2Unit 3Text IJob Insecurity and the Welfare State in a Globalized World.docx

1、2Unit 3Text I Job Insecurity and the Welfare State in a Globalized WorldJob Insecurity and the Welfare State in a Globalized World【1】On April 10, 2006, French President Jacques Chirac surrendered to public pressure and withdrew the First Employment Contract (known as the CPE the Contrat Premire Emba

2、uche in French) after days of protests by student groups and labor unions. The proposed law, which was designed to combat Frances 22.2 percent youth unemployment rate, would have allowed firms the freedom to hire workers under the age of 26 on a trial basis for the first two years, during which peri

3、od employers could also fire such workers more easily than current laws permit.【2】The government believed that Frances complex and inflexible labor laws a high minimum wage, high payroll taxes, generous benefits, and an onerous labor code, all enshrined in many different contracts and numerous colle

4、ctive bargaining agreements; served as a disincentive to hiring young, untested workers. A previous incarnation of the law, the New Employment Contract, applied similar provisions to small businesses with fewer than 20 employees and had successfully created up to 400,000 new jobs.【3】Opponents of the

5、 governments strategy, including the millions of students and unionists who marched against it in the streets of Paris, called the law a betrayal by the French state and claimed the new measure would just make it easier for employers to hire cheap, disposable labor and keep young people in an unstea

6、dy netherworld of partial employment. 【4】When President Chirac decided to revoke the CPE after just eight days on the books, replacing it with a package of subsidies, some commentators labeled the action a humiliation for the government, a triumph of mob rule and of the entitlement mentality. Some l

7、amented the public reaction as a sign of the “depth of popular misunderstanding regarding the realities of our globalizing economy.”【5】On a deeper level, the reaction against reforms to Frances labor laws is indicative of deeper anxieties, broadly held in Europe and elsewhere, about how the forces o

8、f globalization are impacting the stability of the welfare state. In the eyes of many, the swifter the currents of globalization, the more fiercely the continental Europeans cling to the traditions of the welfare state, “While most of the world struggles to cope with the shifting threats and opportu

9、nities of an increasingly global economy, much of Europe, and France in particular, remains devoted to a quasi-socialist ideal.” According to Dominique Moisi, “The French produce ideas and dreams and they challenge the assumption of the liberal and market-oriented order by their refusal to accept ch

10、ange in the name of economic flexibility.”【6】French resistance to change largely stems from a very different conception of the social contract between the citizen and the state in the realm of job security. On this subject, Philippe dIribarne, author of French Strangeness, has remarked, “In the Amer

11、ican imagination, the relationship between a worker and employer is that of a supplier and a clientIn France, when people work they say they have a situation, which they expect to endure for life.” The function of the state under this model is, above all else, to “make sure that workers are taken ca

12、re of” in hopes of creating a “healthier, more humane society” than is possible in more fully liberalized economies. The pervasive role of the French government in employment is reinforced by the fact that 25 percent of the countrys workforce is employed in the public sector, with 45 percent of the

13、national budget devoted to civil service salaries and pensions.【7】Many advocates of greater economic liberalization attribute Frances economic stagnation and political deadlock conditions symptomatic of much of Europe to the “hypertrophy” of the welfare state. In a country where “75 percent of young

14、 people openly declare that their dream in life is to become a civil servant, something is obviously wrongA lack of confidence in the future and fear of precariousness have taken over the spirit of adventure, a frame of mind in which to be protected from life becomes more important than what you do

15、in life.” The flexibility necessary for a healthy economy in an increasingly fast-paced world comes at the expense of the security that most workers including more and more young workers cherish.【8】At bottom, as Dominique Moisi has said, “The hostility towards the concept of flexibility in the labor

16、 market was not only the product of a reactionary, status quo impulse, but the result of a deep resentment at seeing ones life being so totally at the disposal of others.” Trying to shut ones borders to the forces of globalization is, however, no longer a viable option. Continued calls for state int

17、ervention in labor markets merely accelerate an already vicious cycle in which protectionism begets slower growth and unemployment, thus multiplying the need for more extensive social safety nets and exacerbating the original problem. 【9】Concerns over job security are by no means confined to France

18、or even Europe; rather, they are grounded in changes in global labor markets that impact every country, including the United States. Three forces are reshaping labor markets around the world: First, an oversupply of increasingly mobile workers relative to capital and investment; Second, technologica

19、l innovations that put previously isolated workers in competition with one another; and third, increases in productivity that, while beneficial in the long term, contribute to short-term economic instability.【10】The interaction of these forces has resulted in declining wages for manufacturing and un

20、skilled workers a phenomenon now beginning to affect service and skilled workers as well.【11】Whatever jobs are created by robust US economic growth are often not as good as the ones being lost; many new jobs are in the “low-wage and low-skill end of the non-unionized service sector on the check-out

21、counter at Home Depot or delivering Dominos pizzas. Often those are replacing secure jobs at places such as General Motors or Ford that traditionally provided generous wages and full health and pension cover.” 【12】According to Martin Bailey of the Institute for International Economics, “There is a s

22、ocial compact in which says each generation will be better off than the last. But it appears to have been broken in the last 10 to 20 years. If you look at the data then it is clear peoples insecurities are not irrational.”【13】Job insecurity is a real and understandable phenomenon in todays globaliz

23、ed world. Increased competition forces both governments and companies constantly to adjust their labor policies just to keep pace with rapid change, and the traditional safety nets of the welfare state can no longer be taken for granted. As long as workers continue to feel a lack of control over the

