Back to work: Re-employment, earnings and skill use after job displacement

Abstract

This chapter provides new and more extensive evidence about the incidence of job displacement and its consequences. Job displacement is defined as involuntary job loss due to economic factors such as economic downturns or structural change and particular efforts are made to improve data comparability across the 14 countries included in the analysis. Displacement rates as well as re-employment rates one and two years after displacement are presented in the chapter. The chapter also looks at the effect of displacement on subsequent earnings, as well as some additional aspects of job quality, and explores changes in skill requirements resulting from occupational mobility following displacement. Finally, the groups of workers most affected by displacement – both in terms of its incidence and consequences – are identified.