LABOUR MARKET DUALISATION IN FRANCE Assessing different explanatory approaches

• Published in: European societies Vol. 14; no. 5; pp. 704 - 726
• Main Author: Marx, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01.12.2012
• Subjects: Academic Disciplines; Deregulation; dualisation; Europe; France; Inequality; institutional change; Labor Market; labour market reforms; Management Styles; Market Economy; Policy Making; Political Economy; Politics; Reform; temporary employment
• ISSN: 1461-6696; 1469-8307
• DOI: 10.1080/14616696.2012.709874

The dualisation literature has identified the divide between standard and non-standard workers as a new form of inequality in European labour markets. However, we still lack an explanation for this development. One obstacle is that research on the subject is scattered across academic disciplines with different theoretical perspectives. The article confronts a political economy with an economic perspective on dualisation. It discusses how both relate to each other and what the respective empirical implications are. Both perspectives are assessed in a historical case study on the growth of fixed-term contracts (FTCs) in France. It shows that the changing use of FTCs cannot be explained by deregulation and should be seen as part of a broader change toward flexibility-oriented management styles. Rather than the other way around, the factual use of FTCs in France affected the politics of labour market reform by forcing policy makers to respond to the changing behaviour of firms and job seekers.