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Worsening joblessness in India is put forward here from the multiple and interconnected argumentative lens of formal-informal dichotomy by labour productivity differential, market size constraint, labour market flexibility, capital inflows, political constraint, corporate industrialization and welfare economic implications. In the process, the limitations of the classic developmental ideas of Kuznets, Lewis and Schumpeter are critiqued. Thereafter, an alternative policy framework is proposed to achieve economic development focused on employment, equity and environmental uplift. The paper shows how the massive unemployment problem can be managed in India's democratic set up by departing from conventional wisdom about industrialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has largely undermined most economies in the world. To a significant extent the reasons behind this economic nosedive are rooted in the sphere of labour market. The imposed restriction measures made many workers stay at home, and part of them even lost their jobs. The speed of economic recovery in different countries varied depending on how quarantine restrictions were eased. One crucial factor in this process is labour market flexibility and its ability to adapt to changing economic conditions. The purpose of the paper is to explore the relationship between the labour market flexibility and the speed of GDP recovery when the pandemic was waning and the quarantine restrictions were being removed. Methodologically, the study relies on labour economics. The methods are multivariate and logistic regression analysis. The data for the study is sourced from the World Bank and Eurostat and comprises statistics for assessing labour market flexibility and GDP in various countries for 2020–2021. The findings indicate a reverse relationship between the speed of GDP growth recovery during the post-COVID period and the share of part-time employment. Yet taking into account that part-time employment is not only an indicator of the labour market flexibility, but also reflects a general slowdown in production and unemployment, we can attach low speed of recovery to a greater weakness of an economy. The obtained results are insufficient to reject the hypothesis that a more flexible labour market accelerates the recovery of a national economy. At the same time, the study demonstrates that the West European countries generally got over the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis faster than other EU countries. The research contributes to understanding the transformation processes in the labour market under the pandemic as well as provides support for labour market policy development and implementation.

The empirical evidence on the association between labour market flexibility and research & development (R&D) activities of firms is limited only to developed economies. In this research note, we examine the relationship between labour market flexibility and the R&D decisions of firms in India's organised manufacturing. Using a cross-section of manufacturing firms from the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2015–16 unit-level data, we model the R&D decision of firms as a two-step process. We use Cragg's Double-hurdle model that examines the probability of undertaking R&D in the first stage and the extent of R&D expenditure Amongst the R&D-performing firms in the second stage. Controlling for the firm-specific determinants of R&D expenditure, we find that the spatial variation in labour market flexibility is negatively and significantly associated with the extent of R&D expenditure of R&D-performing Indian firms. We extend the analysis by proxying R&D investment with the factories' net investment in plant and machinery. We found a similar negative correlation between labour market flexibility and the net value of plant and machinery of factories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study critically engages with the 'end of neoliberalism' debates which have peaked following the globally detrimental impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper suggests that crises of the pandemic predetermine neither the end of neoliberalism nor its regeneration. It is argued that 'death or resurrection' of neoliberalism is conditioned in the ways through which subjects experience ongoing crises and translate them into particular actions. On that basis, the paper focuses on Turkey's labour regime under pandemic conditions to reveal how the imaginings and political practices of the Turkish state, companies, and (self-employed courier) workers regenerate the enduring principles of neoliberalism – including (global) market competitiveness, deregulation, labour market flexibility, economic individualism, and status-seeking – even in moments of crises. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on the emerging visibility of alternative modes of practices, which potentially involve new possibilities to mobilise towards post-neoliberal politics under crisis-ridden pandemic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing empirical studies concerning labour market rigidity associated with the labour laws in India suggest an adverse impact of rigidity on total factor productivity (TFP). In this paper, we improve upon both the measurement of spatiotemporal variation in labour market flexibility and plant-level TFP from production function estimates in the presence of institutional rigidity in labour inputs adjustment due to job security legislation based on the recent advancement in the literature. We use an unbalanced panel of manufacturing plants from the Annual Survey of Industries panel data from 1999–2000 to 2016–17 to analyse the relationship between labour market rigidity/flexibility and TFP. We find that establishments that fall under the purview of job security legislation have higher productivity than those outside the ambit of job security legislation. The results suggest that rigidity associated with job security provisions does not harm TFP, and higher flexibility is negatively associated with TFP. However, we find considerable heterogeneity in the flexibility–TFP relationship across various industry groups. The heterogeneity in the flexibility–TFP relationship suggests that flexibility-inducing labour policy may improve TFP in some industries and, at the same time, decrease it in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The right to work demands the role of the State in its fulfillment but the development of a flexible labor market poses a dilemma for the state in fulfilling the right to work. This study was conducted by using a normative type of research that examines the right to work in a flexible labor market using a statutory approach. In Indonesia, the flexible labor market is embodied in the Job Creation Act, which describes the state’s dilemmatic position in carrying out its duties for the right to work. Against this dilemmatic position, the state prioritizes job creation over the feasibility of the jobs created. Based on this research, the author outlines the importance of a holistic approach in viewing human rights in the legislation process. So that the availability of work and the feasibility of work are not placed separately. This is because indecent work places the degree of human beings, who are trying to be protected by human rights, in a vulnerable position.