24、ir futures, it is likely they will continue to express their anxious discontent in protests, strikes, and in some cases “protection” from international competition for many years to come.在全球化世界中的工作不安全感和福利国家【1】2006年4月10日，法国总统雅克希拉克在学生团体和工会数日抗议后向公众压力屈服，撤回首次雇佣合同（即CPE该合同法语缩写）。这项旨在应对法国22.2%青年失业率拟议中的法律，将给予

25、公司在任期头两年以试用方式雇佣26岁以下员工的自由，在此期间，雇主也可以比在现行法律许可下更容易地解雇员工。【2】法国政府认为，法国复杂、不容变更的劳工法高昂的最低工资、高工资税、慷慨的福利和繁重的劳动法规被写进许多不同的合同和无数集体谈判协议中奉若神明，这些法规阻碍了雇用年轻没有经验的劳工。早先实施的类似法规新雇佣合同将相似的规定适用于雇员少于20人的小公司，已经成功创造了40万个新的就业机会。【3】法国政府这些政策的反对者包括成千上万的学生和工会会员，他们在巴黎街头游行抗议，宣称该法律显示法国政府背叛了人民，声称新措施只会为雇主更容易地雇用廉价的、一次性劳力，并使年轻人生活在部分就业的不稳

26、定的悲惨世界里。【4】希拉克总统在首次雇佣合同法案仅被登记在案八天后就决定将其撤销，代之以一个一揽子补贴方案。一些评论家将这一行动称之为政府的耻辱、暴民统治和理所当然应得权利心态的胜利。还有些评论家哀叹公众的反应标志着对“我们正在全球化的经济现实普遍误解的深度。”【5】在更深的层次上，对法国劳动法规改革的反对表明在欧洲和其它地方广泛存在着更深的焦虑即对全球化的力量如何影响福利国家的稳定的担忧。在许多人看来，全球化的洪流越快，欧洲大陆就越会固守福利国家的传统。“虽然大部分世界都在努力应对日益增长的全球化经济下不断变化的威胁和机遇，大部分欧洲国家，特别是法国仍然致力于一个准社会主义理想。” 多米尼

27、克莫伊西认为：“法国人生产观念和梦想，他们拒绝以经济灵活性的名义接受改变，并以这种方式质疑自由派的假设和市场为导向的经济秩序。”【6】法国抵制变革在很大程度上来源于人们对公民与国家在工作保障领域的社会契约持有与众不同的观念。关于这个问题，奇异的法国一书的作者菲利普德黑巴恩曾评论道：“在美国人的想象中，工人和雇主之间的关系是供应商和客户的关系在法国，当人们有工作时，他们说他们处于一种地位，并期望能维系一生。” 在该模式下，国家最重要的功能是“确保工人得到照顾” 以期建立一个“更健康、更人性化的社会”，而在更充分自由化的经济体下做到这点可能性较小。法国政府在就业领域的无孔不入被以下事实进一步加强全

28、国25%的劳动力受雇于公共部门，国家预算的45%用于公务员薪俸及退休金。【7】许多提倡更大的经济自由化的人将法国停滞的经济和政治僵局多数欧洲国家具有的症状归因于福利国家制度的“过度增长”。在一个国家里，“75%的年轻人公开宣称，他们的梦想是成为一名公务员，显然某些地方错了对未来缺乏信心和对不稳定的恐惧已经取代了冒险精神，有一种在生活中受到保护比你在生命中做什么更重要的心态。” 在一个节奏越来越快的世界，一个健康的经济获得了所必备的灵活性，但却以牺牲大多数劳工，包括越来越多的年轻劳动者所珍视的安稳为代价。【8】实际上，正如多米尼克莫伊西所说：“对劳动力市场灵活性的概念的敌意不仅是反对变革的产物，

29、维护现状的冲动，而且是看到人的一生被如此完全掌控在他人手中产生的深深的怨恨的结果。” 然而，试图在全球化的潮流中闭关自守不再是一个可行的方案。继续呼吁国家干预劳动力市场只能使已经陷入恶性循环的怪圈加速贸易保护主义导致增长放缓和失业，从而需要更广泛的社会安全网，进而加剧原有的问题。【9】对工作安全的担忧绝不仅限于法国乃至欧洲；相反，它们基于全球劳动力市场的变化，影响到每一个国家, 包括美国。三股力量正在重塑全世界劳动市场：第一，供过于求，相较于资本和投资供应越来越多的流动工人；其次，技术上的创新使以前处于孤立状态下的劳动力彼此竞争；第三，生产率的提高，虽然长期来看对经济有利，但也导致了短期的经济

30、不稳定。【10】这些力量的相互作用导致了制造业和非熟练工人工资下降这一现象现在开始影响服务业和技术工人。【11】强劲的美国经济增长所创造的任何工作往往都不如那些失去的工作；许多新的就业机会是在“低工资和低技术的非工会服务业领域在家得宝的结账柜台或派送多米诺的比萨饼。通常，那些就业机会正在取代诸如通用或福特等地方的稳定工作（这些企业）传统上提供丰厚的薪水和全面的医疗保险和养老金。”【12】马丁贝雷国际经济学研究所认为，“有一种社会契约，说每一代人会比上一代过得更好。但是过去10到20年间，这种契约似乎已经被打破了。如果你看看数据，那么很显然人们的不安全感不是不合理的。”【13】在当今全球化的世界，工作不安全感是一个真实的、可以理解的现象。竞争的加剧迫使政府和公司只是为了跟上快速的变化不断调整自己的劳工政策，福利国家传统的安全网再也不能被看成是理所当然的事情。只要工人继续感到难以控制自己的未来，他们很可能在未来的很多年里通过抗议和罢工继续表达他们的焦虑不满，并在某些情况下，表达需要在国际竞争中得到“保护”。