IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iab/iabzaf/v42i3p234-251.html

Labour market flexibility and inequality: the changing risk patterns of temporary employment in West Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Gebel, Michael

    (Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung (MZES), Universität Mannheim)

  • Giesecke, Johannes

    (WZB)

Abstract

"While previous research on temporary employment has shown that certain labour market groups are more likely than others to enter this kind of employment, there has been scant research on the question concerning to what extent these allocation patterns have changed over time. Against the background of pervasive structural and institutional changes which have affected the West German labour market since the beginning of the 1990s, there are reasons to believe that allocation patterns have changed as well. However, on a theoretical level there are different views regarding the quality of these changes. Whereas some scholars argue that social inequality has been exacerbated along the existing lines of social division, others maintain that risks are becoming less and less socially structured. To evaluate this question empirically, we use data from the German Mikrozensus for the period from 1989 to 2005. The analysis reveals first of all that, on the aggregate level, the overall proportion of temporary employment has increased only slightly during that period; secondly, the results show that especially those individuals belonging to groups that already had a weak labour market position have been allocated increasingly to temporary jobs; thirdly, contrary to the thesis of a de-structuration of social inequality, the findings reveal no decline in the overall importance of 'classical' determinants of temporary employment relationships." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Suggested Citation

  • Gebel, Michael & Giesecke, Johannes, 2009. "Labour market flexibility and inequality: the changing risk patterns of temporary employment in West Germany," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 42(3), pages 234-251.
    • Handle: RePEc:iab:iabzaf:v:42:i:3:p:234-251
    DOI: 10.1007/s12651-009-0018-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12651-009-0018-6
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12651-009-0018-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 7-72, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Struffolino, Emanuela, 2019. "Navigating the early career: The social stratification of young workers’ employment trajectories in Italy," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 63, pages 1-17.
    2. Christian Pfeifer, 2012. "Fixed-term contracts and wages revisited using linked employer-employee data [Befristete Arbeitsverträge und Entlohnung neu untersucht mit verbundenen Arbeitgeber-Arbeitnehmer-Daten]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 45(2), pages 171-183, July.
    3. Bachmann, Ronald & Beimann, Boris & Bredtmann, Julia & David, Peggy & Ehlert, Christoph & Kassenböhmer, Sonja & Schaffner, Sandra & Siemers, Lars, 2011. "Studies on flexicurity Lot 1: Study on various aspects of labour market performance using micro data from the European Union statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC). Contract No. VC/2010/," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 72620.
    4. Struffolino, Emanuela & Raitano, Michele, 2018. "Il divario generazionale nell’accesso al mercato del lavoro: differenziazione e destandardizzazione delle traiettorie d’ingresso," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 3, pages 63-83.
    5. Leonie Westhoff, 2024. "Does Atypical Employment Come in Couples? Evidence from European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 172(2), pages 569-594, March.
    6. Allmendinger, Jutta & Hipp, Lena & Stuth, Stefan, 2013. "Atypical employment in Europe 1996-2011," Discussion Papers, Presidential Department P 2013-003, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    7. Schmeißer, Claudia & Stuth, Stefan & Behrend, Clara & Budras, Robert & Hipp, Lena & Leuze, Kathrin & Giesecke, Johannes, 2012. "Atypische Beschäftigung in Europa 1996-2009," Discussion Papers, Presidential Department P 2012-001, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    8. Pieroni, Luca & d’Agostino, Giorgio & Lanari, Donatella & Scarlato, Margherita, 2023. "Temporary employment and fertility in Italy: The effect of two labor market reforms in the early 2000s," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    9. Eichhorst, Werner & Konle-Seidl, Regina & Koslowski, Alison & Marx, Paul, 2010. "Quantity over Quality? A European Comparison of the Changing Nature of Transitions between Non-Employment and Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 5285, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Christian Pfeifer, 2014. "A Note on Dual Internal Labor Markets and Wages of Temporary Workers: Evidence from Linked-Employer-Employee Data," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 133-142, June.
    11. Monica Galizzi & Roberto Leombruni & Lia Pacelli, 2019. "Successful return to work during labor market liberalization: the case of Italian injured workers," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 53(1), pages 1-24, December.
