Flexicurity

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Flexicurity (a box word of English. Flexi bility (dt .: flexibility ) and se curity (dt .: Security )) provides a labor market policy concept is, with both the necessary flexibility enables the work and the safety of workers should be guaranteed . It tries to combine the " flexiblity " which the companies consider necessary with the interests of the employees for " security ".

definition

Flexicurity describes a political strategy that consciously and synchronously tries to increase the flexibility of labor markets, work organization and industrial relations as well as social security. Accordingly, the concept aims, on the one hand, to make the labor market increasingly flexible and, on the other hand, to protect employees. It represents a symbiosis of economic and social policy, according to which flexibility and security should not be viewed as opposites, but as complementary, mutually supportive units of a whole.

Flexicurity has its roots in Denmark and the Netherlands, where it was developed and partially implemented in the mid-1990s. The need for the concept arises from the flexibility, which is both a prerequisite for solving existing labor market problems and a trigger for other problems. Problems with a different location can, for example, be the increase in atypical employment. Therefore, the pure flexibilization is opposed to the concept of flexicurity.

In Germany there is an ostensible attempt to do justice to the concept of flexicurity by means of working time accounts.

flexibility

In the current debate, flexibility means the adaptation of organizations and individuals to changing market conditions, with individual needs being discussed as a secondary issue. It is viewed from different perspectives. On a macro-political level it is about the design of the labor market and its security systems, on an organizational level it is about flexibility in companies, and on an individual level it is about the impact on employees.

An important starting point for understanding the concept of flexicurity is not to see flexibility as a straightforward concept. Flexibility can be broken down into various specific forms. First, a distinction is made between internal and external flexibility. Internal means flexibilization within companies and external means flexibilization outside of companies. Both internal and external flexibility are divided into numerical and functional flexibility. Internal numerical flexibility means the temporal adjustment of the work volume with fluctuating workload, e.g. through time account models . In terms of internal-functional flexibility, attempts are made to react to changing requirements by adapting the work organization and qualifying employees. Analogously, the external-numerical flexibility is based on the numerical adjustment of the number of employees and the external-functional flexibility means the adaptability of the employees to the external labor market.

The thesis on which the concept of flexicurity is based is "... that labor markets will need a higher degree of flexibility in the future due to changed framework conditions in order to ensure efficient allocation."

Development of the concept

Flexicurity began to emerge as early as the late 1970s with the accelerated globalization of the economy, rising inflation and increasing unemployment. This led to an ideological shift towards neoliberalism and monetarism , with the market replacing the state as the core of governance . This required an increased degree of flexibility from companies in order to survive in global competition. This has resulted in a shift in the relationship between social progress and economic success. Consequently, the most important trends in European labor market regulation were the adaptation of the labor supply to the requirements of the market, to deregulation and the increasing flexibility of the labor market. At the same time, at the welfare state level, the main focus was on increasing labor market participation and reducing the dependence of employees on the welfare state . Furthermore, in the following years an awareness was awakened that innovations as well as quality and productivity increases could be made possible in the long term by highly qualified and motivated workers. Competitiveness should be in some kind of balance with social security. Flexicurity is an attempt to strike this balance.

The Netherlands and Denmark, which implemented the concept in the 1990s, are seen as examples of functioning flexicurity. The term itself is traced back to the Dutch sociologist Hans Adriaansens. Ton Wilthagen ( University of Tilburg ) developed the concept scientifically. In 1999 the Dutch government published a printed paper Flexibiliteit en zekerheid , which was followed by a corresponding law. As a result, the previous dismissal protection rules were reduced and, in return, the protection rules for temporary employment contracts were strengthened. During the labor market reforms in the Netherlands and Denmark during the 1990s, the general easing of dismissals was combined with high short-term material support for the unemployed (passive labor market policy) and support for rapid reintegration in the event of dismissal through intensive measures of active labor market policy .

Denmark in particular, with its successful flexicurity strategy, is the starting point for European debates on the concept. A financial policy was implemented there in the early 1990s that tried to stop the trend of increasing unemployment and at the same time this policy was combined with the first active labor market policy measures. These measures should reduce structural unemployment. In the course of this, the Danish flexicurity model emerged, which is characterized by generous social benefits and the activation of labor through various labor market policy measures. This should have two effects: on the one hand, qualification effects through the activating labor market policy and, on the other hand, motivation effects through social benefits.

