Labour Market Efficiency in the European Union

<p>The deregulation of labour law in the European Union was thought to be a spur to lasting growth of employment and an increase in labour market efficiency. This book reveals that the results of such policies have been far from those expected.<br>This study provides a country by country overview of the legal regulations concerning employment protection and fixed-term employment in the twelve Member States of the European Union (prior to its expansion in 1995). Employment patterns of fixed-term employees are compared with those of employees in standard employment relationships, with the analytical focus on age-, gender- and industry specific differences. The authors then look beyond country-specific patterns and assess the probability of fixed-term employment within the European Union. They offer hypotheses concerning the impact upon the labour market of deregulation and of regulation.<br>This is a valuable discussion of how legal, sociological and economic labour market theories contribute to an understanding of atypical employment.</p> List of figures and tables, Acknowledgements, 1 Introduction, 2 Legal and economic theories of labour market regulation, 3 Employment protection systems and the regulation of fixed-term contracts in the European Union, 4 Fixed-term employment patterns in the European Union, 5 Multivariate analysis of country patterns, 6 Fixed-term contracts and their relationship to macro-economic conditions, 7 Conclusions, Appendix, Notes, References, Index of authors cited, Subject index