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Biletta, Isabella (2020): Casual work: Characteristics and implications. Working conditions. (Eurofound research report / European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions), Dublin, 39 S. DOI:10.2806/63115

Abstract

"Casual work, both intermittent and on-call, contributes to labour market flexibility and is therefore increasingly used across Europe. In some countries, practices go beyond the use of casual employment contracts to include other types of contracts and forms of self-employment. While it offers some advantages for both employers and workers, it is often discussed by policymakers at EU and national levels due to the observed negative consequences it has for some workers. Impacts include economic insecurity and unpredictability of working time, which in turn affect workers’ health, well-being and social security. From a labour market perspective, casual work raises concerns about decent social inclusion of vulnerable groups, labour market segmentation and more general trends towards fragmentation of work and brain drain. Some policy responses have already been implemented to tackle these issues; further policy pointers are flagged in the report." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Afonso, Óscar, Ana Maria Bandeira & Manuela Magalhães (2018): Labour-market institutions, (un)employment, wages, and growth. Theory and data. In: Applied Economics, Jg. 50, H. 6, S. 613-633. DOI:10.1080/00036846.2017.1332748

Abstract

"We analyse the implications of labour-market institutions on wage inequality in favour of skilled labour, on relative unemployment of unskilled labour, and on the economic growth rate in two clusters resulting from 27 OECD countries: Cluster 1, closely related with the Anglo-Saxon model, and Cluster 2, dominated by the Continental-European model. By linking the unskilled wage to the skilled one in Cluster 2, due to the indexation of social benefits to per-capita income, we accommodate the observed paths of the three variables in both clusters between 1991 and 2008: Cluster 1 presents a higher wage inequality in favour of skilled labour, a lower unemployment of the unskilled labour, and a better economic growth rate." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Abstract

"Social protection systems are often still designed for the archetypical full-time dependent employee. Work patterns deviating from this model - be it self-employment or online 'gig work' - can lead to gaps in social protection coverage. Globalisation and digitalisation are likely to exacerbate this discrepancy as new technologies make it easier and cheaper to offer and find work online, and online work platforms have experienced spectacular growth in recent years. While new technologies and the new forms of work they create bring the incomplete social protection of non-standard workers to the forefront of the international policy debate, non-standard work and policies to address such workers' situation are not new: across the OECD on average, one in six workers is self-employed, and a further one in eight employees is on a temporary contract. Thus, there are lessons to be learned from country experiences of providing social protection to non-standard workers. This report presents seven policy examples from OECD countries, including the 'artists' insurance system' in Germany or voluntary unemployment insurance for self-employed workers in Sweden. It draws on these studies to suggest policy options for providing social protection for non-standard workers, and for increasing the income security of on-call workers and those on flexible hours contracts." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Ettlinger, Nancy (2017): Paradoxes, problems and potentialities of online work platforms. In: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation, Jg. 11, H. 2, S. 21-38. DOI:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.11.2.0021

Abstract

"Drawing from a critical synthesis of interdisciplinary literatures, this article presents the organisational landscape of online work platforms as embedding problems posed to 'the crowd' while holding clues for paths of resistance. Organisational mechanisms that underpin online work platforms paradoxically both deterritorialise and territorialise online work and encompass new processes of disintermediation and intermediation, producing unprecedented savings for firms while imposing precarity on crowdworkers. Online work platforms nonetheless have become a tool of 'development' in underdeveloped countries for 'bottom-of-pyramid' (BOP) populations, a situation I critically examine regarding unique organisational features. Despite principles of online work platforms that would seem to foster the deterritorialisation of work, close scrutiny reveals spatially differentiated labour markets, which matter because the implications for change and the affordances of the new digital infrastructure differ across contexts." (Author's abstract, © Pluto Journals Ltd.) ((en))

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Niederfranke, Annette & Malte Drewes (2017): Aus der Praxis: Neue Formen der Erwerbstätigkeit in einer globalisierten Welt. Risiko der Aushöhlung von Mindeststandards für Arbeit und soziale Sicherung? In: Sozialer Fortschritt, Jg. 66, H. 12, S. 919-934. DOI:10.3790/sfo.66.12.919

