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Given the trend towards labour market flexibility in various European countries, this article examines whether the offered type of employment contract has an impact on young people's ratings of the attractiveness of a job. It empirically assesses the notion that young people's preference for secure employment increases as they transition into adulthood. We conducted a factorial survey among a representative sample of 1,025 people aged 18–35 years old in the Netherlands. Participants were asked to evaluate hypothetical job offers. Results show that, compared with a permanent contract, the offer of a temporary contract for 3 years has a small negative effect on young adults' job ratings, whereas offers of an agency contract or an on-call contract have a large negative effect. In line with our predictions, this preference for job security is stronger for men and women who have left the parental home or who have entered parenthood. For men, we also find that their preference for job security is even stronger if they have entered a romantic relationship. These findings suggest that young adults regard insecure employment undesirable, but that, based on their overrepresentation in non-standard employment, their preferences are often not met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employers are instrumental in the growth of non-standard employment, which exposes predominantly younger workers to higher levels of insecurity. Using an interdisciplinary theoretical lens, this article identifies which considerations, both positive and negative, underlie employers' decision making with regard to the use of flexible contracts for younger workers and discusses how employers perceive future implications of an increasingly flexible labour market. Findings are based on interviews with 26 managers, HR professionals and directors working in different sectors of industry in the Netherlands: local government, education, health care, retail, corporate services and transport and logistics. While acknowledging benefits to the use of flexible contracts, interviewed employers also reported downsides to this practice. Using flexible contracts complicates retention of young talent, deters investment in training, negatively affects social morale on the work floor and puts pressure on younger workers. Interviewees did not deem employers primarily responsible for monitoring societal consequences of an increasingly flexible labour market and often did not see the bigger picture of how increased flexibility could have negative societal consequences. The findings suggest that corrective actions will not come from the side of employers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older job applicants are vulnerable to stereotype-related bias in the recruitment process. In the current study, we examined how managers’ job interview invitation decisions regarding older job applicants are influenced by applicants’ human capital-related characteristics, general economic conditions and managers’ perceptions of changes in organisational job demands. Data were collected in two waves of a vignette experiment, three years apart, among a sample of 211 Dutch managers from various organisations. Multi-level analysis showed that managers were more likely to invite older job applicants who had matching qualifications, were employed at the time of application and came with recommendations. In addition, managers’ propensity to invite older job applicants was higher in better economic conditions. The effects of recommendations were moderated by the general economic conditions and changes in organisational job demands, such that a recommendation from another employer was especially influential in bad economic conditions, while a recommendation from an internal employee was especially influential when job demands had increased. The results emphasise the importance of considering the organisational and economic context in understanding the recruitment of older workers. The findings also suggest that older workers, employers and policy makers should invest in older workers’ human capital to protect their employability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the opportunities in the labour market for young employees with intermediate-level education by studying which young employees are most likely to be retained and under what conditions managers favour retention.Design/methodology/approach Retention decisions are examined by combining a vignette experiment and a survey study. Hypothetical profiles of 252 young employees were rated on their retention desirability by 21 managers, each working in a different organisation. Information on the managers’ characteristics and their organisations were collected in a survey.Findings Managers are generally not inclined to suggest retention. Their decisions are highly dependent on their own characteristics and organisational factors, even when young employees perform well and display desirable work-related behaviour.Research limitations/implications While the small scale and explorative nature of this study limit its generalisability, this paper highlights the importance of combining information on employees, the organisation and managers; when studying (early) careers and employment decisions.Practical implications This study suggests that job retention is only in part within an individual’s control, and the future efforts to combat youth unemployment need to account for organisational and managerial characteristics.Originality/value The focus on the employer’s perspective is new to research on early careers, making it a starting point for further lines of exploration. Further, this study provides a comprehensive insight into factors that influence managers’ retention decisions by combining three sets of factors in a single research design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Top managers guide organizational strategy and practices, but their role in the employment of older workers is understudied. We study the effects that age-related workplace norms of top managers have on organizations' recruitment and retention practices regarding older workers. We investigate two types of age-related workplace norms, namely age equality norms (whether younger and older workers should be treated equally) and retirement age norms (when older workers are expected to retire) while controlling for organizational and national contexts. Data and methods: Data collected among top managers of 1,088 organizations from six European countries were used for the study. Logistic regression models were run to estimate the effects of age-related workplace norms on four different organizational outcomes: (a) recruiting older workers, (b) encouraging working until normal retirement age, (c) encouraging working beyond normal retirement age, and (d) rehiring retired former employees. Results: Age-related workplace norms of top managers affect their organizations' practices, but in different ways. Age equality norms positively affect practices