Employment Dualism in Crisis: Labour Market and Welfare State Reforms Before and During COVID-19

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Author/s Werner Eichhorst, Marika Peressoni
Publishing Year 2021 Issue 2021/159
Language English Pages 21 P. 7-27 File size 246 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2021-159001
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Dual labour markets have been a specific feature of employment systems in Con-tinental Europe after an initial wave of deregulation that started in the 1980s in a situation of high and persistent unemployment. Since then, the institutional duali-sation of employment by type of contract has had massive implications on the quality and quantity of jobs. However, while dualisms were conceived as inevita-ble and stable, the perception has become more nuanced and dynamic, account-ing for partial dedualising steps observable over the last decade in particular. This paper gives an overview of the history of dualisation and dual labour markets before addressing current challenges arising from the digital transition and the COVID-19 pandemic. It concludes with a discussion about potential policies to overcome labour market dualisms.

Keywords: Dualisation, non-standard employment, dual labour markets

  1. Adams-Prassl A., Boneva T., Golin M. and Rauh C. (2020). Inequality in the Impact of the Coronavirus Shock: Evidence from Real Time Surveys. Institute of Labor Economics Discussion Paper Series, 13183.
  2. Baccaro L., Benassi C. (2010). Throwing out the ballast: growth models and the liberalization of German industrial relations. Socio-Economic Review, 15(1): 85-115.
  3. Barbieri P., Cutuli G., Luijkx, R. Mari, G. and Scherer S. (2016). Substitution, entrapment, and inefficiency? Cohort inequalities in a two-tier labour market. Socio-Economic Review, 17(2): 409-431.
  4. Barbieri P., Scherer S. (2009). Labour market flexibilization and its consequences in Italy. European Sociological Review, 25(6): 677-692.
  5. Benassi C., Dorigatti L. (2015). Straight to the Core – Explaining Union Responses to the Casualization of Work: The IG Metall Campaign for Agency Workers. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 53(3): 533-555.
  6. Boeri T. (2011). Institutional reforms and dualism in European labor markets. In: O. Ashenfelter and D. Card, eds., Handbook of labor economics. Vol. 4b. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  7. Boeri T., Cahuc P. and Zylberberg A. (2015). The Costs of Flexibility-Enhancing Structural Reforms: A Literature Review. OECD Economics Department Working Papers, 1264.
  8. Boeri T., Garibaldi P. (2007). Two Tier Reforms of Employment Protection: a Honeymoon Effect?. The Economic Journal, 17: 357-385.
  9. Boeri T., Garibaldi P. (2019). A Tale of Comprehensive Labor Market Reforms: Evidence from the Italian Jobs Act. Labour Economics, 59: 33-48.
  10. Cacciatore M., Duval R. and Fiori G. (2012). Short-term gain or pain? A DSGE model-based analysis of the short-term effects of structural reforms in labour and product markets. OECD Economics Department Working Papers, 948.
  11. Carinci F. (2015). Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Italy: Update to the Jobs Act n. 183/2014. In: Carinci F., Menegatti E., eds., Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Italy: Update to the Jobs Act. Milanofiori Assago (MI): Wolters Kluwer.
  12. Chauvel L., Schröder M. (2014). Generational inequalities and welfare regimes. Social Forces, 92(4): 1259-1283.
  13. Cirillo V., Fana M. and Guarascio D. (2017). Labour market reforms in Italy: Evaluating the effects of the Jobs Act. Economia Politica, 34: 211-232.
  14. Davidsson J., Naczyk M. (2009). The Ins and Outs of Dualisation: A Literature Review. REC-WP Working Paper, 2.
  15. Durazzi N. (2017). Inclusive unions in a dualized labour market? The challenge of organising labour market policy and social protection for labour market outsiders. Social Policy & Administration, 51(2): 265-285.
