"The widespread conviction that low levels of employment regulation and weak trade unions are the cause of Britain's good record at creating jobs and keeping unemployment down is exposed as a myth in this report. The study also takes aim at the assumption that “being more like America” is essential if high levels of unemployment in some continental European countries are to be reduced. Who's afraid of labour market flexibility? , argues that several European countries (Denmark, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands) have achieved comparable or better levels of labour market dynamism to the UK - while at the same time allowing for much greater levels of “workplace justice”. These nations demonstrate that the combination of moderately tight labour law, strong trade unions and collective bargaining, and relatively generous levels of unemployment benefits (combined with tight conditions, job search obligations and active labour market programmes), is compatible with strong employment performance. It is wrong to believe, contrary to the orthodoxy of the last two decades, that the most lightly regulated countries are the most successful."

Support: Digital