before the boundary of normal retirement age (Outcomes a and b), whereas retirement age norms positively affect practices after the boundary of normal retirement age (Outcomes c and d). Implications: Changing age-related workplace norms of important actors in organizations may be conducive to better employment opportunities and a higher level of employment participation of older workers. However, care should be taken to target the right types of norms, since targeting different norms may yield different outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of the Study: We examine whether from an organizational perspective it is possible to distinguish different ways of employing early retirees and explore how the employment of early retirees is related to the application of 4 age-based human resource (HR) policies, namely demotion, offering training opportunities to older workers, offering early retirement, and allowing flexible working hours. Design and Methods: We perform a latent class analysis on a sample of 998 Dutch organizations in order to categorize them based on 3 dimensions of their employment of early retirees. We then run a multinomial logistic regression to relate the employment of early retirees to the 4 age-based HR policies. Results: We distinguish 4 types of organizations based on their way of employing early retirees: nonusers (52.6%), users for mainly standard work (20.8%), users for mainly nonstandard work (9.8%), and users for standard and nonstandard work (16.7%). We find that organizations that apply demotion, offer early retirement, and allow flexible working hours are more likely to be users for mainly standard work. Also, organizations that do not offer early retirement are less likely to employ early retirees. Implications: Age-based HR policies, especially demotion, offering early retirement, and allowing flexible working hours, are conducive to the employment of early retirees for mainly standard work. Broader implementation of these policies may provide opportunities for older workers to make a more gradual transition from work to retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Compared to participation rates among general populations, participation of people with chronic illness in the labour market lags behind. This is undesirable, both from the perspective of individuals' well-being as from a macro-economic perspective for western countries where concerns exist about labour supply and sustainability of social security in the near future. To help develop successful policy measures to prevent early drop-out and support reintegration, we aimed to gain insight into the role of three age related characteristics that may relate to labour participation chances of people with chronic illness: the duration of their illness, how old they were when the chronic disease was diagnosed and the historical year in which the diagnosis was established. Methods: We analyzed data of one (first) measurement of several cohorts of people diagnosed with a somatic chronic disease, who (had) participated in the Dutch 'National Panel of people with Chronic illness or Disability' since 1998 (N = 4634 in total). Multi-level logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate random effects of the age at diagnosis and the year of diagnosis and fixed effects of illness duration on labour participation, while correcting for the effects of socio-demographic and disease characteristics and socio-economic indicators. Results: A significant part of the variation in labour participation among people with chronic illness relates to the age they had when they were diagnosed. Furthermore, a longer illness duration is significantly associated with a lower chance of being economically active. This is more the case for men than for women. Labour participation of cancer survivors depends on the phase of the illness they find themselves in. No evidence was found that the year in which the diagnosis was established matters for employment chances later in life. Conclusion: Age at diagnosis and illness duration relate to chronically ill people's chances to participate in the labour market, but how and how strong they relate to labour participation depend on gender and the type of chronic disease at stake. Prospective studies are needed to assess illness trajectories of specific diagnostic groups along with the development of their school and work careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - During recent years, the Dutch labour market has developed from a buyers' market into a sellers' market Consequently employers had to increase their efforts to find suitable staff. This paper aims to analyse the instruments employers use to contact with potential workers. To what extent do employers still rely on traditional means like advertisements in the paper or do they behave more actively, using the world wide web, visiting job fares et cetera. Design/methodology/approach - The authors conducted a survey among more than 1,000 employers in The Netherlands. Factor analyses and regression analyses are carried out to explain different recruitment strategies. Findings - The factor analyses show that the different recruitment methods can be traced back to three recruitment strategies. The first strategy was described as active and informal recruitment. The second strategy was called recruiting via the internet and the third is characterised by formal recruitment. The results suggest that many organisations - not in the least organisations in the local government sector - could gain a great deal from using a wider range of instruments to recruit new personnel. Originality/value - The paper analyses the instruments used by employers in search for potential workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research from the United States consistently shows that female-dominated occupations generally yield lower wages than male-dominated occupations. Using detailed occupational data, this study analyses the size and causes of this occupational gender wage-gap in the Dutch labour market using multi-level modelling techniques. The analyses show that both men and women earn lower wages if they are employed in female-dominated occupations. This especially indicates the significance of gender in Western labour markets, since overall levels of wage inequality are relatively small in the Netherlands compared to, for example, the United Kingdom and the United States. Differences in required responsibility are particularly important in accounting for this occupational wage-gap. Nonetheless, we find large wage penalties for working in a female-dominated instead of a male-dominated occupation for occupations that require high levels of education, skills, and responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the views of Dutch employers regarding the management of an aging workforce and a tight labor market. Extent to which employers face an aging workforce within their organization; Possible implications of an aging workforce; Measures taken by employers to recruit or retain older workers.

