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Employment

Selected e-articles

Abstract: This thematic issue discusses the design, implementation, and impact of youth-oriented active labour market policies in Europe, with a particular emphasis on its peripheries. The need to address territorialised, youth-oriented active labour market policies is pressing for several reasons. For one, the whole socioeconomic paradigm is undergoing fundamental changes due to the dual transition (digital and green) that is expected to have an impact on the rural/urban divide. Moreover, at the subnational level, youth unemployment in certain regions is a more pressing problem than suggested by existing studies, which have mostly focused on the national level. This implies that closer inspection of the subnational level, in general, and the peripheral regions, in particular, will reveal more marked cross-national differences. This thematic issue offers a point of departure for the suggested territorialised approach to the study of how active labour market policies for young people are formulated and implemented, and which effects they have on their target groups.

Abstract: Rising employment uncertainty featured by higher risks of being temporarily employed or unemployed is often seen as the driving force behind delayed and declined partnering in Western countries. However, such an employment–partnering relationship is contextualized by labour market institutions and thus could diverge across countries over time. This paper aims to investigate how country-level variations in labour market regulations moderate individual-level effects of unstable employment on union formation, including the transitions into marriage or cohabitation unions. Using comparative panel data for 26 countries from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (the years 2010–2019), our multilevel fixed effects models showed that temporary employment and unemployment negatively affected the probability of union formation for single women and men in Europe. Moreover, the negative relationship between unstable employment and union formation was reinforced when labour market reforms were stimulating insider–outsider segregations or decreasing welfare provisions. Specifically, stricter employment protection legislations and higher coverage rates of collective bargaining agreements could reinforce the negative effects of temporary employment and unemployment on union formation, while more generous provisions of unemployment benefits could buffer such negative effects.

Abstract: This article deals with personal work, a concept of doctrinal origin that is emerging as an alternative to the traditional bipartition between subordinate and self-employed work. EU law has used the concept of personal workin three different contexts and with different shades of meaning: in the field of anti-discrimination law, in the field of collective bargaining, and in that of platform work. A composite picture emerges, but converges towards the universalisation of protections in favour of the person who works, regardless of the classification of the relationship (anti-discrimination law, platform work), or the solo self-employed worker (collective bargaining).

Abstract: In September 2022, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market. This arises in a context of rising concern over many years about breaches of workers’ fundamental rights and core standards of the International Labour Organization in supply chains of products that are marketed in Europe, particularly where multinational corporations have offshored production to states without the high labour standards enforced in the EU. There has also long been widespread concern, particularly from trade unions, that such offshoring enables manufacturers to undercut labour protections of European workers. Furthermore, the offshoring of manufacturing has enabled certain third countries to develop their industrial and technological capacities in ways that create geostrategic risks for the EU and its Member States, as these third countries become ‘systemic rivals’ of the Union. First, this article argues that the proposed Regulation fits with Anu Bradford's theory of the ‘Brussels Effect’ exposited in her 2019 book of that name, and that the Union should take advantage of Bradford's insights in developing the Regulation and future legal instruments. Bradford established the Brussels Effect as an empirical reality; this article makes a normative case that, in this instance, the EU institutions should actively embrace it as a means to advance its goals. The proposed Regulation is an example of the Union leveraging market power to accomplish normative goals, by exporting its values to third countries. This offers room for the EU to be a force for good in the world, answering some of the qualms raised in Bradford's work about the potential ‘imperialism’ of the Brussels Effect. The present article argues the Union should go further, try to ‘externalise’ more of the social acquis in the field of labour law, leveraging its international market power to both improve labour standards around the globe. This article challenges Bradford's original contention that the Brussels Effect does not apply to labour standards, arguing instead that it is possible, and normatively desirable, for the Union to follow this Regulation with a broader suite of measures aimed at globalising European labour standards, with benefits for both third-country nationals and citizens of the Union. Second, the article links the proposed Regulation to concern about the geostrategic vulnerability of Member States and the Union as a whole, where essential products are manufactured in third countries. This became apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, with many critical supplies predominantly manufactured outside the Union. The ‘strategic autonomy’ agenda of the EU implies re-shoring of important industry, which is more easily accomplished where EU regulation lessens the ability of third countries to undercut the EU with low labour standards. This will have long-term economic benefits for the Union and its citizens, as well as depressing the potential for systemic rivals to the Union to develop their industrial and technological capacities at the expense of the Union and its Member States, and deprive governments that disregard fundamental rights of workers of revenues from investment, manufacturing and exports to the Union.

