Job separation and well-being in couples’ perspective in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The consequences of job uncertainty on well-being are widely known. Yet not all types of job separation might be equally detrimental: the level of expectedness and voluntariness of job ends may shape the consequences on workers and their partners. This article explores the associations of four types of job termination with well-being in a couple’s perspective. Combining two British longitudinal surveys (1991–2021) (N ∼ 13,000 couples), the analyses apply fixed-effects models to estimate deviations of the well-being for workers and partners. Also, the patterns of anticipation and habituation of each episode of job termination are investigated. The results show that events such as dismissals and redundancies—more unanticipated and involuntary—are associated with larger drops in well-being than other more preventable and voluntary causes of job separation. The responses differ between workers and their partners and by gender. Further, anticipation and habituation patterns vary across the types of job separation.