Stability, flexibility & security in labour markets? (I)

Abstract

This short text will try to give an answer to the question posed in the title above. Before doing that, some definitional issues will be raised in the introduction. The next section will then critically assess the shift between job and employment security reckoned by experts and the European Commission. This is followed by a short section showing the importance of internal forms of adjustment to changes in the environment of firms. The dimension of employer vs. worker centred labour market flexibility is also discussed within this part. Finally a section demonstrates the resilience of the long term job and discusses rationales why this is so, before concluding on the question initially posed.