On the marriage of flexibility and security: Lessons from the Hartz-reforms in Germany

In the context of the ongoing reforms on European labour markets the keyword flexicurity is presently gaining prominence. We therefore want to explore the importance of the flexicurity-concept on the example of the German Hartzreforms. Starting from the frequently used definition as a trade-off between employers demands for flexibility and employees needs for security, different conceptualisations of flexicurity are considered, and criteria for an efficient and equitable flexicurity-nexus are developed. The German debate on flexicurity is briefly looked at. The main part of the paper is devoted to analysing four policy measures which were implemented within the Hartz-reforms: Ich-AG allowance for newly founded businesses, personnel service agencies (PSA) to place unemployed into regular employment, Mini-Jobs and the introduction of Midi-Jobs which were supposed to serve as stepping stones into employment subject to social insurance contributions and wage insurance for elderly workers. It is assessed whether the measures contribute to enhancing the components of flexibility and security and whether the measures are appropriately balanced. The analysis reveals that the measures quality could be improved by strengthening different components of the security dimension. -- Das Schlagwort Flexicurity gewinnt im Rahmen der aktuellen Reformen auf den europäischen Arbeitsmärkten an Bedeutung. Die Tragweite des Flexicurity- Konzepts soll hier am Beispiel der Hartz-Reformen in Deutschland untersucht werden. Ausgehend von der Definition als Zielkonflikt zwischen dem Bedürfnis der Arbeitgeber nach Flexibilität und dem Bedürfnis der Arbeitnehmer nach Sicherheit werden weitere Konzeptualisierungen des Terms erörtert. Darauf aufbauend werden Kriterien für einen sowohl effizienten als auch gerechten Flexicurity-Nexus entwickelt. Nach einem kurzen Überblick über den Verlauf der Flexicurity-Debatte in Deutschland werden vier Instrumente, die im Rahmen der Hartz-Gesetzgebung eingeführt wurden, vorgestellt: Die Ich-AG-Unterstützung für den Übergang in die Selbständigkeit, die Personal Service Agenturen (PSA) für die Vermittlung ehemals Arbeitsloser in reguläre Beschäftigungsverhältnisse, Mini-Jobs und die Einführung von Midi-Jobs, intendiert als Brücke in sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung, sowie die Entgeltsicherung für ältere Arbeitnehmer. An Hand der im Theorieteil entwickelten Kriterien wird gefragt, inwieweit die einzelnen Komponenten von Flexibilität und Sicherheit gestärkt werden und inwieweit die Maßnahmen ausgewogen sind. Die Analyse zeigt dabei auf, dass die Qualität der Maßnahmen durch die Stärkung unterschiedlicher Komponenten der Sicherheitsdimension gesteigert werden könnte.

Migrant Background and Higher Education Participation in Europe: The Effect of the Educational Systems

The main aim of this article is to shed light on the extent to which differences in higher education participation between people with and without a migrant background of low/higher social origin can be explained by two macro-level characteristics of national educational institutions: stratification of the secondary school system and provision of alternative access to higher education. General assumptions are that people with a migrant background of low social origin benefit in low-stratified secondary school systems and in systems that provide alternative access to institutions of higher education more than their native peers in the same social stratum, owing to primary and secondary effects of migrant background. Database is a pooled dataset of the five waves of the European Social Survey. Results of logistic multi-level analyses indicate that a low-stratified secondary school system improves the probability of people with a migrant background/low social origin attaining a higher education degree. On the other hand, a stratified secondary school system reduces their chances regarding this educational stage. The provision of alternative access to an institution of higher education improves their likelihood of becoming higher education graduate

On the marriage of flexibility and security: Lessons from the Hartz-reforms in Germany

