From the regular employment relationship to the flexibilisation of the labour market : a literature report

Abstract

"The literature report considers the regular employment relationship in the area of conflict of labour market flexibilisation. First of all there is an overview on the debate surrounding the significance and development of the regular employment relationship. Publications dealing with the origin, extension and erosion of the regular employment relationship form the basis of this. It remains disputed whether it is possible to speak of a serious erosion of the regular employment relationship in view of the increase in the number of atypical forms of employment. The reason given for the spread of atypical forms of employment is the adjustment of the labour market to the changes in the prevailing conditions. In order to explain these processes, there follows an overview of the economic debate surrounding the flexibilisation and deregulation of the labour market. Here market-radical/neoliberal and institutional economics approaches stand opposed to each other. Deregulation proposals and their implementation in the laws on employment promotion, the hiring out of labour, working hours and such like are presented briefly. The criticism of deregulation, which is debated in literature on economics, is also dealt with. The employment effects of the deregulation measures are regarded as rather slight on the strength of empirical studies. The thesis that deregulation contributes to the erosion of the regular employment relationship have thus been rather weakened. It is more the case that a number of further influential factors must be taken into account. These include the structural change in the economy (service society), a changed employment strategy among businesses (lean employment) and the change in the structure of society (individualisation). A few selected publications are referred to in order to present these points of view. In general there is broad agreement that future forms of employment will be more flexible, but that they will have to be placed in a stable framework so that permanent exclusion processes do not arise. The report concludes by dealing with various proposals for re-regulation. Here the starting point taken is less a uniform pattern of normality and more a variety of employment forms existing side-by-side. Forms of regulation are sought which facilitate an arrangement of new employment forms which would be tolerated by society." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Kress, U. (1998): Vom Normalarbeitsverhältnis zur Flexibilisierung des Arbeitsmarktes. Ein Literaturbericht. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 31, No. 3, p. 488-505.