Counting Outsiders: Exit and Voice

Atypical work contracts have increased in most European countries over the past 20 years.  However, there are stark differences in the relative situation of workers without a full-time non-terminal contract across countries.  While a large portion of scholarship on dualist labor markets outsiders has underlined the diverging situations and preferences between insiders and outsiders (Lindbeck and Snower 1996; Rueda 2007; Bo and Emmenegger, 2012; Palier and Thelen 2010; Barbieri & Scherer, 2009), less attention has been devoted to the cross-national comparisons of outsiders.  This paper uses quantitative data from the Luxembourg Incomes Study, OECD and Eurostat to compare outsiders in terms of access to welfare services and union representation across 10 European countries between 1990-2010.  Initial findings indicate that the type of welfare state and generalized union strength are important, though incomplete elements for explaining cross-national variation.