Employment flexibility in Ukraine: advantages and limitations

I. Petrova, I. Kravchenko, L. Lisogor, V. Chuvardynskyi

The changes in the economic and social spheres that occur in conditions of rapid technological changes and affect the structure, form and nature of employment are studied. It is argued that increasing employment flexibility, which is in line with the idea of expanding economic freedom for employers and employees, may exacerbate the social risks associated, in particular, with a weakening of the social security of employed. The existing foreign mechanisms of risk prevention in promoting employment flexibility are analysed, and it had reflected in the flexicurity concept. It is proved that the strengthening of employment flexibility in Ukrainian practice is accompanied by three main tendencies: diversification of employment forms that are characterized by flexibility; maintaining the rigidity of labour legislation on employment and employment in the public sector; preservation of the non-sufficient and inefficient level of social protection of flexible employment. Various points of view of different scientists on employment flexibility are analysed that allowed to study the specific forms of flexible employment in the Ukrainian economy. Proposals had developed to improve the conditions for the development of flexible employment, covering organizational, economic and institutional vectors.

Keywords: employment, employment flexibility, social security, flexicurity