Study On The German Labor Market Policy

Germany has made great contributions to the development of human civilization and also brought disasters to the world. During its development, the country has created prosperity and economic miracles. The first economic miracle occurred at the Bismarck Era when Germany built the first labor market system and social security system. Two World Wars launched by Germany were the disasters for the world. After the Word War Ⅱ, Germany became the second largest economy of the capitalist world and created the second economic miracle. However, from the second half of 1970s, Germany entered a period of economic downturn with the rest of the western world. The reunion of the separated East Germany and West Germany brought a heavy burden and a far worse recession to the new country’s economy, which left Germany a nickname as the "Sick man of Europe". From 2006, German economy has been growing, In 2008, the world was in the financial crisis and the European debt crisis caused political unrest in many countries, In contrast, German economy was in good shape and grew steadily along with the political solidarity and social stability. This was called the third economic miracle in the history of Germany. Since the 19th century, the perpetrator of disaster and miracle maker has went through ups and downs, and has become the world’s leading industrialized nation and a new engine in the economic recovery in Europe and even the world. What is the secret of its success? There are so many different reasons. However, both the ex-Chancellor Schmidt to the current Chancellor Merkel think that the success of labor market policy is the main reason for the current prosperity in Germany. Then, what are the characteristics of the German labor market policy? How did this policy come into being and evolve? What are its influences? What are its implications for China?The success of Germany has drawn the attention worldwide. Researchers at home and abroad have made extensive studies of the labor market policies of Germany, focusing on its historical process or on the analysis of its structure. Some papers analyze the policies advocated by different social forces, political parties as well as their proposals. Some papers report the specific features of the policies based on the analysis of different policy patterns. Some researches divide the revolution process of labor market policies into several stages since the 1990s and present the characteristic of each stage. Some deal with the analysis of bureaucratic system in which policymakers exert a certain influence on changes of labor market polices. Other studies, based on microscopic and empirical analyses, concentrate on details of the labor market polices and the practical effect they have had. All the researches lay a solid foundation for further studies. The author, trying to give a comprehensive analysis of the labor market polices of Germany, depicts the overall characteristics and historical continuity of the policies and analyzes the polices in a systematic way in different historical periods in terms of society, politics, economy, culture and the history itself.On the basis of the literature review, and for the validity of the study, the dissertation defines two major concepts of labor market and labor market policies, suggesting that we should understand the labor market policies in a broad sense. Next, the dissertation expresses the systematic research method and historical research method to define the clue of this study-the historical phrases and period of labor market policies’evolution, describing the changes of each historical period in the labor market policy systems and the consequences of labor market policies’ output.Therefore, on the basis of current literature review, taking historical and systematical methods, this study aims to explore the general characteristics of the historical revolution of German labor market policies. The dissertation first unfolds the historical research on German labor market policies in four chapters. Then, Chapter five discusses the historical overview and general characteristics of German labor market policies. In the conclusion, it discusses the implications that German labor market policy research has brought to China, the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.The first chapter explains the formation process of the German labor market policy. In the early 19th century, Germany was still a very loose federation, divided in several parts. It is a relatively backward agricultural country, with a capitalist production only at germination stage. The war waged by Napoleon let the Prussian surrender, and also awakened the Prussian. The life of the nation not only promoted the unification of the German nation, but also pushed the nation to develop capitalism, which met people’s aspiration and was the only way to rescue itself and to maintain the royal rule. Then the reform was in full swing, the capitalist production developed, and the modern labor market was established. Since then, the establishment of customs union led by Prussian and the rapid development of railway transportation led to a rapid development of capitalist production. This allowed Prussia to unify Germany in 1871 through the power of Bismarck. During the time of the unification, German society was in a great change, and various social problems emerged. The contradiction between labor and management was sharp. In order to maintain political and social stability, the government strengthened the intervention in the labor market, thus formed the labor market policy with unique German characteristics.Chapter two explores the development process of German labor market. After William II came to power, in order to stabilize the society and continue