Labor Market Flexibility and Inequality: The Changing Skill-Based Temporary Employment and Unemployment Risks in Europe

Home ownership under changing labour and housing market conditions: tenure preferences and outcomes among freelancers and flex workers

“…The literature shows that flexibilisation of labour markets has not been one uniform process throughout Western Europe (see for example Gebel & Giesecke, 2011). In fact, Table 1 shows significant variations in EPL levels in the mid-1990s.…”

“…In these countries, the high EPL provides income security to workers, but the downside is that it can lead to losses for enterprises which cannot restructure their workforce in reaction to an economic downturn. Many studies also indicate that high EPLs, such as the ones in Southern Europe, correlate with a higher incidence of temporary contracts and informal labour (for example Gebel & Giesecke, 2011). A third group of CMEs combine relatively high EPLs with relatively high UBs, which gives a high degree of income security to workers.…”

“…It should first be noted that different EPL applies to permanent and temporary contracts. The EPL for permanent contracts (and collective dismissal) refers to 'procedural difficulties' and direct costs such as severance payments to dismissed employees (Gebel & Giesecke, 2011). The EPL for temporary contracts refers more to the restrictions on the use of temporary contracts (Gebel & Giesecke, 2011).…”

“…The EPL for permanent contracts (and collective dismissal) refers to 'procedural difficulties' and direct costs such as severance payments to dismissed employees (Gebel & Giesecke, 2011). The EPL for temporary contracts refers more to the restrictions on the use of temporary contracts (Gebel & Giesecke, 2011). A high EPL for temporary contracts indicates that it may not be allowed to hire employees on subsequent temporary contracts or it imposes restrictions on hiring zero-hour contract workers on a prolonged basis.…”

“…However, a majority of CMEs have responded by reducing the strictness of EPL for temporary contracts. The contemporary literature indicates that this variation runs along lines of workers' skill-levels (see Bonoli and Natali, 2011;Gebel & Giesecke, 2011). Highly skilled workers often have permanent contracts because they are indispensable and also require significant (training) investment by their employers, while less-skilled workers are more easily replaced at less cost.…”