The expansion of the intermediate zone. Occupation under the sign of new labor market policies

Abstract

"The working environment has been in motion during the past years. In Germany, the decade following the 'Hartz-Reforms' is no longer marked by stagnation and immobility of the work force. This is due to a political arrangement of labor markets and work conditions which give priority to acceleration and fragmentation of work life. There is growing inequality between different occupational groups and occupational biographies have become more fragile. These processes can be documented using the example of an explorative qualitative panel study carried out between 2007 and 2011, in which we traced the lives of some 150 people who live in a precarious situation between exclusion from and access to the labor market. Our findings point to the development of an intermediate zone in between the labor market and the welfare system in which a precise distinction between inclusion and exclusion of the working environment is blurred. The life and work situation of our interviewees is characterized by frequent changes from welfare to various forms of employment, occupational statuses and biographical insecurity. There is strong evidence that in this situation new mentalities are shaped which are ruled by 'stability of instability'." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Grimm, N., Hirseland, A. & Vogel, B. (2013): Die Ausweitung der Zwischenzone. Erwerbsarbeit im Zeichen der neuen Arbeitsmarktpolitik. In: Soziale Welt, Vol. 64, No. 3, p. 249-268.