Projects / Programmes
Possibilites of Labour Market Desegmentation
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.03.00 |
Social sciences |
Sociology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S210 |
Social sciences |
Sociology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
labour market, segmentation, social exclusion, social security, employment policy
Researchers (10)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The “Possibilities for labour market desegmentation” project addresses one of the most difficult developmental problems in Slovenia. Labour market segmentation is making the labour market highly rigid and also affecting the unequal status of the different social groups in it. The result is the more difficult adjustment of the economy to the changing market conditions, along with the uneven distribution of the burden of the crisis and of the unemployment among different categories of the active population exposed to both social exclusion and reduced social security. The project aims to examine the extent of labour market segmentation, the rigidity of the labour market, as well as the related social exclusion and social security. We will examine to what extent the current financial and economic crisis has contributed to this situation and to what extent employment, education, social and fiscal policies and appropriate institutional arrangements of these areas have contributed via their own measures to reducing or increasing labour market segmentation. Special attention will be paid to finding alternative solutions or actions that would reduce the labour market’s segmentation, increase its flexibility and at the same time contribute to increasing social inclusion and social security. The project will encompass a conceptual analysis, an analysis of relevant databases, a policy analysis, an analysis of evaluations and institutional documents, an analysis of the social partners’ and policy makers’ standpoints as well as a case study. It focuses on the period of the current crisis and the situation in Slovenia compared with selected EU countries.
Significance for science
The conceptual framework of the research is based on a combination of the theory of labour market segmentation, that is, the theory of dual labour market or division into the primary and secondary labour market (Edwards, Reich and Gordon, 1975), the conceptual delimitation between the internal (intra-organisational) and the external labour market (Doeringer and Piore, 1971) and the French regulationist theory (Boyer, 2014). In line with this conceptual basis, the research focused on inter-sector differences or the split between the segment in which various forms of non-standard, poorly paid and precarious employment are concentrated (secondary external labour market) and segments in which more stable, as a rule standard employment relations predominate. We found that precarious forms of employment are rapidly concentrating in the market services sector. Within the industry sector, there are recognisable characteristics of regimes of polyvalent stability and the corresponding phenomena of employment regime segmentation or dualisation. In the organisations of this sector, the core of the permanently employed (internal primary labour market) are those with non-transferable knowledge. Company unionism is based on a strong bargaining power of the employees in the organisations of this sector. Primarily due to the high functional flexibility of polyvalent workers, the numerical flexibility of organisations in this sector is less intensive compared to the numerical flexibility of organisations in the market services sector. The key form of ensuring numerical flexibility of organisations (functional substitute of the dismissal/employment of ‘regularly’ employed persons) in this sector is fixed-term employment.
Significance for the country
Our key finding is that the pressure of international competition and international institutions that the small open economy is exposed to is the key factor of labour market segmentation in Slovenia. This is why the effect of public policies centred on limiting labour market segmentation is limited, but not insignificant. In the context of this basic finding, we also analysed the effects of the 2013 labour market reform. We found that the effect of this reform was contradictory (to say the least). The new regulation curbed some forms of precarisation, while less regulated forms (bogus self-employment) began to expand even more. In addition, the 2013 legislation liberalised dismissal, that is, it increased the possibility of the (external) flexibility of organisations. Since the 2013 legislation introduced the possibility of a greater numerical flexibility of organisations, it stimulated two processes. Firstly, it stimulated the trend of the flexibilisation and precarisation of employment in the market services sector. Secondly, the liberalisation of (the regime of) dismissal stimulated a sort of a ‘democratisation’ of employment precarity. In Slovenia, large groups of employed persons that are formally in a standard employment relation are poorly paid and are, according to this key income criterion, in a precarious position. With the liberalisation of the dismissal regime, these groups are becoming quite similar to the basic group of precarious workers.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2013,
2014,
2015,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2013,
2014,
2015,
final report