Abstract

"Die Arbeitswelt von heute und morgen steht vor den gravierendsten Herausforderungen seit der industriellen Revolution: Globalisierung mit Verlagerung von Produktion in Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländer und eine drastisch wachsende Automatisierung und Digitalisierung mit erheblichen Chancen für neue Arbeitsfelder. Gleichzeitig vollzieht sich eine Zunahme an ungesicherten und informellen Arbeitsverhältnissen sowie atypischer Beschäftigungsformen in Teilzeit- und Rufbereitschaft, Leiharbeit, Solo-Selbständigkeit und Arbeit in der Gig Ökonomie. Geringe Bezahlung, unzureichender Arbeitsschutz, eingeschränkte Rechte, mangelnde Kontrolle über Arbeitszeit, wenig oder keine Weiterqualifizierungsmöglichkeit, Diskontinuitäten bei der sozialen Sicherung sowie eine fehlende Sozialpartnerschaft sind Begleiterscheinungen. Bestehende Normen und soziale Sicherungsmechanismen stoßen an ihre Grenzen. Die Internationale Arbeitsorganisation (ILO) hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, Leitplanken für die Arbeitswelt von morgen zu entwickeln, die diesen veränderten Bedingungen Rechnung tragen. 100 Jahre nach ihrer Gründung legt die ILO das Ergebnis zum 100-jährigen Jubiläum 2019 vor." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Garnero, Andrea (2016): Are part-time workers less productive and underpaid? The impact of part-time workers on firms' productivity is unclear, and lower wages depend mainly on occupation and sector. (IZA world of labor 249), Bonn, 10 S. DOI:10.15185/izawol.249

Abstract

"About one in five workers across OECD countries is employed part-time, and the share has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the economic and financial crisis in 2007. Part-time options play an important economic role by providing more flexible working arrangements for both workers and firms. Part-time employment has also contributed substantially to increasing the employment rate, especially among women. However, part-time work comes at a cost of lower wages for workers, mainly because part-time jobs are concentrated in lower paying occupations and sectors, while the impact on firms' productivity is still not very clear." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Heisig, Jan Paul, Maurice Gesthuizen & Heike Solga (2016): Human capital or signaling? Differences in skills distributions and the labor market disadvantage of less-educated adults across 21 countries. (SocArXiv Papers), 43 S. DOI:10.31235/osf.io/wc4s9

Abstract

"Less-educated adults bear the highest risk of labor market marginalization in all advanced economies, but the extent of their disadvantage differs considerably across countries. Exploiting unique data on the actual skills of adults from PIAAC 2011/12, we examine two prominent explanations for this cross-country variation. Human capital theory suggests that the marginalization of less-educated individuals reflects a lack of skills. The signaling explanation emphasizes the role of educational credentials as easy-to-observe proxies for skills and productivity. It suggests that the skills distribution of educational groups can affect their labor market position beyond any individual-level effect of skills by influencing the signaling value or “skills transparency” of educational credentials. Applying a two-step regression approach to a sample of 48,033 adults in 21 countries, we find support for both explanations. Consistent with human capital theory, literacy and numeracy skills are positively related to occupational status at the individual level and partly account for cross-national differences in the labor market disadvantage of less-educated adults. Yet, cross-country variation remains considerable even after controlling for skills and further key observables. Consistent with the signaling account, country-level regressions show that the remaining variation is related to two direct measures of skills transparency: the aggregate skills differential between less- and intermediate-educated adults and the internal homogeneity of these groups. We also find that the labor market disadvantage of less-educated adults increases with the vocational orientation of secondary education, presumably reflecting individual- and aggregate-level effects of occupation-specific skills, which were not assessed in PIAAC." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Ferreira Sequeda, Maria, Andries de Grip & Rolf van der Velden (2015): Does informal learning at work differ between temporary and permanent workers? Evidence from 20 OECD countries. (IZA discussion paper 9322), Bonn, 43 S.

