This paper examines the impact of fixed-term employment on well-being from a cross-national comparative perspective by testing (1) the effect heterogeneity across European countries, (2) to which extent Jahoda’s Latent Deprivation Model provides a sufficient micro-level explanation for the underlying mechanisms and (3) whether the macro-level factor of social cohesion weakens the micro-level impacts. We investigate the effects in both an upwards (permanent employment) and a downwards (unemployment) comparative control group design. Due to the mediating role of social contacts on the micro-level, we assume social cohesion on the country-level to moderate the main effects: A high degree of societal affiliation should substitute the function of social contacts in the work environment of individuals. Using microdata from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2012 for 23 countries and applying multilevel estimation procedures, we find that there is a remarkable variation in the effects across countries. Even though in each country fixed-term employees have a lower subjective well-being compared to permanent ones, the point estimates vary from .17 to 1.19 units. When comparing fixed-term employees to unemployed individuals, the coefficients even range from − .27 to 1.25 units. More specifically, a negative effect indicates that having a fixed-term contract is worse than unemployment in some countries. Moreover, pooled linear regression models reveal that Jahoda’s Latent Deprivation Model explains about three-quarters of the micro-level effect sizes for both directions. Eventually, social cohesion on the country-level diminishes the individual-level well-being differences between fixed-term employees and permanent individuals but not between fixed-term employees and the unemployed.

This paper answers three research questions: What is the impact of fixed-term employment on the well-being of partners? How do these spillover effects differ by gender, and do gender differences depend on socialization in East or West Germany? Do individual well-being, perceived job insecurity, and financial worries mediate the spillover effects? We use longitudinal data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), 1995–2017, and a sample of heterosexual couples living together, to estimate fixed-effects panel regression models. In contrast to previous studies, we consider asymmetric effects of entering and leaving fixed-term contracts by focusing on transitions from unemployment into fixed-term and fixed-term into permanent jobs. Confirming previous research on spillover effects of unemployment, we find that fixed-term re-employment increases partners’ well-being and that these effects are larger in case of re-employment by men and partners’ socialization in West Germany. We also show that transitions from fixed-term to permanent jobs do not substantially increase the well-being of partners with little differences by gender and place of socialization. While the spillover effect of re-employment is mediated by changes in the well-being of the individual re-entering the labor market, changes in job insecurity and financial worries due to transitions from fixed-term to permanent jobs are too small to produce meaningful effects on well-being. Although fixed-term contracts have been referred to as a new source of inequality, our results show that they cause little difference in the well-being of individuals and their partners and that finding a job matters more than the type of contract.

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This cumulative thesis raises the overarching research question: How does fixed-term employment affect well-being? Three smaller, more specific research questions emerge from this primary research question. First, what are the short- and long-term effects of fixed-term employment for the well-being of individuals and couples? Second, what are the mechanisms explaining the effects of fixed-term employment on well-being? Third and eventually, how do these effects vary across gender and contexts, and what are explanations for (no) variations? An overview article and five articles, of which three are published in SSCI-listed journals, answer these research questions. In Article 1, I state three specific research questions: First, is there heterogeneity in the effect of fixed-term employment on well-being across countries? Second, are there mediation effects by the manifest and latent functions suggested by Jahoda’s Latent Deprivation Model on the effect of fixed-term employment on well-being? Third, do different degrees of social cohesion across countries moderate these effects? I examine the effect of fixed-term employment on subjective well-being compared to unemployment (downwards comparison) and compared to permanent employment (upwards comparison). I utilize European Social Survey (ESS) data from 2012 for 23 countries and apply multilevel estimation procedures. Article 2 addresses two research questions: First, what are the effects of fixed-term employment trajectories, namely stepping stone, entrapment, and also in relation to long-term unemployment and stable permanent career, on subjective well-being? Second, how do these effects vary over time? I analyze these research questions using longitudinal data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) from 1994 to 2019 on labor market entrants. I apply a longer-term perspective on both the independent and the dependent variables. Article 3 takes up a couple’s perspective on the effect of fixed-term employment on well-being. Here, my co-authors and I pose three research questions: First, what are the spillover effects of fixed-term employment on the well-being of partners? Second, are there differences in the spillover effects by gender and do these gendered differences vary by place of socialization? Third, does own well-being mediate the gendered effects and are individual effects mediated by perceived job insecurity and financial worries? Again, these research questions are examined using the SOEP, but for the period 1995–2017 and for heterosexual couples living together. In Article 4, my co-author and I examine a specific mediation pathway of fixed-term employment on well-being, namely wealth and, more precisely, housing. The three research questions addressed in this article are: First, how do couples’ early career trajectories affect the probability of being homeowners later in life? Second, how do couples’ early career trajectories affect the share of income spent on rent later in life? Third, does joint cumulative income mediate the effects of couples’ early career trajectories on homeownership and the share of income couples spend on rent? As in Articles 2 and 3, this paper uses SOEP data, but this time from 1995 to 2018 for heterosexual couples between the ages of 18 and 38. Article 5 takes the longest-term perspective of the five articles on effects of insecure employment on well-being in later life and considers the family perspective more directly. This article asks the main research question: How do early and mid-life gendered work and family trajectories affect self-rated health in later life in West Germany and Italy? My co-author and I examine this research question using data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and, in particular, from the retrospective SHARELIFE survey which collects retrospective life course data in accordance with the life course framework. In summary, all five articles serve puzzle pieces to receive a more holistic picture of the effect of fixed-term employment on well-being. These puzzle pieces relate to the life course framework in different facets. All five articles show that fixed-term employment can have positive effects compared to unemployment. The findings are in favor of the integrational perspective on fixed-term employment contracts and contradict the notion that fixed-term employment traps individuals in lower labor market segments.