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In the German labour market, research hints towards a reversal in gender-specific risk of becoming unemployed: While women previously faced higher risk than men, in recent years, they have consistently lower risk. This paper analyses this reversal by focusing on the role of occupational gender segregation. I discuss theoretical differences in the labour supply and demand structure and thus in the unemployment risk of male- and female-dominated occupations caused by crowding and technological and sectoral change. Using the German National Educational Panel Study combined with occupation level data, I analyse the transition to unemployment over three decades. The results confirm gender-specific trends over time: While women faced higher risk of becoming unemployed in the 1980s, they face significantly lower risk than men in the 21st century. A Karlson-Holm-Breen decomposition shows that the lower risk of women in the newest decade under observation is mediated by the unequal distribution of men and women over the occupational structure. Yet, the higher risk of women in the 1980s cannot be traced back to differences in male- and female-dominated occupations. On the contrary, the results suggest that women were more likely to become unemployed in that decade independent of their occupation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German vocational education system, especially its dual system of apprenticeship training, is often praised for providing vocational skills geared to current practices in specific occupations. Yet only about half of all Germans currently have jobs that match their vocational education. This paper uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, a nationally representative household panel study, to examine a variety of individual and structural level variables hypothesized to influence the likelihood of an individual being employed in a position that fits his or her vocational training. It also identifies factors that influence the probability that an individual moves from a job that does not fit his or her training to a position that does. Finally, the paper examines earnings differences between persons with varying types of vocational education and considers if these differences depend on whether or not an individual is employed in a job that fits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on career mobility conceived as a sequence of job-shifts within and between firms, in this paper we compare Germany and Poland with regard to job-shift patterns found among men and women in these countries. The paper aims at testing a series of hypotheses on the comparative impact of labour-market segmentation (industrial sector, firm size, and social class) in welfare-capitalist and state-socialist systems. The hypotheses are tested against retrospective longitudinal data on job histories of the 1939-41 birth-cohorts from the 1981-2 German Life History Study and the 1972 Polish Life History Study. We find patterned differences between the two countries in regard to the effect of individual characteristics on career mobility, in regard to the impact of labour-market segmentation, and in regard to the effect of gender. To our knowledge, this is the first comparative investigation of this kind. Some implications of our findings for tracing the impact of current East European market reforms are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we address the issue of who is most likely to participate in further training, for what reasons and at what stage of the life course. Special emphasis is given to the impact of labour-market policies to encourage further education and a person's individual or cohort possibilities to participate in further education. We apply a Cox proportional hazard model to data from the West German Life History Study, separately for women and men, within and outside the firm. Younger cohorts show not only higher proportions of participation in further education and training at early stages of the life course, they also continue to participate in higher numbers during later stages of the life course. General labour-force participation reduces and tenure with the same firm increases the propensity to participate in further education and training. Contrary to expectations, in Germany labour-market segmentation has been enhanced rather than reduced by further education and training policies, since in the firm-specific labour-market segment, i.e. skilled jobs in large firms, and in the public sector both women and men had a higher probability of participation. Particularly favourable conditions for participate in further education outside the firm prevailed during the first years of the labour promotion act (Arbeftsförderungsgesetz) between 1969 and 1974, but women did not benefit to the same extent as men. Training policies are, therefore, in need of continuous assessment based on a goal-achievement evaluation to avoid any unintended effects of such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates upward mobility in the Danish labour market. The main question is whether the welfare state provides opportunities for upward mobility which are relatively independent of educational and skill barriers. It is argued that Denmark is an interesting test case because it shares, with Germany, a vocational training system which is often believed to suppress mobility and generate rigidity in the labour market. The empirical analysis shows that in the Danish case there is indeed a remarkable amount of upward mobility which cannot be explained by education and vocational training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two competing theories of social support and role specialization have been invoked to explain how marital status affects labour market outcomes. Whereas evidence of beneficial labour market outcomes among married men and employed married women favours a social support perspective, evidence of married women's reduced labour market participation corresponds to a role specialization perspective. We make two contributions to this literature. First, we apply both theories to first jobs in positions for which the employee is overeducated (educational attainment exceeding job requirements). Second, we employ preference theory to show how selection into marriage shapes its association with being in a position of overeducation. To