Many scholars cite the Digital Age shift as the main precursor involved in the increasing push towards more flexibility within economic models, not only Germany, but on a global level. The reduction in jobs involving manufacturing and the service sector has been one of the primary impetuses towards the removal of social protection methods from within the labor sector. Present day economists turn a kind eye towards the concept of "flexibility," citing such successful economies as that of the United States and the U.K as exemplifying the course of action for other free-market nations
[...] The basic features of the flexibility model incorporated a cut on legal restrictions on employers regarding conditions of employment and negotiations with workers unions and representatives. Proponents of labour flexibility models believe that a reduction in legal processes, viewed as actually hamper a more streamline, laissez-faire approach to human resources within the business model. Within German flexibility models, legal restrictions were lifted on such areas as minimum wages, working hours and working conditions. Hiring, dismissals and lay-offs were then streamlined through the process of labour flexibility, lowering the costs of associated with these processes. [...]
[...] The labor markets of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands stand for rather flexible labor markets and both have a high intensity of using the computer at work, whereas in Germany with an assumed inflexible labor market this intensity is rather low. This indicates that greater labor market flexibility means higher intensity of computer use at work in a country and vice versa. Greater social divide (high flexibility) would then mean less digital divide. That points out that there might be two dimensions of the “divide-cycle” a macro and a micro level dimension with opposed correlations. [...]
[...] This review of several case studies cite the following as the main characteristics and developments: Outline of features and developments of German labour flexibility Resistance from dominating large manufacturing companies and unions as to more flexible means of labour relations Employment characterized by consensual industrial relations, high union membership and even higher union involvement in wages, apprenticeship training, and adult education issues Social security provisions for all Numerically flexible manpower planning given little importance High monetary credibility and high nominal rigidities Medium prevalence learning model Sectoral coordinated capitalism Extensive use of internal labour market, retraining, transfers Promotion of labor flexibility internally within companies, at the expense of external labor market flexibility Processes like collective wage bargaining, co-determination and restrictions on lay-offs Continuity as a coordinated market economy (CME) Conservative clustering in class relation and welfare Medium sustainability in manufacturing job base Profitability loss in small and medium-sized enterprises, where deregulatory mechanisms hit hardest The creation of unrestricted part-time jobs A brief outline of German international relations and the burgeoning move towards deregulation in varying scope Germany is the world's third-largest economy, but it nonetheless lags in last place in the European Union for growth. [...]
[...] It is important to mention that numerically flexible manpower planning has never been an important factor in German labour market, with a high-value being placed on the social welfare and long-term relationships. Financial, or wage flexibility, refers to the differing amounts of pay received by various workers within an organization. This is enacted through rate-for-the-job systems, assessment based pay systems, or individual performance wages. This is a phenomenon new to the German system, and has slowly been implemented in the manufacturing and machinery sections of industry despite criticism from specialized workers groups. [...]
[...] The modell Deutschland has been hailed by some scholars (Koch, 1999) as the panacea to Germany's international downfalls, stating that this model “built on co-operative relations between trade unions and employers, and a deeply embedded ethic of social partnership is recognized as a unique form of social and economic stability, holding up as a model that other national industrial relations systems might pattern themselves Here we can see how this leaves much consideration as to the true socioeconomic ramifications of the German mixed model. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee