Labour Market Reforms at the Era of Pervasive Austerity

This paper draws together the empirical material of 11 national case-studies and a study of the broader pattern of structural reforms of which labour market reforms have been part to answer the following questions: has labour market policy retrenchment or expansion taken place and if so, in what form and in which domains of labour market policy? Has there has been a shift in the logic of activation policies? How have retrenchment and expansion of protection been distributed across the well-protected and the less well-protected labour market populations? Looking at the big European picture, do we see a convergence or a divergence in labour market and unemployment policy trends and outputs? Do the patterns of change vary across member states and, if so, how?  Moreover, the paper will discuss how these policy trends have been combining with (demand-side) macroeconomic developments and patterns of (supply-side) structural reforms since 2010 to shape labour market outcomes and whether we can see any convergence and divergence on that front. Is there any prima facie evidence that the EU pressures through its economic governance instruments can be linked with changes in the pattern of reforms?