Abstract

In comparative research, the framing of seemingly similar patterns of employment and social policies might lead to misinterpretations in terms of policy learning and institutional change. This fact calls for a thorough understanding of the broader context of the respective national employment and social system. This project critically reviews a range of analytical frameworks used to analyse the German Mini-job scheme in cross-national comparative employment and welfare state research. The approaches examined include labour market dualisation, precari-ous work and welfare-to-work. We analyse, whether comparative research has widely ”over-looked” the critical role of Mini-jobs for gender equality while the associated strategy to extend labour market dualisation has been overrated and the framing of Mini-jobs as a kind of an-tipoverty strategy misinterpreted.