Functional Inequality: Task Specific Transitions from Temporary Employment

• In Event: 160 - Section on Inequality, Poverty and Mobility Paper Session. Labor and Inequality

Abstract

Temporary employment contracts can serve as a bridge into permanent employment or become a trap that leads into unemployment. I argue that the function of temporary employment varies with task specificity and affects transition durations into permanent employment and unemployment. Analysing retrospective survey data for Germany (ALWA) using multilevel event-history models, I show that a bridge into permanent employment most likely arises for medium-skill work. By contrast, the risk of a transition into unemployment is highest for employees performing low-skill tasks but also dependent on the local employment environment. Only high-skill jobs seem to be unaffected by reduced local labor demand. The results indicate that debates concerning the function and consequences of temporary work must consider occupational characteristics. The selective distribution of transition probabilities and unemployment risks generates inequalities and increases the risk of labor market segmentation as skill-biased technological change shifts employees towards low and high skill tasks.

Author

• Malte Reichelt, Institute for Employment Research