A multichannel typology of non-standard employment careers

Non-standard, flexible, employment is often considered to be either a stepping-stone to good employment, or a trap into repeated spells of non-standard employment and unemployment. Using a novel approach called multichannel sequence analysis, we show that the effects of non-standard employment on workers’ careers are more diverse than just this basic dichotomy and that the normal definitions of “good” and “bad” outcomes should be reconsidered

A multichannel typology of temporary employment careers in the Netherlands: Identifying traps and stepping stones in terms of employment and income security

In this paper, we apply multichannel sequence analysis of labour market positions and incomes to create a typology of careers starting with temporary employment in the Netherlands. For this purpose, we use detailed register data from Statistics Netherlands for all workers who entered temporary employment in 2007 and were observed for 96 months. This approach leads to a typology of 17 different career types that shows a considerably larger variation - in terms of employment and income security - than previous research has shown. Specifically, the typology shows that 29.6% of the research population has a stepping stone career with high career and income security, while 39.7% has a dead-end career with low career and income security. However, a large part of careers – 24.7% – cannot be classified in this traditional distinction, as they combine high employment security and low incomes or high incomes and low employment security

Institutions and structures as barriers? A comparison of native-born and immigrant unemployment durations across 12 European countries

This study investigated the effect of institutions on the unemployment duration gap between non-EU immigrants and native-born in 12 European countries. Going further than the existing literature, our study encompassed unemployment duration, distinguishing between exits to inactivity, primary and secondary employment. Additionally, we have provided a stronger micro-foundation to the comparative literature by introducing institutional measures for unemployment-related benefits at the individual level rather than merely using aggregate proxies. Our analysis found no disincentive effects of benefits for immigrants. Furthermore, the employment prospects of immigrants were better when the demand for low-skilled labour was high, and immigration policy was labour market-oriented. In contrast, employment protection legislation did not affect the unemployment duration of immigrants

Wage Mobility Patterns in Europe

Wage mobility is in the heart of economic research and political debate on the futureof the European labour markets. This study deals with substantial and methodological issues concerning wage mobility. It fits in the tradition of labour economists thatare particularly interested in measuring the returns to human capital investmentsand the relationship between productivity and wages. More concisely, this thesis investigates the individual and institutional determinants of wage mobility. The effectof human capital as well as other personal and job characteristics on wage dynamicsis studied using longitudinal data for several European countries. By examiningthe results across countries featured by different labour markets institutions, we areable to test to what extent wage dynamics depend on the institutional context. Thisstudy shows that wage mobility is higher in countries that combine labour marketflexibility with employment and income security. It further underlines the significance of human capital in the determination of wage dynamics. However, mobilitylevels are conditional to the pay levels; low-paid and high-paid workers face differentlevels of wage mobility. This thesis also shows that there is a need to correct formeasurement error when studying wage mobility as this error strongly overestimateswage changes. Wage mobility of the low-paid in the strongly regulated labour market of Germany is higher than in the unregulated labour market of the UK and themoderately-flexible labour market of the Netherlands

Escaping low pay: do male labour market entrants stand a chance?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and the human-capital determinants of low-wage mobility for labour market entrants in the UK and Germany. Design/methodology/approach – Using panel data for the UK (BHPS) and Germany (GSOEP), a competing-risks duration model is applied that allows the study of transitions from low pay to competing destination states: higher pay, self-employment, unemployment and inactivity. Unobserved heterogeneity is tackled by a non-parametric mass-point approach. Findings – It is found that low pay is only a temporary state for most young job starters. However, there is a small group of job starters that is caught in a trap of low pay, unemployment or inactivity. In the UK, job starters escape from low pay mainly by developing firm-specific skills. In Germany, involvement in formal vocational training and the attainment of apprenticeship qualifications account for low pay exits. Originality/value – Over the past decades, unemployment and low-wage employment have emerged as major challenges facing young labour market entrants. While most empirical studies focus exclusively on the transition from low pay to high pay, the paper shows that a significant percentage of young entrants are caught in a low-pay-non-employment trap. Moreover, it is shown that, depending on the institutional context, different types of human capital investments can account for a successful low-pay exit

BRACKISH MARSH BENTHIC MICROFAUNA AND PALEOENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES DURING THE LAST 6000 YEARS AT THE COASTAL PLAIN OF MARATHON (SE GREECE)

The present study, based mainly on the analysis of foraminifers and ostracodes, provides evidence of paleoenvironmental changes on the coastal plain of Marathon (E. Greece) during the last 6.000 yrs. Three sedimentary units -lagoonal formations - were recognized and identified as A, B and C. They range in time between before 5500BP-3500BP, 3500BP-2500BP and 2500BP-recent, respectively. The study of the brackish marsh microfauna of the Marathon plain Holocene sediments reveals the presence, during the last 5500 yrs., of three distinct biofacies in the sedimentary units already established. Alternating mesohaline - oligohaline (MO), oligohaline - fresh water (OFW) and mesohaline - oligohaline to oligohaline - fresh water (MO-OFW) biofacies in the framework of the sedimentary units indicate a general trend landward along the plain suggesting a slowing of sea-level rise probably correlated with a relevant tectonic uplift. One prominent feature of this study is the clarification of the ecological preference of the species Trichohya1us aguayoi (Bermudez, 1935), which is dominant in oligohaline conditions under an influence of fresh water input (salinity less than 15 ‰).&nbsp

Job mobility and wage mobility of high- and low-paid workers.

Studies have shown that voluntary job-to-job changes have given a possitive effect on wage growth. This papers argues taht the impact of a job change on wage mobility depends on the position in the wage distribution