Labour Markets and Employment Policy series – serie

Education and training are of critical importance to individual employment prospects. This book questions whether the policies that govern education, training and employment actually facilitate or inhibit social integration. The authors analyse initial entry into the labour market and subsequent movements between employers, and explore links between education, training and the labour market. The book argues that although education is a good predictor of labour market integration and employment potential, and despite political efforts, social background nevertheless remains influential. The importance of continued training to improve opportunities for promotion is also demonstrated. The volume draws on economic, sociological and political science research to examine the potential for lifelong learning to enhance social integration, and new theories and evidence on the transitional labour market of learning and working are discussed. A wide range of European countries are also analysed using data from the European Community Household Panel surveys (ECHP), as well as national enterprise-level surveys and case studies.Education, Training and Employment Dynamics will be welcomed by a varied audience; economists will find the challenge to human capital theory inspiring, and sociologists are offered a new approach to life course research, whilst political scientists will find an interesting study of multi-level policy making in the EU.

This book examines the effectiveness of active labour market policies and their contribution to the prevention of social exclusion. The evaluation studies reported in this volume focus on two aspects of active labour market policies that have been relatively neglected in previous research and merit special attention.The first part of the book deals with aggregate impact analysis. Using examples from France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain, the contributors attempt to estimate the impact of active labour market policies on the transition from unemployment to employment using aggregate data at the regional level. Although quantitative in nature, these contributions take into account qualitative aspects such as the socio-economic context of the countries concerned and the structure of active labour market policies. The book then focuses on implementation issues and includes implementation studies carried out in Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden. The qualitative element plays a far more important role in these contributions which rely on case studies and surveys in addition to statistical data.

Over the past twenty years European labour markets have seen the simultaneous rise of unemployment and working-time flexibility. While unemployment generates widespread concern about social exclusion, the reorganisation of flexible working-time has been greeted with more ambivalence. The concept of Transitional Labour Markets (TLMs) is an attempt to address and analyse the factors and policies that can prevent high levels of unemployment and exclusion from paid work.This book addresses three key questions:Can working-time flexibility integrate more people into paid employment?Can working-time flexibility prevent unemployment?Is it possible for the barriers between core and peripheral employment to become more permeable in the way advocated by the concept of TLMs?Drawing on both quantitative longitudinal panel study data and qualitative case study material, the authors (whose expertise is drawn from the fields of economics, sociology and law) provide an original perspective on the nature and implications of TLMs in Spain, Sweden, Ireland, Britain, Germany, France and The Netherlands. This will be essential reading for both academics and policymakers in the field of labour market policy.

Persistent unemployment is recognised as one of the main mechanisms of social and political exclusion. The Dynamics of Full Employment provides a new and fresh approach to the question of full employment in contemporary society. It offers an internationally comparative, interdisciplinary approach to the dynamics of full employment and views the labour market not only as an economic institution, but as a social one. The authors argue that transitional markets - defined as legitimate, negotiated and politically supported sets of mobility options - are becoming essential ingredients of successful employment policies in modern societies. Social integration through participation in the labour market should not exclude productive activity in other spheres of life.The authors attempt to enhance the understanding, through empirical evidence, of the dynamics of modern labour markets and the theoretical foundation of transitional labour markets. They also aim to determine which arrangements (via institutional, legal and social security frameworks) might best be able to prevent or relieve structural unemployment.This innovative and original book will be of interest to both academics and policymakers in the fields of public policy and labour market, and employment policy in particular.

This book provides an overview of the institutional arrangements affecting labour market transitions through different working-time arrangements in seven European countries. It examines the extent to which social integration through transitional labour markets is possible, assesses the effects of labour market transitions, and prescribes improvements, with the aim of preventing the development of social exclusion from paid employment. The book concentrates on how working-time transitions are shaped by industrial relations, employment regulation and social policy systems. In particular it seeks to ascertain how institutional regulations may hinder or encourage the development of transitional labour markets in France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.The contributors to this volume also analyse the characteristics of employment regulation with regard to working-time flexibility and industrial relations in their national setting. They provide a review of current debates around this issue, and explore the role of recent reforms to social policy in facilitating or hindering labour market transitions. Outlining the changes that have occurred in the regulatory institutional framework shaping working-time transitions in recent years, this book will be invaluable to academics with an interest in labour market policy. The book will also strongly appeal to labour market policymakers.