Investeren in employability. De impact van levenslang leren en tijdelijke arbeid op arbeidsmarktkansen

One of the assumptions in career literature is that lifelong employment is giving way to lifelong employability. Employability refers to the capacity of people to gain and retain work. Gaining work experience and lifelong learning are two possible ways to strengthen one’s position on the labour market. In this article, we investigate the impact of work experience through temporary employment and of training on the labour market opportunities of unemployed and temporary employees. The results indicate that temporary employment is a more effective integration mechanism for unemployed than training. Yet, for those unemployed entering the labour market via temporary jobs, it is vital to get a permanent job fairly soon. Those staying in temporary jobs run a higher risk of becoming unemployed again. The study moreover reveals that although lifelong learning strengthens the labour market position of temporary employees, it does not remove the low mobility between labour market segments. The study points out the importance for employability research to attach attention not only to individual capacities and employability enhancing activities but also to labour market mechanisms influencing labour market opportunities.