Labour Markets In Transition

"This book aims to contribute to [the] debate on the degree of flexibility and security needed for the transition countries, and its implications for the new direction of labour market and social policies."--Foreword.

This book empirically investigates the changes in labor market structure accompanying the labor market reform in China by focusing on the labor market segmentation problems from the 1980s to 2013. The book also aims to examine the effect of labor policy reforms on individual, household and enterprise behavior, including the causes and consequences of labor market reform in China, particularly the influences of labor policy reforms on labor market performance. Offering valuable insights into the changing structure of the Chinese economy, this book will be of interest to scholars, activists, and economists.

The emergence of open unemployment is an unavoidable consequence of postcommunist transition. Some countries-notably in the former Soviet Union-initially slowed economic contraction. But in the longer run slower reformers have generally sustained deeper and more prolonged recessions than faster reforming central European countries. Moreover, the initially low unemployment rates in the former Soviet Union are now rising, and may stabilise at higher post-transition equilibrium rates than in Central Europe.

After two decades of rapid technological and structural change and an overall record of poor economic performance, Canadians need to take stock of the ongoing transformation of the labour market and its implications for public policy. The fundamental changes to the nature of work itself suggest that labour and social policies established decades ago may no longer be adequate or appropriate. Moreover, the continuing perception of increased instability and worsening employment outcomes, and the growing concern over increased earnings inequality and labour market polarisation, have raised serious questions about the role of government not only in addressing the consequences of economic adjustment but also in facilitating or, worse, hampering this process. In Adapting Public Policy to a Labour Market in Transition leading labour market specialists examine specific areas of public policy that have generated considerable attention and debate in recent years. They provide new evidence on issues of utmost concern to the well-being of Canadians and a solid assessment of the challenges and avenues for policy reform.

The book is a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to the evolution of labour statistics in transition economies. The reader is initiated into the 'secrets' of data collection procedures prior to glasnost. The book then documents the results achieved so far in meeting demands for consistent, comprehensive and internationally comparable labour market information for twenty-five transition economies and examines the implications for labour market policy and implementation of these issues.

This title presents carefully selected articles that are at the ultimate forefront of professional studies on 'transitional labour markets' and 'flexicurity'.

After the breakdown of socialism in Central and Eastern Europe, the role of education systems in preparing students for the "real world" changed. Though young people were freed from coercive state institutions, the shift to capitalism made the transition from school to work much more precarious and increased inequality in early career outcomes. This volume provides the first large-scale analysis of the impact social transformation has had on young people in their transition from school to work in Central and Eastern European countries. Written by local experts, the book examines the process for those entering the workforce under socialism, during the turbulent transformation years, in the early 2000s, and today. It considers both the risks and opportunities that have emerged, and reveals how they are distributed across social groups. Only by studying these changes can we better understand the long-term impact of socialism and post-socialist transformation on the problems young people in this part of the world are facing today.

Labour markets are a central element of any transition from planned economy to market-oriented system. This groundbreaking book examines the plight of Russian workers and employers during the first decade of post-Soviet reforms. The authors argue that higher-than-expected labour market flexibility early in the transition provided an important cushion for workers who would have been displaced with little recourse to social protection. However, over time, this flexibility reduced pressure for enterprise restructuring and accommodated policy drift. Although many workers were quite mobile, often this translated into a loss of human capital for older enterprises_even potentially viable ones_and to OchurningO in the labour market, accompanied by only limited restructuring. There was little job creation, labour hoarding persisted, and many workers saw their wages eroded by inflation and late payment of wages. The authors show this situation was largely the result of insufficient structural reforms, poor institutional development, and misplaced incentives. First providing an overview of the economic situation, key labour market trends, and the institutional situation during the 1990s, the book then reviews labour market dynamics. The authors assess changes in OoldO jobs at former state enterprises and evaluate OnewO job creation, mostly in private businesses. They examine the evolution of wages and the availability of social protection to workers. A special thematic section considers the political economy of labour market policy that brought the ORussian approachO to labour market adjustment to life. The conclusion presents an integrated picture of the Russian labour market in the aftermath of the early transition period and highlights the implications of the experience for current policy.