account for potential selection, we model the probability of being married and the risk of starting a career in overeducation simultaneously based on retrospective data from the German National Educational Panel Study. In line with the theory of role specialization, married women seem to be more likely to start in overeducation than unmarried women. However, adjusting for selection into marriage yields lower risks of overeducation for married women and men in comparison to their unmarried counterparts. This supports the social support perspective on overqualification and highlights how selection into marriage shapes its association with labour market outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines over-time trends in intergenerational class mobility based on cohorts of labour market entrants in Germany and the UK since the 1950s. We calculate absolute and relative mobility rates, separately for men and women, using the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984–2016), the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–2016), and the UK Labour Force Survey (2014–2017). Regarding absolute mobility, we find marked country differences in upward and downward rates. In Germany, downward mobility decreased, while upward mobility rose. In the UK, downward mobility increased, while upward mobility declined. We provide evidence that these differences can be linked to contrasting changes in the distribution of origin and destination classes. Regarding relative mobility, striking country similarities appear. For both countries, we observe increases in social fluidity for respondents entering the labour market during the 1950s and 1960s that cease to continue for cohorts thereafter. Comparisons between adjacent cohorts do not provide evidence that social fluidity follows cyclical developments of the economy or shorter-term volatilities in the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines to what extent employees in Germany are afraid of losing their jobs, depending on the degree of computerization of their occupations. So far, empirical evidence on the relationship between digital transformation and subjective job insecurity is scarce. We distinguish three interrelated insecurity measures: cognitive job insecurity, i.e. the individual assessment of job loss probability, labour market insecurity, i.e. the perceived availability of job alternatives, and affective job insecurity, i.e. the extent to which individuals are worried about a potential job loss. The analysis is based on a large-scale panel study from Germany and refers to the period between 2013 and 2016. Computerization is measured by the occupation-specific substitution potential, i.e. the extent to which occupational tasks are substitutable by computers or computer-controlled machines. The results from multivariate panel analysis suggest that the digital transformation has a negative impact on cognitive job insecurity. We do not find effects on labour market insecurity and affective job insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have implemented youth (un)employment programmes for low-achieving young people to improve their employment prospects. In Germany, these youths are often channelled into prevocational programmes to prevent them from long-term 'scars' by providing a 'second chance' to enter apprenticeships (serving as entry into the labour market in Germany). However, the usefulness of these programmes is contested. It remains unclear whether it is (more) useful for young people to invest in education and improve formal qualifications (to send a positive 'signal') or to spend more time in firms (e.g. to counteract possible discrimination processes or to generate new network ties). It is also unclear who benefits most depending on previous school-leaving certificates. We address these questions by using rich data from the German National Educational Panel Study and apply entropy balancing as a matching approach to control for selection. We find that both attaining a higher school certificate and spending time in firms improve low-achieving youth's chances to enter apprenticeships. However, only those who attained a higher-level school certificate are able to enter higher-status training occupations afterwards. Moreover, prevocational programmes are most beneficial for the most disadvantaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increase in dual-earner couples in Germany over recent decades, starting a family still often leads to a (re-)traditionalization of the division of labour in partnerships, with considerable gender differences in working hours and family obligations remaining. Consequently, after a child is born especially women face the challenge of reconciling career and family. Against this backdrop, a growing proportion of firms has started to create family-friendly working conditions to relieve the burden on their (female) employees. In the course of doing so, firms have also increasingly invested in organizational family-friendly arrangements in recent years. In this article, we analyse the effects of these arrangements on employees' behaviour by using German-linked employer–employee data. We ask how specific organizational family-friendly measures affect a crucial point in women's careers: the employment interruption after childbirth. Based on time-specific piecewise constant models, our results reveal that organizational family-friendly measures positively influence women's return to the labour market after childbirth and thus result in benefits for both firms and employees. Furthermore, we find that the effects of the measures are determined by the structural context and are not time constant but vary according to the age of the child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on socio-economic mobility focuses on how background affects later labour market outcomes. Growing up in a disadvantaged household does not always lead to the same outcomes however, and the extent to which this matters depends on the local labour market. Using multilevel models on the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, this article shows that disadvantaged young adults (16-35 years old) are more affected by the business cycle than their similarly educated counterparts from more advantaged backgrounds. We propose that a disadvantaged background lowers desirability on the labour market, which matters