This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McBride, S. Articles by Williams, R. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Globalization, the Restructuring of Labour Markets and Policy Convergence: The OECD 'Jobs Strategy'

Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University

Russell A. Williams

Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University

This article investigates the relationship between globalization and labour market reform by examining the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) 'Jobs Strategy'. It has been argued that globalization requires, and the competitive forces unleashed by that process require, the national adoption of more flexible, market-based, or 'neoliberal' labour market policies or states will face declining labour market performance. Thus, the globalization thesis posits convergence in labour market policies around an emerging neoliberal norm. Through an examination of the Jobs Strategy and the empirical data collected by the OECD, this article reaches several interrelated conclusions. The evidence suggests little sign of sustained convergence in labour market policies. According to the OECD's analysis, many states have been reticent to adopt neoliberal labour market strategies. Secondly, there is good reason for non-convergence: states that have adopted a liberal strategy, as a group, have not performed particularly well. Despite globalization, there is a range of labour market policy choices available to states. Several welfare state labour market strategies continue to exist.

Key Words: employment • globalization • Jobs Strategy • labour market policy • neoliberalism • OECD • Welfare State

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Mills, H.-P. Blossfeld, S. Buchholz, D. Hofacker, F. Bernardi, and H. Hofmeister Converging Divergences?: An International Comparison of the Impact of Globalization on Industrial Relations and Employment Careers International Sociology, July 1, 2008; 23(4): 561 - 595. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Mcbride and K. Mcnutt Devolution and Neoliberalism in the Canadian Welfare State: Ideology, National and International Conditioning Frameworks, and Policy Change in British Columbia Global Social Policy, August 1, 2007; 7(2): 177 - 201. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. Graefe The Social Economy and the American Model Relating New Social Policy Directions to the Old Global Social Policy, August 1, 2006; 6(2): 197 - 219. [Abstract] [PDF]