65

Despite the lack of enthusiasm of both trade unions and employers, the proposal for a single employment contract, which could reduce the dualism in the labor market has paradoxically remained at the forefront of debates on the need to reform the labor market. At first glance, the single employment contract seems to be an attractive response to the issue of dualism. However, closer analysis shows that a single contract would not resolve problems linked to precariousness and to the impact of employment protection. Most of the time, alternative policies could be more efficient. Moreover, while there are costs to dualism, these are not as obvious and well established as the ones resulting from employment protection. Finally, suppressing temporary contracts would lead??”at a constant level of employment protection??”to important job losses, given that not all temporary jobs would become permanent jobs. A drastic reform of employment protection provided by this single employment contract would be needed. Such a reform does not need to be linked to the creation of a new employment contract: counterpart measures such as unemployment insurance and firm-sponsored training are possible.