Scars that will not Disappear: Long-term Associations between Early and Later life Unemployment under Different Welfare Regimes

Abstract

Exploiting retrospective data from the SHARELIFE project, we investigate long-term associations between early and later life unemployment spells of at least six months in a sample of more than 13,000 men and women from eleven European countries. Our findings provide, first, evidence for significant differences in the life-course pattern of unemployment occurrence between welfare state regimes. Second, childhood conditions are shown to bear significant associations with the odds of experiencing periods of unemployment throughout one's employment career. Third, and finally, our analysis confirms previous research in that we provide clear evidence for long-term scarring effects, showing that they are indeed permanent ones, as we observe them even among older workers close to retirement. The paper concludes with a discussion of perspectives for future research.

Comparing long-term scarring effects of unemployment across countries: the impact of graduating during an economic downturn

“…Fourth, aspects of unemployment benefit systems and, in particular, their generosity in terms of level and duration of benefits may play a role in determining the labour market (re)integration of the unemployed (Brandt and Hank, 2014;Gangl, 2004Gangl, , 2006. Some scholars have argued, however, that contributory unemployment insurance systems, as they are organized across European countries (Hora et al, 2016), may be less important for supporting young people's job searches and (re)integration success (Kawaguchi and Murao, 2014) because young people with no or little work experience often do not qualify for substantial benefits.…”

The effect of an early-career involuntary job loss on later life health in Europe

“…Brand, 2006;Brandt & Hank, 2014;Dieckhoff, 2011;Gangl, 2006;Manzoni & Mooi-Reci, 2011). For instance, Becker's (1993) human capital theory argues that job losses result in the loss of specific as well as the depreciation of general human capital, which, in turn, entails fewer and lower quality job offers by prospective employers.…”

“…The following 14 countries were included: Austria, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland and Ireland. The data provided information on self-rated health at the time of the interview as well as details about respondents' work histories, childhood health and childhood socio-economic status, making it well-suited for the analysis of the long-term consequences of life course events (Brandt & Hank, 2014;Schröder, 2013).…”

“…Specifically, the negative effects of an early-career job loss may work through channels of increased subsequent unemployment risks (e.g. Brandt & Hank, 2014), employment instability (e.g. Manzoni & Mooi-Reci, 2011) and lower job quality (e.g.…”

Personally affected, politically disaffected? How experiences with public employment services impact young people's political efficacy

“…Unemployment at a young age is likely to leave behind numerous scars. The loss of future earnings and the diminished career advancement opportunities are among the most well documented (Brandt & Hank, 2014;Gangl, 2006;Möller & Umkehrer, 2015). Beyond labor market effects, however, experiences of unemployment can also have consequences for how people think about democracy and where they stand vis-à-vis the state (Debus, Stegmaier, & Tosun, 2014;Emmenegger, Marx, & Schraff, 2017;Giugni & Lorenzini, 2017;Marx & Nguyen, 2016).…”