IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/imbwps/27.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health? A comparison between Western Germany and Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Gash, Vanessa
  • Mertens, Antje
  • Romeu Gordo, Laura

Abstract

In this paper we use panel data to analyse the health effects of fixed-term contract status on men and women in western Germany and Spain. This paper asks whether the changes in the employment relationship due to employment law liberalisation have altered the positive health effects associated with employment (Goldsmith et al. 1996; Jahoda 1982). Using contract type information on switching between unemployment and employment we analyse whether transitions to different contracts have different health effects. We find that unemployed workers show positive health effects at job acquisition, and also find the positive effect to be smaller for workers who obtain a fixed-term job. We also establish surprising differences by gender and country, with women less likely to report positive health effects at job acquisition. For western Germany, this was found to be a function of the dual burden of paid and unpaid care within the home.

Suggested Citation

  • Gash, Vanessa & Mertens, Antje & Romeu Gordo, Laura, 2006. "Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health? A comparison between Western Germany and Spain," Working Papers 27, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:imbwps:27
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/74325/1/745841201.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew E. Clark, 2003. "Unemployment as a Social Norm: Psychological Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 289-322, April.
    2. Rodriguez, Eunice, 2002. "Marginal employment and health in Britain and Germany: does unstable employment predict health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 963-979, September.
    3. Susan N. Houseman, 2001. "Why Employers Use Flexible Staffing Arrangements: Evidence from an Establishment Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(1), pages 149-170, October.
    4. Antje Mertens & Vanessa Gash & Frances McGinnity, 2007. "The Cost of Flexibility at the Margin. Comparing the Wage Penalty for Fixed‐term Contracts in Germany and Spain using Quantile Regression," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 21(4‐5), pages 637-666, December.
    5. Alison L. Booth & Marco Francesconi & Jeff Frank, 2002. "Temporary Jobs: Stepping Stones Or Dead Ends?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(480), pages 189-213, June.
    6. Brendan Burchell, 1999. "The Unequal Distribution of Job Insecurity, 1966-86," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 437-458.
    7. Theodossiou, I., 1998. "The effects of low-pay and unemployment on psychological well-being: A logistic regression approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 85-104, January.
    8. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, 2000. "Work Transitions into and Out of Involuntary Temporary Employment in a Segmented Market: Evidence from Spain," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(2), pages 309-325, January.
    9. Jahoda,Marie, 1982. "Employment and Unemployment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521285865, October.
    10. Vivian H. Hamilton & Philip Merrigan & Éric Dufresne, 1997. "Down and out: estimating the relationship between mental health and unemployment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(4), pages 397-406, July.
    11. Goldsmith, Arthur H. & Veum, Jonathan R. & William Darity, Jr., 1996. "The impact of labor force history on self-esteem and its component parts, anxiety, alienation and depression," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 183-220, April.
    12. Namkee Ahn, & Juan F. Jimeno & Arantza Ugidos, "undated". "“Mondays at the sun”: Unemployment, Time Use, and Consumption Patterns in Spain," Working Papers 2003-18, FEDEA.
    13. Juan F. Jimeno & Luis Toharia, 1993. "The effects of fixed-term employment on wages: theory and evidence from Spain," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 17(3), pages 475-494, September.
    14. Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles, 2003. "Gender effect on housework allocation: Evidence from Spanish two-earner couples," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(2), pages 227-242, May.
    15. Laura Romeu Gordo, 2006. "Effects of short- and long-term unemployment on health satisfaction: evidence from German data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(20), pages 2335-2350.
    16. Schwefel, Detlef, 1986. "Unemployment, health and health services in German-speaking countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 409-430, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pan, Liu & Junbo, Zhu, 2008. "The management of China's huge foreign reserve and its currency composition," Working Papers 37, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    2. Pohland, Sven & Hüther, Frank & Badde, Joachim, 2008. "Flexibilisierung von Geschäftsprozessen in der Praxis: Case Study "Westfleisch eG - Einführung einer Service-orientierten Architektur (SOA)"," Working Papers 40, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    3. Körner, Marita, 2008. "Grenzüberschreitende Arbeitsverhältnisse: Grundlinien des deutschen Internationalen Privatrechts für Arbeitsverträge," Working Papers 36, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    4. Rüggeberg, Harald & Burmeister, Kjell, 2008. "Innovationsprozesse in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen," Working Papers 41, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    5. Zenglein, Max J., 2007. "US wage determination system," Working Papers 32, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    6. Bürkner, Fatiah, 2008. "Effektivitätssteigerung im gemeinnützigen Sektor am Beispiel einer "regionalen Allianz für Tanz an Schulen"," Working Papers 35, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    7. Domke, Nicole & Stehr, Melanie, 2008. "Ignorieren oder vorbereiten? Schutz vor Antitrust Verstößen durch "Compliance"-Programme," Working Papers 42, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    8. Chris Dawson & Michail Veliziotis & Gail Pacheco & Don Webber, 2014. "Is temporary employment a cause or consequence of poor mental health?," Working Papers 2014-06, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    9. Tomenendal, Matthias, 2007. "The consultant-client interface: A theoretical introduction to the hot spot of management consulting," Working Papers 31, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    10. Schneider, Julia & Beblo, Miriam, 2010. "Health at work - indicators and determinants : a revised literature and data review for Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201017, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    11. Gleißner, Harald A., 2008. "Post-Merger Integration in der Logistik: Vom Erfolg und Misserfolg bei der Zusammenführung von Logistikeinheiten in der Praxis," Working Papers 34, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    12. Schönbohm, Avo & Hofmann, Ulrike, 2012. "Comprehensive sustainability reporting: A long road to go for German TecDax 30 companies," Working Papers 68, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gash, Vanessa & Mertens, Antje & Romeu Gordo, Laura, 2006. "Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health? : a comparison of West-Germany and Spain," IAB-Discussion Paper 200608, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Bardasi, Elena & Francesconi, Marco, 2004. "The impact of atypical employment on individual wellbeing: evidence from a panel of British workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1671-1688, May.
    3. Antje Mertens & Miriam Beblo, 2016. "Self-Reported Satisfaction and the Economic Crisis of 2007–2010: Or How People in the UK and Germany Perceive a Severe Cyclical Downturn," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 537-565, January.
    4. Stavrova, Olga & Schlösser, Thomas & Fetchenhauer, Detlef, 2011. "Are the unemployed equally unhappy all around the world? The role of the social norms to work and welfare state provision in 28 OECD countries," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 159-171, February.
    5. Garcia-Louzao, Jose & Hospido, Laura & Ruggieri, Alessandro, 2023. "Dual returns to experience," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Matteo Picchio & Michele Ubaldi, 2024. "Unemployment and health: A meta‐analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1437-1472, September.
    7. Sebastian NIELEN & Alexander SCHIERSCH, 2016. "Productivity in German manufacturing firms: Does fixed-term employment matter?," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 155(4), pages 535-561, December.
    8. Lídia Farré & Francesco Fasani & Hannes Mueller, 2018. "Feeling useless: the effect of unemployment on mental health in the Great Recession," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-34, December.
    9. Gail Pacheco & Bill Cochrane, 2015. "Decomposing the temporary-permanent wage gap in New Zealand," Working Papers 2015-07, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    10. J. Ignacio García‐Pérez & Fernando Muñoz‐Bullón, 2011. "Transitions into Permanent Employment in Spain: An Empirical Analysis for Young Workers," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 49(1), pages 103-143, March.
    11. Marta Silva & Luis Filipe Martins & Helena Lopes, 2015. "Asymmetric labour market reforms and wage growth with fixed-term contracts: does learning about match quality matter?," Working Papers Series 2 15-04, ISCTE-IUL, Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL).
    12. Devillanova, Carlo & Raitano, Michele & Struffolino, Emanuela, 2019. "Longitudinal employment trajectories and health in middle life: Insights from linked administrative and survey data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 1375-1412.
    13. Romina Giuliano & Stephan Kampelmann & Benoît Mahy & François Rycx, 2017. "Short Notice, Big Difference? The Effect of Temporary Employment on Firm Competitiveness across Sectors," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 421-449, June.
    14. Chris Dawson & Michail Veliziotis & Benjamin Hopkins, 2017. "Temporary employment, job satisfaction and subjective well-being," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 38(1), pages 69-98, February.
    15. Smirnykh, Larisa & Wörgötter, Andreas, 2019. "The importance of institutional and organizational characteristics for the use of fixed-term contracts in Russia," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 24(1), pages 89-121.
    16. Mariya Melnychuk, 2012. "Mental health and economic conditions: how do economic fluctuations influence mental problems?," Working Papers. Serie AD 2012-08, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    17. Dimitris Pavlopoulos, 2009. "Starting Your Career with a Temporary Job: Stepping Stone or "Dead-End"?," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 228, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    18. McGinnity, Frances & Mertens, Antje, 2002. "Fixed-term contracts in East and West Germany: Low wages, poor prospects?," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 2002,72, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
    19. Boockmann, Bernhard & Hagen, Tobias, 2008. "Fixed-term contracts as sorting mechanisms: Evidence from job durations in West Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 984-1005, October.
    20. Bill Cochrane & Gail Pacheco & Chao Li, 2017. "Temporary-Permanent Wage Gap: Does Type of Work and Location in Distribution Matter?," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 20(2), pages 125-147.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:imbwps:27. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fhwbede.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.