Organised by transitions: the self-organisation of next-generation welfare professionals in Slovenia

Much is known about innovative union strategies to organise young workers, but little is known about how and why they self-organise outside of unions. Based on field research in Slovenia, we examine ‘next-generation welfare professionals’, a diverse group of students, unemployed graduates and precarious workers attempting to enter state-regulated, and relatively well unionised education and social protection professions. We argue that their self-organisation is a direct consequence of their precarious education-to-work transitions and consequent disembeddedness from the workplace and professional community. Their grievances stem from a mismatch between strict professional entry requirements and scarce paid internships, which lead to long unemployment spells, unsupportive active labour market schemes, and a fear of social exclusion. Their initial tactic was to establish communities from which a collective sense of injustices and self-organising emerged and they targeted policymakers with demands for sustainable government funded internships. Although their relations with established trade unions are not close, they do receive organisational support from the Trade Union Youth Plus that organises students, the unemployed and precarious graduates stuck in a transitional stage of ‘waithood’. Our findings show the need for unions to become more present within transitional zones that, are shaped by state policies.

Unemployment prevention: The role of Human Resource Management in job-to-job transitions in the event of redundancy

In downsizing organisations, redundant workers suffer from insecurities about work and income. Social security provides income security to the unemployed in the event of job loss. The role played by employers in unemployment prevention for redundant workers, and the effects on unemployment spells and transitions on the labour market, are neglected in both the social policy and HRM literatures. This article addresses the following question: Which factors play a role in the decision to offer job-to-job support and in determining its effect? This article provides the context for the theoretical assumptions regarding why employers initiate job-to-job measures for redundant employees and distinguishes the different types of measures based on a literature review. Secondly, this article contributes to empirical knowledge in the field of unemployment prevention among employers and the effects of job-to-job activities facilitated by employers on redundant workers’ unemployment spells. A two-wave study was conducted on a sample of 2,258 Dutch redundant workers. The study shows that age, breadwinner status and gender are important predictors of unemployment duration after involuntary dismissal. The findings show that investing in the human capital of redundant workers by providing training and education and individual coaching, for example, are associated with a reduced unemployment spell. In our model, in which we controlled for other variables, we found that when one received training, education or individual coaching shortly before or after the dismissal, one was unemployed for an average of almost three months less.

Subjective Well-Being Scarring through Unemployment: New Methods, New Results?

Scarring effects of unemployment on subjective well-being (SWB), i.e., negative effects that remain even after workers reenter employment, are well documented in the literature. Nevertheless, the theoretical mechanisms by which unemployment leads to long-lasting negative consequences for SWB are still under debate. Thus, we theorize that unemployment can have an enduring impact mainly through (i) the experience of unemployment as an incisive life event that, for example, affects health and (ii) unemployment as a driver of future unemployment. Using advanced longitudinal modeling that controls for group-specific trends, we estimate SWB scarring through unemployment using German panel data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Our results consistently show a large negative effect of unemployment on SWB as well as significant lasting scarring effects (for both men and women as well as for short- and long-term unemployment spells). Further analyses reveal that repeated periods of unemployment drive these effects, implying that there are hardly any adaptations to unemployment that buffer its effect on SWB. We conclude that scarring effects through unemployment mainly work through unemployment increasing the probability of future unemployment. Regarding policy implications, our findings suggest that preventing unemployment, regardless of its duration, is beneficial for individual well-being.

Employer tenure in gays, lesbians and their straight counterparts

PurposeThis article aims to shed more light on seemingly contradicting labour market outcomes of lesbians: they were found to have similar unemployment rates as straight women but their unemployment spells are significantly shorter. No such contradiction is observed for gays who seem to have on average a higher unemployment rate and longer unemployment spells compared to straight men.Design/methodology/approachThe main hypothesis is that lesbian and gay employees spend ceteris paribus shorter time working for a given employer (employer tenure) than comparable straight people. This hypothesis is tested on EU Labour Force Survey data using multi-level regression model.FindingsConsistently with the predictions, lesbians and gays were found to have significantly shorter employer tenure than their straight counterparts. These differences remained significant after controlling for individual, workplace and occupational characteristics. The results suggest that shorter employer tenure of lesbians and (possibly) gays is driven by labour demand factors.Originality/valueTo author's knowledge this is the first large-scale quantitative study that compares the employer tenure between lesbians, gays and comparable heterosexuals. The study provides additional insight into mechanisms that lead to (lack of) differentials in unemployment probability between these groups.

