Employability

The principal purpose of this chapter is to explore the question of employment flexibility for employees, captured by the term ‘employability’. In a period when employers have sought more and more contractual flexibility in employment, through outsourcing, contingent work and new forms of pay and working time, and with high rates of structural unemployment in many countries, employability has become an increasingly important concern for workers and trade unions, as well as policy makers. The chapter is organized into five sections. The first addresses theoretical debates surrounding the changing nature and multifaceted character of employability. This is done through a literature review of state intervention to promote training and employability, contextualized within a historical perspective tracing supply-side interventions since the mid-1980s. Inputs that contribute to the enhancement of employability are also considered through engaging with the literature around lifelong learning and commenting on the changing nature of jobs and skills within an expanding Europe. Assumed outcomes of employability are also explored, with a focus on external flexibility (and concepts of ‘flexicurity’), mobility and portfolio careers.