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The Labour Market in Germany: Reforms, Recession and Robustness

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  • Enzo Weber

Abstract

This article discusses the German labour market development during the Great Recession as well as in the years before and until 2015. Germany’s labour market witnessed a strong upswing during the recent decade and performed remarkably well in the Great Recession. Structural reforms before the crisis had improved the functioning of the labour market and initiated a solid upward trend that also helped overcome the crisis. High establishment-level flexibility allowed buffering the severe drop in GDP. While the employment upswing continued until today, critical developments concerned the increase in atypical jobs, weak wage growth and rising inequality. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

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  • Enzo Weber, 2015. "The Labour Market in Germany: Reforms, Recession and Robustness," De Economist, Springer, vol. 163(4), pages 461-472, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:decono:v:163:y:2015:i:4:p:461-472
    DOI: 10.1007/s10645-015-9262-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Sabine Klinger & Enzo Weber, 2016. "Decomposing Beveridge Curve Dynamics By Correlated Unobserved Components," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(6), pages 877-894, December.
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    14. Klinger, Sabine & Weber, Enzo, 2014. "Decomposing Beveridge curve dynamics by correlated unobserved components: The impact of labour market reforms in Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100499, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Rebien, Martina & Kettner, Anja, 2011. "Die Konzessionsbereitschaft von Bewerbern und Beschäftigten nach den Hartz-Reformen," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 64(5), pages 218-225.
    16. René Fahr & Uwe Sunde, 2009. "Did the Hartz Reforms Speed‐Up the Matching Process? A Macro‐Evaluation Using Empirical Matching Functions," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 10(3), pages 284-316, August.
    17. Mr. Tom Krebs & Mr. Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Working Papers 2013/042, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Klinger, Sabine & Weber, Enzo, 2015. "GDP-Employment Decoupling and the Productivity Puzzle in Germany," University of Regensburg Working Papers in Business, Economics and Management Information Systems 485, University of Regensburg, Department of Economics.
    19. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 664-701, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bas Weel, 2015. "Unemployment: The Great Recession and Beyond," De Economist, Springer, vol. 163(4), pages 405-413, December.
    2. Ellguth, Peter & Gerner, Hans-Dieter & Zapf, Ines, 2018. "Arbeitszeitkonten in Betrieben und Verwaltungen: Flexible Arbeitszeitgestaltung wird immer wichtiger (Flexible working times become more and more important)," IAB-Kurzbericht 201815, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    3. Hutter, Christian & Klinger, Sabine & Trenkler, Carsten & Weber, Enzo, 2019. "Which factors are behind Germany's labour market upswing?," IAB-Discussion Paper 201920, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Klinger, Sabine & Weber, Enzo, 2016. "Detecting unemployment hysteresis: A simultaneous unobserved components model with Markov switching," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 115-118.
    5. Zapf, Ines & Weber, Enzo, 2017. "The role of employer, job and employee characteristics for flexible working time : An empirical analysis of overtime work and flexible working hours' arrangements," IAB-Discussion Paper 201704, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    6. Christian Hutter & Enzo Weber, 2020. "Corona-Krise: die transformative Rezession [Corona Crisis: Transformative Recession]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 100(6), pages 429-431, June.
    7. Enzo Weber & Holger Schäfer & Jörg Schmidt & Annelie Buntenbach & Alexander Spermann, 2017. "Is "Full Employment" a Realistic Target or an Illusion?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 70(16), pages 03-15, August.
    8. Fuchs, Johann & Weber, Brigitte, 2021. "Neue Schätzungen für die Stille Reserve - erstmalig Anwendung des IAB-Konzepts auf Gesamtdeutschland," IAB-Forschungsbericht 202106, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    9. Tingyun Chen & Jean-Jacques Hallaert & Alexander Pitt & Haonan Qu & Maximilien Queyranne & Alaina Rhee & Anna Shabunina & Jérôme Vandenbussche & Irene Yackovlev, 2018. "Inequality and Poverty across Generations in the European Union," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 18/01, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Hausner, Karl Heinz & Weber, Enzo, 2017. "Einnahmen und Ausgaben der Arbeitslosenversicherung: BA-Haushalt stabilisiert die Konjunktur (Revenues and expenditures of the unemployment insurance : Budget of the Federal Employment Agency stabilis," IAB-Kurzbericht 201703, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    11. Kerstin Bruckmeier & Sandra Dummert & Philipp Grunau & Katrin Hohmeyer & Torsten Lietzmann, 2020. "New administrative data on welfare dynamics in Germany: the Sample of Integrated Welfare Benefit Biographies (SIG)," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-12, December.
    12. Hutter, Christian & Weber, Enzo, 2021. "Labour market miracle, productivity debacle: Measuring the effects of skill-biased and skill-neutral technical change," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Christian Hutter & Francesco Carbonero & Sabine Klinger & Carsten Trenkler & Enzo Weber, 2022. "Which factors were behind Germany's labour market upswing? A data‐driven approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(5), pages 1052-1076, October.
    14. Hutter, Christian & Weber, Enzo, 2017. "Labour market effects of wage inequality and skill-biased technical change in Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201705, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour market; Germany; Unemployment; Great Recession ; Hartz reforms; E32; J23; J64;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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