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| Balancing flexibility and security in Central and Eastern Europe |
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"Flexicurity" project
After twelve years of transition persistent unemployment remains a major problem in Central and Eastern Europe's transition countries. While in many countries this problem was explained by the slow economic recovery, there is growing evidence that even in those countries where economic growth was relatively high over a longer period, employment continued to stagnate. Therefore, the policy of reducing employment and social protection did not necessarily improve labour market performances, leading even in some cases to rather adverse effects on employment and labour reallocation, in particular for women.
Decent work, flexicurity and EU employment strategy
Alternative policy approaches within Europe show employment and social protection policies can support flexibility for firms while ensuring income and broader social security to workers at the societal level. The ILO has responded to the flexibilization debate and concerns by launching a new project entitled "flexicurity"; this project comprises research and publications addressing both macro- and micro-economic issues, as well as their interactions, and look for synergies between social and economic development, to form a basis for cross-country exchange of experience and cooperation. Analysis and dialogue over the choices and associated trade-offs are the foundation for the "flexicurity" approach, which is in line with the EU employment policy and the ILO Decent Work concept.
Social Dialogue as an important tool to jointly identified options available
As the viability of these choices is largely dependent on the willingness and the ability of social partners to engage and define through tripartite and bipartite dialogue the right balance among the various components of the employment policy, it is important to provide them with a meaningful role to engage in setting up national employment policies and to constantly adjust through dialogue and negotiations at the various levels to the high market dynamics.
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Objectives of the project:
The general objective of the project is to develop a set of consensus based employment policies, ensuring a balance between labour market flexibility and employment security in the sub-region. More specifically, this includes enhancing capacity of government and social partners to develop
- strong expertise on the functioning of the labour market institutions and their impact on the labour market situation;
- policy proposals during national tripartite seminars to identify possible policy choices based on "flexicurity" in the process of further institutional reforms, with gender sensitive approach.
The "Flexicurity approach"
Recent ILO research is providing
evidence that the policy prescription that has been enforced over
the last decade in the region is a "jacket that may not
suit all sizes". Some western industrialized countries
have for example organized their system of employment and social
protection in a way to allow flexibility for firms while ensuring
income and broader social security to workers at the societal level.
This is done either by recurring to more flexible contracts and
the extension of social protection to those flexible forms, while
employment protection at the company level was maintained or it
resulted in ensuring only a minimum of employment protection at
the company level but a decent level of easily accessible income
and social protection in case of redundancies.
This suggests that it is never one institutional setting alone which determines the question of job flexibility and security, but the interactions of the main national labour market institutions, such as the unemployment benefits schemes, the wage setting institutions, etc. Policies makers of transition countries, together with the socials partners, have therefore wider policy choices at their disposal within a given macro-economic, institutional and political context. These choices are based on various combinations (tradeoffs or/and complementarities) of the different components of the employment and social protection systems, which need to be identified to allow and ensure a balance between labour market flexibility and job security. This new approach "flexicurity" is in line with both the ILO Decent Work concept and the EU employment policy reflected in the conclusions of the EU Summits in Lisbon and Barcelona.
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» Latest and forthcoming events
For further information:
Ms Sandrine Cazes,
Senior Specialist, Employment and Labour Market Policies >> more
Mr Gianni Rosas,
Senior Specialist, Employment and Labour Market Policies
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| Events & campaigns |
World Day Against Child Labour
12 June 2008
Education: The right response to child labour
» read more
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| ILO Film |
| Fully fit at work |
Film about the advantages of employing persons with disabilities. As this ILO film (Fully Fit at Work) shows, not only may people with disabilities be more productive, they may actually be more skilled in some jobs than non-disabled people. Produced for the ILO by the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.
Watch the film online in Polish with English subtitles. Duration: 21 min 11 sec
If the video is not displayed, download the free RealPlayer™
Press release in English and
Polish |
| ILO, UN deliver as one in Albania |
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A package for social and economic progress
The Albanian pilot of the One UN Programme will make use of the experiences of the International Labour Organization (ILO) gained in the field. As the only tripartite organisation within the United Nations system, the ILO plays a key role in involving social partners in the recently launched UN reform process.
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