Economic Transition, Unemployment and Active Labour Market Policy

by Corinne Nativel

Overview

When Germany reunified, the prosperous West met a foundering East, including its wholly collapsed industrial segment and very high unemployment. In response, various governments introduced well- meaning active labor market policies and welfare-to-work programs in hard-hit areas. Navitel examines the mixed reactions from a people traumatized by sudden systemic change and a shift to a global market economy, who were unsure of their rights, responsibilities, and relationship with their government in their new social contract. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781902459134
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/26/2004
Series:	New Germany in Context
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.43(d)

Table of Contents

	Map of Germany	vii
	List of Abbreviations	viii
	Foreword	ix
	Introduction: great transformations	1
	The challenge of economic transition: from ALMP to the 'Social Contract'	3
	Contribution of the book	4
	Outline of the book	6
Part I	Conceptual and methodological framework
1.	Unemployment, the labour market and the state	9
	Neo-classical versus Keynesian perspective	10
	Institutional, evolutionary and spatial perspectives	13
2.	Equity, efficiency and the role of Active Labour Market Policy	23
	Equity versus efficiency	23
	Active Labour Market Policy: at the crossroads between economic and social policies	26
	Conclusion	36
Part II	Transformation unemployment In Eastern Germany and the tradition of ALMP
3.	Transformation unemployment in the East German Bundeslander	39
	The collapse of the labour market	39
	Job destruction: industrial and regional patterns	50
	The social dimension	53
	Transformation unemployment: a summary	59
4.	The institutional architecture of ALMP in the Federal Republic of Germany	63
	ALMP and the social market economy	63
	Actors and instruments	66
	Financing mechanisms	72
	A short review of ALMP practice in the pre-1989 FRG	77
	Conclusion	81
Part III	ALMP in the new Bundeslander
5.	From 'policy of the first hour' to the 'second labour market'	83
	The transfer of ALMP	83
	Conclusion	99
6.	ALMP in a regional context: a case study of Saxony	101
	A survey of labour market trends in Saxony	102
	Regional corporatism and other Active Labour Market Policy features	105
	Industry, technology, culture and ecology: strength in diversity?	112
	Conclusion: from the regional to the national debate	115
Part IV	ALMP in perspective
7.	Constraints and opportunities facing the new German economy	117
	Constraints on East Germany's economic development	117
	Structural reforms in the German social market economy	123
	Conclusion: strengthening the Eastern Standort and promoting national reforms	132
8.	Employment and welfare restructuring: prospective avenues	135
	Globalisation, the 'information' revolution, and the welfare state	135
	Labour market and employment restructuring	138
	Welfare restructuring	143
	The social economy: harnessed to the knowledge economy	147
	The social contract as an adjustment mechanism	149
	Conclusion: the significance of the social contract	152
	Conclusion: responding to labour market transitions	155
	Appendixes	159
Appendix 1	Spending on ALMP according to types of measures (in million DM), East Germany, 1991-1997	159
Appendix 2	Key data for East Germany's economic 'catching-up' (1991-1999)	160
	Notes	161
	Bibliography	169
	Index	191