Abstract
This paper answers three research questions: What is the impact of fixed-term employment on the well-being of partners? How do these spillover effects differ by gender, and do gender differences depend on socialization in East or West Germany? Do individual well-being, perceived job insecurity, and financial worries mediate the spillover effects? We use longitudinal data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), 1995–2017, and a sample of heterosexual couples living together, to estimate fixed-effects panel regression models. In contrast to previous studies, we consider asymmetric effects of entering and leaving fixed-term contracts by focusing on transitions from unemployment into fixed-term and fixed-term into permanent jobs. Confirming previous research on spillover effects of unemployment, we find that fixed-term re-employment increases partners’ well-being and that these effects are larger in case of re-employment by men and partners’ socialization in West Germany. We also show that transitions from fixed-term to permanent jobs do not substantially increase the well-being of partners with little differences by gender and place of socialization. While the spillover effect of re-employment is mediated by changes in the well-being of the individual re-entering the labor market, changes in job insecurity and financial worries due to transitions from fixed-term to permanent jobs are too small to produce meaningful effects on well-being. Although fixed-term contracts have been referred to as a new source of inequality, our results show that they cause little difference in the well-being of individuals and their partners and that finding a job matters more than the type of contract.
Highlights
Employment is a key determinant of well-being, and life satisfaction (Luhmann et al 2012), i.e., the balance between individual expectations regarding life and the fulfillment of these expectations (Veenhoven 2009)
We extend the knowledge on how fixed-term employment affects well-being by addressing three research questions
Are there spillover effects of fixed-term contracts on the well-being of partners? Second, do gendered spillover effects depend on socialization in East or West Germany? Third, are these spillover effects mediated by individual subjective well-being, job insecurity and financial worries? Using long-run panel data on couples from Germany, we analyze transitions from unemployment into fixed-term employment and from fixed-term into permanent employment
Summary
Employment is a key determinant of well-being, and life satisfaction (Luhmann et al 2012), i.e., the balance between individual expectations regarding life and the fulfillment of these expectations (Veenhoven 2009). In response to employers’ demands for flexibility, governments deregulated employment protection and promoted the use of fixed-term jobs. These jobs are characterized by a predetermined expiry date, which leaves it up to employers to decide whether to continue the employment relationship. Since unemployment has detrimental and long-lasting consequences for the well-being of individuals (Wanberg 2012; Mousteri et al 2018), governments have seen fixed-term contracts as a promising tool for improving the labor market prospects of disadvantaged groups (Korpi and Levin 2001; DiPrete et al 2006) and subsequently their well-being
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