Regulating the Risk of Unemployment National Adaptations to Post-Industrial Labour Markets in Europe

by Clasen, Jochen; Clegg, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780199592296
• ISBN10: 0199592292
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-01-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Regulating the Risk of Unemploymentoffers a systematic comparative analysis of the recent adaptation of European unemployment protection systems to increasingly post-industrial labour markets. These systems were mainly designed and institutionalized in predominantly industrial economies, characterized by relatively standardized employment relationships and stable career patterns, as well as plentiful employment opportunities even for those with low skills. Over the past two to three decades they have faced the challenge of an accelerating shift to a primarily service-based economy, accompanied by demands for greater flexibility in wages and terms and conditions in low-skill segments of the labour market as well as pressures to maximise labour force participation given the more limited potential for productivity-led growth. The book develops an original framework for analyzing adaptive reform in unemployment protection along three discrete dimensions of institutional change, which are termed benefit homogenization, risk re-categorization, and activation. This framework is then used to structure analysis of twenty years of unemployment protection reform in twelve European countries. In addition to mapping reforms along these dimensions, the country studies analyze the political and institutional factors that have shaped national patterns of adaptation. Complementary comparative analyses explore the effects of benefit reforms on the operation of the labour market, assess evolving patterns of working-age benefit dependency, and examine the changing role of active labour market policies in the regulation of the risk of unemployment.

Author Biography

Jochen Clasen is Professor of Comparative Social Policy in the School of Social and Political Science at University of Edinburgh. Professor Clasen is an expert in cross-national research on social security and unemployment policy, and has particular expertise in social policy comparisons between Germany and the UK. He has also published widely on methodological aspects of cross-national research, and his recent books include: Converging Worlds of Welfare (OUP 2011), Investigating Welfare State Change, and Reforming European Welfare States (OUP 2005).

Daniel Clegg is Lecturer in Social Policy in the School of Social and Political Science at University of Edinburgh. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, he held research and teaching posts at the University of Stirling and Oxford University, and Sciences Po in Paris. Clegg's research focuses on the comparative politics of unemployment and labor market policy in developed welfare states.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. ix
List of Tables	p. xii
List of Appendices	p. xiv
List of Abbreviations	p. xv
List of Annexes	p. xvii
List of Contributors	p. xviii
Unemployment protection and labour market change in Europe: towards 'triple integration'?	p. 1
National Developments	p. 13
The United Kingdom: towards a single working-age benefit system	p. 15
France: integration versus dualization	p. 34
Germany: moving towards integration whilst maintaining segmentation	p. 55
The Netherlands: two tiers for all	p. 75
Belgium: a precursor muddling through?	p. 100
Switzerland: a latecomer catching up?	p. 121
Italy: limited adaptation of an atypical system	p. 142
Spain: fragmented unemployment protection in a segmented labour market	p. 164
Denmark: ambiguous modernization of an inclusive unemployment protection system	p. 187
Sweden: ambivalent adjustment	p. 208
Hungary: fiscal pressures and a rising resentment against the (idle) poor	p. 232
The Czech Republic: activation, diversification, and marginalization	p. 255
Cross-National Perspectives	p. 279
Quantity over quality? A European comparison of the changing nature of transitions between non-employment and employment	p. 281
Tracking caseloads: the changing composition of working-age benefit receipt in Europe	p. 297
Active labour market policy in a changing economic context	p. 318
The transformation of unemployment protection in Europe	p. 333
Statistical Annex	p. 346
Caseload Annex	p. 355
References	p. 372
Index	p. 403
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