This paper provides an overview of the sequential shift towards activating labor market and social policy in Germany. It not only shows the changes in the instruments of active and passives labor market policies but also analyzes the implications of this change for the political economy, the...

Employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits and active labor market policy are Janus-faced institutions. On the one hand they are devices of insurance against labor market risk that provide income and employment security. On the other hand they influence the capacities of labor...

This paper explores the empirical evidence for the claim that non-employed men and women in post-industrial labour markets are more likely to make the transition into employment than has previously been the case. It concludes that whilst the unemployed and the inactive remain distinct groups...

The trend towards activation has been one of the major issues in recent welfare and labour market reforms in Europe and the US. Despite considerable initial variation across national models with respect to the scope and intensity of activation, redefining the link between social protection and...

Report based on a study conducted for the European Parliament, Bonn 2013 (34 pages)

With young people among the big losers of the recent financial crisis, vocational education and training (VET) is often seen as the silver bullet to the problem of youth joblessness. This paper provides a better understanding of VET around the world, dealing with three types of vocational...

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht den Wandel der Erwerbsformen in Deutschland und zeigt, dass atypische Beschäftigung in bestimmten Sektoren und Berufen zum Aufbau von Erwerbstätigkeit beigetragen hat, gleichzeitig ist jedoch das so genannte Normalarbeitsverhältnis nach wie vor die bei...

Despite a more recent debate about ever deeper segmentation, we argue that since industrialization, Germany has continually experienced a dual labor market. One segment contains the primary segment of better paid and more attractive jobs, while the secondary segment encompasses rather low paid,...

This paper gives an overview of the transformation of the German labor market since the mid-1990s with a special focus on the changing patterns of labor market segmentation or 'dualization' of employment in Germany. While labor market duality in Germany can partially be attributed to labor...

This contribution draws some conclusions from the experience of attempts by the German government at integrating the most vulnerable groups into the labor market, in particular the long-term unemployed and the low skilled. There has been a sort of paradigm shift that goes beyond active labor...