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Many extensions of classical human capital theory regard labour market rigidities as a prerequisite for firms to invest in general training. From this perspective, the German labour market reforms since 2003 should have reduced their willingness to support the apprenticeship training system. This article demonstrates that, on the contrary, German firms did not abandon the training system but instead changed their training strategies after the implementation of the labour market reforms. We analyse the new training strategies that German firms deployed to cope with the increased labour market flexibility engendered by the labour market reforms. Switzerland, where no such reforms occurred, serves as the counterfactual. The results demonstrate that German firms successfully reduced the net costs of training by involving apprentices in more work and reducing non-productive tasks.

It is widely assumed that workers whose labour market situation is insecure are likely to be individualistic, with negative attitudes towards trade unionism. This article uses Spain as a critical case to test the effects of labour market flexibility. Survey data reveal that, in fact, the attitudes of insecure workers towards trade unionism and mobilization at work are more positive than those of stable employees, and they are more critical of the prevailing economic system. These results are discussed within the framework of current debates on the crisis of trade unionism and the effects of flexibility in industrial relations.

This article considers the international trends to more flexible labour relations in terms of the erosion of seven forms of labour-related personal security and the evolving forms of labour market regulation. It suggests that growing labour market flexibility has been accompanied by a reconstitution of the social wage and a profound re-regulation of labour relations, not `de-regulation', which is an inappropriate term to describe any labour market. The flexibility and market regulation has influenced the extent and character of labour fragmentation, which is creating new challenges for social and labour policy. The article concludes by sketching three possible routes of reform, one stemming from the former era of social regulation, the second extrapolating from the currently dominant market regulations perspective and the third linked to the desirable extension of democracy and the promotion of redistributive justice.