Some current topics of labour migration in Europe

The imposition of immigration bans ended an era of large-scale labour migration in Western Europe. Migration policy will have to centre on the consolidation and integration of the foreign population.     

The integration of foreign employees in the labour market

For a number of European countries the presence of a more or less large number of foreign workers and their families is a fact to which they will have to adjust. As a rule, the longer the length of their stay, the less probable it becomes that these workers will return to their country of origin. In view of this fact it is necessary that the foreign workers and their families are integrated as comprehensively as possible, for humanitarian, social and economic reasons. The following article examines a number of indicators for integration so far in France, Germany (West), the Netherlands and Sweden.     

Free movement of labour in the single European market

Improving the mobility of labour is a major component of Project 92. What are the reasons for migration under conditions of freedom of movement and what are the repercussions for the labour market?     

EMU calls for comprehensive labour market reform

The debate about European monetary union has so far been dominated by questions of fiscal convergence, the adequate conversion exchange rate and the stability of the Euro. Relatively little attention has been given to the labour market effects although labour market performance will be crucial for the long-term success or failure of EMU. The following article deals with the interrelationship between EMU and labour market flexibility in Euroland.     

威姿横扫欧洲市场

来自日本东京的消息，丰田汽车近日公布了其在欧洲的销售业绩。2002年该公司在欧洲的新车销量达755633辆，其中威姿(欧洲品牌Yaris．日本品牌Vitz)达到212618辆，以绝对优势排行销量冠军宝座；花冠(corolla)次之，销售了156732辆。     

The counter-effects of market regulation

Regulation can have counter-effects that work against the interests of those who advocate it, in both centrally-planned and market economies. Little research on these effects has been carried out so far, with the result that they have been ignored by policymakers.     

The role of training and skills development in active labour market policies

There is persistent evidence over several decades that the UK lags behind its international competitors in terms of the skills and qualifications of its workforce, with a detrimental impact on overall economic performance. The most recent attempt by the UK government to address this includes a new strategy aimed at increasing the degree of integration between skills policy and employment policy in the UK. In light of this development, this review paper considers the extensive international evidence on the role and effectiveness of training and skills interventions, as part of a broader portfolio of active labour market policies. The review concludes that while large‐scale, ‘broad brush’ schemes have little impact as part of such a portfolio, more targeted programmes addressing specific skill needs may have some impact on employment chances of workless groups.     

Europe prepares for a single financial market

A single market in financial services has long been an objective of the European Union. In 1999, the Commission launched the Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP), an ambitious programme to integrate capital markets by 2005. This article gives an overview of the progress made so far and the tasks which still need to be tackled.     

Globalization and Hong Kong's labour market: the deregulation paradox

The globalization of business has affected Hong Kong, giving rise to important changes in its labour market and with impacts on workers and labour organizations. This has been felt in the migration of manufacturing plants to China in combination with labour market deregulation via the government's guest worker policy. We examine the institutional implications of liberalizing the previous ban on the admission of guest workers. While this seeming reversal was tantamount to deregulation, it also produced regulation via a new body of norms and rules governing guest labour which were, paradoxically, restrictive and disabling for the affected parties.     

Europeanizing the labour market: Employee mobility and company recruiting methods

With the completion of the single European market steps are to be made towards eliminating remaining impediments to the free movement of labour between Community countries such as an inadequate flow of information or the non-recognition of educational or training qualifications. How do companies respond to the extension of national labour markets by a European component?     

Southern Europe facing the single market’s completion

The European Community is now starting the final run-up towards the completion of the single internal market by the end of 1992 and member countries are currently involved in consultations at inter-governmental conferences on the creation of economic and monetary union, and on political union. This provides an appropriate opportunity of looking at what belonging to the Community has meant so far to its new members of Greece, Portugal and Spain, and at what their chances are for the future in the light of these developments. What have their entry into the EC and the Single European Act meant to Greece, Portugal and Spain, and what lessons ought to be learned from that?     

Is greater flexibility in the labour market the answer to the unemployment crisis?

In view of high and persistent unemployment in the European industrialised countries there is growing consensus that more flexibility is needed with regard to both the legal and institutional conditions governing the labour market (external flexibility) and the management of human resources within individual firms (internal flexibility). This article examines the interaction between internal and external flexibility with special reference to wages, working time and job security.     

Habitual entrepreneurs in the making: how labour market rigidity and employment affects entrepreneurial re-entry

We investigate the impact of country-level labour market regulations on the re-entry decision of experienced entrepreneurs, whereby they become habitual entrepreneurs. Multilevel logit models on entry decisions among 15,709 individuals in 29 European countries show that labour market regulations have a positive influence on the decision to re-enter into entrepreneurship. This positive impact is stronger among individuals holding wage jobs at the time of re-entry compared to those that do not. Our results indicate that novice and habitual entrepreneurs may respond very differently to labour market rigidity. We discuss and provide tentative explanations for these differences and outline potential policy implications.     

The effects of Turkish accession to the EC on population and the labour market

Demography and the labour market are two important aspects that will have to be discussed in connection with possible Turkish membership of the European Community. The following article discusses these aspects primarily with regard to the situation in the EC and in Germany, which in the past was the main host country for Turkish migrants and will probably continue to be so in the future.     

论证券市场监管的目标

本文借鉴美国、日本、韩国等国家和地区证券市场监管目标的选择,论述了我国证券市场监管的根本目标和具体目标,分析了我国证券市场监管的效率性目标和安全性目标。文章指出,监管者应该关注证券监管的根本目标,监管者当然应该关心指数,但这不应该成为监管部门调控指数涨跌的借口。     

地方和民营船企面临市场和新规双重挑战

我国地方和民营造船企业依靠自身的体制创新活力和快速适应市场的能力．在短短二十多年中迅速发展壮大。2007年．我国地方和民营造船企业已发展到与“国家队”中国船舶工业集团公司和中国船舶重工集团公司两大造船集团平分秋色的地步．2008年．地方和民营造船企业造船三大指标则全面超过“国家队”。可以说我国地方和民营造船企业的发展．对形成我国船舶工业合理的产业结构、良性的竞争格局、促进地方工业化进程等具有重要的战略意义。     

The impact of market similarity on international marketing strategies: The automobile industry in Western Europe

The formulation of an optimal marketing mix is quite complex when that mix must be effective across multiple international markets. At the crux of the problem is whether markets are similar to each other or interdependent and how this influences marketing mix decisions. Examining the marketing mixes of more than 30 automobile companies competing in the five major markets in Western Europe, it was found that easily changed marketing mix elements, such as prices and advertising, reflect market similarity, interdependence, and product‐market conditions, although not always in the expected ways. The least flexible element, the number of models offered, does not appear to reflect any of these types of conditions. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Globalization,China's free (read bonded) labour market,and the Chinese trade unions

After two decades of economic reform during which China developed a strong export thrust into the world market, an industrial labour market has taken shape in China. But it is not really a free labour market in that deposits are generally required of workers when they commence employment. For some migrant workers this has led to a condition equivalent to being bonded, which enables Asian foreign investors to establish harsh labour regimes in the factories they manage. The Chinese official trade unions are at a crossroads – do they side with the workers, management or with the party-state?     

Economic and social turbulence in Greece: the product markets are a no-brainer,the labour market is not

Since the 1990s the Greek economy has posed a unique international paradox, combining relatively strong growth rates with a very weak performance on many other fronts ranging from poor labour and product market institutions and low competitiveness to poor environmental protection and high levels of corruption. The recent economic and social turbulence in Greece is a result of this paradox. What is the explanation for this situation? What reforms are necessary to change it?