In the context of the ongoing reforms on European labour markets the keyword 'flexicurity' is presently gaining prominence. We therefore want to explore the importance of the flexicurity-concept on the example of the German Hartzreforms. Starting from the frequently used definition as a trade-off between employers' demands for flexibility and employees' needs for security, different conceptualisations of flexicurity are considered, and criteria for an efficient and equitable flexicurity-nexus are developed. The German debate on flexicurity is briefly looked at. The main part of the paper is devoted to analysing four policy measures which were implemented within the Hartz-reforms: 'Ich-AG' allowance for newly founded businesses, 'personnel service agencies' ('PSA') to place unemployed into regular employment, 'Mini-Jobs' and the introduction of 'Midi-Jobs' which were supposed to serve as stepping stones into employment subject to social insurance contributions and 'wage insurance' for elderly workers. It is assessed whether the measures contribute to enhancing the components of flexibility and security and whether the measures are appropriately balanced. The analysis reveals that the measures' quality could be improved by strengthening different components of the security dimension.Das Schlagwort 'Flexicurity' gewinnt im Rahmen der aktuellen Reformen auf den europäischen Arbeitsmärkten an Bedeutung. Die Tragweite des Flexicurity- Konzepts soll hier am Beispiel der Hartz-Reformen in Deutschland untersucht werden. Ausgehend von der Definition als Zielkonflikt zwischen dem Bedürfnis der Arbeitgeber nach Flexibilität und dem Bedürfnis der Arbeitnehmer nach Sicherheit werden weitere Konzeptualisierungen des Terms erörtert. Darauf aufbauend werden Kriterien für einen sowohl effizienten als auch gerechten Flexicurity-Nexus entwickelt. Nach einem kurzen Überblick über den Verlauf der Flexicurity-Debatte in Deutschland werden vier Instrumente, die im Rahmen der Hartz-Gesetzgebung eingeführt wurden, vorgestellt: Die 'Ich-AG'-Unterstützung für den Übergang in die Selbständigkeit, die 'Personal Service Agenturen' (PSA) für die Vermittlung ehemals Arbeitsloser in reguläre Beschäftigungsverhältnisse, 'Mini-Jobs' und die Einführung von 'Midi-Jobs', intendiert als Brücke in sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung, sowie die 'Entgeltsicherung für ältere Arbeitnehmer'. An Hand der im Theorieteil entwickelten Kriterien wird gefragt, inwieweit die einzelnen Komponenten von Flexibilität und Sicherheit gestärkt werden und inwieweit die Maßnahmen ausgewogen sind. Die Analyse zeigt dabei auf, dass die Qualität der Maßnahmen durch die Stärkung unterschiedlicher Komponenten der Sicherheitsdimension gesteigert werden könnte

The Progenitor Mass of SN 2011dh from Stellar Populations Analysis

Using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry, we characterize the age of the stellar association in the vicinity of supernova (SN) 2011dh and use it to infer the zero-age main sequence mass (M_{ZAMS}) of the progenitor star. We find two distinct and significant star formation events with ages of <6 and 17^{+3}_{-4} Myrs, and the corresponding M_{ZAMS} are >29 and 13^{+2}_{-1} M_{Sun}, respectively. These two bursts represent 18^{+4}_{-9}% (young) and 64^{+10}_{-14}% (old) of the total star formation in the last 50 Myrs. Adopting these fractions as probabilities suggests that the most probable M_{ZAMS} is 13^{+2}_{-1} M_{Sun}. These results are most sensitive to the luminosity function along the well-understood main sequence and are less sensitive to uncertain late-stage stellar evolution. Therefore, they stand even if the progenitor suffered disruptive post-main-sequence evolution (e.g. eruptive mass loss or binary Roche-lobe overflow). Progenitor identification will help to further constrain the appropriate population. Even though pre-explosion images show a yellow supergiant (YSG) at the site of the SN, panchromatic SN light curves suggest a more compact star as the progenitor. In spite of this, our results suggest an association between the YSG and the SN. Not only was the star located at the SN site, but reinforcing an association, the star's bolometric luminosity is consistent with the final evolutionary stage of the 17 Myr old star burst. If the YSG disappears, then M_{ZAMS}=13^{+2}_{-1} M_{Sun}, but if it persists, then our results allow the possibility that the progenitor was an unseen star of >29 M_{Sun}.Comment: 5 pages in emulateapj, 2 figures, accepted by ApJL. Comments are welcom

Interstellar Sodium and Calcium Absorption toward SN 2011dh in M51

We present high-resolution echelle observations of SN 2011dh, which exploded in the nearby, nearly face-on spiral galaxy M51. Our data, acquired on three nights when the supernova was near maximum brightness, reveal multiple absorption components in Na I D and Ca II H and K, which we identify with gaseous material in the Galactic disk or low halo and in the disk and halo of M51. The M51 components span a velocity range of over 140 km s^-1, extending well beyond the range exhibited by H I 21 cm emission at the position of the supernova. Since none of the prominent Na I or Ca II components appear to coincide with the peak in H I emission, the supernova may lie just in front of the bulk of the H I disk. The Na I/Ca II ratios for the components with the most extreme positive and negative velocities relative to the disk are ~1.0, similar to those for more quiescent components, suggesting that the absorption originates in relatively cool gas. Production scenarios involving a galactic fountain and/or tidal interactions between M51 and its companion would be consistent with these results. The overall weakness of Na I D absorption in the direction of SN 2011dh confirms a low foreground and host galaxy extinction for the supernova.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, emulateapj style, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Evolving Diversity II: Participation of students with an immigrant background in European Higher Education

