Young people and the post-recession labour market in the context of Europe 2020

This article examines how the recent global recession, together with the general flexibilization of labour markets, is affecting young people. We examine different forms of social exclusion, including unemployment, temporary employment contracts and periods of inactivity, as well as the subjective insecurity arising from such labour market exclusion. We also examine what Member States have done to address this issue, especially as part of their response to the crisis. At both EU (through the Europe 2020 strategy) and national levels specific policy measures exist that target young people in the labour market, but these are mostly supply-driven. Thus, they do not take into account the true problems young people are facing, including problems finding first-time employment and bad-quality jobs with little prospect of moving up the employment ladder. In conclusion, a new generation with higher exposure to systematic labour market risks than previous generations is being left to fend for itself with little appropriate state support

IMPLICATIONS OF LIBERALISED EUROPEAN LABOUR MARKETS

This paper reviews the alternative labour market scenarios open to European policymakers in the current movement towards enhanced economic and political integration. To clarify the various issues, the paper dichotomises the policy alternatives into two camps: "euro-liberalists" and "euro-regulators." The paper concludes that the latter offers the best path towards convergence, with the proviso that the subject of regulation is a Pan-European system of labour market objectives rather than institutions. Copyright 1996 Western Economic Association International.

COMPETITIVE NEED LIMITS AND THE U.S. GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCE

The United States uses competitive need limits to deny Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) treatment of imports from developing countries. The analysis here estimates in two ways the effect of competitive need limits on GSP imports. First, it uses ex post trade data to determine the effect on import values and shares. Second, it combines an ex ante model with trade and elasticity data to estimate the effect of competitive need limits. Results indicate that competitive need limits reduce affected imports by 10 to 17%. Benefits from this import reduction accrue almost exclusively to U.S. import competing firms. Copyright 1996 Western Economic Association International.

Trends and determinants of retirement transition in Europe, the USA and Japan : a comparative overview

This comparative chapter serves as a stylized frame of comparison for the single-country chapters of the book. It briefly contrasts the development of retirement transitions in the 13 countries selected for this book by showing older workers’ employment trends over the last decades and allowing us to contrast trends in early retirement (in the 1970s and 1980s) with active aging (since the late 1990s). Furthermore, it provides an overview on the context of retirement transitions that reflects on institutional, workplace, and individual conditions. In sum, the results of our international comparison suggest a close relationship between older workers’ employment levels and contextual factors at the institutional, the workplace, and the individual level

Retirement transitions in times of institutional change : theoretical concept

For more than three decades, many European and other affluent societies have been following a trend of fostering older workers’ exit from employment well before reaching formal retirement ages. Yet, faced with demographic aging, many countries have undergone a substantial change in their policies toward older workers, reflected in a shift to a policy explicitly fostering longer working careers and employment retention of older workers. This introductory chapter takes this institutional shift as a starting point for developing a novel theoretical framework that conceptualizes work and retirement transitions within this changing institutional landscape