Renewing the social contract for work in Anglo-Saxon economies

Report

This policy brief argues that the traditional social contract has fragmented, unable to stand firm in the face of multiple centrifugal pressures. It suggests that labour markets now operate in the absence of an overarching institutional structure that satisfactorily balances employee demands for decent work with employer demands for organizational efficiency and flexibility.

Structural change and the search for greater labour market flexibility are identified as the two culprits for the disorganization of modern labour markets. The argument made here is that it is time to move beyond recriminations of labour market flexibility programmes so that more attention can be devoted to renewing the social contract for work in a manner that allows decentralized labour markets to operate in a socially responsible manner.

Authors: Grahl, J; Teague, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Foundation for Law, Justice and Society
• Series: The social contract revisited
• Place of publication: http://www.fljs.org/content/social-contract-revisited-publications
• Publication date: 2009-01-01
• Edition: Publisher's version
• Language: English
• Keywords: Public goods; Human capital; Labor market; Social contract; English-speaking countries
• Subjects: Labour economics; Socio-legal studies