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This paper discusses the recently coined concept of flexicurity. It is outlined how this concept gained importance in legislative and labour market policy reform in the Netherlands, linking a number of previously separated areas of policy-making such as flexibilization and deregulation of the labour market on the one hand and social security and the concern for the negative consequences of flexible employment on the other hand. Second, the paper explores the relevance and significance of the concept to a theory of transitional labour markets. It is suggested that 'flexicurity', as a trade off or new balance between labour market flexibility and increased security for workers (especially those in precarious situations) might define more precisely and accurately the legal, social and perhaps even psychological conditions under which labour markets can become truly transitional, i.e. triggering, fostering and safeguarding transitions between employment and other distinct social systems such as private households, education, retirement and unemployment. In this way, flexicurity could be considered as an implementation strategy for transitional labour markets. ; In diesem Papier wird das vor kurzem in den Niederlanden entwickelte 'Flexicurity- Konzept vorgestellt. Es wird kurz beschrieben, wie dieses Konzept bei Gesetzgebungs- und arbeitsmarktpolitischen Reformen in den Niederlanden an Bedeutung gewann, indem es bisher getrennt behandelte Themen politischen Handelns wie einerseits Flexibilisierung und Deregulierung des Arbeitsmarkts und andererseits soziale Sicherheit und die Probleme der negativen Auswirkungen flexibler Beschäftigung miteinander verknüpft. Außerdem wird überprüft, inwieweit dieses Konzept einen Beitrag für eine Theorie der Übergangsarbeitsmärkte leisten kann. Das 'Flexicurity- Konzept, verstanden als Wechselwirkung oder neue Balance zwischen Arbeitsmarktflexibilität und verbesserter sozialer Sicherung der Arbeitnehmer (vor allem derjenigen in gefährdeten Arbeitsverhältnissen), kann die gesetzlichen, sozialen und vielleicht auch psychologischen Voraussetzungen für wirklich durchlässige Arbeitsmärkte hinreichend genau definieren. Dies bezieht sich auf die Initiierung, Förderung und Absicherung der Übergänge zwischen Beschäftigung und anderen sozialen Bereichen wie private Haushalte, Erziehung, Rente und Arbeitslosigkeit. In diesem Sinne kann Flexicurity als eine Implementationsstrategie für Übergangsarbeitsmärkte verstanden werden.

In the Netherlands, the generic work-first support seems unable to mitigate the scarring effects of prior unemployment on ethnic minorities' careers. This study compares the impact of vulnerable ethnic minorities participating in an alternative employer-based employment programme with a control group entitled to work-first support on employment up to ten years later. We look at how both labour market interventions with different time horizon strategies may close the employment gap with the regular labour force. Results indicate that programme participants from (non-)western groups achieve higher levels of (competitive) employment than the control group, but the programme's impact is negligible for the most established ethnic groups. The improved short-term wage match can partially explain the additional programme effect when considering the different time horizon strategies. Our results call for more employer-based programmes providing vulnerable ethnic minorities with the desired skills for better employment prospects, e.g. skill-shortage jobs.

Having the so-called 'Polder' model, the Netherlands has a long and fruitful history of social dialogue at both the national, sectoral and company level, with relatively harmonious relationship between the social partners and the government for the past 35 years (de Beer and Keune, 2017). The government has not intervened directly in the collective bargaining process since 1982. In that year, the social partners in the Dutch Labor Foundation (Stichting van de Arbeid) concluded an agreement (Het akkoord van Wassenaar) on moderate wage development linked to the reallocation of work in order to decrease unemployment and to improve the competitiveness of the Netherlands (CBS, 2007). Wages have been growing quite moderately ever since. This long history is important in order to explain and understand the 'DNA' of Dutch social partnership.

AbstractThe aim of the article is to discuss the concept of flexicurity presented as a new paradigm for analyzing modern labor markets (analytical perspective) and as a metaphor for policies striving for a better balance between flexibility and security (normative perspective). The purpose is to clarify these analytical and normative meanings of the flexicurity concept from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Flexicurity has been a policy strategy since 2005/2006 endorsed by the European Commission and put on top of the political agenda for the European Employment Strategy and EU 2020, the 10‐year strategy of the EU. We briefly sketch the tenets of the flexicurity approach by discussing the main issues in the European academic and policy debate. We subsequently present empirical evidence based on the definition of dynamic outcome indicators for assessing the performance of 26 countries in the EU in balancing flexibility and security. The findings challenge the conventionally presumed trade‐off between flexibility and security.

