Regulation and Flexibility

The first decade of independence in Namibia was §characterised by both a strengthening of the legal §and social safety net covering permanent, full-time §employment and a proliferation of casual and §temporary employment relationships at the margins of §this regulatory framework. These shifts in labour §regulation have created opportunities for §advancement by groups of more skilled and organised §employees, whereas less skilled and unorganised §groups have generally experienced a deterioration of §working conditions and a decline in employment and §job security. In the lexicon of labour market §policy, a bifurcated workforce is the outcome §of flexibility measures designed to dismantle §the rigidities associated with statutory and §collective regulation. In this study, non-standard §employment is viewed as a particular social and §spatio-temporal ''fix'' for the various regulatory §dilemmas generated by the standard employment §relationship. This conception underscores the fact §that a national system of labour regulation §decisively shapes the conditions under which §employers are able to casualise or externalise a §part of their workforce.