Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T19:13:22.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Unemployment as an Institutional Construct? Structural Differences in Non-Employment between Selected European Countries and the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2009

MARCEL ERLINGHAGEN  and
MATTHIAS KNUTH
MARCEL ERLINGHAGEN*
Affiliation:
Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation (IAQ), University of Duisburg-Essen, 45117 Essen, Germany
MATTHIAS KNUTH
Affiliation:
Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation (IAQ), University of Duisburg-Essen, 45117 Essen, Germany
*
*email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A comparison of unemployment rates in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, the UK and the United States suggests poor performance by the German labour market. The present study endeavours to show that a more sophisticated picture of unemployment can be drawn by taking into account additional forms of non-employment (such as incapacity, retirement or labour reserve). For this purpose, data from the ‘European Social Survey’ (ESS) and the survey ‘Citizenship, Involvement and Democracy’ collected in 2004 and 2005 have been analysed. While ‘unemployment’ plays a dominant role in Germany, people with comparable demographic characteristics and similar health status are more likely to identify themselves as ‘permanently sick or disabled’ and hence are classified thus in other countries. The results of this study underline that an international comparison of labour market performance, particularly a comparison of the effectiveness of labour market and social policy reforms, should not rely only on employment and unemployment rates. Taking alternate forms of non-employment into account can enhance one's knowledge and understanding of the functional differences between the labour markets in Europe and the United States.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 71 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Autor, D. H. and Duggan, M. G. (2003), ‘The rise in the disability rolls and the decline in unemployment’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 18: 157–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Autor, D. H. and Duggan, M. G. (2006), ‘The growth in the social security disability rolls: a fiscal crisis unfolding’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20: 71–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barysch, K. (2003), Germany – the Sick Man of Europe? Policy Brief, London: Centre for European Reform.Google Scholar
Beatty, C. and Fothergill, S. (2005), ‘The diversion from “unemployed” to “sickness” across British regions and districts’, Regional Studies, 39: 837–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, U. (2000), ‘Welfare state development and employment in the Netherlands in comparative perspective’, Journal of European Social Policy, 10: 219–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtsson, S. (2000), ‘A truly European type of disability struggle: disability policy in Denmark and the EU in the nineties’, European Journal of Social Security, 4: 363–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, D., Daniel, K. and Sanders, S. (2002), ‘The impact of economic conditions on participating in disability programs: evidence from the coal boom and bust’, American Economic Review, 92: 27–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Börsch-Supan, A. (2007), Work Disability, Health, and Incentive Effects, MEA Discussion Paper 135, Mannheim: MEA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosch, G., and Charest, J. (2008), ‘Vocational training and the labour market in liberal and coordinated economies’, Industrial Relations Journal, 39: 428–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bound, J. and Burkhauser, R. V. (1999), ‘Economic analysis of transfer programs targeted on people with disabilities’, in Ashenfelter, O. and Card, D. (eds.), Handbook of Labor Economics, vol. 3c, London: Elsvier, pp. 3417–528.Google Scholar
Bound, J. and Waidmann, T. (2002), ‘Accounting for recent declines in employment rates among working-aged men and women with disabilities’, Journal of Human Resources, 37: 231–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burkhauser, R. V., Butler, J. S. and Weathers, R. R. (2001), ‘How policy variables influence the timing of applications for social security disability insurance’, Social Security Bulletin, 64: 52–83.Google ScholarPubMed