Abstract:  The paper deals with the European Company (SE), the first supranational company form. The focal question is its impact on the development of transnational employment relations. We show that only a minority of SEs has set up SE Works Councils and we discuss the reasons for this non-compliance. Board-level employee representation (BLER), the other form of voice, is even less common. We compare both concepts and reveal that the SE’s contribution to the development of transnational employment relations remains limited. By placing the SE in a broader perspective, we conclude that it fits the general pattern of limited progress towards ‘Europeanization’.

Abstract: With markets concentrating predominantly in and around large cities, gig platforms across the globe seem to depend as much on the cheap labor of migrants and minorities as on investment capital and permissive governments. Accordingly, we argue that there is an urgent need to center migrant experiences and the role of migrant labor in gig economy research, in order to generate a better understanding of how gig work offers certain opportunities and challenges to migrants with a variety of backgrounds and skill levels. To fill this research gap, this article examines why migrant workers in Berlin, Amsterdam, and New York take up platform labor and how they incorporate it into their everyday lives and migration trajectories. Additionally, it considers the extent to which gig platforms are emerging as actors in the political economy of migration, as a result of how they absorb migrant labor and mediate migrant mobilities. We move beyond the existing parameters of gig economy research by engaging with two strands of literature on migration and migrant labor that, we feel, are particularly useful for framing our analysis: the autonomy of migration approach and the migration infrastructures perspective. Combining these conceptual lenses enables us not only to critically situate migrant gig workers’ experiences but also to identify a broader development: the platformization of low-wage labor markets that are an integral component of migration infrastructures.

Abstract: This article is a revised version of a concept paper written for the European Commission on the private international law regulation of individual employment relationships within the EU. It aims to assess the regulation of such relationships from the perspective of European private international law and indicate potential avenues for reform.

Résumé:  En raison de leur statut prééminent, les droits fondamentaux se sont introduits dans le droit du travail Les regards se sont vite tournés vers la confrontation normative qui résulte de l'assemblage de ces deux domaines du droit aux logiques distinctes. Les droits de la personne ont alors été appréhendés davantage dans un rapport de confrontation plutôt que de complémentarité avec le corpus du droit du travail. Cette étude historico- juridique cherche à démontrer que le construit du droit du travail recoupe pourtant les trois traits structurants des droits de la personne, soit la fondamentalité, l'universalité et l'inaliénabilité. Cette complémentarité devrait être prise en compte dans l'interprétation des droits fondamentaux au sein de la relation d'emploi, ce qui devrait accentuer le degré de protection de la personne au travail.

Résumé: Après plusieurs mois de vives tensions sociales en France sur la réforme des retraites, le gouvernement a entrepris de rouvrir les débats sur la place et les conditions du travail dans le pays. Fin avril 2023, le Conseil national de la refondation a sorti son rapport issu des Assises du travail, intitulé « Re-considérer le travail » car, effectivement, la relation qu’entretiennent les salariés avec leur travail, leurs aspirations…, ont à voir avec la « considération » qui en découle à leur endroit. Or, depuis la pandémie et les confinements de 2020-2021, la situation a évolué, en France comme en Europe, en particulier pour celles et ceux dont le métier peut se pratiquer en télétravail. Quelle est l’ampleur de cette évolution des conditions de travail ? Comment est-elle appréhendée et appréciée par les travailleurs ? Sarah Proust, qui a coordonné plusieurs études sur le sujet, notamment pour la Fondation Jean Jaurès, fait ici le point sur la façon dont les conditions et l’organisation du travail ont évolué ces dernières années, en France et dans cinq autres pays européens : fragmentation des lieux et horaires de travail, hybridation vie personnelle / vie professionnelle, individualisation du travail, rapport à l’employeur… Globalement perçu comme une avancée sociale obtenue sans combat, le télétravail semble vécu comme une amélioration des conditions de vie plus que des conditions de travail ; mais il ouvre aussi la voie à de nouveaux questionnements concernant l’organisation du travail, le management, l’aménagement ou la réduction du temps de travail. Et comme le souligne Sarah Proust en fin d’article, d’autres questions émergent ou se renforcent, qui vont considérablement renforcer la vision politique du travail, qu’il s’agisse de la diffusion de l’intelligence artificielle dans différents métiers ou des contraintes découlant de la lutte contre le changement climatique.