There has been much debate on how to design employment protection regulations that balance the need to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) on the one hand and to protect workers' rights on the other hand. This study explores this 'dilemma', using a multi‐country dataset from 2003 to 2015 and treating hiring and firing regulation (HFR) and the other explanatory variables as endogenous. The findings indicate that flexible HFR is essential for FDI promotion in the early stages of economic development of a country, but the impact of labour market flexibility on FDI gradually decreases and eventually turns statistically insignificant with economic advancement. In other words, a flexible HFRs are more important for developing countries, but such flexibility does not have to be sustained in a 'race to the bottom' manner: once a country reaches higher income levels, it has more room to focus on labour standards to protect workers without compromising on the attractiveness of the country for FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper connects labour market flexibility with the number of workers living in poverty. • A dynamic panel cointegrating technique is applied to 15 european union countries. • Results suggests that higher flexibility increases the number of poor workers. • The effects are amplified when the poverty of the whole population is considered. • The supposed increased efficiency may lead to a weakening of the social fabric. Labour market flexibility is one of the main pillars of the European policy framework, as it is perceived as an instrument to promote growth with positive spillover effects on the workers' income. The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of competition in the labour market on workers' living conditions from a macroeconomic perspective. An empirical dynamic panel co-integration technique connecting indicators of workers' poverty to an index of 'labour flexibility' is applied to 15 European Union countries. The results suggest that higher flexibility of the labour market is correlated, in the long run, with a higher number of workers living in poverty, considered in both relative and absolute terms. When examining the population as a whole, these results seem to be amplified, suggesting that the strategy of pressure on the labour market could be detrimental not only for workers but also for general living conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ruling National Democratic Alliance regime in India pushed through three labour codes in September 2020 namely the Code on Social Security; Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code; and the Industrial Relations Code. These alongside the Code on Wages approved earlier in 2019 amalgamate several labour laws. This study is an endeavour towards a critical examination of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. It engages in a comparative analysis of the various provisions of the Code vis-à-vis the laws which were its predecessors. Some key features of the Code as well as their ramifications are probed. Further, their potential impact on trade unionism and the right to strike is discussed. The relationship between capital and labour is adversarial rather than complementary. This paper argues that reforms in the real sense must seek to balance the interests of both parties rather than that of employers alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated negotiated Labour Market Flexibility (LMF) in small hazardous firms in the context of increased immigrant labourers and the non-availability of the local labour force. Extant literature discussed negotiation between the employer and employees, only if the firm satisfies the following conditions: firm-specificity, employee categorisation into core-periphery, and shared ethnic identities between the employees and employer. However, in this study, we broke away from these conditional boundaries, and used the Grounded theory to capture both entrepreneurs' and employees' views. Interestingly, we found a socially constructed interdependence between them, stemming from mutual reciprocity. The findings offer significant implications for substantive theory and practice in the realm of LMF in general, and negotiated flexible work arrangements in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment is one mode of entry into international markets that can provide important benefits to host economies. For this reason, policymakers have sought to apply policies that attract foreign direct investment. Although there is extensive and relevant literature that explores the determinants of foreign direct investment, few studies exist that focus on the relationship between labour market flexibility and foreign direct investment; furthermore, most of these are firm-level studies and use old data. Thus, this study aims to analyze the influence of labour market flexibility on foreign direct investment based on macroeconomic data for a set of 180 countries and a relatively recent period of analysis (2004-2009). Using econometric techniques with panel data, the results show that labour market flexibility enhances the attraction of foreign direct investment. In particular, the rigidity of working hours is the dimension of labour market regulations that most negatively affects the attraction of foreign direct investment. Based on the control variables used, we found that the economic and financial incentives, trade barriers, the growth and the size of the market and the level of human capital are important determinants in the explanation of foreign direct investment patterns.

