Optimal Global Configurations and Effects of Labor Market Flexibility and Security

“Flexicurity” denotes an optimal configuration of flexible labor legislation and secure social protection. But how much and which combination of flexibility and security are advantageous, and for whom? This paper outlines different configurations of employment protection laws (EPL), collective relation laws (CRL) and social protection around the millennium. In accord with this regime notion of socio-economic protection, these three continuous workers’ rights indices are used to typologize nation states globally employing cluster analyses. These clusters are scaled by their relative proximity to each other and compared using both labor market and macroeconomic outcomes.