1. Work package 10 Flexicurity Kick off meeting Brighton
1st April 2014

2. WP 10 – Flexicurity PARTNERS involved
University of Trento (UNITN, Italy): leader
Tartu Ulikool (UT, Estonia): co-leader
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS, Belgium)
Grenoble Ecole de Management (CCIG, France)
Economic and Social Research Centre (ESRI, Ireland)
Copenhagen Business School (CBS, Denmark)

3. Premise Long-standing criticism of the flexicurity concept:
 overemphasis of (external) flexibility and employability; little emphasis on job and income security
Youth tend to accumulate negative flexibility-security (F-S) outcomes (more numerical external, fewer internal flexibility than adult population; at the same time less job and income security).
The current crisis, with youth being disproportionally hit, is exacerbating long-term structural problems that affect school-to-work transitions: high youth unemployment and high insecurity (job, income, training, etc.).
Policy responses have been going both ways (e.g. more inclusive unemployment benefits, extension of short-time working vs. austerity measures disproportionally targeting social protection)
– include references tomorrow

4. Tasks, focus and partners
Main focus
PARTNERS (and persons involved)
Task 1: Mapping flexicurity performance in the face of the crisis
F-S institutional arrangements and performance
UT (Raul Eamets, Jaan Masso)
CCIG (Mark Smith)
CEPS (Ilaria Maselli)
CBS (Janine Leschke)
Task 2: Youth school-to-work transitions: from entry jobs to career employment
Objective insecurity
UNITN (Gabriella Berloffa, Paola Villa)
Task 3: Subjective insecurity, unemployment and well-being
Subjective insecurity
ESRI (Helen Russel)
Task 4: Flexicurity policies to integrate youth before and after the crisis
Policies and labour market reforms
UNITN (Paola Villa
Task 5: Policy synthesis and integrative report
Synthesis of tasks and policy implications
All partners
11/11/2018

5. Work Package 10 - Logic Flexibility-Security Institutional settings
(task 1)
Objective
Insecurity
(task 2)
Subjective Insecurity
(task 3)
Flexicurity Policies & Reforms
(task 4)
11/11/2018

6. TASK 1. Mapping Flexibility-Security (F-S) performance in the face of the crisis; macro and micro perspectives
Subtasks
Research questions
Data
Methods
Subtask 1: How does performance on various measures of flexibility and security vary within different STW regimes?
Framework paper for Task 1
[UT (R. Eamets, J. Masso);
CCIG (M. Smith)]
- How is institutional F-S performance related to STW regimes?
- How is individual level F-S performance (objective & subjective) related to STW regimes?
- What  kind of changes resulting from crisis & austerity?
Including EU-LFS, EU-SILC, Eurostat, EuroFound, LABREF, Oecd EPL,
Analysis of all EU countries, before, during and after the crisis
Subtask 2: How do macro F-S performance measures vary across vulnerable youth groups within STW regimes and vis-a-vis other groups in society? [CEPS (Ilaria Maselli)]
- Does flexicurity determine higher unemployment rate levels in bad times (as well as higher employment in good ones?)
- What is the reflection of this for youth?
Hyp: In countries with a bias towards flexibility, the shock (recession) is disproportionally born by the young
Panel data estimation (within and between effects to explain deviation from the long-term unempl. rate)
Subtask 3: How do individual F-S performance measures vary across periods and exemplar STW regimes?
[CBS (Janine Leschke); CCIG (Mark Smith?)]
- How the economic crisis and the ensuing policy responses have challenged the balance between external flexibility and income security for different groups of young people?
National panel data or registers (e.g. SOEP, USoc, IDA), institutional information (MISSOC)
Panel data and policy change analysis on a set of countries (e.g. DE, UK, DK)
11/11/2018

7. Task 2 - Youth School-to-Work Transitions: from entry jobs to career employment
Research questions
Data
Methods
What are the characteristics (educational coherence, type of contract, duration, etc.) and what is the time needed to find the first ‘significant’ job after completing education?
What are the characteristics and patterns of transition into career employment (and differences across countries/ institutional settings)?
Does the type and ‘importance’ of different youth transition trajectories vary over time (with changes in macro- economic circumstances: before and after the crisis)?
longitudinal EU-Silc ( ; )
Optimal Matching Technique and cluster analysis (to identifies school-to-work trajectoriesto and to group them into similar pathways)
Multinomial logit model to identify individual, family and institutional characteristics that affect the probability of belonging to a given pathway
11/11/2018

8. Task 3 - Subjective insecurity, unemployment and well-being (ESRI, CCIG)
Research questions
Data
Methods
Do different flexicurity systems influence overall level of subjective insecurity and polarisation in insecurity (between young and older workers, by gender, class, etc.)?
Do flexicurity arrangements moderate the effect of unemployment and insecurity on subjective well-being among young people?
Are country/regime differences better accounted for by variation in financial security, or better job prospects (access to training, employability, lower unemployment rates, higher ALMP spending)?
Do country/regime differences create norms of insecurity and low/high SWB?
ESS 2010 (also 2004 for perceived job security);
EWCS 2010 (also earlier years for perceived job security)
Analytical approach: MLM (including macro level indicators)
Analysis:
- combining job security and employability measures
- age differentials in effect of unemployment/ insecurity on SWB cross-nationally
- age/gender gaps in SWB and aggregate levels of SWB
11/11/2018

9. Task 4 - Task 4: Flexicurity Policies to integrate youth before, during and after the crisis (1) (UNITN, CCIG)
Research questions
Data
Methods
Overview of the evolution of national labour market reforms ( ) in EU27 having a direct or indirect impact on youth labour market
Qualitative analysis of a selection of labour market reforms that target young people in the labour market;
In-depth analysis on country exemplars to include type, integration and (in)coherence of policies addressing youth and wider labour market reforms
Official documents on employment policy (EC, Council): i.e. Annual Growth Survey, Country Specific Recommendations
LABREF database – a descriptive database on enacted reforms (DG ECFIN, EPC) providing information at the level of the specific policy measure (period: ), EU27.
Quantitative descriptive analysis of policies
Textual analysis of policies
11/11/2018

10. Open questions, challenges
WP 10 FLEXICURITY
Open questions, challenges
How can we move the flexicurity issue forward? How far is it still relevant? And relevant for young people?
How has the crisis challenged it?
(e.g. Denmark, previous champion, hard hit by the crisis; Germany, previously not a flexicurity best practice example, performing comparatively well)
 stronger move to internal flexibility and security measures?
How do we want to position ourselves vis-à-vis the critics that flexicurity is an empty shell concept?
11/11/2018

11. Deliverables/reports to be produced during the project
Title
Responsible team
(lead beneficiary)
Deadline
D10.1
Mapping flexicurity performance in the face of the crisis
UT (CCIG, CEPS, CBS)
M15
D10.2
From entry jobs to career employment
UNITN
M18
D10.3
Subjective insecurity
ESRI (CCIG)
M20
D10.4
Flexicurity policies to integrate youth before and after the crisis
CCIG (UNITN)
M24
D10.5
Policy synthesis and integrative report
UNITN (UT, CCIG, CEPS, ESRI, CBS)
M30
11/11/2018