This is a timely and most of the time (as in all books) good read. The strong and ongoing changes on the labour market not only in Europe, but around the world, increasingly question the way we have understood the way labour market works, and who benefits and who do not benefit from the way labour markets are developing. Given the limits of words, this review is not able to go into detail and present comments or even a short description about all the many chapters in the book.
The book is divided in two parts, after a short introduction, in the first part with country chapters (Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, UK, and the US) and a second part with comparative chapters. It could have been interesting to have country chapters also dealing directly with Eastern European countries. In the comparative chapters there are some reflections and inclusion of Eastern European countries; however this is less thorough than what one could have seen from one or two country chapters dealing specifically with Eastern European countries.
The growing use of non-standard employment, such as short-term contracts, seems overall to be more prevalent in the area of service, but less so in classical industrial production. Given the substantial changes in the way production is done, with increase in service compared to industrial production, this also implies that more and more jobs are without the (in many countries) historical secure and stable attachment to the labour market. A recent trend, as also mentioned in the book, is that it is no longer only low-skilled jobs witnessing this tendency; it is also within the area of high-skilled jobs, although here not to the same extent and consequence of low pay. Nevertheless, this is one of the possible new dividing lines on European labour markets that can have profound impact on the way labour market will influence the division between insider/outsiders or core/periphery attachment to the labour market.
For some, flexible work and short-term contracts can be beneficial as a stepping stone onto the labour market, however for others this might be implying insecure work-conditions and income-insecurity. Thus, the use of non-standard employment contracts is not necessarily a problem for all on the labour market, but it points to an increasing risk.
The country chapters, in a variety of ways, deal with how non-standard employment and flexicurity fits or perhaps more precisely does not fit together. However, the contrast between, for example, the Nordic understanding and approach to flexicurity and the Southern European type is clearly shown. Again also the dichotomy between that on the one hand flexible and non-standard employment could be a way into the labour market and preferable for some, but detrimental for others is strongly indicated.
There is also a gender perspective on these issue and, again (Chapter 13 by Dieckhoff et al.), there are contrasting developments in Europe, as they write in the conclusion of the development in UK and Germany: “We observe opposite trends in the UK and Germany. While in Germany the effect of having small children on the probability of being in marginal and part-time employment decreases with time, we observe for the UK a time trend of increased part-time employment starting in 2001” (p. 374). This points to the huge country diversity in development and the impact on different groups on the labour market.
The book further reinforces the view that skills matter also with regard to labour market stratification (Chapter 15 by Busemeyer and Thelen), and also with regard to the feeling of security in employment (Chapter 10 by Heejung). People in these jobs also have access to training less often.
A central issue that might be a consequence of the development is the weakening of the industrial relations situation (Chapter 14 by Keune). With more people in precarious situations on the labour market, with more people being outsiders on the labour market, which might be even more difficult for especially trade unions to have a strong position on and impact over the way labour markets develop. Therefore his Chapter also, rightly as I see it, points out that the trade unions alone will not be able to counter the development towards less secure positions for many on the labour market, but that they will have to work together with many actors in order to reduce the negative aspect of the growth in non-standard employment.
Overall, it was a stimulating read – and even if one is only interested in either comparative analysis or development in one of the countries involved in the study, there is material to find and use.
Therefore, I can highly recommend the book as a solid overview of a very important labour market topic also in the years to come.
