Flexicurity : a relevant approach in Central and Eastern Europe

This study is a valuable contribution to the debate surrounding the role of flexibility and security on labour market performance. Written by two leading experts in the field, with case studies contributed by outstanding national experts, it argues that the flexicurity approach is the most relevant for Central and Eastern European countries and suggests appropriate reforms of economic policy, institutional framework of the labour market, labour market policy and education and social policies in this region. The book follows the pattern of analysis used in Labour Markets in Transition, a previous monograph by the authors, and re-examines the different dimensions of flexibility, including flexible forms of employment. It studies fluctuations of labour turnover over the economic cycle. Then it reviews changes in the regulatory provisions, collective bargaining, labour taxation and labour market policies and their impacts on key labour market indicators for the period 1999 – 2003 as compared with the end of the 1990s. Through a series of national case studies, the volume examines how the countries of Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania and Poland, have attempted to balance labour market flexibility and security since the late 1990s. A discussion on wage flexibility is also included. The search for a better combination of flexibility and security has been a major challenge within the European Union and it is often seen as indispensable for improving competitiveness and at the same time maintaining the European social model. This book offers an insightful look into how this can be achieved through the flexicurity approach and shows how “activation” of labour market policies and social dialogue can be the keys to success.