Call for papers: 40th International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation, September 9th & 10th 2019 in Düsseldorf
The search for security under disruptive technologies and deconstructed labour markets
The great accomplishment of welfare states in the middle decades of the 20th Century can be considered their success in reducing the extent of precarious work. Workers were protected against arbitrary treatment in the workplace and were able to share in the growing prosperity that characterized the post-war period, fueling the rapid growth of the broad middle class.
In recent decades globalization, deregulation of the product and labor markets, and the retrenchment of the welfare state has shifted power in the setting of working conditions decisively towards employers. This changed working conditions in ways that have been unfavorable to most workers. Disparities among the workforce are striking. The new developments are characterized by widening inequality, stagnation of middle incomes, economic uncertainty, poverty among working households, precarious work and corporate strategies of wealth extraction.
The coming fourth industrial revolution (digitalization of the economy”) may help employers to further dismantle “historical compromises” on working conditions between labor and capital. However, public debates about the potential risks of digitalization have also prompted governments, social partners and other stakeholders to search for ways how to adjust labour law, social protection and labour relations in order to socially embed, rather than dis-embed the digitalized economy.
Overall, thus, the search for security in this changing employment system is a headline agenda issue for policymakers and social partners and also a main issue for future research. We would like to invite colleagues to submit an abstract of their paper to one of the five general themes listed below. All themes are designed to be international in intellectual and empirical focus. Note that gender issues are included in all five themes. We also invite researchers to submit papers dealing with migration, refugees and labour in all five themes. Mixed research methods and cross-country comparative analyses are especially welcome.
- Trends and drivers of increasing/decreasing social insecurity
- The role of the social dialogue in reducing insecurity
- Pathways to stable employment through education and training
- De-commodification through the welfare state
- Trends in labour law and labour regulation: The dissolution of the employment relationship?
- The future of the European social model
Deadline: March 31st 2019
Platform for abstract submission and further information: http://www.iaq.uni-due.de/iwplms2019