This article investigates the employment effect of short-time work in the Netherlands during the Great Recession (2009–2011). Short-time work was introduced during the period as a special arrangement with the aim of reducing unemployment hikes by offering firms the possibility of adjusting the working time of specialised workers rather than adjust the size of their workforce. The authors focus on the effect of short-time work at the individual level of the worker and study whether short-time programme participants in surviving firms had a lower job turnover rate and transition rate to unemployment compared to workers who did not participate in the programme. Furthermore, the authors study whether the flexibility policies of the firm had a substantial influence on the effectiveness of short-time work in protecting workers from unemployment. Specifically, they investigate whether the effect of short-time work is related to the intensiveness of its use by the firm and the extensiveness of the use of external flexibility arrangements – i.e. temporary contracts and temporary agency workers – by the firm. For this purpose, the authors apply a discrete-time survival model using a unique dataset with monthly register data from Statistics Netherlands. Participants in the short-time work programme are compared with non-participant workers from firms that used short-time work and workers from firms that did not make use of the programme. The findings indicate that, in surviving firms, short-time work had a positive effect: the risk of unemployment and job separation is, in most cases, lower for short-time work participants than non-participants. Short-time work is most effective in protecting workers from unemployment in firms that extended the use of the programme to many workers and for a relatively small number of hours, and that made either moderate use of temporary agency workers or extensive use of fixed-term contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between labour market flexibility and efficiency and social protection expenditures. Building on the theories of government expenditures and the empirical literature on the determinants of social protection, the article examines empirically the relationship between flexible labour market and social protection expenditures. The empirical model explains social protection mainly in terms of the demand and supply of social protection, modernization theory and political institutions, namely democracy. Labour market flexibility and efficiency indicators include hiring and firing policies, labour-employer cooperation, wage determination flexibility, redundancy costs, linking pay to productivity, reliance on professional management, and the ratio of women in the labour force. We use a sample of 44 developed and emerging economies for the period 2007–2014 and adopt instrumental variables and two-step generalized method of moments estimation methodologies to account for endogeneity. Estimates show that linking pay to productivity, wage flexibility, and redundancy costs reduce social protection expenditures, while the ease of hiring and firing increases them. The article draws attention to the positive impact that flexible and efficient labour markets and organization-level human-resource policies have on reducing social protection expenditures and increasing fiscal space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the Italian total factor productivity (TFP) growth for the 1995-2012 period that takes into account the factors explaining cross-regional differences in productivity growth. We focus on the changes in the quality of labor caused by the increasing use of temporary workers and on the migration flows of human-capital, which almost unidirectionally moved from the Southern to the Northern-Centre regions. Empirical results provide evidence of a non-linearity (U-shaped) in the relationship between the use of temporary workers and TFP growth, which suggests that TFP growth in some Southern regions benefited from the increase in the share of temporary workers after the early 2000s, while regions in the Centre-North regions experienced an opposite effect, with the share of temporary workers being negatively related to TFP growth. Results also show that migration flows of qualified human capital had a positive impact on TFP growth in the regions of destinations, while the number of emigrants have a positive effect on the TFP growth in the regions of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the complex relationship between work flexibility strategies and workplace training at the firm level, thus filling a gap in the relative literature that only takes into account supply-side factors and fails to discriminate between on- and offthe job training. To achieve this purpose, we discuss the implications of two different theoretical frameworks grounding on human capital theory and systemic flexibility, respectively, and go on developing alternative hypotheses on the association between the presence of temporary and part-time workers at firm-level and training investments, both off-the-job and on-the-job. By using data on Italian firms, we get different results according to the type of non-standard contract and training. Part-time and temporary contracts carry out distinct functions with respect to off-the-job and on-the-job training, respectively. The former is more consistent with the human capital approach, whereas the latter is in line with the strategic management approach. These results are discussed in view of a structural labour market reform enacted by the Italian government in 2015, the so-called "Jobs Act". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we are assessing how prepared is the Romanian labour market so far in the context of joining the Euro Area, by proposing as tool the labour market flexibility (LMF) meant by its definition, to absorb the economic imbalances. Among the determinants of the LMF considered in our analyse are the demo-economic structures, the employment rate, the unemployment rate, the wage flexibility, the working time and employment period, the geographic mobility, etc. The analytical approach is structured on studying the distinct features of the Romanian labour market compared to the other EU Member States in general and those in the Euro Area in particular that can induce different responses to the various adjustment levers in Romania, compared to the other states. The results our research highlight that there still are gaps between Romania and the other EU28 Member States, and therefore, reducing these gaps requires the promotion of measures / programs to stimulate investment in technology, as well as measures to protect the redundant workforce resulting from these investments and, implicitly, specific strategies and the ability to support the costs attached to them. Since Romania is no longer competitive in terms of the availability of adequate workforce, this in a wider context of the new challenges faced by the Romanian economy, with potential significant impact on labour demand architecture (digitization, industry 4.0, environmental compliance and sustainable development requirements, energy paradigm changes, etc.), which support the need to estimate the demand for labour and its quantitative and structural-qualitative characteristics, as well as strategies adopted by the state and companies to provide the necessary labour force. Therefore, a responsible wage setting policy is needed to ensure that overall wage dynamics are attuned to productivity developments and reflect prevailing conditions on the labour market, while the public administration and the private sector need to work closely together to improve the Romanian labour market before it becomes a major impediment to further economic development.

