The German labor market reforms seem to be on the right track. However, they need to be adjusted especially on the organizational side to make them more effective. The labor market instruments can be concentrated on temporary company wage subsidies, training measures and financial incentives for...

In the late nineties, Germany was often seen as a laggard with respect to labor market and welfare state reforms with institutional inertia being reflected in notoriously sluggish employment growth and rising unemployment. Recent years, however, saw a complex sequence of reforms with regard to...

With the Hartz reforms active labor market policies in Germany were overhauled considerably. The paper reviews the recent evaluation findings and draws some conclusion for the future setup of active labor market policies in Germany. It argues in favor of a streamlined repertoire of active labor...

The paper provides an overview of institutional provisions and reforms regarding employment protection, active and passive labor market policies in Germany as well as of actors' responsibilities in these areas. It covers the period between the early 1990s and the most recent Hartz reforms....

The paper reviews national and international experiences with different combinations of in-work benefits, subsidized employment, statutory minimum wages and implicit minimum wages defined by social assistance provisions. It calls for a cautious approach regarding the introduction of additional...

Die Arbeitsmarktreformen der letzten Jahre haben die strukturellen Anpassungsprobleme des deutschen Beschäftigungsmodells zum Teil gelindert - allerdings sind noch längst nicht alle Schwierigkeiten überwunden. Für die Zukunft besteht die zentrale Herausforderung darin, eine...

Germany and France are both Continental European welfare states with severe labor market problems such as low employment and high and persistent unemployment which can be explained by labor market institutions that inhibit labor market adaptability. This paper analyzes recent reforms in core...

Over the last decade, both the availability of quantitative indicators on labor market institutions and of studies trying to explain differences in national labor market performance through institutional variables have burgeoned significantly. It is now time to review these indicators and the...

Die Beschäftigung älterer Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland hat in den letzten Jahren merklich zugenommen. Die Studie untersucht diese jüngste Verbesserung der Arbeitsmarktsituation Älterer und analysiert den Beitrag, den die arbeitsmarkt- und sozialpolitischen Reformen der letzten Jahre dabei...

Germany has always been one of the prime examples of institutional complementarities between social insurance, a rather passive welfare state, strong employment protection and collective bargaining that stabilize diversified quality production. This institutional arrangement was criticized for...