Almost two decades have passed since Dutch employers, unions and the govern- ment in their struggle against unemployment, agreed oh a policy to increase labour market flexibility Over the years the share of flexible jobs In the Netherlands has gradually increased to around ten percent. According to some parties the. introduction of more labour market flexibility would lead to more inequality and a division in the labour market between workers with permanent employment and an underclass of women, immigrant workers and poorly educated workers with temporary contracts. The Dutch government has always claimed That a special set of legal rules regarding labour market flexibility would prevent the development of such an underclass. In this article three questions are addressed: Who has a flexible labour contract and who is in permanent employment? What is the pattern of transition to permanent contracts? What are the consequences for wage rates for those on permanent or flexible contracts respectively?.The answers to these questions are provided using panel data for the period 1986-96. The results show that labour market flexibility has been introduced into the Dutch labour market with- out detrimental consequences for specific groups of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dutch labour market has been characterised by large wage inequalities between men and women characterise for many years already. According to Bergman's 'crowding hypothesis', the concentration of women in a relatively small number of occupations contributes significantly to the existence and persistence of these wage inequalities. The 'crowding' of women in a restricted segment of the Labour market depresses their wages, and as a result women's wages tend to be lower than men's because men generally have a wider range of opportunities in the labour market. In this article, we test Bergmann's 'crowding'-hypothesis for the Dutch labour market situation. Our analysis shows that the concentration of women in occupations indeed exerts a negative influence on their wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the relation between women's wage rates and their timing of first child birth in the Netherlands. A simultaneous equations model has been constructed and estimated using Dutch survey data from 1992. Results show that delaying the first birth increases women's wage rates, and the higher the wage rate, the higher the mother's age at first birth. However, the period of time between leaving school or university and having the first child is not affected by the wage rate. On the basis of simultaneous analysis, there is indeed a reciprocal relation between length of the childless period and the hourly wage if the childless period is defined from the age of eighteen. Thus a simultaneous model is more suitable for explaining the relation between the timing of motherhood and women's wage rates than a monocausal model. This means that higher wage rates lead to a postponement of the birth of the first child, and that postponing the birth of the first child leads to higher wage rates.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the implications of the timing of children for the earnings of women, taking into account and controlling for the possibility that the earning capacity affects the timing of the first birth. To investigate the interrelationship between the timing of the first birth and the earning capacity we construct a simultaneous equations model. We estimate this model by using Dutch survey-data from 1992. The results show that delaying the first birth increases the wage rate for women. However, the length of the period between leaving school and bearing the first child is neither affected by the level of education nor by the wage rate. Compared to lower educated employed women higher educated employed women bear their first child at a similar point in their labour market career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article allocation to job level and wage rates within job levels are analysed in two consecutive steps, with special reference to the differences between men and women. To correct for selectivity bias in the wage equation a correction term based on the multinomial logit model, as proposed by Lee (1983) is used. In both steps factors derived from human capital theory and the segmented labour market theory are allowed to assert their influence. In addition, the relevance of crowding, heterogeneous human capital and personal and familial background is tested. Finally, a comparison is made with earlier, similar research for The Netherlands. This comparison highlights the importance of the connection between age, experience and exposure. Another significant finding is that during the eighties larger firms have become a more attractive option for career-oriented women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the differences on the allocation of workers to jobs among men and women. Inequality of the labor market; Assessment of the average wage rate differences; Evaluation of the educational achievements.

This article presents the results of an inquiry into the relationship that is to be expected on theoretical grounds between women's wage rate compared to men's on the one hand and some macroeconomic variables on the other. Becker's discrimination theory is confronted with alternative theories. On the base of data for the Netherlands the authors investigate which theory is most suited to explain the development of women's relative wage rate for the period 1950-1983. They conclude that the results of the empirical analysis predominantly support Becker's theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we discuss the effects of interruptions of labour market participation and part-time work on men's and women's gross wage rates. Workers who interrupt their labour market careers suffer from depreciation of their stock of human capital. Compared to workers who do not interrupt their careers they are even more disadvantaged because every year they do not participate, they miss experience. However, if during this period for which no paid labour is reported a worker engages in investments in human capital the depreciation effect and the effect of missed experience may be partly or fully offset. Using detailed career data for a group of workers from the Netherlands we estimate the effects of interruptions and part-time work for both men and women, which show some remarkable differentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]