Unemployment Insurance and Non-Standard Employment : Four European Countries in Comparison

Non-standard employment forms have been gaining in importance in western European countries since the 1980s, with the growing labour market partici- tion of women and continuing mass unemployment. The promotion of more flexible employment in the form of part-time employment, temporary empl- ment and self-employment is seen as a possible solution to persistent unempl- ment, underemployment and also to the need to better reconcile work and family life. Flexible employment forms as a remedy for unemployment have in fact been actively promoted through labour market policies. Social insurance systems thus, by installing and preferring certain measures, contribute to the diffusion of insecure employment. In the context of the German Hartz reforms policy inst- ments that encourage self-employment (Ich-AG), marginal employment (Mi- and Midi-jobs) and temporary work agency employment (PSA), for example, have been introduced or broadened. Flexible employment forms are in many countries also promoted through incentives and subsidies or indirectly through changing the law in relation to employment rights (for country-specific examples see Rubery et al. 1998a: 188 et seqq.).