Profiling “Occupational Changers”: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Occupational change is a common and impactful career transition, but previous research has not yet clarified how employees’ job satisfaction, health, and well-being develop after such a change, and which factors contribute to their favorable or unfavorable development. Addressing these issues, we analyzed panel data of young employees in Switzerland covering the first four years of entering the labor market after completing vocational education and training (N = 352). We examined different trajectories of changes in job satisfaction, health, and well-being indicators after an occupational change across four years, from one year before the occupational change to two years after the change. We also examined levels and changes in job demands, job resources, and personal resources over the same period as potential explanatory factors for these trajectories. Longitudinal growth mixture analyses (LGMA) revealed four trajectories of job satisfaction, health, and well-being variables: (1) favorable development– particularly in mental health, (2) favorable development– particularly in physical health, (3) unfavorable development, and (4) stable favorable. Different trajectories after changing occupation were explained by changes but not by levels in job demands, job resources, and personal resources in the new occupation. We discuss the implications of the results at the occupational and individual levels.