An Economic Perspective on Employment Protection Legislation and Labour Market Prospects

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2236037
AutoresDaniele Checchi (0000-0001-7466-8562, Economic Policy Institute, autor de correspondencia), Marco Leonardi (0000-0002-7989-1162, Institute of Economic Sciences)
Año2016
Volumen32
Número4
Páginas532-535
Fecha de publicación2016-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEuropean Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0266-7215 • E-ISSN: 1468-2672
EditorialOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/esr/jcw038
OpenAlexW2513408695
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas10

During the 1990s, there was considerable continuity in the employment protection legislation (EPL) of OECD countries, with one major exception: the deregulation of fixed-term contracts and other non-standard labour relationships. Particularly in Southern Europe, changes of labour market policy consisted mainly of measures aimed at introducing ‘flexibility at the margin’, that is, making the utilization of non-permanent contracts more loosely regulated while leaving the discipline of permanent employment unchanged. Flexibility at the margin, however, amplified the two-tier nature of labour markets, raising concerns over the risk of labour market ‘dualism’ or ‘segmentation’. Triggered by these concerns, public opinion and policy makers have repeatedly stressed the importance of searching ‘an appropriate balance between flexibility and security’ (as pointed out by the European Commission in multiple documents). It is the so called ‘flexicurity’ approach, which aims at squaring the circle of ensuring flexibility, job security, and job quality, all at the same time.

Business · Deregulation · Dualism · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · Employment protection legislation · European commission · European union · Flexibility (engineering) · Flexicurity · Job security · Labour economics · Labour law · Labour market flexibility · Legislation · Margin (machine learning) · Market economy · Market segmentation · Microeconomics · Political science · Quality (philosophy) · Unemployment · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Labor Movements and Unions · Law