to maintain the rule, he had to actively respond to the demands of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. He implemented the external expansion policy, and carried on the positive social defense, and further relevant content about labor market policy was added by him. He also strengthened the force of labor union during World War I, confirming the Union’s social status. After the war, the government of the Republic of Weimar, in the face of international and domestic social situation, continued to expand the labor market policy, which eased the tensions to a certain extent. But the economic crisis broke out and quickly turned into a full-scale crisis, leading to the collapse of the republic government. Then the Nazis came to power. The Nazi government was in full control of the labor market, and launched the Second World War.Chapter three discusses the improvement process of German labor market policy. After World War II, the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union dominated the German affairs. Under the situation of the Cold War and the East- West confrontation, Federal Republic of Germany and Democratic Republic of Germany were established respectively. The Federal Republic of Germany constructed the market economic system, deregulated the labor markets, modified and extended the former policies under the control of the United States, which was conductive to restoring the economic growth. Henceforth, based on the development of the economy and society, the government carried out the labor market policies and focused on the economic and social construction successively, which brought about the rapid economic development and political and social stability in Germany.Chapter four dwells on the changing process of the labor market policies in Germany. The economic prosperity and political and social stability of the Federal Republic of Germany provided fundamental supports for East and West German reunification. However, reunification called for economic and social integration between the East and West, which resulted in great economic burdens on Germany, namely, economic slowdown and high unemployment. So the government set out to adjust the labor market policies, but the problems were not yet resolved. With the intensified European integration process, the labor market policies became an important issue for European integration in the end of the 1990s. Guided by European integration, the labor market policies in Germany underwent a comprehensive reform, giving rise to a new prosperity and stability at last.Chapter five reviews the developmental history of the labor market policies in Germany. Two logics can be found in the historical development of the labor market policies, one is about state intervention, and the other is about the self-evolution of the labor market policies. In addition, with overall analysis, this chapter summarized the basic features of the labor market polices in Germany.The conclusion, emphasizing the unity of history and logic of the developmental history of the labor market policies in Germany, presents the implications of this study for contemporary China. It covers the reform of labor market policies in China according to unique historical conditions and steady promotion of the reform by means of reinforcing institutional learning and adaptive capacity. It also points out the limitations of this study and directions of future research. Due to the insufficient methods of systematic study, the factors of system about the labor market policies are needed to extend in future studies. For the lack of international perspectives, comparative studies of labor market policy of different countries are encouraged. In order to have more implications for China, comparative studies of labor market policy between China and Germany should be investigated, revealing the comment practice and specific features that can be adopted in China. Limitations exist in the study of tendency of the labor market polices in Germany, and more attention should be paid to changes of the policies.It is by no means easy to study the labor market polices in Germany which are extensive and profound. However, this dissertation has made certain achievements as follows. Firstly, the author sort out the revolution process of the labor market polices in Germany, which, compared with former researches, was conducted more comprehensively and more systematically. Therefore, it helps to explain its inner logic and its various features under different historical conditions. Secondly, employing the system approach, the author analyzes how system elements make an impact on the labor market polices in each historical period in Germany. In comparison with general studies and microscopic studies, this study is more concerned with the integrity of the policies and system that the policies operate in. Thirdly, based on historical approach and system approach, the author finds out that the fundamental characteristic of the labor market policies in Germany is the high degree of unity of history and logic. In terms of history, the history of the German nation leads to the fact that the government has conducted positive interventions in the labor market. Changes took place constantly in political system, regime and parties in the history of Germany, but the labor market policies, always meeting the demands of both the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, have been comparatively smooth, steady and even transcended. How could this happen? This is because the revolution process of the labor market policies in Germany is not the result of one single system element or an accident, but an inevitable outcome of the whole system of the society, which leads o the unity of history and logic in the policies.