Will outsourcing be a winner or loser from the global crisis? This sector has been a major beneficiary of the boom in business services trade since the mid-1990s, coinciding with the rise of emerging market economies. This growth survived – indeed was arguably a beneficiary of – the last...

This is a summary of key findings from the 2009 Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) membership skills survey. The CII is the world’s leading professional body for insurance and financial services (FS).In the year since the CII’s last skills survey much has changed – both in the economy and...

After 16 years of conservative-liberal rule, a social democratic-green coalition cameinto office in 1998. Though having declared the successful combating of unemploymentthe principal yardstick for his government’s performance, Chancellor Schröder actuallystood back until mid-2001, expecting...

This study focuses on productive activities that are legal in principlebut which are not declared to the authorities. In the debate inGermany various terms are used to describe these activities, themost common being Schwarzarbeit (clandestine employment),Schattenwirtschaft (underground economy)...

The extent of low-wage work in Germany is hotly debated. In international comparisons fromthe mid-90s, Germany is often classified as a country with a low wage dispersion. Comparedto the USA and UK, Germany has a relatively equal income structure and a small proportionof low-paid workers (OECD 1996;...

The European Council held in Lisbon in March 2000 was a turning point of the evolution ofEuropean employment policies. The ‘Open Method of Coordination’ (OMC) comes into forcewithin the framework of the European Strategy for employment. This method will justify thechoice and the implementation...