In the light of the decline of "standard" employment relationships in many countries and its particular effect on young people, this article provides a detailed analysis of the labour market trajectories of early‐career workers in the Netherlands between 1985 and 2014, adopting the approach of the sequence analysis of life‐course events. Using two indicators for instability (entropy and turbulence), the authors find that cohorts that entered the labour market after 2000, and particularly in 2008, experience greater employment status instability despite the flexicurity policies applied. Transitions into stable employment are the exception rather than the rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the debates concerning labour market flexibility in India and suggests an improved measure of labour market flexibility to overcome the shortcomings of the existing measures. A state-wise time-variant composite index considering both de jure and de facto indicators of flexibility is constructed to account for the stringency of regulation of hiring and firing practices that affect labour adjustment mechanism of organised manufacturing sector firms in India. The newly built index reaffirms the criticism and limitations of the existing measures which solely rely on de jure indicators by pointing out that de jure measures alone are highly misleading and insufficient to identify a state's labour market flexibility status. The index has been put to application in examining the role of spatial variation in labour market flexibility in explaining the difference in employment growth in India's organised manufacturing sector. The paper finds no evidence in support of a statistically significant effect of spatial variation in flexibility in explaining the variation in employment growth. Interestingly, the paper demonstrates that employment elasticity of growth was lower in "flexible" states as compared to the "rigid" states, indicating that greater flexibility is associated with a weaker employment performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on position of older workers on labour market. It tries to identify and shortly describe the main factors affecting chances of older workers to get and keep a job. There are many approaches how to evaluate the opportunities and obstacles faced by older workers. On the basis of review of literature this paper points to significant problems that population ageing can bring to labour market. The differences between changes in productivity and changes in earnings might lead to reduction of employment of older workers. Technological progress or structural changes in industrial economies leads to other difficulties associated with ageing. Both employment and hiring of older workers are influenced by institutional arrangement. The future reforms should be aimed at improving flexibility of the labour market or eliminating stickiness of wages. The attention should be also paid to pension system and social security system. Finally, better education, training and health might help to delay the retirement as well.

