IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/canjec/v42y2009i4p1305-1325.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is job insecurity on the rise? Evidence from Canadian perception data

Author

Listed:
  • Pierre Brochu
  • Lu Zhou

Abstract

This paper examines the unexplored issue of worker insecurity perception in Canada. Specifically, we explore for changes in worker perceptions of job security using Canadian Gallup data for the 1977–2006 period. We find that the high levels of perceived insecurity of the early to mid‐1990s were only cyclical in nature, not evidence of structural change. We also explore for differences across socio‐economic groups and find that university educated workers, full‐time workers, and white‐collar workers all felt relatively more secure about present and future job prospects. Interestingly, union members tend to be more concerned about job security (than non‐union). Ce mémoire examine le problème inexploré de la perception de la précarité de l'emploi au Canada. Spécifiquement, on explore les changements dans les perceptions de précarité d'emploi des travailleurs à l'aide de données Gallup pour la période 1977‐2006. Il appert que les hauts niveaux de précarité perçue du début au milieu des années 90 étaient de nature cyclique, et non pas le résultat d'un changement structurel. On examine aussi les différences entre groupes socio‐économiques, et on découvre que les travailleurs avec une formation universitaire, les travailleurs à temps plein, et les collets blancs se sentaient relativement plus en sécurité quant aux perspectives d'emploi présentes et futures. Il est intéressant de noter que les travailleurs syndiqués sont davantage inquiets quant à la précarité de l'emploi que les non‐syndiqués.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre Brochu & Lu Zhou, 2009. "Is job insecurity on the rise? Evidence from Canadian perception data," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 1305-1325, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:42:y:2009:i:4:p:1305-1325
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5982.2009.01551.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2009.01551.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2009.01551.x?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alex Bryson & Lorenzo Cappellari & Claudio Lucifora, 2004. "Does Union Membership Really Reduce Job Satisfaction?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(3), pages 439-459, September.
    2. Peter Kuhn & Arthur Sweetman, 1998. "Wage Loss following Displacement: The Role of Union Coverage," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(3), pages 384-400, April.
    3. Melvin Stephens, 2004. "Job Loss Expectations, Realizations, and Household Consumption Behavior," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 253-269, February.
    4. Andrew Clark & Fabien Postel-Vinay, 2009. "Job security and job protection," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 207-239, April.
    5. Shoshana Grossbard (ed.), 2006. "Jacob Mincer A Pioneer of Modern Labor Economics," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-0-387-29175-8, June.
    6. Marc Frenette & David A. Green & Kevin Milligan, 2007. "The tale of the tails: Canadian income inequality in the 1980s and 1990s," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 734-764, August.
    7. David Campbell & Alan Carruth & Andrew Dickerson & Francis Green, 2007. "Job insecurity and wages," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(518), pages 544-566, March.
    8. David A. Green & James Townsend, 2010. "Understanding the wage patterns of Canadian less skilled workers: the role of implicit contracts," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 373-403, February.
    9. Andrew Heisz, 2005. "The evolution of job stability in Canada: trends and comparisons with U.S. results," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 38(1), pages 105-127, February.
    10. Petri Böckerman, 2004. "Perception of Job Instability in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 283-314, July.
    11. Green, Francis & Felstead, Alan & Burchell, Brendan, 2000. "Job Insecurity and the Difficulty of Regaining Employment: An Empirical Study of Unemployment Expectations," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 62(0), pages 855-883, Special I.
    12. Michèle Belot & Jan Boone & Jan Van Ours, 2007. "Welfare‐Improving Employment Protection," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(295), pages 381-396, August.
    13. Keith A. Bender & Peter J. Sloane, 1998. "Job Satisfaction, Trade Unions, and Exit-Voice Revisited," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(2), pages 222-240, January.
    14. Daniel Aaronson & Daniel G. Sullivan, 1998. "The decline of job security in the 1990s: displacement, anxiety, and their effect on wage growth," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 22(Q I), pages 17-43.
    15. Morissette, Rene, 2004. "Have Permanent Layoff Rates Increased in Canada?," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2004218e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    16. David H. Autor, 2003. "Outsourcing at Will: The Contribution of Unjust Dismissal Doctrine to the Growth of Employment Outsourcing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-42, January.
    17. Schmidt, Stefanie R, 1999. "Long-Run Trends in Workers' Beliefs about Their Own Job Security: Evidence from the General Social Survey," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(4), pages 127-141, October.
    18. Andrew Heisz, 2005. "The evolution of job stability in Canada: trends and comparisons with U.S. results," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 105-127, February.
    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. René Morissette & Hanqing Qiu & Ping Ching Winnie Chan, 2013. "The risk and cost of job loss in Canada, 1978–2008," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(4), pages 1480-1509, November.
    2. Pierre Brochu & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2011. "Union Membership and Perceived Job Insecurity: 30 Years of Evidence from the American General social Survey," Working Papers 1106E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    3. Watson, Barry & Daley, Angela & Rohde, Nicholas & Osberg, Lars, 2020. "Blown off-course? Weight gain among the economically insecure during the great recession," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Green, David & Kesselman, Jonathan Rhys & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2021. "Covering All the Basics: Reforms for a More Just Society," MPRA Paper 105902, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Pierre Brochu & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2012. "Union Membership and Perceived Job Insecurity: Thirty Years of Evidence from the American General Social Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(2), pages 263-285, April.

