Temporary employment in Switzerland * extent, determinants an evaluation in an international perspective

Abstract

"This study analyses the extent and determinants of temporary employment in Switzerland and performs an evaluation of these contracts using data from the first three waves of the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), i.e. for the years 1999 to 2001. It is shown that temporary employment is most common among highly skilled as well as young and older workers. Although the wages of females in temporary employment are lower than those of other female workers, our results show that this wage differential cannot be attributed to the type of contract (i.e. whether temporary or not), but instead to unobservable individual heterogeneity. However, there is no significant wage effect in the male sample. Both the actual and perceived unemployment risk of temporary workers is higher than that of workers holding permanent contracts. Mobility between temporary and permanent jobs is quite high. Nevertheless, a certain persistency within temporary jobs can be observed. With regard to job satisfaction, temporary workers are more likely to report a higher level of general job satisfaction than workers with permanent contracts. However, males working an a temporary basis are often less satisfied with their wages than other workers. No significant differences between contract types can be detected in the probability of participating in job-related training. An international comparison based an data from the 1997 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) reveals that the determinants of temporary employment in Switzerland are similar to those in other countries. It is also noted that, in a cross-national context, the level of unemployment has an effect on the extent of temporary employment within a country. Interestingly, employment protection legislation has no significant impact." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Henneberger, F., Sousa-Poza, A. & Ziegler, A. (2004): Befristete Beschäftigung in der Schweiz. Ausmaß, Determinanten und ökonomische Bewertung im internationalen Vergleich. In: Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung, Vol. 37, No. 3, p. 239-267.