The European Social Agenda , which was adopted by the European Council in Nice in December 2000 , declared flexicurity to be a building block of the European social model and an essential part of the Lisbon Strategy . In the employment guidelines of 2003 it was also decided to enable both flexibility and security due to the change that is taking place. The social partners should play an important role in this. In the 2005/2006 Employment Report, flexicurity was first discussed as an independent concept and included in the EU's labor market guidelines. In 2007, the European Commission published the communication “Working out common principles for the flexicurity approach: More and better jobs through flexibility and security” . It contains various components for common principles in the flexicurity strategy. The objectives stated were, on the one hand, to enable efficient and fast transitions in the career of an employee between different professional areas of competence and life and, on the other hand, to give them the necessary skills. The European Commission's "Europe 2020 Strategy" also intends to continue flexicurity measures on the labor market.

Flexicurity in the EU

Principles of the flexicurity approach

According to the EU Commission's communications, the national flexicurity strategies should consist of four components:

  • Flexible and secure contractual agreements in a balanced combination of security and activation measures
  • Comprehensive lifelong learning strategies that promote the employability of workers
  • Effective active labor market policies that help people cope with change, shorten periods of unemployment and make it easier for them to switch to new jobs
  • Modern social security systems that provide adequate income security and are designed to promote both employment and labor market mobility. At the same time, it should offer work incentives that are based on a balanced relationship between rights and obligations.

In addition, according to the EU Commission, national flexicurity strategies should follow the following eight principles:

  1. On the one hand, flexicurity includes the four components mentioned above. In other words, flexible and secure agreements, lifelong learning strategies, active labor market measures and modern social security systems.
  2. Flexicurity requires a balance in the rights and obligations for all relevant actors (employer, employee, job seeker, state).
  3. Flexicurity should be adapted to the specific circumstances of the nation states.
  4. Flexicurity aims to narrow the gap between insiders and outsiders in the labor market.
  5. A flexicurity strategy should encourage both internal (within the company) and external forms (between companies).
  6. Flexicurity aims to advance gender equality.
  7. Flexicurity requires a trusting dialogue between the relevant actors who are also ready to take responsibility for managing changes in the labor market.
  8. Flexicurity measures should contribute to a sustainable budget policy and not lead to disproportionately high budget costs.

Flexicurity options of the EU Commission

Furthermore, the EU Commissions has provided flexicurity options that they consider typical and are tailored to specific challenges.

  • Option 1: Combat segmentation in contracts
Flexibility and security are made possible for workers through fixed-term but better contractually agreed contracts.
  • Option 2: Develop flexicurity in the company and offer security during transitions
Increase investment in employability and training.
  • Option 3: Address the problem of skills shortages and the reduced opportunities of certain workers
Skills the low-skilled and helps them get back into employment.
  • Option 4: Improve opportunities for beneficiaries and informal workers
Increasing the chances of social benefit recipients to resume employment, especially through active labor market policy measures.

Examples of flexicurity strategies

A model approach to flexicurity, which is mainly based on the Dutch system and is relevant for the scientific discussion in Germany, consists of four central concepts:

(1) transitional labor markets ,
(2) Strengthening internal flexibility through collective bargaining and company policies that secure jobs ,
(3) Strengthening functional flexibility through lifelong learning and
(4) Old-age pension reform .

(1) The concept of transition labor markets seeks to enable a smooth transition between employment and non-employment. For this, a new type of work is assumed that no longer follows the model of the normal employment relationship . In transition markets, transitions in both directions are possible, for example between full-time and part-time employment. Accordingly, they work according to the principle of reversibility.

(2) The concept of strengthening internal flexibility tries to fill the new room for maneuver that is created by the dwindling relevance of external flexibility. The collective bargaining and company actors are to introduce adjustment instruments that offer employees a higher degree of job security. This opening to internal flexibility happened v. a. in the context of the introduction of time accounts and the anchoring of opening clauses in collective agreements with regard to working hours.

(3) The concept of lifelong learning tries to do justice to the necessary personal responsibility of the employees by improving their adaptability to the internal and external labor markets. For example, learning time accounts could be set up for this in order to create the organizational basis for learning.