Getting a Job, Again: New Evidence against Subjective Well-Being Scarring

Previous research finds that unemployment leaves permanent “scars” on subjective well-being (SWB) that remain even after reemployment. However, this research systematically overweighs long-term unemployment, inaccurately measures employment transitions, often does not track individuals long enough to substantiate scarring, and does not always account for age-related changes in well-being. This paper uses event history calendars from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to track complete monthly employment histories of prime working age Americans over a 17-year period, and accounts for the temporal relationships between SWB, age, and employment transitions using a novel fixed-effects formulation. The results suggest that there is some variation in patterns of recovery by employment stability after job loss, but no significant differences were observed by the duration of unemployment spells. Within 2 years of reemployment, average SWB levels reverted toward baseline trajectories across all groups, showing no evidence of scarring. This study brings unemployment literature into better alignment with research on resilience and adaptation. The findings also highlight some limitations of the construct of SWB for assessing the long-term costs of unemployment.

Career breaks, broken pensions? Long-run effects of early and late-career unemployment spells on pension entitlements

Unemployment periods and other career breaks have long-term scarring effects on future labour market possibilities, permanently affecting workers' retirement income and standard of living as pensioners. Previous literature has focused on the impact of job loss on working careers with little attention to its impact on pension wealth, particularly the extent to which longevity heterogeneity amplifies unemployment scars. This paper investigates the effect of single and multiple unemployment spells on the lifetime pension entitlements of earnings-related contributory pension schemes, considering the timing and duration of breaks, alternative lifecycle labour earnings profiles, scarring and restoration effects on labour market re-entry, the existence of pension credits and pension accruals for periods spent outside the labour market, longevity heterogeneity, and the accumulation and decumulation redistributive features of the pension scheme. Pension entitlements are estimated using a backward-looking simulation approach based on the actual Portuguese public pension system rules and stylized labour market profiles identified in the SHARE Job Episodes Panel data using a sequence analysis. Longevity heterogeneity is modelled using a stochastic mortality model with a frailty model. Our results show that the timing and duration of unemployment periods is critical, that scarring effects amplify pension wealth losses, that minimum pension provisions, pension credits and pension scheme redistributive features can partially mitigate the impact of unemployment periods on future entitlements, and that the presence of positive correlation between lifetime income and longevity career breaks can amplify the asymmetry in the distribution of pension entitlements across income groups.

Job competition, human capital, and the lock-in effect: can unemployment insurance efficiently allocate human capital

Workers, firms and policymakers often face a trade-off between shorter unemployment spells on the one hand, and better quality matches on the other. During recessions this manifests itself through job competition, where high skilled workers misallocate their labor to positions for which they are over-qualified in order get back to work faster. In the presence of job-specific human capital, as high skilled workers gain experience in this low skilled sector they may find themselves “locked in” to these jobs. This is because workers will not want to lose their seniority by searching for a job that better utilizes their general human capital. As a result, this misallocation can persist even in economic recoveries leading to inefficient outcomes. This paper explores such an economy and finds that a UI system that becomes more generous during a recession increases welfare and better allocates human capital over the business cycle.

Better out than in? The effect on recidivism of replacing incarceration with electronic monitoring in Norway

Electronic monitoring (EM) has become a common alternative to traditional incarceration over the past few decades, yet the causal effect of EM on recidivism remains uncertain. This study exploits the gradual implementation of an EM programme in Norway between 2008 and 2011 in an instrumental variable design aimed at estimating the effect of EM on the recidivism rate, frequency and severity measured up to three years after release. Results suggest that EM reduced two-year recidivism rates by about 15 percent and the one-year recidivism frequency by approximately 0.3 offences on average. Subsample analyses indicate that the effects on recidivism rates are strongest among offenders without a prison record or recent unemployment spells and, although between-group differences are not statistically significant, this suggests that avoiding prison stigma and maintaining workplace relations can be important mechanisms whereby EM reduces recidivism and promotes desistance.