The European Employment Strategy Labour

This book is a legal study of the European Union's strategy to combat unemployment. The book draws on labour law and economic theories of labour market regulation to chart the evolution of the European Union Employment Strategy and the new forms of governance to which it has given rise. The book provides a topical contribution to current debates on EU governance: the appropriate level of regulation (whether national or supranational) and the legitimate role for the state in regulating or deregulating the labor market.

Diamond Ashiagbor is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Laws, University College London. She has studied at the University of Oxford and the European University Institute in Florence, where she obtained a PhD, and has worked at the Universities of Oxford and Hull.

List of Figures and Tables

xv

List of Abbreviations

xvi

Table of Cases

xviii

Table of EU Material

xix

Introduction

1

(2)

Approach and structure

3

(5)

The economics of labour market regulation

8

(25)

Introduction

8

(2)

Law and economics

9

(1)

Theories of unemployment and the labour market flexibility debate

10

(1)

The interaction between the law and the economy: neoclassical versus new institutionalist perspectives on regulation

10

(18)

Classical economics, neoclassical economics and the paradigm shift towards neoliberalism

11

(4)

The resurgence of the market: Friedman, Epstein, Posner and Chicago-school law and economics

15

(2)

The Coase Theorem: regulatory and deregulatory implications

17

(3)

Chicago-school economics and the Coase Theorem

20

(2)

New institutional (and related) perspectives on regulation

22

(6)

State and market

28

(3)

Efficiency versus equity? The limits of the new institutional approach

28

(1)

Regulation and deregulation: a critique of the idea of the `free' market

29

(2)

Conclusion

31

(2)

Theories of unemployment and the labour market flexibility debate

33

(39)

Introduction

33

(11)

Theories of unemployment

34

(4)

The basic tenets of the labour market flexibility debate

38

(6)

Moving beyond the rhetoric: a critique of the labour market flexibility debate

44

(7)

The variable effects of labour market institutions

44

(4)

The efficiency-enhancing effect of labour market institutions

48

(2)

Beyond efficiency

50

(1)

Comparisons of labour market regulation in the EU and the US

51

(18)

The US `employment miracle'

52

(7)

Is the US an appropriate model?

59

(1)

Problems of cross-country comparisons

59

(1)

Differences between EU Member States

60

(4)

Alternative explanations for high US jobs growth and its low rates of unemployment

64

(3)

The costs of the US model

67

(2)

Conclusions: which type of flexibility for the EU?

69

(3)

Conceptualizing European unemployment: the emergence of a European employment policy

72

(37)

Introduction: conceptualizing the problem of unemployment

72

(2)

Perspectives on European unemployment

74

(15)

The OECD Jobs Study

74

(1)

How the OECD conceptualized European unemployment

74

(6)

The Jobs Study: aftermath and analysis

80

(5)

A `European' problem

85

(4)

The shift from a `social policy' agenda to an `employment policy' agenda

89

(12)

The Green and White Papers on social policy

92

(2)

The White Paper Growth, Competitiveness and Employment: comparisons with the OECD Jobs Study

94

(6)

The White Paper and deregulation: the US as a comparator

100

(1)

The Maastricht IGC and competence over employment policy

101

(3)

The emergence of a fully fledged employment policy

104

(5)

The evolution of the European Employment Strategy: towards full employment

109

(82)

Introduction

109

(1)

The Treaty of Amsterdam

110

(17)

The Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference

111

(10)

The economic context of the Employment Title

121

(6)

The Employment Title

127

(12)

Luxembourg, Cardiff, Cologne: three forms of economic governance?

130

(6)

The Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs

136

(3)

The Lisbon Strategy

139

(46)

The European Employment Strategy: experimentation with governance by guideline

142

(5)

Regulation and deregulation within the Employment Strategy

147

(2)

Employability, entrepreneurship and equal opportunities

149

(5)

`Flexibility' and `adaptability' in the European Employment Strategy and the Lisbon Strategy

154

(12)

What did Lisbon mean by `full employment'?

166

(6)

The interaction between economic, employment and social policy

172

(6)

Jobs growth and the quality of jobs

178

(7)

Conclusions: the legacy of Lisbon

185

(6)

`Soft law', new governance and the Employment Strategy

191

(51)

Introduction

191

(1)

The institutional and constitutional impact of the Employment Strategy

192

(6)

The evolution of new forms of governance

198

(17)

Peer review and benchmarking

199

(9)

The `open method of coordination'

208

(7)

Theorizing regulation

215

(20)

Reflexive law

217

(3)

OMC as a form of `reflexive harmonization'?

220

(6)

OMC as an example of `democratic experimentalism'?

226

(4)

OMC as (voluntary) policy learning or (coercive) policy transfer?

230

(5)

Conclusions: The European Employment Strategy and new forms of governance

235

(7)

The influence of the European Employment Strategy on Member States' employment policies, regulatory strategies and labour law

242

(59)

Introduction

242

(1)

The (legal) status of the National Action Plans

243

(15)

The development of National Action Plans

247

(3)

What does compliance mean?

250

(8)

The Employment Strategy, EMU and Europeanization of national policy

258

(21)

Neo-corporatism, `credibility bargaining' and wage determination

259

(5)

Labour market flexibility and deregulation

264

(7)

The impact of EU internal market law on national employment policy

271

(8)

The interaction between EU and national employment policy

279

(4)

The Netherlands and the UK: different versions of the `Third Way'?

279

(2)

The `Third Way' and labour market policy

281

(2)

The Netherlands

283

(7)

The `Dutch miracle' and welfare reform

283

(2)

`Flexicurity' and adaptability

285

(5)

The UK

290

(9)

The influence of `Third Way' philosophies

290

(2)

Employability and adaptability

292

(7)

Conclusions

299

(2)

Conclusions

301

(11)

Introduction

301

(1)

Regulatory choices and the European Employment Strategy

302

(8)

Regulation and deregulation

302

(3)

Harmonization and regulatory competition

305

(5)

Concluding thoughts: `soft harmonization' by means of `hard law'

310

(2)

Bibliography

312

(33)

Index

345

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The European Employment Strategy Labour Market Regulation and New Governance

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials