Not for Bad Weather: Macroanalysis of Flexicurity with Regard to the Crisis

Abstract

This paper written by Andranik Tangian from the Institute for Economic and Social Research at the Hans-Bockler-Stiftung presents a macroeconomic analysis of flexicurity with regard to the current economic crisis. The analysis is performed with four composite indicators based on statistical figures for 25 countries - flexibility, security, gravity of macroeconomic situation by 2010 and aggravation of macroeconomic situation in 2008-2010. The author concludes that a better alternative to flexicurity would be a normalization of employment relations, i.e. low flexibility, which also would result in less social security expenditure. The closing discussion argues that the flexibilization of employment relations and the crisis both stem from the same root: financial liberalization is the background cause of both phenomena, rendering them dependent on one another.