Abstract

"Several studies have shown that employees with temporary contracts have lower training participation than those with permanent contracts. There is, however, no empirical literature on the difference in informal learning on the job between permanent and temporary workers. In this paper, we analyse this difference across 20 OECD countries using unique data from the recent PIAAC survey. Using a control function model with endogenous switching, we find that workers in temporary jobs engage in informal learning more intensively than their counterparts in permanent employment, although the former are, indeed, less likely to participate in formal training activities. In addition, we find evidence for complementarity between training and informal learning for both temporary and permanent employees. Our findings suggest that temporary employment need not be dead-end jobs. Instead, temporary jobs of high learning content could be a stepping stone towards permanent employment. However, our results also suggest that labour market segmentation in OECD countries occurs within temporary employment due to the distinction between jobs with low and high learning opportunities." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Abstract

"Arm und Reich driften im OECD-Raum immer weiter auseinander. In der Mehrzahl der Länder kommt wirtschaftliches Wachstum eher höheren Einkommensgruppen zugute - ärmere Haushalte bleiben zurück. Der Bericht beleuchtet, in welchen Bereichen Ungleichheit entsteht und wo politische Schritte erforderlich sind. Er schaut unter anderem auf die finanziellen Auswirkungen irregulärer Jobs, auf die Einkommensschere zwischen Männern und Frauen sowie auf die Entwicklung der Ungleichheit seit der Krise" (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

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Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (2015): Einstieg in den Arbeitsmarkt für junge Beschäftigte. Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der Abgeordneten und der Fraktion DIE LINKE (Drucksache 18/5313). (Verhandlungen des Deutschen Bundestages. Drucksachen), 94 S.

Abstract

"Die OECD (OECD - Organisation für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung) hat aktuell ihren Skills Outlook 2015 veröffentlicht. Der Anteil von befristeten Arbeitsverhältnissen bei jungen Beschäftigten liegt in Deutschland mit knapp 50 Prozent bei der Gruppe der 15- bis 24-Jährigen so hoch wie in kaum einem anderen der untersuchten Länder.
Dazu schreibt SPIEGEL ONLINE mit Bezug auf den OECD-Bericht: 'Befristete Jobs können zwar sinnvoll sein, indem sie jungen Menschen den Einstieg ins Berufsleben erleichtern. Oft sind sie aber auch mit gravierenden Nachteilen verbunden, wie die OECD ausführt: In vielen Fällen können befristet Beschäftigte ihre Fähigkeiten nicht voll in die Arbeit einbringen. Wer einen Zeitvertrag hat, hat auch geringere Chancen, an einer Weiterbildung teilzunehmen. Im schlimmsten Fall können durch die Befristungen daher Kompetenzen verkümmern, warnt die Organisation.'
Vor diesem Hintergrund ist eine genauere Beleuchtung der Arbeitsmarktsituation für junge Beschäftigte notwendig, und es stellt sich die Frage, welche Konsequenzen die Bundesregierung daraus zieht.
Falls zu den genannten Altersgruppen keine Daten vorliegen, wird gebeten, die vorhandenen Daten zu ähnlichen oder vergleichbaren Altersgruppen anzugeben." (Textauszug, IAB-Doku)

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Saint-Martin, Anne, Mark Keese, Alexander Hijzen, Hande Inanc, Sandrine Cazes, Stijn Broecke, Glenda Quintini, Paolo Falco, Andrea Bassanini & Balint Menyhert Saint-Martin, Anne, Mark Keese, Alexander Hijzen, Hande Inanc, Sandrine Cazes, Stijn Broecke, Glenda Quintini, Paolo Falco, Andrea Bassanini & Balint Menyhert (sonst. bet. Pers.) (2014): OECD employment outlook 2014. (OECD employment outlook), Paris, 289 S. DOI:10.1787/empl_outlook-2014-en

Abstract

"The 2014 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook provides an in-depth review of recent labour market trends and short-term prospects in OECD countries. It zooms in on how the crisis has affected earnings, showing that the low paid have not been spared from a substantial slowdown in real wage growth. While more subdued earnings growth can help to restore competitiveness and employment growth, which is essential to drive down unemployment, the quality of the jobs being created also matters. The complexity of job quality can be captured through three dimensions: earnings; labour market security; and quality of the work environment. There are large differences across countries in each of these dimensions, but there is no need to trade off job quality for quantity: some countries manage to do well on both counts. Non-regular employment can have an adverse impact on job quality, especially in terms of employment security and the difficulties of moving to a job with a permanent contract. Reform to employment protection legislation is necessary in some countries to reduce high levels of non-regular jobs. Skills are a key determinant of a person's chances of working in a highquality job, as new results from the OECD's international Survey of Adult Skills show. This depends not just on the skills workers already have, but also on how these skills are used in the workplace, which in turn reflects countries' labour market institutions and policies.