Campolieti, M. (2004), ‘Disability insurance benefits and labor supply: some additional evidence’, Journal of Labor Economics, 22: 863–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clasen, J., Davidson, J., Ganßmann, H. and Mauer, A. (2006), ‘Non-employment and the welfare state: the United Kingdom and Germany compared’, Journal of European Social Policy, 16: 134–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dingeldey, I. (2002), ‘European tax systems and their impact on family employment patterns’, Journal of Social Policy, 30: 653–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erlinghagen, M. (2008), ‘Self-perceived job insecurity and social context. A multi-level analysis of 17 European countries’, European Sociological Review, 24: 183–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990), The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
European Commission (2002), ‘Definitions of disability in Europe: a comparative analysis’, Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs, available at http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/index/complete_report_en.pdfGoogle Scholar
Garton Ash, T. (2005), ‘Germany and France are the new sick men of Europe’, Guardian, 22 September.Google Scholar
Green, A. E. (1999), ‘Insights into unemployment and non-employment in Europe using alternative measures’, Regional Studies, 33: 453–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubb, D. and Miyamoto, K. (2003), ‘Benefits and employment, friend or ´foe? Interactions between passive and active social programmes’, in OECD (ed.), Employment Outlook 2003: Towards More and Better Jobs, Paris: OECD, pp. 171–235.Google Scholar
Gruber, J. (2000), ‘Disability insurance benefits and labor supply’, Journal of Political Economy, 108: 1162–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruber, J. and Kubik, J. D. (1997), ‘Disability insurance rejection rates and the labor supply of older workers’, Journal of Public Economics, 64: 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hosmer, D. W. and Lemeshow, S. (2000), Applied Logistic Regression, second edition, New York: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hotchkiss, J. L. (2004), ‘A closer look at the employment impact of the Americans with Disability Act’, Journal of Human Resources, 39: 887–911.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jürges, H. (2007), ‘True health vs. response styles: exploring cross-country differences in self-reported health’, Health Economics, 16: 163–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kapteyn, A., Smith, J. P. and Soest, A. van (2007), ‘Vignettes and self-reports of work disability in the United States and the Netherlands’, American Economic Review, 97: 461–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knuth, M. (2006); ‘“Hartz IV” – die unbegriffene Reform. Wandel der Erwerbsordnung durch Verallgemeinerung des Fürsorge-Regimes’, Sozialer Fortschritt, 55: 160–8.Google Scholar
Knuth, M. (2007), ‘Implementing the new basic allowance for job seekers in Germany’, Discussion Paper, Peer Review Programme of the European Employment Strategy, available at http://pdf.mutual-learning-employment.net/pdf/DE%2007/discussionpaper_DE_07.pdf.Google Scholar
Konle-Seidel, R. and Lang, K. (2006), ‘Von der Reduzierung zur Mobilisierung des Arbeitskräftepotenzials: Ansätze zur Integration von inaktiven und arbeitslosen Sozialleistungsbeziehern im internationalen Vergleich’, IAB Forschungsbericht 15/2006, IAB, Nuernberg.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. (1992), ‘Gender and the development of welfare regimes’, Journal of European Social Policy, 3: 159–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (1999), Classifying Educational Programmes. Manual for ISCED-97 Implementation in OECD Countries, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (2004), Transforming Disability into Ability: Policies to Promote Work and Income Security for Disabled People, Paris: OECD (reprinted).Google Scholar
OECD (2007), ‘Social benefit recipiency rates by programme type: recipients of social benefits by programme type as a percentage of the population aged 15–64, 1980–2004’, unpublished estimates (Excel sheet) supplied to the authors by Mr Peter Whiteford, OECD.Google Scholar
Parsons, D. O. (1980), ‘The decline in male labor force participation’, Journal of Political Economy, 88: 117–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sainsbury, D. (1996), Gender, Equality, and Welfare States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuelson, R. J. (2002), ‘The (new) sick man of Europe’, Newsweek, 18 November.Google Scholar
Siebert, H. (1997), ‘Labor market rigidities: at the root of unemployment in Europe’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11: 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, J. (2006), ‘Male nonworkers: who are they and who supports them?’, Demography, 43: 537–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thode, E. (2002), ‘Internationaler Reformmonitor – Was können wir von anderen lernen?’, Aus Politk und Zeitgeschichte, B46–47/2002: 13–21.Google Scholar
Van Vuren, A. H. and Van Vuuren, D. J. (2007), ‘Financial incentives in disability insurance in the Netherlands’, De Economist, 155: 73–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar