WOLIWEB D13 measuring job insecurity 5
3. REVIEWING JOB INSECURITY IN RELATION TO DISMISSALS
AND REORGANISATIONS AT THE WORKPLACE
Both, new technology and economic recession will lead to structural readjustments
by firms, during downsizing and efforts to reorganize the labour process. Perceptions
of job insecurity are correlated to both. In 2000, an OECD study estimated that over
half of the workers were worried about the future of their company, and 29 percent
were unsure of their job even if they performed well (Arnal, Ok & Torres, 2001).
Compared to 1996, the situation had improved due to the economic boom, but the
percentages were still considered high. One interpretation is that job insecurity
probably is related with firm reorganisation and changes in job requirements –
rather than lower employment tenure, for which there was no general evidence.
A Dutch study indeed showed that, controlled for other factors, job insecurity
perceptions were nearly three times higher for employees reporting a reorganisation
in their firm last year compared to employees not reporting so (Tijdens and Van
Klaveren, 2002). Compared to employees in firms with growing employment,
employees in shrinking firms are far more likely to experience a reorganisation.
Assuming an organizational cycle model, where compared to growing firms the
workforce is on average older in shrinking firms, this is in line with the finding that
younger employees are far less likely to report reorganisations than older
employees. Yet, it is in contrast to observations that young people more often are
found in insecure jobs. According to a US study, expectations of job loss tend to
decrease markedly with age, but so do expectations of a good outcome should job
search become necessary (Manski and Straub, 1999). The net result is that
composite job insecurity tends not to vary at all with age. Moreover, in the US
perceptions of job insecurity varied little by sex, but substantially by race.
Several indicators are used to measure perceptions of job insecurity. However,
large-scale European-wide data measurement on this issue hardly exists, and if so, it
is not suited for detailed statistical analyses, according to the OECD study.
Nevertheless, perceptions of job insecurity will be a major indicator for citizen’s well
even may affect current fertility decisions, and in particular unemployed are likely to
postpone maternity (Del Bono, 2001). In addition, it can be assumed that
perceptions of job insecurity may also act as a predictor of dismissals, and thus act
as an indicator of economic forecasting. The relationships between perceptions of job