(4) The concept of old-age insurance is intended to prevent social problems in the post-employment phase that can arise due to the flexibilization of the forms of employment. This is particularly relevant for the FRG, since the normal employment relationship and the social security system are closely linked. Two different approaches can be pursued to counteract the problems. On the one hand through flexible entitlements and on the other hand through basic security. In the case of a flexible entitlement, the continuity of the career would no longer be rewarded by the pension insurance, but it should give the opportunity to close gaps in the career through flexible qualifying periods.

Flexicurity in France and Luxembourg

In France, the introduction of the Contrat nouvelle embauche and the Contrat première embauche failed .

While there are also divergent views between the trade unions and the employers' associations in Luxembourg with regard to the exact content of flexicurity, the government is sticking to the standard model of the open-ended employment contract with appropriate protection against dismissal and is preferring to rely on the principle of subsidiarity : the "social partners" should work in interprofessional Agreements ( accords en matière de dialogue social interprofessionels ) make appropriate industry-specific agreements. Mechanisms for maintaining employment ( maintien de l'emploi ) should come into operation before a social plan becomes necessary in the event of mass layoffs, if possible without the intervention of the economic committee ( comité de conjoncture ). Likewise, partly modified as a result of protests from school leavers and students, new regulations relating to rapid reintegration into the labor market and lifelong learning were introduced.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ton Wilthagen, Frank Tros: The concept of "flexicurity": a new approach to regulating employment and labor markets. In: Transfer: European Review of Labor and Research. Volume 10, issue 2, 2004, pp. 166-186.
  2. ^ Hans Böckler Foundation: Employment - The German version of Flexicurity: Adaptable through working time accounts. In: Böckler Impulse. Edition 06/12, p. 3.
  3. ↑ Martin Kronauer, Gudrun Linne (Ed.): Flexicurity: the search for security in flexibility. Berlin, Ed. Sigma, 2007, p. 10.
  4. ↑ Berndt Keller, Hartmut Seifert: Flexicurity: how can flexibility and social security be reconciled? In: German Society for Sociology (DGS) (ed.): Social inequality, cultural differences: Negotiations of the 32nd Congress of the German Society for Sociology in Munich. Part 1 and 2. Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verl., 2006., ISBN 3-593-37887-6 , p. 2686.
  5. ↑ Luigi Burroni, Maarten Keune: Flexicurity: A conceptual critique In: European Journal of Industrial Relations, 17 (1), 2011, p. 76f.
  6. ↑ Henning Jørgensen: Danish labor market policy since 1994 - the new 'Columbus' egg' of labor market regulation? In: Paul Klemmer, Rüdiger Wink (ed.) Preventing Unemployment in Europe, Ruhr Research Institute for Regional and Innovation Policy, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2000.
  7. ↑ Per Kongshøj Madsen: How can it possibly fly? The paradox of a dynamic labor market in a Scandinavian welfare state. In: John L. Campbell, John A. Hall, Ove K. Pedersen (Eds.) National identity and a variety of Capitalism: The Case of Denmark, McGill University Press, Montreal, 2006.
  8. ↑ European Union: Council decision of July 22, 2003 on guidelines for employment policies of the member states, 2003/578 / EC. Brussels, 2003.
  9. ↑ Inge Kaufmann, Alexander Schwan: Flexicurity on Europe's labor markets - the fine line between flexibility and social security. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, International Policy Analysis, 2007.
  10. ↑ a b c European Commission: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Working out common principles for the flexicurity approach: More and better jobs through flexibility and security, COM ( 2007) 359. Brussels, 2007, pp. 6–22.
  11. ↑ Berndt Keller, Hartmut Seifert: Flexicurity: how can flexibility and social security be reconciled? In: German Society for Sociology (DGS) (ed.): Social inequality, cultural differences: Negotiations of the 32nd Congress of the German Society for Sociology in Munich. Part 1 and 2. Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verl., 2006., ISBN 3-593-37887-6 , pp. 2687–2695.
  12. ^ Franz Clement: La "flexicurité": définitions et applications au Luxembourg. CEPS / INSTEAD , Publications of REPREM, 2009, Gouvernance & Emploi n ° 07.