Post-crisis labour market outcomes in worlds of welfare and varieties of capitalism

Abstract

This article tests divergent theories of welfare development and varieties of capitalism by comparing the socio-economic outcomes of 16 developed countries before and after the recent crisis. Similarities and differences are assessed using six indicators, namely inequality, low pay, union density, unemployment, involuntary part-time work and job strain. The findings show substantial variation in country group averages for indicators such as inequality, low pay, union density and involuntary part-time work. Different welfare production regimes, however, were not always distinguishable in terms of their impact on the overall direction of change, as many countries were worse off after the crisis, or the degree of change from one year to the next, as the greatest negative percentage changes were reported for the least expected group of countries. In general, the findings indicate that in some areas of social and economic life, many countries have not yet returned to pre-crisis levels.