EQUNET is a 3-year project researching the state of equity in Higher Education in Europe. The project aims to create an evidence-based policy advocacy network, so as to promote its conclusions as a way to promote better-informed policy making on equity issues in Europe. This is the second of three reports, and is dedicated to improving the picture of equity in access to Higher Education in Europe for persons of immigrant origin. The report provides a theoretical framework for discussion of the topic, a statistical cross-country analysis of access-figures, as well as detailed country-studies for Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom. It is the result of a year of research conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers originating from across Europe. (DIPF/Orig.

Discovery of Variability of the Progenitor of SN 2011dh in M51 Using the Large Binocular Telescope

We show that the candidate progenitor of the core-collapse SN 2011dh in M51 (8 Mpc away) was fading by 0.039 +- 0.006 mag/year during the three years prior to the supernova, and that this level of variability is moderately unusual for other similar stars in M 51. While there are uncertainties about whether the true progenitor was a blue companion to this candidate, the result illustrates that there are no technical challenges to obtaining fairly high precision light curves of supernova progenitors using ground based observations of nearby (<10 Mpc) galaxies with wide field cameras on 8m-class telescopes. While other sources of variability may dominate, it is even possible to reach into the range of evolution rates required by the quasi-static evolution of the stellar envelope. For M 81, where we have many more epochs and a slightly longer time baseline, our formal 3 sigma sensitivity to slow changes is presently 3 millimag/year for a M_V ~= -8 mag star. In short, there is no observational barrier to determining whether the variability properties of stars in their last phases of evolution (post Carbon ignition) are different from earlier phases.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Ap

EVLA Observations of the Radio Evolution of SN 2011dh

We report on Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) observations of the Type IIb supernova 2011dh, performed over the first 100 days of its evolution and spanning 1-40 GHz in frequency. The radio emission is well-described by the self-similar propagation of a spherical shockwave, generated as the supernova ejecta interact with the local circumstellar environment. Modeling this emission with a standard synchrotron self-absorption (SSA) model gives an average expansion velocity of v \approx 0.1c, supporting the classification of the progenitor as a compact star (R_* \approx 10^11 cm). We find that the circumstellar density is consistent with a {\rho} \propto r^-2 profile. We determine that the progenitor shed mass at a constant rate of \approx 3 \times 10^-5 M_\odot / yr, assuming a wind velocity of 1000 km / s (values appropriate for a Wolf-Rayet star), or \approx 7 \times 10^-7 M_\odot / yr assuming 20 km / s (appropriate for a yellow supergiant [YSG] star). Both values of the mass-loss rate assume a converted fraction of kinetic to magnetic energy density of {\epsilon}_B = 0.1. Although optical imaging shows the presence of a YSG, the rapid optical evolution and fast expansion argue that the progenitor is a more compact star - perhaps a companion to the YSG. Furthermore, the excellent agreement of the radio properties of SN 2011dh with the SSA model implies that any YSG companion is likely in a wide, non-interacting orbit.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; accepted to ApJ

Improved distance determination to M51 from supernovae 2011dh and 2005cs

The appearance of two recent supernovae, SN 2011dh and 2005cs, both in M51, provides an opportunity to derive an improved distance to their host galaxy by combining the observations of both SNe. We apply the Expanding Photosphere Method to get the distance to M51 by fitting the data of these two SNe simultaneously. In order to correct for the effect of flux dilution, we use correction factors (zeta) appropriate for standard type II-P SNe atmospheres for 2005cs, but find zeta ~ 1 for the type IIb SN 2011dh, which may be due to the reduced H-content of its ejecta. The EPM analysis resulted in D_M51 = 8.4 +/- 0.7 Mpc. Based on this improved distance, we also re-analyze the HST observations of the proposed progenitor of SN 2011dh. We confirm that the object detected on the pre-explosion HST-images is unlikely to be a compact stellar cluster. In addition, its derived radius (~ 277$ R_sun) is too large for being the real (exploded) progenitor of SN 2011dh. The supernova-based distance, D = 8.4 Mpc, is in good agreement with other recent distance estimates to M51.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&