more to employers as the labour market worsens. When the local labour market is slack, disadvantaged young adults get crowded out of good jobs by their more advantaged but similarly qualified peers. Among the higher qualified, this means the disadvantaged work on lower paying jobs, while those who are less educated are most at risk of unemployment. These results are robust to using different specifications. As the early career has longterm effects, the conditions during which young adults enter the labour market can play a large role in their labour market outcomes and can affect inequality by background overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that overeducation is inferior to adequate employment. For example, overeducated workers have lower earnings, participate less often in continuing education and training, and are less satisfied with their jobs. This article changes perspectives by asking whether it is better for the unemployed to take up a job for which they are overeducated or to remain unemployed and continue the search for adequate employment. Theoretically, we rely on the established confrontation of the stepping-stone and trap hypotheses, which make opposing predictions in terms of longterm employment chances and job quality. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2012) and applying a dynamic propensity score matching approach, the analyses reveal an interesting trade-off. Although an overeducated re-entry increases the long-term employment chances persistently, it also implies strong lock-in effects into overeducation for up to 5 years after re-employment. In sum, the results support the stepping-stone hypothesis in terms of future employment chances, but also highlight non-negligible risks of remaining trapped in a job that is below one's level of educational qualification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about the impact of 'One-Euro-Jobs', a German active labour market programme, on the social integration of unemployed individuals. We examine, first, whether programme participation improves individuals' sense of social integration. Second, we address the mechanisms behind this association by analysing subgroup-specific participation effects. Therefore, we analyse how specific programme features, the quality of interactions with welfare officials, and participants' evaluations of the programme are related to their subjective integration. The analysis is based on the German panel study 'Labour Market and Social Security'. Results from random-effects, fixed-effects, and hybrid random-effects regression models do not indicate a general positive participation effect, but point to some conditions under which the programme can be beneficial. First, One-Euro-Jobs bearing greater similarity to regular jobs in terms of working hours and duration imply stronger participation effects. Second, the quality of social interactions at the local unemployment agencies matters: participants benefit more from One-Euro-Jobs in case they feel well supported. Third, participants are more likely to experience an enhancement of subjective integration if they perceive participation as voluntary and beneficial in social and financial terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary employment contracts can serve as a bridge into permanent employment or become a trap that leads into unemployment. This article argues that the function of temporary employment varies with the degree of task complexity and affects the probability of receiving tenure or transitioning to unemployment. Analysing retrospective survey data for Germany (ALWA) using Fine and Gray models for competing risks, I show that a bridge into permanent employment most likely arises for medium-skill work. By contrast, the risk of a transition to unemployment is generally equal, but increases for employees performing low- and medium-skill tasks if local labour demand falls. Only high-skill jobs seem to be unaffected by the employment environment. The results indicate that debates concerning the function and consequences of temporary work must consider occupational characteristics. The selective distribution of transition probabilities and unemployment risks generates inequalities and increases the risk of labour market segmentation as employment polarization shifts employees towards low- and high-skill tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Germany, as in other modern societies, a low representation of women in top positions remains a stable form of gender inequality in the labour market. This article examines the extent to which a partner's labour market and financial resources influence gender-specific probabilities of obtaining a leadership position. Well-established theories are examined that provide different assumptions as to how partners' resources can affect occupational careers. This article adds to the existing body of research by applying a relational perspective on couples' resources. To resolve the research question, data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study (waves 1984-2010) are used in a longitudinal design employing event history analysis (N=11,050 men and N=8,988 women). The results show that partners' relative resources play a significant role in the promotion to the top: Whereas for women their own comparative advantage is particularly important, especially for men higher resources of the partner are beneficial. The results can be explained by negotiation processes as well as with a transfer of social capital. Additionally, both genders profit from homogamous partnership constellations. Overall, women's chances of gaining a leadership position appear to be more determined by partners' relative resources than it is the case for men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of social origin on tertiary graduates' labour market outcomes in Germany and the United Kingdom, two distinct countries in terms of higher education systems, labour market structures, and their linkages. Data from the 2005 REFLEX survey, OLS regression and linear probability models are used to analyse the effect of parental education on graduates' occupational destinations at two time points: at labour market entry and five years after graduation. We test various hypotheses on country variation (i) in the strength of association between origin and occupational destinations, (ii) in the mechanisms by which