This paper deals with the role of the labor market in moderating the growth-effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries. FDI has developed rapidly and become the main source of economic growth in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of labor market flexibility in mediating the impact of FDI on economic growth in developing countries. Panel threshold regression analysis proposed by Hansen (1999) is employed to assess the hypothesis of the study. Findings/Originality: The results provide the empirical finding of the role labor market in moderating the growth effect of FDI in developed and developing countries and fill this gap by assessing the role of labor market flexibility as an absorptive capacity in FDI-growth link in developing countries.

Research Question: The aim of this paper is to construct a numerical measure of EPL which takes into consideration the implementation of legislation and employment structure. Motivation: It is recognized in the literature that in countries with a significant share of the shadow economy the labour market flexibility is de facto higher than the original EPL index based on de iure conditions implies. Since the sub-index which refers to the workers with permanent contracts has the largest weight in the EPL index calculation, taking into consideration the share of workers with regular contracts in total employment would give a clearer picture about the real influence of individual sub-indices. Idea: For international comparisons of de iure strictness of the employment protection legislation, we use the latest official OECD data on EPL index and its sub-indices. The OECD data for Serbia shows only the values for EPR, EPC and EPRC sub-indices. After calculation of EPT sub-index and EPL index for Serbia, three adjusted indices are developed in order to capture the effective (i.e., de facto) strictness of the employment protection legislation in different countries. Data: The analysis was based on the latest available official OECD data on the EPL indices (2012 to 2015, depending on a country). For the calculation of missing sub-indices for Serbia, the main source of information was the Labour Law. Data on shadow economy are based on Krstic et al. (2013) and Schneider (2016), while the data regarding employment structure stem from Labour Force Surveys. Tools: Calculation of EPT and EPL indices was conducted in accordance with the official OECD methodology for calculating summary indicators of EPL strictness. The methodology for calculation of adjusted indices is developed on the initial basis of the previous research from Berger et al. (2016), Eamets & Paas (2007a), Boeri & van Ours (2008), Rutkowski & Scarpetta (2005) and Jandric (2014). Findings: The analysis was performed for 26 European countries. Rankings of European countries according to de facto strictness of the employment protection legislation differ significantly from the rankings made upon de iure strictness of the EPL. De facto external numerical flexibility of the labour market in Serbia is higher than when measured by the original unadjusted indices. Contribution: The main contribution of the paper is the development of the method for international comparisons of EPL, which provides a way to distinguish between de facto and de iure rigidity of employment protection legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work explores the relationship between temporary employment and product innovation focusing on five major European economies (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands) observed between 1998 and 2012. The analysis distinguishes sectors according to their technological characteristics and regimes finding that industries using temporary employment tend to have a weaker product innovation propensity. The negative correlation between temporary employment and innovation turns out to be stronger in those sectors where tacit firm's specific knowledge is crucial to the development of innovations. These sectors are identified using both the 'Cumulativeness' proxy stemming from Peneder's classification as well as distinguishing between different Schumpeterian regimes – Schumpeter Mark I vs. II – of knowledge accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to discuss the relationship between economic growth and unemployment as well as related determinant factors based on literature review. The traditional approach presents this relationship through the prism of the effects of creation, capitalization, pool of savings and creative destruction. Nowadays, an increasing number of researchers attach more importance to the impact of institutional factors, such as minimum and efficiency wages or the flexibility of the labor market. Both theoretical and empirical research reveal both the evolution of the relevant views and the lack of consistency between the concepts explaining the relationship between economic growth and unemployment in different regions of the world and in different groups of countries.