Abstract: This paper analyzes the convergence of labor market institutions in the European Union (EU) to test for the economic integration of EU countries from 1993 to 2018. The convergence is measured by using a flexible approach of the log-t regression for five indicators of  labor market institutions: employment protection legislation index (EPL), tax wedge, unemployment benefits, active labor market policies, and minimum wages. The results suggest no convergence in labor market institutions between the EU member states. The differences between the institutions are still substantial, and the labor market institutions are changing too slowly to converge. The empirical analysis also considers the possibility of club convergence, differentiating between the endogenous clubs based on clustering algorithm, and the exogenous clubs based on geographical proximity and similarities of labor market institutions. Convergence is present only in endogenous clubs that are determined by different demographic, competitiveness, and economic factors. Since labor market institutions are the fundamental determinants of employment and unemployment, the differences found in the labor market institutions suggest that employment and unemployment levels in the EU will hardly converge, implying weak labor market integration.

Abstract:  When the European Union expanded eastward in 2004 and 2007 to accession the so-called EU8 and EU2 countries, respectively, the incumbent member states imposed temporary restrictions on the employment of EU8 and EU2 nationals. Self-employed individuals were exempted from these transitional arrangements, prompting concerns that self-employment could be used as a means to evade the restrictions on labour market access. If the transitional arrangements led to an increase in EU8 and EU2 nationals’ self-employment rates, as previous research suggests, then their removal should have led to a corresponding decrease. This article analyses whether the latter has indeed been the case. Using pooled cross section data from the EU Labour Force Survey, over the period 2004–2019, we show that removing the transitional arrangements has had a negative effect on the self-employment rates of EU2 nationals, but seemingly no effect on the self-employment rates of EU8 nationals. Distinguishing between types of capitalist regimes, however, reveals a much more nuanced picture, with significant variation in terms of the magnitude and significance of the effect across groups of countries.

Abstract:  There are several factors that contribute to the success of a society. Economic and demographic developments are known as important drivers, while the role of parental employment as a key component is sometimes overlooked. This paper focuses on the effects of childcare availability on female and male employment in the European Union regions. Regional differences may be significant, therefore separate panel regression models (with economic and demographic control variables) are established for regions in old and new member states, and the results are compared across different levels of male and female educational attainment. The findings suggest that there is a considerable difference between old and new members states. The availability of early childhood educational development significantly increases employment both for female and male employees with higher education levels in new members states, while this effect is not significant in old member states. For male employees with relatively low education levels, the availability of early childhood educational development does have a significant effect on employment both in old and new member states but this does not hold for female employees with lower education levels.

Abstract: Do investments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) create jobs? The literature suggests that, even if innovations are labour saving, there may be compensating mechanisms that lead to a positive employment effect. We investigate this issue using country-level data for the European Union from 1995 to 2019. The results suggest an average positive net effect of ICT investment on total employment. An increase of €100,000 in the ICT investment stock is associated with an average increase of 3.3 jobs in the European Union. However, the magnitude of the impact is heterogeneous across countries. The differences are explained by the country-specific characteristics of ICT investment (non-machine versus machine-based) and the existing skill endowment of the labour force. Moreover, the rate of return on investment expressed in terms of net job creation tends to decline over time, as the share of high-skilled workers in the market increases. ICT investment has an average positive net effect on total employment. A €100,000 increase in ICT investment stock increases jobs in the European Union by 3.3.  The digitalisation impact on employment is heterogeneous across countries. Machine-based ICT investment has bigger employment impacts than intangibles. The impact decreased over time between 1995 and 2019.

Abstract:  The consecutive crises of the 21st century (2008/2009 global recession, COVID-19) have significantly affected labour organization, adding to work flexibilization and precarization, in a reflection of the shifting needs of capital accumulation. While the patterns of employment reorganization are not evenly distributed across space, the juncture between work precarization and geography has not been examined in depth, with most research efforts focusing on the national scale. This article enriches the emerging literature on composite indices of work transformation by constructing an index for work precariousness on the regional scale. It estimates the very Flexible Contractual Arrangements Composite Index in the European Union NUTS2 regions from 2008 to 2020 to comparatively analyse the effects of the 2008/2009 global recession and the initial implications of COVID-19. The findings highlight a persistent division between peripheral and core regions, with the former being locked in trajectories of high precariousness. As found, economically weak and isolated regions, specialized in agriculture and tourism, with high unemployment and youth inactivity, low wages, ageing population, low skills as well as historically high levels of atypical and informal employment, proved to have the most precarious labour markets.

Abstract: Increasing labour shortages are mainly due to demographic developments - specifically the baby boom in Germany, with a strong peak in the early 1960s. Despite strong immigration in recent years, the ratio of 20-24 year-olds to 60-64 year-olds was only 75 to 100 in 2021, and if younger cohorts are taken into account, it was even less favourable. This demographic gap can only be closed by migration. However, the workers coming into the country should have qualifications that are compatible with the German labour market, which severely limits the group of potential immigrants. Therefore, previously inactive population groups must also be attracted to gainful employment and automation must be promoted.

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