Abstract
Despite a more recent debate about ever deeper segmentation, we argue that since industrialization, Germany has continually experienced a dual labor market. One segment contains the primary segment of better paid and more attractive jobs, while the secondary segment encompasses rather low paid, less stable and less attractive jobs. It has been argued that this dualization is the result of firms which are likely to hire full-time and long-term workforce for its core activities performed by the core workforce while relying on more flexible forms of employment for other activities. Based on an in-depth examination of the structure of the workforce since the founding of the German state, this paper seeks to explore the factors which account for the origin, evolution and the peculiarities of the country's core workforce. It will be shown that a non-negligible part of the working population has always been subjected to marginalization, but that the dividing line between the two segments has changed over time as has the character of the respective groups.
Highlights
In recent political discourse, the marginalization and precariousness of a part of the workforce is discussed either as a menacing phenomenon that looms large over the past decades (Vosko 2000; Kalleberg 2009; Ross 2009) or as a much needed mechanism to increase a firm’s flexibil- KW
As correctly noted by Reich et al (1973), the segmentation process in Germany constituted a historical process where political-institutional and economic-functional factors were responsible for the division of the labor market
According to estimates made by Ditt (1994), in the beginning of the industrialization only roughly one fourth of all workers belonged to the core workforce
Summary
The marginalization and precariousness of a part of the workforce is discussed either as a menacing phenomenon that looms large over the past decades (Vosko 2000; Kalleberg 2009; Ross 2009) or as a much needed mechanism to increase a firm’s flexibil-. Research on employment indicates that the workforce has always been subjected to some sort of segmentation (Blossfeld and Mayer 1988; Pollert 1988) and that, from a historic perspective, the discourse on the use of a core and a peripheral workforce appears exaggerated (Gallie et al 1998). Against this backdrop, this article seeks to examine the factors contributing to the emergence and change in the demarcation of a core workforce and its counterpart since the founding era (Gründerzeit), beginning with the establishment of the German Reich in 1871, to the present time in Germany. The survey focuses on these branches across Germany
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