Austria—The Bastion of Calm? Stability and Change in Inequalities in Times of Welfare State Reforms and Employment Flexibilization

Transformation und Krise der Sorgearbeit

“…Auch hier sehen wir die Folgen einer neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik, die nicht nur den Arbeitsmarkt restrukturiert, sondern dadurch auch ihre Teilnehmer:innen (durch die Beschäftigung in prekären Arbeitsverhältnissen) in Krisen stürzt (Fritsch/Verwiebe 2018;Teitzer et al 2014). Vor allem in den letzten Jahrzehnten kommt es zu strukturellen Veränderungen in der bezahlten Erwerbssphäre, die meist unter dem Schlagwort der Arbeitsmarktflexibilisierung diskutiert werden (Fritsch/Verwiebe 2011;Szydlik 2008;Verwiebe et al 2013;Verwiebe et al 2014;Vobruba 2006). Mit Ende des 20.…”

Horizontal and vertical labour market movements in Austria: Do occupational transitions take women across gendered lines?

“…To begin with, Austria is an exceptional representative among corporatist countries, since the traditional relations between institutional actors and social partners (i.e. employers’ associations and political interest groups) strongly shape labour market policies (Castles, 2004; Teitzer et al, 2014; Verwiebe et al, 2013). The rather cooperative relations between these institutional actors – along with the concordant objectives among the two main political parties with regard to labour market issues – have made a decisive contribution to the comparatively high regulation of the Austrian labour market.…”

Crossing the Border for Higher Status? Occupational Mobility of East–West Commuters in the Central European Region

“…As a focus of this study social networks are conceived as involving potentially valuable information that can be applied for processes of occupational mobility. In addition, branches play a role when it comes to occupational mobility patterns of cross-border commuters, as many growing areas in the service sector (e.g., hospitality, gastronomy, care) pay rather low wages in the presence of currently high labor demand and lower barriers to access than industrial production that is tightly organized by trade unions (Bittner, Hudler-Seitzberger, and Neunteufl 2011;Traxler et al 2008;Verwiebe et al 2014a). Finally, we assume that the frequency of cross-border commuting has an impact on occupational mobility chances.…”

“…As a "conservative-corporatist state" (Esping-Anderson 1990), Austria has a highly developed social security system based on the idea of status preservation of wage earners (Obinger and Tálos 2009: 101). Labor market risks are strongly reduced by the country's welfare system (Verwiebe et al 2014a). Unemployment benefits are quite generous, especially in comparison to unemployment benefits in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, which established much more liberal welfare systems over the course of the past two decades (cf.…”