  16. Eichhorst W., Hemerijck A. and Scalise G. (2020). Welfare States, Labor Markets, Social Investment, and the Digital Transformation. IZA Discussion Paper, 13391.
  17. Eichhorst W., Hinte H., Rinne U. and Tobsch V. (2017). How big is the gig? Assessing the preliminary evidence on the effects of digitalization on the labor market. Management Revue, 28(3): 298-318. DOI: 10.5771/0935-9915-2017-3-29
  18. Eichhorst W., Marx P. (2011). Reforming German Labour Market Institutions. Journal of European Social Policy, 21(1): 73-87.
  19. Eichhorst W., Marx P. (2015). Introduction: an occupational perspective on non-standard employment. In: Eichhorst W., Marx P., eds., Non-Standard Employment in Post-Industrial Labour Markets. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: 10.4337/9781781001721.0000
  20. Palier B., Thelen K. (2010). Institutionalizing Dualism: Complementarities and Change in France and Germany. Politics & Society, 38(1): 119-148. DOI: 10.1177/003232920935788
  21. Eichhorst W., Marx P. (2020). How stable is labour market dualism? Reforms of employment protection in nine European countries. European Journal of Industrial Relations. DOI: 10.1177/0959680119899199
  22. Eichhorst W., Marx P. and Rinne U. (2020). Manoeuvring Through the Crisis: Labour Market and Social Policies During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Intereconomics, 55(6): 375-380.
  23. Emmenegger P., Häusermann S., Palier B. and Seeleib‐Kaiser M., eds. (2012). The Age of Dualization: The Changing Face of Inequality in Deindustrializing Societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  24. Fernandes S., Kerneis K. (2020). Towards an individual right to adult learning for all Europeans. Brussels: Institut Jacques Delors - Notre Europe.
  25. Ford M. (2015). The rise of the robots. Technology and the threat of mass unemployment. London: Oneworld Publications.
  26. Galasso V., Foucault M. (2020). Working during COVID-19: Cross-country evidence from real-time survey data. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, 246.
  27. Giannetti D. (2013). Mario Monti's Technocratic Government. Italian Politics, 28(1): 133-152.
  28. Goos M., Manning A. and Salomons A. (2014). Explaining job polarization: routine biased technological change and offshoring. American Economic Review, 104(8): 2509-2526.
  29. Greve B. (2019). The digital economy and the future of European welfare states. International Social Security Review, 72(3): 79-94.
  30. Hernanz V., Origo F., Lodovici M. S. and Toharia L. (2008). Dreaming of a permanent job: The transition of temporary workers in Italy and Spain. In: Muffels J.A., ed., Flexibility and Employment Security in Europe. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
  31. Hohendanner C. (2018). Reform der befristeten Beschäftigung im Koalitionsvertrag: Reichweite, Risiken und Alternativen. IAB-Kurzbericht, 16/2018. Nürnberg: IAB.
  32. ILO (2016). Non-standard employment around the world: understanding challenges, shaping prospects. Geneva.
  33. Jaehrling K., Kalina T. (2020). ‘Grey zones’ within dependent employment: formal and informal forms of on-call work in Germany. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 26(4): 447-463. DOI: 10.1177/102425892093796
  34. King D., Rueda D. (2008). Cheap Labor: The New Politics of “Bread and Roses” in Industrial Democracies. Perspectives on Politics, 6(2): 279-297. DOI: 10.1017/S153759270808061
  35. Lehdonvirta V. (2016). Algorithms that divide and unite: delocalization, identity and collective action in ‘microwork’. In: Flecker J., ed., Space, Place and Global Digital Work. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  36. Marx P., Starke P. (2017). Dualization as Destiny? The Political Economy of the German Minimum Wage Reform. Politics & Society, 45(4): 559-584. DOI: 10.1177/003232921772679
  37. OECD (2013). Employment Outlook. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
  38. OECD (2014). Employment Outlook. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
  39. OECD (2015). Employment Outlook. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
  40. OECD (2017). Employment Outlook. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
  41. OECD (2018). The Future of Social Protection: What Works for Non-standard Workers? Paris: OECD Publishing.
  42. OECD (2019). Individual Learning Accounts: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?, Paris: OECD Publishing.
