Seven Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis
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Steffen Heinrich
Abstract
This chapter analyses the nature of the two-tier labour markets of Germany and Japan. It shows that these two ‘coordinated economies’ have both been subject to processes of deregulation of the second, non-regular, tier of the labour market, even while workers in the first, regular, tier have continued to enjoy strong protection. It examines the institutional and political dynamics of labour market reforms in order to try to understand how the crisis might alter them and whether the possibility exists for a re-regulation of the non-regular tier. It evaluates the difficulties of German and Japanese policy makers in attempting to manage the conflicting policy goals of maintaining and supporting first-tier arrangements while also attempting to maintain or increase the labour market flexibility attained by the expansion of the second tier. It also evaluates the significance of the political partisanship for the regulation of the second tier.
Abstract
This chapter analyses the nature of the two-tier labour markets of Germany and Japan. It shows that these two ‘coordinated economies’ have both been subject to processes of deregulation of the second, non-regular, tier of the labour market, even while workers in the first, regular, tier have continued to enjoy strong protection. It examines the institutional and political dynamics of labour market reforms in order to try to understand how the crisis might alter them and whether the possibility exists for a re-regulation of the non-regular tier. It evaluates the difficulties of German and Japanese policy makers in attempting to manage the conflicting policy goals of maintaining and supporting first-tier arrangements while also attempting to maintain or increase the labour market flexibility attained by the expansion of the second tier. It also evaluates the significance of the political partisanship for the regulation of the second tier.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- List on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Education policy and policy making, 1997–2009 13
- Children’s social care under New Labour 31
- Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems? 51
- Towards a social democratic pension system? Assessing the significance of the 2007 and 2008 Pensions Acts1 71
- Minimum income standards and household budgets 97
-
Current issues and debates
- Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis 121
- Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis 149
- ‘Flexibility’, xenophobia and exploitation: modern slavery in the UK 173
- Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy 199
-
Service user involvement
- Service users and social policy: developing different discussions, challenging dominant discourses 227
- Participation and social justice 253
- Involving disabled children and young people in research and consultations: issues, challenges and opportunities 275
- Responding to unhappy childhoods in the UK: enhancing young people’s ‘well-being’ through participatory action research 291
- Service users as peer research interviewers: why bother? 317
- Index 337
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- List on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Education policy and policy making, 1997–2009 13
- Children’s social care under New Labour 31
- Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems? 51
- Towards a social democratic pension system? Assessing the significance of the 2007 and 2008 Pensions Acts1 71
- Minimum income standards and household budgets 97
-
Current issues and debates
- Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis 121
- Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis 149
- ‘Flexibility’, xenophobia and exploitation: modern slavery in the UK 173
- Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy 199
-
Service user involvement
- Service users and social policy: developing different discussions, challenging dominant discourses 227
- Participation and social justice 253
- Involving disabled children and young people in research and consultations: issues, challenges and opportunities 275
- Responding to unhappy childhoods in the UK: enhancing young people’s ‘well-being’ through participatory action research 291
- Service users as peer research interviewers: why bother? 317
- Index 337
