Towards a social reproduction model

Abstract

Austria and Sweden are selected as countries of comparison for the impact of social choice models on the division of labour between the household and market sector and the skill structure of the labour force. These countries are chosen because they are of similar population size, they are both small open economies and have a corporate economic policy system with a strong social partnership. In spite of these similarities structural developments of labour supply and demand diverged markedly since the 60's, in particular as far as the incorporation of women into the labour market and the role of the public sector for the employment creation are concerned. In this paper it is argued that social choice models override economic policy orientations such that the outcomes of socio-economic processes end up at opposite ends of a continuum of production possibilities in the household and market sector. The Swedish social consensus is marked by equal opportunities and egalitarian principles while the Austrian popular vote hangs on to traditional patriarchal structures, which perpetuate the gendered division of the labour market and augment segmentation. Transfer of household production to the labour market today is hampered by the character of the remaining production in the household, in the main personal services. They have limited potential for productivity increases through economies of scale or technical advancement of production processes. Due to that prices for the services rendered on the market coincide more or less with wages, offering little room for wage rises in line with wages in the production of goods or production oriented services, which are financed out of productivity increases. As a result personal services tend to remain in the household sector (the case of Austria) unless the public sector takes over due to other than market oriented value and thus pricing systems.