Experiences of countries with successful employment policy : consequences for Germany

Abstract

"In the USA, the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark the employment situation has improved decisively, especially in recent years. In addition there are indications of this positive development being sustained in these four countries. Even if the methods adopted by the 'successful countries' in order to achieve more employment and less unemployment can not simply be copied, they do provide important orientation aids for the selection and combination of strategies for tackling Germany's labour market problems. The aim of this report is above all to look at the proposals available for the German situation that are aimed at improving the labour market situation, to see them in the light of the 'success stories' and if necessary to amplify them. The starting point for the considerations is the IAB's set of strategies from 1996, which are based on simulation calculations. The central idea of the IAB proposals is that in view of the dimension of the employment problem, single instruments would be insufficient. The set of strategies thus consists of three components: - a reduction in the average annual working time, in particular by expanding part-time employment and reducing paid overtime work, - a moderate collective bargaining policy in wages, whose increase first remains behind the increase in productivity and also does not exceed it later on and - fiscal policy impulses by means of reductions in direct taxes and social security contributions in the context of a fixed schedule aimed at the medium-term consolidation of the budget as well as restructuring efforts in the public budget which have an effect on employment and are neutral in terms of revenue and expenditure. The experiences made by countries with successful employment policy confirm that the measures suggested for western Germany, which are broadly transferable to eastern Germany, stand up to a 'field test'. In addition to this the international experiences provide starting-points for adding to the IAB set of strategies - above all in such areas of policy that elude a quantitative simulation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Walwei, U. (1998): Beschäftigungspolitisch erfolgreiche Länder. Konsequenzen für Deutschland. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 31, No. 2, p. 334-347.