Labour market security in between employment and social protection

In a nutshell Flexi-curity is not only a buzz-word, but drives the policy agenda of the EU. Therefore it is important to know about what we talk when we talk about the term. What is at stake is some shift from employment protection towards social protection. In other words, some of the risk/uncertainty management linked to labour markets in an era of globalisation is to be put on broader shoulders than on individual employers for triggering decent work. The undesirable alternative (both for productivity and workers welfare) would be to individualize risks at the level of workers or make only employers responsible for worker’s welfare. While the reason for the former is quite evident, the reason why the latter is also no alternative is that employers in today’s open service economies cannot offer the same employment protection as formerly in closed and industrial economies as they have to deal with much more competitive pressures. This does not universally apply to all firms, but to a growing number, and especially also to SMEs.