Whatever Works
Whatever Works
Dualization and the Service Economy in Bismarckian Welfare States
The chapter compares employment structures in five Continental European welfare states, with a focus on private services. Despite a common trend to overcome institutional employment barriers by creating a more divided labor market, a closer look reveals considerable differences between national patterns of standard and non-standard work. We identify five transformative pathways towards a more flexible and cheaper use of labor in Continental European welfare states: 1. defection from permanent contracts, 2. from full-time employment, 3. from dependent employment, 4. growing wage dispersion, and 5. government-sponsored labor cost reductions. The chapter shows that by relying on one or several of these options, each country developed a distinct solution for the labor cost problem in the service sector, which corresponds to a particular form of dualization.
Keywords: dualization, non-standard employment, service occupations, low pay, germany, france, austria, the netherlands, belgium, continental europe, labor market flexibility, part-time work, fixed-term contracts, agency work, self-employment
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