Instable career paths among workers 45 and over: Insight gained from long-term career trajectories

Abstract

The study presented in this article focused on the instable career paths of older workers. The study, which is based on the life course approach, had two objectives: 1) identify the main variables which, through their interactions, characterized end-of-career paths; 2) piece together, from the beginning of the career onward, the sequence of key events, transitions, and turning points in the career trajectories that preceded these paths. The results, based on an analysis of in-depth interviews with 32 Canadian workers 45 years and older, showed that these participants' particular career path was characterized by considerable interdependent precariousness whose effects accumulated and intensified as the workers aged. The results also show that this career path was preceded by two distinct career trajectories: one named “fragmented,” which was punctuated by discontinuity and breaks of all kinds, and the other called “severed,” which was characterized by the sudden loss of a career job. Finally, the link between the end-of-career path seen here and the trajectories that preceded it sheds at least some light on the processes that can lead to an instable end-of-career path. These processes were condensed in our discussion into two distinct career biographies.