Flexibility and security: an asymmetrical relationship?
somewhat differentiated configuration of the possible combinations between flexibility and security
that takes into account these different possibilities:
a) A low degree of flexibility is associated with a high degree of employee security for the core
workforce, but less security for the peripheral workforce (this is the case of well protected or
rigid labour markets);
b) a high degree of flexibility is associated with a low degree of security for both the core and
the peripheral workforce (this is the case of deregulated labour markets);
c) a high degree of flexibility could be associated with a higher degree of security, either at the
macro-level through the creation of new jobs, or at the micro-level through the cautious
exchange of rights between the more protected segments of the workforce and the weaker
groups (this is the case of a win-win situation, or a “virtuous circle”).
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