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Lee, Sophia Seung-yoon (2013): Examining policy configurations as conditions for long-term unemployment and non-standard employment in OECD countries using fuzzy-set analysis. In: Quality and Quantity. International Journal of Methodology, Jg. 47, H. 6, S. 3521-3536. DOI:10.1007/s11135-012-9737-9

Abstract

"This paper investigates how particular configurations of institutional conditions cause high rate of long-term unemployment and non-standard employment rate for 18 OECD countries during the period of 2001 - 2008. The paper aims to investigate how employment protection legislation (EPL), unemployment benefit and statutory minimum wages are associated with long-term unemployment and non-standard employment. Using the fuzzy-set analysis, the paper examines how the combination of policies matters in causing long-term unemployment and/or non-standard employment. The result suggests that a low level of statutory minimum wage can lead to high levels of non-standard employment in combination with either strict EPL for permanent workers or weak EPLs for temporary workers. The long-term unemployment rate is suggested to be high when there is strict EPL for temporary workers in combination with high levels of statutory minimum wage. This paper highlights the importance of examining multiple policies as configuration." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Abstract

"Five years after the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the study offers the latest global and regional information and projections on several indicators of the labour market, including employment, unemployment, working poverty and vulnerable employment. It also presents a number of policy considerations in light of the new challenges facing policy makers in the coming year." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Sala, Hector, José I. Silva & Manuel Toledo (2012): Flexibility at the margin and labor market volatility in OECD countries. In: The Scandinavian journal of economics, Jg. 114, H. 3, S. 991-1017. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9442.2012.01715.x

Abstract

"We study the business-cycle behavior of segmented labor markets with flexibility at the margin (e.g., just affecting fixed-term contracts). We present a matching model with temporary and permanent jobs (i) where there is a gap in the firing costs associated with these types of jobs and (ii) where there are restrictions in the creation and duration of fixed-term contracts. We show that a labor market with 'flexibility at the margin' increases the unemployment volatility with respect to one that is fully regulated. This analysis yields new insights into the interpretation of the recent volatility changes witnessed in the OECD area." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Baumann, Florian, Mario Mechtel & Nikolai Stähler (2011): Employment protection and temporary work agencies. In: Labour, Jg. 25, H. 3, S. 308-349. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.2010.00493.x

Abstract

"Employers who use temporary agency staff in contrast to regular staff are not affected by employment protection regulations when terminating a job. Therefore, services provided by temporary work agencies may be seen as a substitute for regular employment. In this paper, we analyse the effects of employment protection on the size of the temporary work agency sector in a model of equilibrium unemployment. We find that higher firing costs may even reduce temporary work agency employment if agencies themselves are subject to employment protection, a consideration that distinguishes our results from those for fixed-term employment arrangements." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Anderson, Christopher J. & Jonas Pontusson (2007): Workers, worries and welfare states: Social protection and job insecurity in 15 OECD countries. In: European Journal of Political Research, Jg. 46, H. 2, S. 211-235. DOI:10.1111/j.1475-6765.2007.00692.x

Abstract

"This article examines a model of the domestic political economy of subjective employment insecurity in advanced industrial societies. Based on data on people's attitudes toward their job as well as levels of and kinds of social protection collected in 15 OECD countries, it shows that there are distinct manifestations of job insecurity that are affected differently by distinct aspects of social protection programs. While the analysis shows that social protection measures reduce employment insecurity, it also reveals that overall levels welfare state generosity do not have any systematic effect on whether workers feel secure. The article's findings suggest the need to decompose the different components of employment insecurity as well as disaggregate national systems of social protection when examining the impact of welfare states on job insecurity." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Tangian, Andranik S. (2007): Is flexible work precarious? A study based on the 4th European Survey of Working Conditions 2005. (WSI-Diskussionspapier 153), Düsseldorf, 77 S.

