Scaling methodology and scale reporting in the TREE2 panel survey. Documentation of scales implemented in the baseline survey (2016). Update 2023

This documentation refers to the database of the 2nd TREE cohort’s (TREE2) as published in the 2023 data release (TREE, 2023). It outlines the statistical models and estimation methods employed for scale construction and the calculation of student scores based on questionnaire items. Furthermore, we discuss the various metrics and indicators of relevant scale propertiescompiled in the technical appendix for all scales implemented in the TREE2 baseline survey. The focus of the scale reporting is on the internal consistency of the scales and on the comparability of the measurements across survey languages, survey modes and survey settings involved. With very few exceptions, the results indicate at least sufficient or high internal consistency and measurement invariance of the scales used. A complementary documentation covering the scales employed in later panel waves can be found in the 2023 TREE2 data release (Sacchi & Krebs-Oesch, 2023). With the exception of a few additional metrics of longitudinal measurement invariance over panels waves (ibid., sections 3.6, 4.2), it basically relies on the methods presented in this report

Documentation of scales implemented from panel wave 1 onwards

This paper documents the questionnaire-based scales and item composites administered in the first two waves of the second TREE cohort (TREE2) in 2017 and 2018. At the centre of this working paper is a technical appendix, which provides, for each scale, a detailed tabular report of selected statistics and quality measures. The focus is on the scales’ reliability, dimensionality and measurement invariance. The scaling and calculation of factor scores rely essentially on the same factor-analytical models and methods as in the TREE2 baseline survey. These are described in detail in sec-tion 3 of the respective documentation of the scales used in that survey (see Sacchi & Krebs-Oesch, 2021). The documentation also describes the selection, calculation and interpretation of the figures and quality measures reported in the tabular appendix (ibid., section 4). Against this backdrop, the explanatory notes in the introduction of the present documenta-tion are restricted to a description of the database for both waves and of some modifications in the applied methods. In addition, we also describe a series of newly introduced statistics of longitudinal measurement invariance for scales with repeated measures

Neue Kenngrössen zur Schweizer Stellenmarktentwicklung

Der Stellenmarkt-Monitor Schweiz am Soziologischen Institut der Universität Zürich beobachtet kontinuierlich Umfang und Zusammensetzung des Stellenangebots in der Schweiz. Mit dem im letzten November lancierten Adecco Swiss Job Market Index steht nun erstmals eine quartalsweise Messung des gesamtwirtschaftlichen Stellenangebots zur Verfügung. Jährliche Stichprobenerhebungen von Stellenangeboten aus Presse und Internet ermöglichen zudem Aussagen über langfristige Verschiebungen in der Struktur des betrieblichen Personalbedarfs von 1950 bis in die Gegenwart

Labour Market, Job Opportunities, and Transitions to Self-Employment: Evidence from Switzerland from the Mid-1960s to the Late 1980s

In recent years, self-employment has risen in several Western countries including Switzerland. The controversial discussion of this rise is attributable to shortcomings of empirical research, namely, to the lack of systematically considering, both at the macro- and the micro-level, the push and pull factors that may account for entry into self-employment. Little is known about how macroeconomic forces together with individual-level push and pull factors shape transitions into self-employment. Even less is known about how these factors play out in occupationally segmented labour markets. This paper thus examines how the overall climate for setting up a business, individual job opportunities, and structural characteristics of labour-market positions affect transitions to self-employment in the occupationally segmented Swiss labour market. Based on two data sets, we run event history models. The Swiss Life History Study provides information on transitions into self-employment. With the Swiss Job Monitor, we construct indicators of the time-variant aggregate- and individual-level opportunities and incentives for setting up a business. Results indicate that moves into self-employment are affected both by macroeconomic conditions, individual job opportunities, and structural characteristics of the labour market position, whereby pull factors dominate at the macro level and the interplay of push and pull factors at the individual leve

Scaling methodology and scale reporting in the TREE2 panel survey. Documentation of scales implemented in the baseline survey (2016)

This paper documents the questionnaire-based scales and item-based composites that have been collected on the occasion of the baseline survey administered to the second TREE cohort (TREE2) in 2016. First, the paper focuses on the methods and the estimation procedures that we have adopted for the calculation of the student scores published in the scientific use data files. Second, we describe the calculation of scale-specific statistics and quality measures (reported in the technical appendix) and provide some clues for their interpretation

Income during the early career: Do institutional characteristics of training occupations matter?

This paper addresses the mechanisms leading to income differences during the early career, both between individuals and between occupations. It compares the level of standardization, vocational specificity, and vertical differentiation of vocational education and training (VET) programmes and examines how these differences affect VET diploma holders’ incomes in their early careers. We go beyond previous research by developing refined theoretical concepts of vocational specificity, standardization, and differentiation and by measuring them with novel curriculum-based data. Theoretically, the paper assumes that training programmes’ institutional characteristics determine income by influencing diploma holders’ productivity as well as the signalling power of the degree. We test our hypotheses by combining institutional data from VET curricula with individual-level data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey and by applying multilevel regression analyses. The results show that the institutional dimensions, in particular vocational specificity, are multifaceted and consist of several subdimensions, which impact young workers’ incomes to different degrees at various time points during their early careers

Understanding cross-country variation in the long-term consequences of graduating at a bad time: A comparison of five European countries

