Work, employment and environment Quality and quantity of work in the environmental labour market and its regulation

Das Problem der Arbeitslosigkeit ist in den letzten zehn Jahren nicht nur in der Bundesrepublik, sondern auch auf der europaeischen Ebene auf den ersten Platz der politischen Agenda gerueckt. Das Weissbuch der Europaeischen Kommission zu 'Wachstum, Wettbewerbsfaehigkeit, Beschaeftigung' von 1993 ist Ausdruck dieser Prioritaetensetzung, die dadurch umgesetzt werden soll, dass den Beschaeftigungseffekten von Massnahmen in allen Politikfeldern erhoehte Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wird. Neben Politikfeldern wie Forschung und Technologieentwicklung wird in diesem Programm die Umweltpolitik besonders hervorgehoben. Nachdem laengere Zeit Investitionen in Umwelt ueberwiegend unter dem Aspekt der Gefaehrdung von Wettbewerbsfaehigkeit und Beschaeftigung gesehen wurden, sind in den neunziger Jahren zunehmend die Beschaeftigungspotentiale einer umweltpolitischen Wende z.B. in der Energiewirtschaft in die Diskussion gebracht worden. Fuer die Promotoren einer aktiven, integrierten Umweltpolitik bestand hierin die Chance, das inzwischen nachlassende Gewicht oekologischer Kritierien bei wirtschaftlichen Entscheidungen durch eine Ankopplung an soziale Krisenloesungen zu kompensieren. Es entstand das Bild einer 'doppelten Dividende', die durch die Kombination beschaeftigungspolitischer und umweltpolitischer Effekte in einer Massnahme zu erzielen sei. Das Discussion paper, in dem die Beitraege einer Tagung des europaeischen Netzwerks 'Industrial Relations and Environment in Europe' von 1996 zusammenstellt sind, behandelt diese Option aus der Sicht einer 'oekologisch erweiterten Arbeitspolitik' auf europaeischer Ebene. Es werden Beitraege aus der Arbeitsmarktforschung, aus der europaeischen Politikberatung und aus nationalen Kontexten zusammengefuehrt, die versuchen, die quantitativen Potentiale dieses neuen Arbeitsmarktsegments abzuschaetzen und ihre politischen Voraussetzungen und arbeitspolitischen Implikationen zu beleuchten. (HH). Inhaltsverzeichnis: Denis Gregory: Employment and the environment: some reflections (7-12); Guenther Schmid: Towards a new employment policy in Europe: the emergence of transitional labour markets as a policy target (15-28); Michael Jacobs: Environmental regulation and economic performance: towards a policy agenda (29-48); Juergen Blazejczak, Dietmar Edler: Methodological aspects of environmental labour market analysis (49-66); William Floyd: Environment and employment: two years after the European Commission's White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment (69-76); Eberhard Schmidt: The contribution of the European Union to environmental labour markets (77-80); Doris Beer, Leo Kasek: Environment and employment (81-94); Eckart Hildebrandt, Andrea Oates: Quality and quantity of work under environmental aspects (95-100); Federico Burone, Ernest Garcia, Francesc La Roca: Chasing a ghost: current research on environment and employment in Spain (103-114); Michelle Dobre: Employment and environment in France: state of the debate and recent findings (115-126); Maria Berrini, in cooperation with Giovanna Melandri, Marco Beccali and Daniele Guidi: Position of the social partners in Italy on the employment and environment question. A case study: renewable energies, energy saving and job creation (127-138); Giovanna Ricoveri: Ecological restructuring and the role of the trade unions - the Italian case (139-144); Ole Busck: Environmental and social sustainability (145-156); Birgitta Rabe: Integrating employment and environment: the implementation of job-creation programs in Eastern Germany (157-166); Andrea Oates, Stefan Marien: Work quality and environmental effectiveness in government employmenbergreifende Bildungsarbeit (43'During the recent decade, the problem of unemployment has gained first priority on the political agenda, not only in Germany, but also at a European level. The 1993 White Book of the European Commission on 'Growth, Competitiveness, Employment' stresses this priority which shall be realised through giving higher attention to the employment effects of measures in all political areas. Besides policy fields like research and technology development, especially environment policy is emphasised in this programme. Since for a longer period of time investments in the environment have mainly been considered as a danger for competitiveness and employment, during the 1990s the employment potentials of a change in environmental policy (e.g. in energy) increasingly came into discussion. The promoters of an active, integrated environment policy saw the opportunity to compensate the decreasing importance of ecological criteria for economic decisions through a connection to social-crisis solutions. The feature of a 'double dividend' came into existence, that should be created by a combination of employment policy and environment policy measures. This discussion paper presents the contributions to a conference organised by the European Network 'Industrial Relations and Environment in Europe' in 1996. It discusses the perspective of a double dividend from the viewpoint of an 'ecologically extended labour policy' at a European level. Contributions from the labour market policy, from the European policy debate and from national research groups are collected in this paper, which try to asses the quantitative potentials of this new labour segment, its political preconditions and its labour-political implications.' (author's abstract). Contents: Denis Gregory: Employment and the environment: some reflections (7-12); Guenther Schmid: Towards a new employment policy in Europe: the emergence of transitional labour markets as a policy target (15-28); Michael Jacobs: Environmental regulation and economic performance: towards a policy agenda (29-48); Juergen Blazejczak, Dietmar Edler: Methodological aspects of environmental labour market analysis (49-66); William Floyd: Environment and employment: two years after the European Commission's White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment (69-76); Eberhard Schmidt: The contribution of the European Union to environmental labour markets (77-80); Doris Beer, Leo Kasek: Environment and employment (81-94); Eckart Hildebrandt, Andrea Oates: Quality and quantity of work under environmental aspects (95-100); Federico Burone, Ernest Garcia, Francesc La Roca: Chasing a ghost: current research on environment and employment in Spain (103-114); Michelle Dobre: Employment and environment in France: state of the debate and recent findings (115-126); Maria Berrini, in cooperation with Giovanna Melandri, Marco Beccali and Daniele Guidi: Position of the social partners in Italy on the employment and environment question. A case study: renewable energies, energy saving and job creation (127-138); Giovanna Ricoveri: Ecological restructuring and the role of the trade unions - the Italian case (139-144); Ole Busck: Environmental and social sustainability (145-156); Birgitta Rabe: Integrating employment and environment: the implementation of job-creation programs in Eastern Germany (157-166); Andrea Oates, Stefan Marien: Work quality and environmental effectiveness in government employment promotion measures (167-177)German title: Arbeit, Beschaeftigung und Umwelt: Qualitaet und Quantitaet der Arbeit im Umweltarbeitsmarkt und seine RegulierungAvailable from UuStB Koeln(38)-981102646 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman