Labor Policy and Worker Security
Debra Hevenstone, Policy Studies Institute
"Flexicurity" is a policy approach that de-links workers' protections from the employment relationship, replacing employer-provided benefits with government benefits. Theoretically this should offer workers a safety net while not distorting businesses' decisions. Flexicurity advocates argue that employer-provided protections encourage longer unemployment durations and higher unemployment rates while critics argue that workers' security is a valid policy goal. This paper develops indices measuring the government-provided and employer-provided safety nets in ten countries and uses those indices to test these competing claims. One analysis examines individual employment outcomes as a consequence of policy and another examines workers' and unemployed individuals' life and job satisfaction. The analysis also considers individual and country-level controls including the role of cultural norms around work. If the flexicurity hypothesis is valid, workers should be equally satisfied under the two regimes, with higher unemployment rates or duration under the mandated protection regime.
See paper
Presented in Session 140: Job Insecurity and Displacement