Full Description
This book examines the concept of the single employment contract, tracing it from its genesis and evaluating its pros and cons in the context of the current labour market problems in selected European countries.
The book adopts a comparative approach to examining the single employment contract, highlighting its virtues and revealing its inherent contradictions. The authors set out the general framework within which the current debate has developed by outlining the origins that gave rise to the proposal of a single employment contract. They then review the debate on labour market segmentation and the flexicurity proposal, and examine the key characteristics of the single employment contract as well as the arguments put forward both for and against it. Case studies show how the idea has been taken up in France, Italy and Spain. The book concludes with a concise review of contractual arrangements in EU labour markets and of possible future projections and developments.
The book is aimed at academics and practitioners interested in labour market and labour legislation reforms.
The book is a co-publication between Hart Publishing and the International Labour Organization.
Contents
Introduction. The New Frontier of Labour Law: Between Freedom and Security
1. Flexibility
1.1 The Origins of the Issue: The Demand for Labour Market Flexibility
1.2 Different Kinds of Flexibility
1.3 From the Standard Employment Contract to a Plurality of Types
2. Segmentation
2.1 Segmentation in EU Labour Markets
2.2 Contractual Arrangements and Segmentation in EU Labour Markets
3. The Single Employment Contract: Origins and Presuppositions
3.1 The Origins of the Single Employment Contract: 'Re-Thinking' Work
3.2 The Presuppositions of the Single Employment Contract
3.3 The European Commission Perspective
4. An Outline of the Single Employment Contract
4.1 Basic Structure and Application
4.2 Monetary Compensation
4.3 Legal Norms
4.4 Other Rights
4.5 The Anticipated Benefits of the Single Employment Contract
5. Contrasting Views of the Single Employment Contract
5.1 Introducing the Single Employment Contract
5.2 Criticisms of the Proposal and Some Responses
6. Selected Proposals for Introducing the Single Employment Contract
6.1 Italy: The Debate about Flexicurity
6.2 France: The Contrat de Travail Unique (CTU)
6.3. Spain: The Debate on the Single Employment Contract
7. Contractual Arrangements in EU Labour Markets
7.1 Types of Protection Offered
7.2 Incentives to Convert Temporary Contracts into Open-Ended Contracts
7.3 Cost Structures and Financial Incentives in Choice of Contract Type
8. Further Developments
Conclusions
