Perceived Job Insecurity in early careers and human capital accumulation

Catherine Béduwé (1) , Arnaud Dupray (2) , Assâad El Akremi (1)

1 TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research
2 CEREQ - Centre d'études et de recherches sur les qualifications

The paper explores how perceived job insecurity (PJI) evolves with time among early careers using a cohort of French school leavers over the period 1998-2008. The study intends to clarify why PJI increases both with years of experience and tenure in a firm in contradiction with expectations. The human capital content of experience and tenure is considered in parallel with identifying the main component of PJI: risk of job loss or fear of not regaining equivalent employment conditions. Main findings are: (i) Declining macroeconomic conditions explain the apparent rise of PJI with experience. (ii) The increase of PJI with years of tenure still remains whatever the specification. A negative correlation was detected in the case where years of tenure reflect the accumulation of transferable human capital and when the probability of job loss is unlikely. (iii) The relation of human capital to subjective job insecurity tends to disappear with the economic downturn of 2008. Sommaire

Mots clés: Théorie du capital humain; Enquête Génération 98; Stress; Trajectoire d'insertion; Insertion professionnelle; Jeune

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Catherine Béduwé, Arnaud Dupray, Assâad El Akremi. Perceived Job Insecurity in early careers and human capital accumulation. 2018. ⟨halshs-02515197⟩