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Job Insecurity, Employability, and Health: An Analysis for Germany across Generations

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  • Steffen Otterbach
  • Alfonso Sousa-Poza

Abstract

In this paper, we use 12 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel to examine the relationship between job insecurity, employability and health-related well-being. Our results indicate that being unemployed has a strong negative effect on life satisfaction and health. They also, however, highlight the fact that this effect is most prominent among individuals over the age of 40. A second observation is that job insecurity is also associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and health, and this association is quite strong. This negative effect of job insecurity is, in many cases, exacerbated by poor employability.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen Otterbach & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2014. "Job Insecurity, Employability, and Health: An Analysis for Germany across Generations," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 720, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp720
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    Cited by:

    1. Remberto Castro-Castañeda & Esperanza Vargas-Jiménez & Sara Menéndez-Espina & Raúl Medina-Centeno, 2023. "Job Insecurity and Company Behavior: Influence of Fear of Job Loss on Individual and Work Environment Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-9, February.
    2. Rohde, Nicholas & Tang, Kam Ki & Osberg, Lars & Rao, D.S. Prasada, 2017. "Is it vulnerability or economic insecurity that matters for health?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 307-319.
    3. Matteo Picchio & Michele Ubaldi, 2024. "Unemployment and health: A meta‐analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1437-1472, September.
    4. Francis Green, 2020. "Health effects of job insecurity," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 212-212, December.
    5. Maite Blázquez & Santiago Budría & Ana I. Moro‐Egido, 2021. "Job Insecurity, Debt Burdens, and Individual Health," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(4), pages 872-899, December.
    6. Iddisah Sulemana & Richard Osei Bofah & Edward Nketiah-Amponsah, 2020. "Job Insecurity and Life Satisfaction in Ghana," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 172-184, March.
    7. Alves, Guillermo & Burdín, Gabriel & Dean, Andrés, 2016. "Workplace democracy and job flows," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 258-271.
    8. Prieto, Joaquin, 2021. "A multidimensional approach to measuring economic insecurity: the case of Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112490, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Chadi, Cornelia, 2023. "Too stressed to sleep? Downsizing, job insecurity and sleep behavior," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    10. Jun, Bogang, 2013. "The Trade-off between Fertility and Education: Evidence from the Korean Development Path," MPRA Paper 43971, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Joaquín Prieto, 2021. "A multidimensional approach to measuring economic insecurity: The case of Chile," Working Papers 591, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    12. Carlos-María Alcover & Sergio Salgado & Gabriela Nazar & Raúl Ramírez-Vielma & Carolina González-Suhr, 2022. "Job Insecurity, Financial Threat, and Mental Health in the COVID-19 Context: The Moderating Role of the Support Network," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    13. Paul Fiedler, 2021. "Worrying about Work? Disentangling the Relationship between Economic Insecurity and Mental Health," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1145, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    14. Joaquín Prieto, 2022. "A Multidimensional Approach to Measuring Economic Insecurity: The Case of Chile," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 823-855, September.
    15. Prieto Suarez, Joaquin, 2022. "A multidimensional approach to measuring economic insecurity: the case of Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114623, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Marczak, Martyna & Proietti, Tommaso, 2016. "Outlier detection in structural time series models: The indicator saturation approach," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 180-202.
    17. Elena Cottini & Paolo Ghinetti, 2018. "Employment insecurity and employees' health in Denmark," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 426-439, February.
    18. Anthony Lepinteur, 2021. "The asymmetric experience of gains and losses in job security on health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(9), pages 2217-2229, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job insecurity; employment; employability; well-being; health; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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