Labor Market Adjustments to Structural Change and Technological Progress

(Hardback)

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This volume brings together an international group of contributors to explore the impacts of structural economic change and technological progress on labour markets. The contributors goal is to present an in-depth comparative study of the ways in which different national economies have adjusted to structural changes like the shift to service-based economies and technological changes brought about by the increasing use of the computer in offices and on the production line. Examining the adjustment process from both a micro and macro perspective, the contributors analyze the flexibility potentials within the different institutional organizations of the labour market in the US, France, West Germany, Great Britain, and Sweden. The study beings with a comprehensive introduction written by the editors which discusses the problem of structural and technological change in economic, social, and political terms. Two subsequent chapters address the economic structures of post-industrial society and the differential characteristics of employment growth in service industries. The contributors then present individual analyses of the labour market situation in the five countries under study as well as two general studies of institutions regulating the labour market and flexibility within the labour market. Throughout, the contributors are concerned with key issues such as which systems seem to adapt best, how skill and educational needs may be met in the changing labour market, and the importance of flexibility in a system characterized by ongoing structural and technological change. Useful supplementary reading for advanced courses in labour economics and industrial organization, this volume offers important new insights into labour market flexibility in the face of significant and continuing change.

Author Bio

EILEEN APPELBAUM is Professor of Economics at Temple University. She is the coauthor of, among other works, Job Saving Strategies (1988) and the author of Back to Work (1981). RONALD SCHETTKAT is Senior Researcher at Wissenschaftszentrum--Berlin. He is the author of, among other works, Erwerbsbeteiligung und Politik (1987) and Innovation und Arbeitsmarktdynamik (1989).