Will there be a single European market for labour?

Abstract

"The development of a single European market for labour is addressed at two levels: labour mobility, and institutional convergence. Mobility by unskilled workers among EU citizens is unlikely on the scale that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s despite large wage differentials and demographic imbalances. More likely is a movement by immigrant workers from Eastern Europe and North Africa. Similarly, despite efforts to promote mutual recognition of skill, the barriers to skilled labour mobility remain considerable, not least because of the prevalence of different patterns of labour market organisation in different countries. An important area of movement is likely to be cross border mobility within enterprise internal labour markets. These already account for much interregional and international mobility. These are likely to promote convergence of personnel rules within firms. Also favouring institutional convergence is the widely perceived crisis in many countries' vocational training systems, and the interest each shows in the others' experiments. The efforts of the Commission may also prove influential in this area." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Marsden, D. (1994): Will there be a single European market for labour? In: W. Weidenfeld, E. Hönekopp, R. Konle-Seidl, U. Walwei & H. Werner (Hrsg.) (1994): Europäische Integration und Arbeitsmarkt. Grundlagen und Perspektiven (Beiträge zur Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, 181), p. 164-177.