social origin affects occupational destinations (i.e. via qualitative education differences), and (iii) in the extent to which social origin matters at different career stages. The results show that parental education effects are similar in the two countries when occupational destinations are analysed using the International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI). They substantially differ when the analyses focus on entry into the higherservice class. In this latter case, both the gross and the net effects of parental education are stronger in the United Kingdom than in Germany. However, country differences in parental education effects reduce when graduates' occupational outcomes are analysed 5 years after graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rent-based accounts of inequality argue that institutionalized barriers to the access to labour market positions create artificial restrictions on the supply of labour and, in turn, generate wages for workers in protected positions in excess of the wages they would receive in a competitive labour market. In this article, we extend this argument to the comparative context, and elaborate a rent-based explanation of between-occupation wage inequality in Germany and the United Kingdom. We test it with new and unique data on four institutionalized sources of closure (educational credentialing, licensure, unionization, and apprenticeships), matched to newly constructed measures of occupational skills and to national labour force survey data. We show that in both countries, between-occupation wage inequality is substantial, and much of it can be traced to variations across occupations in closure and to the positive association between closure and wages. We also show that the prevalence and the payoff to each of the four closure institutions differ across the two countries: Specifically, vocational credentialing and unionization have a particularly high payoff in Germany, while tertiary credentialing and licensure have a particularly high payoff in the United Kingdom. These results have important implications for understanding between-occupation wage inequality and cross-national differences in aggregate levels of wage inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates direct job mobility and job mobility via unemployment at the beginning of the employment career in Germany. While the rationale of predicting outcomes of direct job mobility are similar in liberal countries, Germany’s rigid labour market might have different implications for job mobility via unemployment. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984–2006, we will address the following two questions. First, we will investigate the gains/losses for direct job mobility and mobility through unemployment. Here we are especially interested in whether job mobility via unemployment has long-lasting consequences on future earnings. Second, we will address the question of whether income development for direct and indirect job mobility is dependent on the reasons behind the job termination. The analyses show that, in a rigid labour market, only direct voluntary job mobility brings permanent income rewards. Indirect job mobility, on the other hand, has a long-lasting scar effect not only for involuntary but also for voluntary job movers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For scholars of social stratification one of the key questions regarding educational expansion is whether it diminishes or magnifies existing inequalities in educational attainment. The effect of expansion on educational inequality in tertiary education is of particular importance, as tertiary education has become increasingly relevant for labour market prospects and life course opportunities. Our article studies the access to tertiary education of students with different social origins in light of educational expansion in Germany. First, we examine inequalities in access to four vertical alternatives of postsecondary education by means of multinomial regression with national data from four school-leaver surveys from 1983, 1990, 1994, and 1999. Second, for those students who enrol at a tertiary institution, effects of social origin on horizontal choices of fields of study are analysed. Results show that unequal opportunities to access postsecondary and tertiary institutions remain constant at a high level. Likewise, social background effects have not changed over time for the choice of field of study. Thus, students from different social backgrounds did not change their educational strategies irrespective of the ongoing expansion of secondary and tertiary education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fixed-term contracts have become very relevant in the transition from school to work. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) for the period 1984–2006, this article analyses differences in the timing of receiving a fixed-term contract or a permanent contract throughout the duration of first-job search and whether fixed-term contracts are associated with lower initial wages. Competing risk duration models reveal that school leavers initially receive more often permanent contracts but that a certain proportion also accepts temporary jobs. For transitions to both fixed-term and permanent contracts, we find that the longer the time spent searching for a job, the lower the transition probability to a job. The negative duration dependence effect is even more pronounced for fixed-term employment. Comparing labour market entrants with similar individual and job characteristics using propensity score matching techniques show that entrants earn significantly less in fixed-term jobs compared to permanent employment. Wage penalties are slightly larger for those who actually choose fixed-term contracts in their first job, whereas randomly allocated job entrants would suffer lower wage losses. Especially graduates from tertiary education suffer high initial wage losses in fixed-term contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on how receiving societies' structural and institutional characteristics affect immigrants' labour market performance and progress. Using German census data for 1996 and 2000, and Israeli labour force surveys for the same years, the article compares patterns of self-selection and labour market integration of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel and Germany