This working paper investigates if graduating in a bad economy scars careers of youth cohorts in terms of increased future unemployment and overrepresentation in fixed-term and involuntary part-time work. These dynamics of scarring are explored from a cross-country comparative perspective, focusing on the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Finland. These countries make up for interesting cases as they differ remarkably on institutional and economic dimensions such as for example the vocational orientation of their education systems, the strictness of employment protection legislation, active labour market policies to support job-search success of jobless young people and the general level of prevalent youth unemployment, which are assumed to be related to cross-nationally distinct patterns in scarring effects. The focus of the empirical analysis is on long-term effects of the level of aggregate youth unemployment at graduation on career evolvement of school-leaver cohorts over 12 years since their graduation, distinguishing between educational groups while allowing for gender effects. All in all we find that bad luck in timing of labour market entry can scar future careers over the long-run. A bad economy at labour market entry may thus be seen as a major risk factor for the future integration of youth cohorts in very different institutional contexts

Contribution to Deliverable 3.4 (D3.4) – Institutional Determinants of Early Job Insecurity in Nine European Countries : Country Report Switzerland

Compared to other European countries, Switzerland has demonstrated relative economic stability since the economic crisis in 2008/2009. The employment rate of 15 to 24-year-olds in Switzerland registered a fluctuation of maximum 5% during the period from 2008 to 2015. The lowest rate was observed in the 2nd quarter of 2012 (65.2%) and the highest rate in the 3rd quarter of 2010 (70.2%). In comparison, the fluctuation of the employment rate of the general population (15-64 years of age) is even smaller; 82.2% in the 2nd quarter of 2010 was the lowest rate and 84.6% the highest in the last quarter of 2015. Overall, the employment rate among the younger population is less stable than throughout the general population (Bundesamt für Statistik BFS, 2016). As for fixed-term contracts, the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics registered a shared of 19% of fixed-term contracts among the age group 15-24, which is considerably higher than the share in the general labour force population (8% in 2015) (see section 2). In Switzerland, the youth unemployment rate differs from canton to canton. The French- and Italian-speaking parts show a higher rate than the German-speaking part of Switzerland. According to Eurostat (4Q 2015), on average, 9.8% of the young people between 15-24 years of age were unemployed in 2015, which was about double as high as the unemployment rate of the entire work force population (15-65-year-olds: 4.8%). However, compared to other OECD countries the youth unemployment rate in Switzerland is still relatively low (see section 2). According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, the share of people in the age group 18-24 in education or training has not varied much from 2008 (63.5%) to 2014 (64.5%). The lowest participation rate was measured in 2009, when 57.6% were in education or training (Eurostat 2016). The educational level in Switzerland has shown some changes regarding the tertiary education. While in 2010 35.3% of the population declared that they had obtained a tertiary degree as their highest attained education level, it was 40.2% in 2014. Furthermore, there has been a slight increase of people, who have completed at least an upper-secondary education (85.8% in 2010 and 88.0% in 2014) (FSO 2016). The OECD data show that the proportion of students enrolling in the general and in the vocational programmes has hardly changed over the years. In 2008 it was 35:65, and in 2013 it was 34:66 (OECD 2015). The number of persons aged from 18 to 24, who have only completed the lower secondary education, and who are currently not in education or training, has slightly decreased over the years: While it was 7.6% in 2010, it dropped to 6.3% by 2014 (FSO 2016). The overall positive economic situation in Switzerland provides favourable conditions for a stable labour market. Compared to other countries Switzerland has a low youth as well as general unemployment rate

How unemployment scarring affects skilled young workers: evidence from a factorial survey of Swiss recruiters

We ask how employers contribute to unemployment scarring in the recruitment process in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. By drawing on recruitment theories, we aim to better understand how recruiters assess different patterns of unemployment in a job candidate’s CV and how this affects the chances of young applicants being considered for a vacancy. We argue that in contexts with tight school-work linkage and highly standardised Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems, the detrimental effect of early unemployment depends on how well the applicant’s profile matches the requirements of the advertised position. To test this assumption, we surveyed Swiss recruiters who were seeking to fill positions during the time of data collection. We employed a factorial survey experiment that tested how the (un)employment trajectories in hypothetical young job applicants’ CVs affected their chances of being considered for a real vacancy. Our results show that unemployment decreases the perceived suitability of an applicant for a specific job, which implies there is a scarring effect of unemployment that increases with the duration of being unemployed. But we also found that these effects are moderated by how well the applicant’s profile matches the job’s requirements. Overall, the worse the match between applicant’s profile and the job profile, the smaller are the scarring effects of unemployment. In sum, our findings contribute to the literature by revealing considerable heterogeneity in the scarring effects of unemployment. Our findings further suggest that the scarring effects of unemployment need to be studied with regard to country-specific institutional settings, the applicants’ previous education and employment experiences, and the job characteristics

Le chômage, ennemi de l’employabilité

Avec un marché de l’emploi en pleine mutation structurelle, un parcours rectiligne après l’apprentissage ne constitue plus la norme. Tout porte à croire que le nombre d’interruptions de carrière – forcées ou volontaires – ne cessera d’augmenter. Dans ces circonstances, la question est de savoir comment les employeurs désireux de repourvoir un poste perçoivent ces parenthèses dans le curriculum des jeunes à la recherche d’un emploi. Une étude récente menée en Suisse parvient à la conclusion qu’une période de chômage porte atteinte à l’employabilité, et que ce phénomène n’épargne pas les détenteurs d’un certificat fédéral de capacité