    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. repec:ilr:articl:v:65:y:2012:i:2:p:263-285 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Pierre Brochu & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2011. "Union Membership and Perceived Job Insecurity: 30 Years of Evidence from the American General social Survey," Working Papers 1106E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    3. Pierre Brochu & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2012. "Union Membership and Perceived Job Insecurity: Thirty Years of Evidence from the American General Social Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(2), pages 263-285, April.
    4. Vladimir Gimpelson & Aleksey Oshchepkov, 2012. "Does more unemployment cause more fear of unemployment?," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Adrian Chadi & Laszlo Goerke, 2023. "Seeking shelter in times of crisis? unemployment, perceived job insecurity and trade union membership," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(359), pages 1041-1088, July.
    6. Geishecker, Ingo & Riedl, Maximilian & Frijters, Paul, 2012. "Offshoring and job loss fears: An econometric analysis of individual perceptions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 738-747.
    7. Lokshin, Michael & Gimpelson, Vladimir & Oshchepkov, Aleksey, 2012. "Explaining the Dynamics in Perceptions of Job Insecurity in Russia," IZA Discussion Papers 6422, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Riedl, Maximilian, 2013. "Wage bargaining, job loss fears and offshoring," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 174, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    9. Dickerson, Andy & Green, Francis, 2012. "Fears and realisations of employment insecurity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 198-210.
    10. Francis Green & Nicholas Tsitsianis, 2004. "Can the Changing Nature of Jobs Account for National Trends in Job Satisfaction?," Studies in Economics 0406, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    11. Benjamin Artz & Ilker Kaya, 2014. "Job insecurity and job satisfaction in the United States: the case of public sector union workers," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 103-120, March.
    12. Marcel Garz, 2012. "Job Insecurity Perceptions and Media Coverage of Labor Market Policy," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 528-544, December.
    13. David Campbell & Alan Carruth & Andrew Dickerson & Francis Green, 2007. "Job insecurity and wages," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(518), pages 544-566, March.
    14. Moreno Baruffini, 2019. "Perceptions of Job Insecurity in Switzerland: Evidence Using Verbal and Numerical Descriptors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Pierre Brochu, 2013. "The source of the new Canadian job stability patterns," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 46(2), pages 412-440, May.
    16. Clair Brown & Julia Lane & Timothy Sturgeon, 2013. "Workers' Views of the Impact of Trade on Jobs," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 1-21, January.
    17. Verena Dill & Uwe Jirjahn, 2014. "Foreign Owners and Perceived Job Insecurity in Germany: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data," Research Papers in Economics 2014-09, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    18. Dräger, Vanessa, 2015. "Do Employment Protection Reforms Affect Well-Being?," IZA Discussion Papers 9114, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Morissette, Rene & Ostrovsky, Yuri, 2005. "Summary Of: The Instability of Family Earnings and Family Income in Canada, 1986 to 1991 and 1996 to 2001," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2005266e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    20. Sascha O. Becker & Samuel Bentolila & Ana Fernandes & Andrea Ichino, 2004. "Job Insecurity and Children's Emancipation," Working Papers wp2004_0404, CEMFI.
    21. José María Arranz, "undated". "La Seguridad Del Empleo En España: Evidencia Con Datos De La Epa (1987-2003)," Working Papers 5-04 Classification-JEL :, Instituto de Estudios Fiscales.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

    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:wly:canjec:v:42:y:2009:i:4:p:1305-1325. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5982 .

    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.