Zu alt für den Arbeitsmarkt. Arbeitslosenrenten als Rationalisierungsmaßnahme in Finnland in den 1980er Jahren in einer historischen Perspektive

Abstract

This article argues that welfare schemes, which served to remove elderly workers from the labour force around the 1970s, foreshadowed the breakdown of the world of work in which permanent employment contracts and secure jobs until old-age retirement were the norm. As the global economy put heavier pressure on profitability and all sectors became subject to international shareholder scanning, the policy of ‘lifelong jobs’ began to give way to flexible labour throughout Europe. This change is discussed here using the empirical case of the Finnish unemployment pension schemes providing for the elderly labour force. The article asks how Finnish employers made use of unemployment pensions in the 1970s and 1980s in order to get rid of older employees. A large Finnish corporation, in particular its female labour force, are discussed in detail. Based on the working careers of about 100 women (manual workers and salaried employees) this article examines who kept their jobs and who were dismissed and pensioned off on unemployment pensions. The examples of women who succeeded in keeping their jobs at the time of mass-dismissals imply that careers (internal labour market) and occupational sociability (social capital) may be equally as valuable for women as they are for men.