The paper pursues two aims. The first is to argue that the foundation of Marx's theory of capitalist exploitation is to be found, not in the labour theory of value, but rather in the contract of employment, the legal frame of the capital-labour relation. The second is to suggest that the partial externalisation of the reproduction cost of labour power has been an important source of relative surplus value, along with the productivity increase, emphasised by Marx, in the industries supplying wage goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on position of older workers on labour market. It tries to identify and shortly describe the main factors affecting chances of older workers to get and keep a job. There are many approaches how to evaluate the opportunities and obstacles faced by older workers. On the basis of review of literature this paper points to significant problems that population ageing can bring to labour market. The differences between changes in productivity and changes in earnings might lead to reduction of employment of older workers. Technological progress or structural changes in industrial economies leads to other difficulties associated with ageing. Both employment and hiring of older workers are influenced by institutional arrangement. The future reforms should be aimed at improving flexibility of the labour market or eliminating stickiness of wages. The attention should be also paid to pension system and social security system. Finally, better education, training and health might help to delay the retirement as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The view that “structural reforms” designed to deregulate the labour market would be able to increase employment and income is questioned by controversial empirical results, while the likelihood that these reforms accentuate inequalities seems to be supported by recent evidence. The wide literature on this issue, however, lacks studies on the specific implications of “structural labour-market reforms” on growth and functional distribution of income. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by proposing two new empirical analyses aimed at verifying the existence of statistical relationships between changes in the Employment protection legislation index (EPL) on one side and variations of real GDP growth and wage share on the other side. Results indicate that EPL reductions have no significant links with real GDP growth whereas they are significantly correlated with wage share reductions. These results contradict some features of the neoclassical theories of growth and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, inspired by the recent restructuring of social dialogue in Poland, reflects on the role played by neo-corporatist institutions in the country, with specific reference to their capacity (or not) to influence the approach, contents and implementation of labour policies and, therefore, affect social change. For this purpose, it presents the findings of a case study focused on the sub-national level of regulation and conducted in the region of Lower Silesia, within the framework of the Airmulp project. The analysis - which relies on mixed methods, including the analysis of statistical data, the review of official documents, and interviews with key informants - reveals that regional social dialogue is not likely to produce substantial outcomes and is, most feasibly, a means for building consensus on neo-liberal policies from the bottom up.

Theory and economic intuition suggest that domestic institutions influence the employment impact of economic reform, but the evidence base is thin. This paper seeks to address this by examining the extent to which differences in regional labour market flexibility shaped the impact of unanticipated economic reforms on employment in informal (unregistered) manufacturing enterprises in India (1990−2001). It employs a difference-in-differences strategy and finds that tariff reductions are not associated with significant employment shifts in informal enterprises, a finding that may be attributable to the fact that these enterprises rarely engage in international trade. However, on average and ceteris paribus, delicensing (FDI reform) is associated with statistically significant increases (increases) in informal employment and informal enterprise numbers in inflexible (flexible) labour markets. There is some evidence that the delicensing effect is attributable to increases in product market competition in delicensed industries. However, the channel underlying the result associated with FDI reform is less clear. In light of the persistent primacy of the informal sector in India and other developing economies, these findings have substantial policy relevance.

Development economists generally concur that the implications of economic reform for employment are influenced by an economy’s institutional framework. This paper examines the extent to which differences in regional labour market flexibility shaped the impact of unanticipated economic reforms on employment in formal manufacturing firms in India in the 1990s, using pooled cross-sectional firm survey data. It employs a difference-in-differences strategy for this analysis and finds that, on average and ceteris paribus in the 1990–1997 period, declines in input tariffs were associated with increased employment in formal firms across all Indian states, while FDI reform was associated with increased (reduced) formal firm employment in states with flexible (inflexible) labour markets. Supporting analysis indicates that these results were underpinned, at least in part, by product market competition within the formal sector. As policy makers in developing economies increasingly emphasise increases in formal employment as a key policy objective, these findings are of general interest. They underline the relevance of market structure and geographical variation in institutional characteristics to a study of the effects of economic reform. Furthermore, this paper highlights the continuing relevance of formal sector analysis, notwithstanding the persistent primacy of informal enterprises in developing economies.

