course 2014-2015
LABOUR MARKET AND EMPLOYMENT POLICIES
Daniel Oesch (Visiting lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of Geneva)
1. SUBJECT
Unemployment is a primordial preoccupation of Western Europe's people. One of governments' central challenges is to enhance people's life quality by improving their job prospects. Accordingly, this course enquires into the determinants of and remedies to unemployment. Our objective is to find out what policies and institutional settings contribute to lower unemployment. For this matter, the course draws on contributions from political science, economics and sociology in order to analyze the link between unemployment and the wage-setting systems, job regulation and the welfare state. In parallel, we look at the impact of external influences on the labour market such as international trade and technological change. Throughout the course, we adopt a comparative perspective and discuss in detail the policy experience of countries such as Britain, the Netherlands, Spain or Switzerland in fighting unemployment.
2. OBJECTIVES
This course's goal is to enhance the following competences:
General competences:
" The ability to analyze and synthesize different approaches to the study of unemployment
" A thorough understanding of the basic concepts of employment policy
" Familiarity with measurement and methods in examining unemployment
" The ability to write a well reasoned reflection in English on a related topic
" The ability to hold an oral presentation on a complex topic and to contribute to a discussion
Specific competences:
" The ability to evaluate research on unemployment based on contributions from political science, labour economics and sociology
" Familiarity with the state-of the-art research in the field
3. ORGANIZATION
This course's lectures, discussions and readings are held in English. Class sessions take place twice a week on Mondays (13.30-15.30, room 20.057) and Tuesdays (13.30-16.30, room 13.001). During the first half of each session, the lecturer presents a given subject. The second half is interactive: A related subject is discussed on the basis of a student's oral presentation of class readings. Each student has to present once the class readings and to moderate once the ensuing discussion. In the 3rd week of the trimester (end of January), students will be given a research question to be developed in a short written paper (3 pages) to be delivered in the 7th week of the trimester (end of February). These results are then discussed in class. This course relies on Moodle: every week, the slides of the lecture as well as the class readings can be downloaded in advance.
4. ASSESSMENT
The final mark will depend on three components:
(a) The oral presentation of class readings and the moderation of the discussion: 30%
(b) A written research note of three pages on a topic given in class: 30%
(c) A written exam on either the subject covered in the course lecture or in core readings (students are free to choose whether they want to answer 2-3 questions based on the lecture or 2-3 questions based on class readings): 40%
5. CONTENTS
For each week, the detailed program and readings will be displayed on Moodle. The subjects covered include the following.
Week 1 (12./13. 1. 09)
Lectures: labour market changes since the 1970s
Seminars: distribution of readings and responsibilities for discussion moderation
Week 2 (19./20. 1. 09)
Lectures: fundamental labour market concepts - Phillips curve, NAIRU, hysteresis
Seminars: the unemployment problem of Southern Europe
Week 3(26./27. 1. 09)
Lectures: trade unions, collective bargaining and the labour market
Seminars: union membership in Europe and industrial relations in Spain
Week 4(2./3. 2. 09)
Lectures: industrial relations, wage-setting and unemployment
Seminars: collective bargaining during economic crises
Week 5 (9./10. 2. 09)
Lectures: employment regulations I - minimum wages and unemployment benefits
Seminars: the problem of youth unemployment
Week 6 (16./17. 2. 09)
Lectures: employment regulations II - job protection and active measures
Seminars: temporary employment in Spain
Week 7 (23./24. 2. 09)
Lectures: the disaffection of low-skilled workers and globalization
Seminars: the evolution and the determinants of wage inequality
Week 8 (2./3. 3. 09)
Lectures: the impact of technological change on the labour market
Seminars: upgrading or polarization of the occupational structure?
Week 9 (9./10. 3. 09)
Lectures: fighting unemployment - the experience in Britain and the Netherlands
Seminars: immigration and the labour market
Week 10 (16./17. 3. 09)
Lectures: fighting unemployment - the experience in Switzerland
Seminars: synthesis - what economic policy package brings down unemployment?
6. CORE READINGS
The definitive list of core readings will be handed out in class and put onto Moodle. Roughly, the list will be made up of the following readings:
Blanchard, O. (2006), 'European unemployment: the evolution of facts and ideas', Economic Policy 34: 8-65.
Blanchard, O. and Jimeno, J. (1995), 'Structural unemployment: Spain versus Portugal', American Economic Review 85 (2): 212-218.
Esping-Andersen, G. (2000), ‚Who is harmed by labour market regulations? Quantitative evidence', in: Esping-Andersen, G. and Regini. M. (Eds.), Why deregulate labour markets? Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 66-98.
Krugman, P. (1997), 'Trade, jobs and wages', in: Pop Internationalism, Chap.3: 35-48.
OECD (2007), Jobs for Youth in Spain, chapter 1: 'The Challenge ahead', pp. 39-61.
Scharpf, F. (1984) 'Economic and Institutional Constraints of Full-employment Strategies. Sweden, Austria, and Western Germany, 1973-1982'. In: Goldthorpe, J. H. (ed.), Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 257-290.
Visser, J. (2005), 'Beneath the surface of stability: New and old modes of governance in European industrial relations', European Journal of Industrial Relations 11: 287-306.
Wright, E. O. and Dwyer, R. (2003), 'The patterns of job expansions in the USA: A comparison of the 1960s and 1990s', Socio-Economic Review 1: 289-325.