during the 1990s. The greater rigidity of the German labour market as compared with the Israeli, combined with the more generous benefits provided to FSU immigrants by the German than the Israeli state, explain many of the cross-national differences in initial labour market performance (unemployment level and occupational status) and labour market progress of FSU immigrants in Israel and Germany. However, contrary to economic theories of immigrant selectivity, we found no appreciable differences in patterns of educational self-selection of immigrants to Israel and Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we study job shift patterns in the former East and West Germany. We compare rates of (within-firm and across-firm) job mobility of East and West German men and study the impact of labor market composition (education, social class, industrial sector, and firm size) on the mobility rates. Our hypotheses are derived from an institutional approach in which we describe similarities and differences in institutions and structures of the two former German labor markets. Analyses of retrospective job history data from German Life History Studies revealed a basic similarity in the odds of job shifting of East and West German male workers. Yet, East German men differed from West German men in having higher odds of job mobility within a firm and lower odds of job mobility to other firms. Explanatory analyses show that firm size accounts best for the country difference in the rate of within-firm job mobility: 40 per cent of the higher within-firm mobility rate can be accounted for by the greater size of firms in East Germany. These findings suggest that state-socialism affected work life mobility and that it did so in part through differential labor market composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to describe and explain the relationship between institutional mechanisms and unemployment distribution across age groups. In the first part, a life‐course theory of transitions embedded in linkage structures is developed. In the second part, different linkage structures of the transition from education to work and work to retirement are described. In the third part, international data on the unemployment distribution by age group in the USA, Germany, Sweden, Spain, and Japan are presented. They show divergent patterns of age concentration in unemployment rates. In the concluding part, ideal‐types of four institutional paths for the transition between non‐employment and employment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Educational opportunities, and the specific structures of educational systems, are as consequential for mobility in labor markets as are the attributes of the individuals who make careers in those markets. The conceptual and empirical challenge is to understand how individual and environmental factors interactively affect mobility processes. The argument is developed in three steps. First, a typology for the classification of educational systems is presented. According to this typology, educational systems can be distinguished along the criteria of 'standardization' (the provision of equal educational standards nationwide) and `stratification' (the selection procedures within the systems). Second, general hypotheses are stated on how educational system characteristics shape labor market outcomes. With a stratified educational system, occupational status is closely determined by individual educational attainment; with an unstratified system, occupational status is less determined by educational attainment. On the other hand, with a standardized system, job changes occur less frequently than with an unstandardized system. Third, empirical evidence is provided. The educational systems of Norway, West Germany and the United States are evaluated according to the typology of standardization and stratification. The connection of educational system attributes and labor market outcomes is analyzed on the basis of retrospective life history data from the United States, Norway and West Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to assess, from a life course perspective, the importance of labor market segmentation in the Federal Republic of Germany. Using event history data, we show the interaction of individual characteristics and institutional structures across employment histories. The empirical analysis provides evidence that labor market segmentation structures occupational careen to a large extent. During the life course the structuring and channeling power of labor market segments is so great that even the relatively simple construction of four labor market segments is sufficient to describe the patterning of labor market chances in a satisfactory and theoretically sound fashion. Empirical results also show that internal labor markets have been given an importance in the theoretical discussion of labor markets which in reality is not warranted. Only about 16 per cent of all labor market processes are mediated through the institutional structure of internal markets. The study confirms the central theses of labor market segmentation theories concerning the allocation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article it is proposed to introduce the changing labor market structure into intra-generational mobility research in order to treat adequately the time-dependent nature of the attainment process. Using a large life-history data-set on the full career trajectories of German males from the birth cohorts 1929-31, 1939-41, and 1949-51 up to age at interview, together with several time-series indicating the development of the social and economic structure of the Federal Republic of Germany, the identification problem in models estimating cohort, life-course, and period effects is at the same time solved. The empirical analysis provides evidence that there are strong life-course, cohort, and period effects. The attainment process is time-dependent in a threefold sense. It depends on time spent in the labor force, it depends on the historical time of entry into the labor market, and it depends on the actual historical time. On the basis of these results it is argued that analyses of standard Mobility tables which distinguish structural mobility and exchange mobility on a cross-sectional basis give a misleading picture of the mechanisms of attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]