Labour market rigidity becomes an issue of increasing importance under conditions of shocks associated with the economic crisis due to the need to increase the adaptability and responsiveness to them. Thus, labour market policies must be directed towards mitigating rigidities caused by institutional or demographic factors or certain mismatch between demand and supply of education qualifications. This paper highlights the major role of the active labour market policies targeting the increase of labour flexibility, stressing the importance and impact on the ability to adapt quickly and effectively to macroeconomic shocks. Located on a declining trend in the years preceding the crisis, spending on labour market policies increased in 2009 in all the Member States of the European Union. Spending differences are significant between countries, Romania being at the lowest end of the European Union. This requires special attention because the increased adaptability of workers through training, as active measure, is of major importance considering the increased speed of changes in the labour market.

In this study, I have proposed and examined ten criteria to analyze the challenges of joining at Monetary Union, explaining the need to include them in government and multinational companies’ strategies. The criteria adopted in the case of Romania concern the potential impact of Euro adoption on economic activities, the common monetary policy effects on the Romanian economy, synchronization with the Euro area, labour market flexibility, as a tool of shocks adjustment etc. After stating each criterion, I have made a brief analysis of how that could affect the balance of costs and benefits of giving up own currency, using conclusions of the optimum currency areas theory.

The rigidity of labour market has several important negative economic consequences: it stifles job creation, increases discrimination of those that it is actually aimed at protecting (young, women and the low-skilled), hurts the unemployed, slows down economic restructuring and damages its global competitiveness. But reforms are slow and often marked with disputes among partners in the collective bargaining process. Afraid of social security loss, unions usually oppose the reform, while governments usually give in to the union pressures and negative image of reform consequences created by unions and assisted by media. The characteristics of the labour market and labour market reform with respect to bargaining among power groups are examined both theoretically and empirically in the case of Slovenia.

Single, older women in the State of Victoria, Australia, have emerged as a group experiencing housing insecurity and being highly vulnerable to homelessness in their old age. A sizable demographic cohort, it is a group that could overwhelm the existing homelessness service system. One of the most surprising aspects of this trend is their propensity to be tertiary educated. Focus groups revealed ‘critical life events’ as significant, and a shared ‘control belief’ in the value of education. Given that education is a key means by which Australian governments seek to remedy homelessness, the entry of educated women into the homelessness population suggests policy needs to re-examine homelessness causation and explicitly apply a gender-lens. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article, inspired by the recent restructuring of social dialogue in Poland, reflects on the role played by neo-corporatist institutions in the country, with specific reference to their capacity to influence (or not) the approach, contents and implementation of labour policies and, therefore, affect social change. For this purpose, it presents the findings of a case study focused on the sub-national level of regulation and conducted in the region of Lower Silesia, within the framework of the Airmulp project. The analysis - which relies on mixed methods, including the analysis of statistical data, the review of official documents, and interviews with key informants - reveals that regional social dialogue is not likely to produce substantial outcomes and is, most feasibly, a means for building consensus on neo-liberal policies from the bottom up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We often hear that the high unemployment rates of low-educated workers in Europe are due to the rigidities of the institutions increasing the labour costs that burden employers. In this article, we challenge this traditional view and offer alternative explanations to the cross-national variation in the employment rate of low-educated workers. Using macro-data and an error correction model, we analyse the determinants of the creation of jobs for low-educated workers in 19 countries between 1997 and 2010. Our findings tend to invalidate the neoliberal view, while also pointing to the positive impact of investing in public employment services and the predominant role of economic growth, which can be weakened by union density and employment protection in the case of male workers. Last but not least, creating low skill jobs has no or little impact on the employment outcomes of low-educated workers, thus indicating job displacement issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]