Feelings of Insecurity Among European Workers in the Context of Flexicurity Policies and Socio-Economics Conditions

The European Union benchmarking tool for flexicurity policies and practices consists of four indices concerning lifelong learning (LLL), active labour market policies (ALMP), modern social security systems (MSS), and flexible and reliable labour contracts (FCA). Multi-level analysis techniques were used to determine whether in countries with higher scores on the flexicurity indices individual workers, as one would expect, feel less insecure about their future employment and income. The effects of these scores were explored against effects of socio-economic context variables regarding unemployment, economic performance, poverty, and social spending. The findings show that the LLL score has no effect, while the effects of MSS and FCA scores are spurious. The degree to which countries invest in active labour market policies (ALMP) is by far the most important single explanatory factor: in countries that invest more in ALMP workers feel less insecure about their future employment and income.