  43. OECD (2020). OECD Employment Outlook 2020: Worker Security and the COVID-19 Crisis. Paris: OECD Publishing.
  44. Palier B. (2019). Work, social protection and the middle classes: What future in the digital age?. International Social Security Review, 72(3): 113-133.
  45. Pasi G., Misuraca G. (2020). Welfare 2.0: future scenarios of social protection systems in the digital age. Policy Design and Practice, 3(2): 163-176. DOI: 10.1080/25741292.2020.177096
  46. Pedaci M., Burroni L. (2014). Collective bargaining, atypical employment and welfare provisions: The case of temporary agency work in Italy. Stato e mercato, 34(2): 169-194. DOI: 10.1425/7741
  47. Perulli A. (2020). The legal and jurisprudential evolution of the notion of employee. European Labour Law Journal, 11(2): 117-130. DOI: 10.1177/203195252090514
  48. Peugny C. (2019). The decline in middle-skilled employment in 12 European countries: New evidence for job polarisation. Research and Politics, 6(1). DOI: 10.1177/205316801882313
  49. Pinelli D., Torre R., Pace L., Cassio L. and Arpaia A. (2017). The recent reform of the labour market in Italy: A review. European Economy – Discussion Papers, 72. Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission. DOI: 10.2765/04959
  50. Pritoni A. (2015). Changing Patterns of Social Concertation: Trade Unions’ Decline in Italy. XXII International Conference of Europeanists, Science Po Paris (France), 8-10 luglio. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3253.616
  51. Pulignano V. (2019). Work in deregulated labour markets: a research agenda for precariousness. ETUI Research Working Paper, 3. Brussels: The European Trade Union Institute. -- Available from: www.etui.org/publications/working-papers/work-in-deregulated-labour-markets-a-research-agenda-for-precariousness.
  52. Rueda D. (2005). Insider–Outsider Politics in Industrialized Democracies: The Challenge to Social Democratic Parties. American Political Science Review, 99(1): 61-74. DOI: 10.1017/S000305540505149
  53. Rueda D. (2014). Dualization, crisis and the welfare state. Socio-Economic Review, 12(2): 381-407.
  54. Sacchi S., Vesan P. (2015). Employment Policy: Segmentation, Deregulation and Reforms in the Italian Labour Market. In: Pavolini E., Ascoli U., eds., The Italian Welfare State in a European Perspective: A Comparative Analysis. Bristol: Policy Press.
  55. Schoukens P., Weber E. (2020). Unemployment insurance for the self-employed: a way forward post-corona. Institut für Arbeitsmarkt-und Berufsforschung (IAB). Nürnberg: Institute for Employment Research.
  56. Spasova S., Bouget D. and Ghailani D. (2019). Self-employment and social protection: understanding variations between welfare regimes. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 27(2): 157-175. DOI: 10.1332/175982719X1553849234804
  57. Struffolino E., Raitano M. (2020). Early-Career Complexity Before and After Labour-Market Deregulation in Italy. Heterogeneity by Gender and Socio-economic Status Across Cohorts. Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement: 1-27.
  58. Thelen K. (2012). Varieties of Capitalism: Trajectories of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity. Annual Review of Political Science 15(1): 137-159.
  59. Wdowiak E. (2017). An Analysis of the “Biagi Law”. Text available at the website -- www.wdowiak.me/archive/minimum-wage/index.shtml, 11 December 2020.

Werner Eichhorst, Marika Peressoni, Employment Dualism in Crisis: Labour Market and Welfare State Reforms Before and During COVID-19 in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 159/2021, pp 7-27, DOI: 10.3280/SL2021-159001