I asked Doug Henwood a week or so ago if the Swedish system of
retraining workers still existed? He thought that it did. This article
seems to suggest that it might not.
"Temporary Work in Turbulent Times: The Swedish Experience"
BY: BERTIL HOLMLUND
Uppsala University
Department of Economics
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo
Institute for Economic Research)
DONALD STORRIE
Gothenburg University (Goteborg Universitet)
Department of Economics
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Paper ID: CESifo Working Paper Series No. 671; Uppsala
University, Dept. of Economics Working Paper 2002:1
Date: February 2002
Contact: BERTIL HOLMLUND
Email: Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Postal: Uppsala University
Department of Economics
P.O. Box 513
SE-75120 Uppsala, SWEDEN
Phone: +46 18 471 1122
Fax: +46 18 471 1478
Co-Auth: DONALD STORRIE
Email: Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Postal: Gothenburg University (Goteborg Universitet)
Department of Economics
Box 640
SE 405 30 Gothenborg, SWEDEN
ABSTRACT:
Sweden has experienced a substantial increase in temporary work
over the 1990s, with most of the rise occurring during a severe
macroeconomic recession with mass unemployment. By the early
1990s, workers on fixed-term contracts accounted for 10 percent
of the number of employees; by the end of the decade they
accounted for 16 percent. The paper presents the Swedish
institutional setting, documents basic stylised facts about
fixed-term contracts, and discusses the causes of their
increased prevalence. Our analysis reveals that open-ended and
temporary employment exhibit strikingly different cyclical
behaviour with temporary employment being more volatile. A
recession is associated with an initial decline in temporary
employment followed by a sharp rise from the trough to the end
of the recession. We argue that the severe recession of the
1990s is a major factor behind the rise in temporary work in
Sweden. Adverse macroeconomic conditions make firms more prone
to offer fixed-term contracts and workers more willing to accept
them.
Keywords: Temporary Jobs, Labor Market Dynamics, Unemployment
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Chico, CA 95929
530-898-5321
fax 530-898-5901
