Summaries
How unique is outwork?
Ch.J. de Wolff, A. Schoorlemmer and J.W.M. Mevissen
Research on outwork used to be focused on the topics of working conditions and terms of em ployment. Furthermore, this research used to be restricted to specific regions.
In the present research attention is directed at the motives underlying the labourmarket be haviour of both outworkers and their employ ers, abstracted from regional contexts.
The results show that outwork resembles other forms of external flexibilization in many ways. Usually, outwork jobs may be considered as jobs belonging to the so-called external secondary segment. Transitions from this segment to the internal (secondary or primary) segment hardly occur.
On the basis of these results, it is argued that policy regarding outwork should be integrated with policy regarding external flexibilization. It should not be focused on outwork without reference to other forms of flexibilization.
The labour market position of social science graduates
Y. Kops and P.G. Swan born
The labour market career and the labour market position is described of a complete university cohort in the social and behavioral sciences (psychologists; educational scientists; sociolo gists; anthropologists and 'general social scien tists') in the first year after graduation. Data were collected by telephone interviewing (cati)
four months and one year after graduation. Nonresponse was negligible. One year after leaving the university 39% of the former stu dents worked at university level; another 27% owned a job at 'Higher Vocational Training'
level, whilst 22% is jobless. To correctly under stand these global figures, the difference in po sition between former fulltime and former part- time students has to be taken into account. Most former students in the latter group made their entrance into the labour market (long) be fore graduation. Moreover, the labour market position of students who started their univer sity education after having completed a Higher Vocational Training proves to be quite different from the careers of ex-university students with out such an elaborated education.
Education of workers as a labour market policy instrument
N. Beukema
The Regional Regulation of Education of Work ers (rrsw) is a regional subsidy scheme, which is meant to stimulate firms in creating educa tional projects for their employees.
Favourable economic effects are expected from the education of workers in the region Groningen/South-east Drenthe, which is a de prived district according to European standards.
The rrsw is financed partly by the Regional Labour Exchange in Groningen and Drenthe and partly by the European Social Fund. Apart from the fact that education as such has posi tive effects on the economic structure, the La bour Exchange considers education of workers in firms useful as a labour market policy instru ment. The assumption is that education of workers creates upward mobility within firms. This upward mobility leaves vacancies in the lower parts of the organization, which can be filled by low educated unemployed.
The article describes the results of an inquiry into these assumptions.
Summaries
Duartion of job search of school-leavers L. Borghans and E. Willems
Since a few years research is done on the aver age duration of the job search of school-leavers. According to the most recent results the aver age job search period is 9 months. Recent gradu ates from the universities even have an ex pected search period of on average 20 months. In this article some critical remarks are made to these results. Based upon data, especially col lected for examining the labour market entry of school-leavers, we conclude that the estimated durations of job search are too long, even up to an overestimation with factor 3. For academic graduates the overestimation will probably be much higher.
The effect of educational level and type of education on occupational attainment J. Dronkers and L. Bros
Three interrelated questions are answered in this article: do opportunities at the labour mar ket differ between graduates from different types of education, also after controlling for the educational level and other relevant charac teristics (scholastic ability, gender, social class)? 2. Are these controlled differences in labour market opportunities between graduates from different types of education with an equal edu cational level constant during their occupa tional career? 3. Are these controlled differences in labour market opportunities between gradu ates from different types of education with an equal educational level equal for different yard sticks of labour market opportunities (occupa tional status,- salary level; unemployment)?
The results show that there are differences in labour market opportunities between graduates from different types of education with an equal educational level, but these differences don't overshadow the differences in labour market op
portunities between educational levels. Con trolling for characteristics of pupils tends to lessen the differences between types, but they don'isappear. The largest bias in differences in labour market opportunities is caused by the gender of the graduates. The differences be tween types of education seems not to change significantly during the occupational career, they only decrease somewhat. The yardstick in fluences the evaluation of labour market oppor tunities: depending on the one used, different types of education have better or worse labour market opportunities.
Modern education in a trade union H. van der Hurk
After the Second World War, industrial rela tions in the Netherlands were characterized by a dominant and initiating role on the part of the central government, by increased centralization of employers' and employees' organized interest groups, and by an institutionalized process of consultations on working conditions. In the eighties it could be concluded that Dutch in dustrial relations had 'toppled over'. As a result, the centre of gravity in Dutch industrial rela tions became situated at employers' level.
Consequently, the trade union movement has had to strengthen its position at the employers' level. The Industriebond fnv, the largest trade union in the market sector, has therefore reached the conclusion that active members, employed in the companies involved, will from now on have to carry out substantially more trade union work than they have done to date.
To enable these members to carry out their extended duties, a different type of training pro gramme will be needed. Trade union training programmes should therefore focus on specific vocational training facilities rather than on gen eral training facilities.
