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Flexibility-Flexicurity-Flexinsurance: Response to the European Commission's Green Paper "Modernising Labour Law to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century"

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  • Tangian, Andranik

Abstract

The paper contains both critical remarks on and constructive suggestions to Green Paper: Modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st century of the European Commission (2006a) which promotes flexicurity policies, that is, relaxing the employment protection legislation while providing advances in employment and social security for flexible workforces, like fixed-term, part-time and agency workers, or self-employed. The default assumption, that relaxing labour laws can be compensated by these advances, is criticised. These measures are regarded as too vague and insufficient, as also demonstrated in our previous study with empirical evidence. Therefore, some additional measures are proposed to counterbalance the actual flexibilization of employment relations, including (1) flexinsurance, a kind of progressive flexibilization tax, meaning that the employer's contribution to social security should be proportional to the flexibility of the contract/risk of becoming unemployed, (2) elements of the basic minimum income model, (3) constraining financial markets, as well as (4) developing adequate policy monitoring/evaluation instruments. It is argued that all of these meet interests of social partners and solve contradictions between such European policies as flexicurity, make work pay, welfare-state policy, and civil-society policy. Finally, we provide specific thoughts to 14 questions posed by the Green Paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Tangian, Andranik, 2007. "Flexibility-Flexicurity-Flexinsurance: Response to the European Commission's Green Paper "Modernising Labour Law to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century"," WSI Working Papers 149, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wsidps:149
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Daniela Zirra, 2012. "Evolution And Trends Of Flexicurity In The Current Context Of Economic And Social Development," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 7(1), pages 60-74, March.
    2. Seifert, Hartmut & Tangian, Andranik, 2007. "Flexicurity: Reconciling Social Security with Flexibility - Empirical Findings for Europe," WSI Working Papers 154, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    3. Eichhorst, Werner & Marx, Paul & Tobsch, Verena, 2009. "Institutional Arrangements, Employment Performance and the Quality of Work," IZA Discussion Papers 4595, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Flexicurity; labour market flexibility; social security; labour law; European employment strategy; Green Paper;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J88 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Public Policy
    • J83 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Workers' Rights

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