countries shifted from passive unemployment and welfare benefit regimes and traditional active labor market and social policies to activation strategies by making benefit receipt conditional upon accepting job offers or participation in active labor market schemes. But countries differ with regard to the design of activation instruments and their implementation, the definition of target groups and the effects of activation in the national labor market setting. This volume provides an up-to-date overview of activation strategies in unemployment benefit systems and social assistance in selected European countries and the US. A particular focus lies on the development of activation schemes, governance and implementation as well as on the outcomes of activation in terms of labor market and social integration. The volume is the first to address these issues both from a socio-economic and a legal perspective.

Over the last decade, many industrialized countries shifted from passive unemployment and welfare benefit regimes and traditional active labor market and social policies to activation strategies by making benefit receipt conditional upon accepting job offers or participation in active labor market schemes. But countries differ with regard to the design of activation instruments and their implementation, the definition of target groups and the effects of activation in the national labor market setting. This volume provides an up-to-date overview of activation strategies in unemployment benefit systems and social assistance in selected European countries and the US. A particular focus lies on the development of activation schemes, governance and implementation as well as on the outcomes of activation in terms of labor market and social integration. The volume is the first to address these issues both from a socio-economic and a legal perspective.

Der Bericht 2004 bringt die Analysen des ersten Benchmarking-Berichts von 2001 auf den neuesten Stand. Er untersucht anhand einer breiten Zusammenstellung von Zahlen und Fakten die Entwicklung von Beschäftigung und Arbeitslosigkeit in Deutschland im Vergleich zu den OECD-Ländern und geht der Frage nach, inwieweit konjunkturelle, in erster Linie aber institutionelle Faktoren hierauf einwirken. Konkret stellt der Bericht die wesentlichen Kennziffern aus den Bereichen Arbeitsmarkt- und Sozialpolitik, Arbeitszeit- und Arbeitsmarktregulierung, Unternehmertätigkeit, Lohn- und Tarifpolitik, Bildung sowie Innovation und Makroökonomie dar. Insbesondere zeigt er auf, inwieweit die jüngsten Reformen in Deutschland zur Behebung von Schwächen im deutschen Beschäftigungssystem beigetragen haben oder entsprechende Effekte zu erwarten sind und wo weiterhin Handlungsbedarf besteht. Darüber hinaus weist er auf bewährte Praktiken im Ausland hin, die als Anregungen in die deutsche Reformdiskussion einfließen könnten.