Determinanten befristeter Neueinstellungen

"Using the IAB Job Vacancy Survey for the years 2018 until 2021, this research report examines establishment- and job-specific as well individual determinants of fixed-term contracts among new hires. To assess the relevance of different establishment-specific motives for fixed-term hires, we first investigate fixed-term contracts’ role of covering a temporary labor demand and their possible role of serving as an extended probation period. During our observation period, the proportion of fixed-term contracts among new hires that were made to meet a temporary demand was more than twice as high as than the respective share among new hires that were conducted to meet a long-term demand. At the same time, however, only about one-fifth of all fixed-term hires were made to meet a temporary labor demand. The great importance of fixed-term long-term hires suggests that fixed-term hires also fulfil the function of an "extended probation period". To assess this motive, we compare the hiring costs between fixed-term and permanent hires. If fixed-term contracts serve as a screening device one would expect employers to screen fixed-term candidates less intensely than candidates hired on a permanent position. Our results indeed show that employers incur less costs of search and experience lower vacancy durations when filling a fixed-term position. This result also holds when restricting the analysis to new hires that were conducted to meet a long-term labor demand. These findings support the notion that fixed-term hires serve as a screening device, by providing employers with an extended probationary period. Based on these results, the report identifies further job-specific and individual determinants of fixed-term hires. Consistent with the screening motive, job requirements of fixed-term positions are less likely to require many years of experience. Moreover, fixed-term contracts are concluded more frequently when hiring formerly un- or non-employed individuals. Comparing the periods before and after the Covid-19 recession suggests that for most of the explanatory variables the marginal effects on the probability of a fixed-term hire do not significantly differ from each other over time." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))