Flexicurity in the EU28 Countries: A Multiyear Composite Indicator Proposal

Abstract

This study computes a flexicurity index for the EU28 countries for 2001-2019 following the European Commission’s four components of flexicurity model. The index allows the ex-post assessment of flexicurity efforts and efficiency. Following the computation of the index, we compare its values against the theoretical flexicurity typologies and against other empirical flexicurity groupings to assess their (dis)similarities. Even though Northern and Western countries generally have higher flexicurity scores than Southern and Eastern states, the study shows some countries deviate from their theoretical performance. Thus, some of the Continental and Mediterranean countries have flexicurity values like those of the Nordic group. Moreover, the flexicurity regimes are not static as the theoretical typology suggests: while Denmark and France are always in the top performers’ group, other countries change their performance throughout the 2001-2019 period. The flexicurity index correlates highly with empirical country groupings in the literature. The highest correlation is with country groupings using the European Commission’s four components of flexicurity model, followed by the Golden Danish Triangle, and lastly, the Wilthagen and Tros’ flexicurity matrix. In the end, we compare EU countries’ performance in the flexicurity index scores with their performance in selected employment and unemployment rates, labor productivity, and poverty rates. Results suggest that higher flexicurity performance correlates generally with better labor market and social outcomes, the highest correlations being in the case of labor productivity rates.