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Labour market regulation and the ‘competition state’: an analysis of the implementation of the Agency Working Regulations in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Chris Forde

    (Leeds University Business School, UK)

  • Gary Slater

    (Leeds University Business School, UK)

Abstract

This article examines the changing role of the state, through an analysis of the development and implementation of the EU Temporary Agency Work Directive in the UK. The article outlines and utilizes the concept of the ‘competition state’ to help frame and comprehend the UK Government’s approach to negotiating and shaping the Directive. Using archival, secondary and primary research, the article shows how the state continues to exercise important choices nationally and internationally which, in turn, have profound implications for the operation of labour markets. The article shows how, despite a veneer of fairness, the state has developed a regulatory instrument which provides uneven protection for workers, favours the actions of employers, promotes further flexibility in the use of temporary labour contracts and, by taking advantage of compromises at the European level, creates further market-making opportunities for well-established large agencies in the sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris Forde & Gary Slater, 2016. "Labour market regulation and the ‘competition state’: an analysis of the implementation of the Agency Working Regulations in the UK," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(4), pages 590-606, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:30:y:2016:i:4:p:590-606
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017015622917
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dr Chris Forde, 2001. "Temporary Arrangements: The Activities of Employment Agencies in the UK," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(3), pages 631-644, September.
    2. Leah F. Vosko, 2009. "Less than adequate: regulating temporary agency work in the EU in the face of an internal market in services," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 2(3), pages 395-411.
    3. Chris Forde & Gary Slater, 2005. "Agency Working in Britain: Character, Consequences and Regulation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 249-271, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Guglielmo Meardi & Jimmy Donaghey & Deborah Dean, 2016. "The strange non-retreat of the state: implications for the sociology of work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(4), pages 559-572, August.
    2. Adam Seth Litwin & Or Shay, 2022. "What do unions do… for temps? Collective bargaining and the wage penalty," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 193-227, April.
    3. Gabriella Alberti & Ioulia Bessa & Kate Hardy & Vera Trappmann & Charles Umney, 2018. "In, Against and Beyond Precarity: Work in Insecure Times," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(3), pages 447-457, June.
    4. Paul Sissons & Anne E Green & Neil Lee, 2018. "Linking the Sectoral Employment Structure and Household Poverty in the United Kingdom," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(6), pages 1078-1098, December.

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