Publisher's Synopsis
According to the OECD Jobs Study unemployment is the most widely feared phenomenon in our society. This book sets out to meet the challenges posed by the causes and consequences of unemployment from both a scientific and a policy point of view. It departs from a multi-disciplinarian perspective, combining insights from economic and social sciences and it presents experiences built up in various parts of Eastern and Western Europe. - - To combat unemployment, we need to be more flexible and willing to adapt to change. This is illustrated by the contributions that contradict popular belief and common wisdom ? for instance, when the point is made that a sector such as agriculture actually offers opportunities for employment, quite contrary to the suppositions agricultural policies depart from. The most challenging call for flexibility is offered by Ray Pahl, who claims that we need to rethink the whole concept of employment and unemployment due to the changes society is going through and argues that full employment is not to return.