Abstract

"The analysis of interaction of flexibility and precariousness of work shows that the more flexible employment, the more it is precarious. For this purpose, two families of indices, of flexible work and of precarious work, are defined basing on the Fourth European Survey of Working Conditions 2005 by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Two methodologies of constructing composite indicators are applied, of the Hans Böckler Foundation, and of the OECD. Both methodologies give very similar results. After the indices have been constructed, the dependence between flexibility and precariousness of work is established by regression analysis with statistical certainty. Besides, it is revealed that the institutional regulation of employment does not necessarily imply the adequate factual effect. For instance, Turkey and Greece with a very strict employment protection legislation have a high labour market flexibility due to a large fraction of employees who work with no contract. Among other things, it is shown that the employment flexibility has the strongest negative effect on the employability. It implies serious arguments against the recent reconsideration of the function of social security attempted by the European Commission within the flexicurity discourse. The suggested shift from income security towards a high employability cannot be consistently implemented. Our study provides empirical evidence that a high employability can be hardly attained under flexible employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Neugart, Michael & Donald Storrie (2006): The emergence of temporary work agencies. In: Oxford economic papers, Jg. 58, H. 1, S. 137-156. DOI:10.1093/oep/gpi050

Abstract

Seit den 1990er Jahren sind die Arbeitsmärkte in der OECD durch die schnelle Verbreitung von Leiharbeitsunternehmen gekennzeichnet. In dem Beitrag wird die Matching-Theorie der Gleichgewichtsarbeitslosigkeit von Pissarides und Mortensen durch Leiharbeitsunternehmen ergänzt. Dadurch wird gezeigt, wie eine Verbesserung des Matchings in den Unternehmen zum Entstehen und zum Wachstum der Leiharbeitsbranche geführt hat. Außerdem wird belegt, dass Leiharbeit keine Verdrängung regulärer Beschäftigung nach sich zieht, und sich wohlfahrtsökonomisch positiv auswirkt. (IAB)

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Polavieja, Javier G. (2006): The incidence of temporary employment in advanced economies. Why is Spain different? In: European Sociological Review, Jg. 22, H. 1, S. 61-78. DOI:10.1093/esr/jci042

Abstract

"This study analyses the determinants of the rate of temporary employment in 15 advanced economies using both macro-level data drawn from the OECD and EUROSTAT databases, as well as micro-level data drawn from the eighth wave of the European Household Panel. Comparative analysis is set out to test different explanations originally formulated for the Spanish case. The evidence suggests that the overall distribution of temporary employment in the analysed countries does not seem to be explicable by the characteristics of national productive structures. This evidence seems at odds with previous interpretations based on segmentation theories. As an alternative explanation, two types of supply-side factors are tested: crowding-out effects and educational gaps in the workforce. Both seem ill suited to explain the distribution of temporary work in the analysed economies. Institutional factors do, however, seem to play an important role. Multivariate analysis shows that the level of institutional protection in standard employment during the 1980s, together with the degree of coordinated centralization of the collective bargaining system, seem to have a significant impact on the distribution of temporary employment in the countries examined. Yet these institutional variables alone still fail to account for the Spanish difference. The Spanish puzzle seems, however, explicable when an interaction between employment protection in standard contracts and unemployment shocks is accounted for. This interaction is expected from a theoretical standpoint and proves consistent with both country-specific and comparative evidence." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Ruhs, Martin (2006): The potential of temporary migration programmes in future international migration policy. In: International Labour Review, Jg. 145, H. 1/2, S. 7-36.

Abstract

"This article explores the potential of temporary migration programmes (TMPs) for managing international labour migration in a way that is both practical and sensitive. Drawing upon the experiences of past and current TMPs, Ruhs discusses how TMPs can: help high-income countries meet their market needs; provide people from low-income countries with better access to labour markets in higher-income countries; maximize migration's developmental impact on countries of origin; and address high-income countries' concerns about the permanent settlement of migrants and the diversity of their societies. In conclusion, he identifies the core considerations and policies needed to formulate and effectively implement TMPs." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))