Flexibilisierungspotenziale bei heterogenen Arbeitsmärkten: eine Einführung

Flexibility and heterogeneity are important topics in labour market research. Since 2004 the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has funded a research network addressing the issue of 'Flexibility in Heterogeneous Labour Markets', which intends to uncover possibilities for fostering flexibility. Furthermore, the research network aims to identify the relationship between separate heterogeneous labour markets and flexibility. The network has the general goal to reduce the gap between labour market research in Germany on these topics and the level of the international literature. This special issue of the Journal for Labour Market Research provides access to original research contributions from the research network for a broader readership. The introduction provides a short survey of the international and national literature. Then the goals and topics of the research network are explained followed by a review of the network activities, such as workshops and conferences, which have regularly helped to advance the research in the network. Finally the contributions to this special issue are summarized.