    12. Hipp, Lena & Anderson, Christopher J., 2015. "Laziness or liberation? Labor market policies and workers' attitudes toward employment flexibility," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101872, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Michael Gebel, 2013. "Is a Temporary Job Better than Unemployment?: A Cross-Country Comparison Based on British, German, and Swiss Panel Data," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 543, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Ştefan Armeanu & Georgeta Vintilă & Ştefan Cristian Gherghina, 2017. "Empirical Study towards the Drivers of Sustainable Economic Growth in EU-28 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Checchi, Daniele & Visser, Jelle & van de Werfhorst, Herman G., 2007. "Inequality and Union Membership: The Impact of Relative Earnings Position and Inequality Attitudes," IZA Discussion Papers 2691, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Dimitris Pavlopoulos & Ruud Muffels & Jeroen Vermunt, 2010. "Wage mobility in Europe. A comparative analysis using restricted multinomial logit regression," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 115-129, January.
    4. Jae Song & David J Price & Fatih Guvenen & Nicholas Bloom & Till von Wachter, 2019. "Firming Up Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 1-50.
    5. Baird, Matthew D. & Engberg, John & Gutierrez, Italo A., 2022. "RCT evidence on differential impact of US job training programmes by pre-training employment status," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Keller, Elisa, 2019. "Labor supply and gender differences in occupational choice," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 221-241.
    7. Luca Marchiori & I-Ling Shen & Frédéric Docquier, 2013. "Brain Drain In Globalization: A General Equilibrium Analysis From The Sending Countries' Perspective," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1582-1602, April.
    8. Patricia Crifo & Etienne Lehmann, 2001. "Why the Kuznets Curve Will Always Reverse," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00150324, HAL.
    9. Daron Acemoglu & Amy Finkelstein, 2008. "Input and Technology Choices in Regulated Industries: Evidence from the Health Care Sector," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 837-880, October.
    10. Kubitza, Christoph & Dib, Jonida Bou & Kopp, Thomas & Krishna, Vijesh V. & Nuryartono, Nunung & Qaim, Matin & Romero, Miriam & Klasen, Stephan, 2019. "Labor savings in agriculture and inequality at different spatial scales: The expansion of oil palm in Indonesia," EFForTS Discussion Paper Series 26, University of Goettingen, Collaborative Research Centre 990 "EFForTS, Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems (Sumatra, Indonesia)".
    11. Carlos Medina & Christian Posso, 2010. "Technical Change and Polarization of the Labor Market: Evidence for Brazil, Colombia and Mexico," Borradores de Economia 614, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    12. Mario Reinhold & Stephan Thomsen, 2017. "The changing situation of labor market entrants in Germany [Die veränderliche Situation für Berufseinsteiger in Deutschland]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 50(1), pages 161-174, August.
    13. Hilal Atasoy & Rajiv D. Banker & Paul A. Pavlou, 2016. "On the Longitudinal Effects of IT Use on Firm-Level Employment," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 6-26, March.
    14. Paolo Seri, 2014. "The role of proximity in retrospective: organizations, ICT and human resources in Italian traditional districts? firms," Working Papers 1404, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2014.
    15. James Spletzer & Elizabeth Weber Handwerker, 2015. "The Role of Establishments and the Concentration of Occupations in Wage Inequality," Working Papers id:7427, eSocialSciences.
    16. Shiyuan Pan & Heng-fu Zou & Tailong Li, 2010. "Patent Protection, Technological Change and Wage Inequality," CEMA Working Papers 437, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    17. Iris Claus & Les Oxley & Yang Du & Cuifen Yang, 2014. "Demographic Transition And Labour Market Changes: Implications For Economic Development In China," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 617-635, September.
    18. Per Krusell & Anthony Smith & Joachim Hubmer, 2015. "The historical evolution of the wealth distribution: A quantitative-theoretic investigation," 2015 Meeting Papers 1406, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    19. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Li, Jiangnan & Yan, Jingyang, 2025. "Can artificial intelligence contribute to the new energy system? Based on the perspective of labor supply," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    20. Thanos Fragkandreas, 2022. "Three Decades of Research on Innovation and Inequality: Causal Scenarios, Explanatory Factors, and Suggestions," Working Papers 60, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Feb 2022.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iab:iabzaf:v:42:i:3:p:234-251. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: IAB, Geschäftsbereich Informationsmanagement und Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iabbbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.