Introduction

This book has investigated whether and, if so, how the pattern of labour market reforms has been changing in Europe during the recent crisis and, in particular, following the shift in fiscal policy in Europe from an expansionary stance to austerity from 2009/10 onwards, whereby public expenditure has been cut and taxes risen in the midst of the biggest post-war recession experienced in the area. Prior to the crisis, labour market policies had again been under (financial) pressure due to structural changes affecting European economies. However, reforms aimed at cutting costs and increasing flexibility had been matched with the development of new policy instruments and approaches, such as activation and, in some cases, social investment, while there had also been calls, not necessarily translated into actions, for expanding the protection and rights of labour market ‘outsiders’, to reduce their differentiation from those of ‘insiders’. The motivating premise behind this book has been that pressures for public spending cuts in a context of deep recession can alter the considerations that shape change in labour market policies as strong and self-reinforcing constraints are placed on both the supply (costs) and the demand for them. We have, therefore, sought to examine how these pressures for cuts have been distributed across ‘old’ and ‘new’ policy instruments, among insiders and outsiders, and across different activation instruments.

Eleven national case studies have been used, spanning member states with different welfare regimes and under different degrees of European Union (EU) pressures for fiscal austerity. An additional chapter placed labour market reforms undertaken between 1999 and 2012 across the EU within a wider context of structural reforms in several key areas (pensions, education, research and development, and the public sector). Starting from the assumption that structural reforms attempt to balance social protection and investment for growth objectives, this comparative chapter developed a typology of reform strategies and characterised structural reform patterns across Europe and over time between 1999 and 2012.

In this final chapter, quantitative and qualitative information is brought together in order to look at the bigger picture of reform patterns as it emerges. I also take a look at the evolution of labour market insecurity and examine whether there seems to be convergence or divergence in that respect.