As regards labour-market reform and employment policies, the European Union currently touts the concept of 'flexicurity', aiming at simultaneously enhancing both flexibility and security in the labour market in response to the globalisation of the economy and far-reaching demographic developments such as the ageing of the population. Each Member State is expected to map out its own distinct pathway towards more flexicurity and the European Commission has, for its part, suggested a set of four general pathways. Therefore a need exists for ideas and examples on how to elaborate a flexicurity pathway, looking for inspiration rather than imitation. In the Netherlands, a government-appointed Committee on Labour Market Participation (the so-called Bakker Committee) has recently published proposals and recommendations for further reform of the Dutch labour market. This paper discusses that part of these proposals involving a particular flexicurity pathway towards better transition security and higher labour-market mobility. This possible pathway, now being debated in the Netherlands, may also be of interest to other Member States.

This article deals with the new policy concept of 'flexicurity' in view of the emerging flexibility-security nexus currently faced by the European Union, national governments, sectors of industry, individual companies and workers. On the one hand there is a strong demand to make labour markets, employment and work organisation more flexible. At same time, an equally strong demand exists for providing security to employees – especially vulnerable groups – and for preserving social cohesion in our societies. Policy-makers, legislators, trade unions and employers' organisations have a strong need for new theory-inspired policy models and concepts that promise to reconcile these goals of enhancing both flexibility and security that at first sight seem incompatible. This article discusses the origins, conditions and potential of 'flexicurity' as policy or strategy at various levels of industrial relations. It also outlines a research agenda.

"Die Autoren befassen sich mit dem neuen politischen Konzept der 'Flexicurity' im Hinblick auf die Verknüpfung der Themen von Flexibilität und Sicherheit, der sich die Europäische Union, die nationalen Regierungen, die Industriebranchen, die einzelnen Unternehmen und die Arbeitnehmer gegenwärtig gegenübersehen. Auf der einen Seite besteht eine hohe Nachfrage nach Flexibilisierung der Arbeitsmärkte, der Beschäftigung und der Arbeitsorganisation. Andererseits besteht ein ebenso großer Bedarf, die Sicherheit der Arbeitnehmer - insbesondere gefährdeter Gruppen - zu gewährleisten und den sozialen Zusammenhalt in unseren Gesellschaften zu erhalten. Politiker, Gesetzgeber, Gewerkschaften und Arbeitgeberorganisationen benötigen politische Modelle und Konzepte, die auf neuen Theorien basieren, mit denen sich diese Ziele, die auf den ersten Blick unvereinbar erscheinen - nämlich sowohl die Flexibilität als auch die Sicherheit zu verstärken - vereinbaren lassen. Der Beitrag erörtert die Ursprünge, die Bedingungen und das Potenzial einer Flexicurity-Politik oder -Strategie auf den verschiedenen Ebenen der Arbeitsbeziehungen. Die Autoren schlagen außerdem eine Agenda für Forschungsarbeiten zu diesem Thema vor." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

"Der Beitrag diskutiert Möglichkeiten rechtlicher Regulierung am Beispiel der Politik der Übergangsarbeitsmärkte (ÜAM). Das Konzept der ÜAM stellt die rechtliche Regulierung des Arbeitsmarktes vor neue Herausforderungen. Erforderlich ist sowohl der Abbau (Deregulierung) wie auch der Umbau (Reregulierung) des bestehenden Rechts. Der Beitrag beschreibt Grenzen des Rechts, die seine Regulierungskapazität beschränken, wie Rechtskomplexität und Erfassungsschwellen, sowie normative Grenzen, die Diskriminierungs- und die Evaluationsschwellen bilden. Darüber hinaus werden ökonomische Kosten rechtlicher Regulierung angesprochen. Ein zentraler Abschnitt ist dem Konzept der reflexiven Deregulierung gewidmet. Bei den Konzepten für Reregulierung geht es um innovative und effektive Regulierungsformen, die mehr Flexibilität für beide Arbeitsmarktparteien schaffen, und den Beschäftigten zugleich mehr Sicherheit geben. Es werden drei Beispiele vorgestellt: Gutscheinsysteme, Flexicurity und die Regulierung von Weiterbildung für flexible Arbeitskräfte." (Autorenreferat)

Direct or "command‐and‐control" regulation has had limited success in dealing with occupational health and safety and with environmental regulation. This lack of success has led policymakers to experiment with self‐regulation as an alternative means of achieving the goals of social regulation. The economic subsystem fails to acknowledge its social identity and, therefore, appears to be blind to its negative performance regarding the environment and the workplace. The authors of this paper argue that moving beyond command‐and‐control can be feasible and desirable, at least to a certain extent, but that pitfalls are omnipresent. "Regulatory dilemmas" need to be solved, sound empirical studies need to be conducted, and a guiding theory needs to be drafted. To achieve these goals, the authors suggest use of the key concept of "reflexivity," which refers to the economic organization's relationship with itself. The practical usefulness of this theoretical concept is explored against the background of regulatory practice in the areas of occupational safety and health and the environment. It is concluded that a mode of reflexive administrative law requires a "negotiating government," which adopts a mixture of strategies and learns to cope with issues like third‐party interests, access to information, and enforcement.