Traversing the flexible turn: US workers’ perceptions of job security, 1977-2002

Author: Fullerton, Andrew S.; Wallace, Michael Description: This paper utilizes data from the General Social Survey from 1977 to 2002 to investigate trends in and determinants of US workers’ perceptions of job security. We find that perceived job security is impacted at the individual level by demographic factors such as race, age, education, earnings, part-time status, and occupation. With regard to age, our findings point to an increased sense of perceived insecurity at mid-career, which is contrary to previous research. This effect is distinctive from cohort effects and the linear…

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Subjective Employment Insecurity Around the World

Author: Green, Francis Description: I consider the concept of employment insecurity (EI) and provide new evidence for 1997 and 2005 for many countries with widely differing institutional contexts and at varying stages of development. There are no grounds for accepting that workplaces were going through a sea change in EI. Workers in transitional economies and developing economies worried the most about insecurity. Insecurity tended to be greater for women, for less-educated and for older workers. However, these patterns vary across country groups, in ways that are only sometimes explicable in…

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Subjective Job Insecurity and the Rise of the Precariat: Evidence from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States

Author: Manning, Alan; Mazeine, Graham Description: There is a widespread belief that work is less secure than in the past, that an increasing share of workers are part of the “precariat.” It is hard to find much evidence for this in objective measures of job security, but perhaps subjective measures show different trends. This paper shows that in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, workers feel as secure as they ever have in the past 30 years. This is partly because job insecurity is very cyclical and (pre-COVID)…

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Who Says Artificial Intelligence Is Stealing Our Jobs?

Author: Dahlin, Eric Description: The author investigates survey respondents’ reports of job displacement due to artificial intelligence (AI) and concerns about AI-related job displacement. Accordingly, the author examines explanations of AI exceptionalism–the view that AI technology is unique and will have different job-related outcomes compared with previous technological advances–and the vulnerability of underprivileged groups. The findings support the AI exceptionalism view, indicating that white-collar occupations and those with technical experience are more likely to be at risk. The study also reveals that concerns about job loss are widespread, but those…

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