Leiharbeit in Europa: zwischen Flexibilität und Sicherheit

On the basis of trade union campaigns, and also as a consequence of pressure for action from the EU-Directive on Temporary Agency Work and the equal pay principle, issues of income inequality and the lack of employment security for temporary agency workers have again become a focus of employment and income policy debates. Based on the experience of other European countries, the article examines the extent to which more success has been achieved there in comparison to Germany in the regulation of temporary agency employment. It becomes evident that in particular collective bargaining arrangements have been a successful tool to support more sustainable labour market integration by further training and also to alleviate disadvantages in social security benefits. In the light of these experiences, the authors come to the conclusion that Germany not only looks back on a lost decade in terms of achieving more income equality in the agency work sector but also that the social partners have so far not exercised their modeling function enough.