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The German Political Economy Between Deregulation and Re-regulation: Party Discourses on Minimum Wage Policies
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- Authors
- Issue Date
- 2012
- Citation
- Korean Journal of Policy Studies, Vol.27 No.2, pp. 91-120
- Keywords
- coordinated market economy ; Germany ; Hartz labor market reform ; labor market liberalization ; low-wage employment ; minimum wage policy ; party discourse
- Abstract
- In the German political economy of the early 21st century, labor market
policymaking has shifted toward deregulation and liberalization. In particular, the
so-called Hartz labor market reforms of the Social Democratic Party and Green
Party government, introduced in 2002 and 2003, pushed for employment growth
in low-wage and deregulated employment sectors. This article focuses on one of
the key debates triggered by Germanys labor market deregulation after 2002,
namely whether the introduction of a statutory minimum wage is required to
re-regulate the countrys labor market. Based on interviews with members of the
five political parties in the German federal parliament and analysis of each partys
policy-making discourses over time (2002-2012), the article suggests that
the deregulation of the last decade has triggered demand for new policies of reregulation.
This would include the introduction of a statutory minimum wage in
Germany at some future point in time. However, such re-regulation does not
question earlier labor market liberalization but serves as a political side-payment
to ingrain the shift of the German political economy toward a more liberal regime.
- ISSN
- 1225-5017
- Language
- English
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