Since the opening of the labour market in 2011, Austria experienced a huge rise not only in individual migration but also in employer-led service mobility. This article examines the development and regulation of posted labour in the construction industry. It shows how an increase in worker posting met a demand for ‘flexible’ labour while also raising concerns about a race to the bottom. In response to such concerns the ‘Anti-Wage and Social Dumping Act’ was established which represents a rather comprehensive regime of labour market regulation. However, the results of the article suggest that such a nationally orientated regime reaches its limits in a transnational mobility space which is characterised by huge inequalities. Thus, the Austrian experience is representative of the challenges which continental welfare states have to face in an enlarged EU with increased social and institutional diversity. © 2019, The Author(s).

Employment standards Posted labour regulation Social inequality Transnational mobility space

[No Keywords available]