Results of this innovative research were published in 11 articles in leading international SSCI-listed academic journals (in addition four articles are still under review). We succeeded in disseminating and communicating our research findings in 65 contributions to international conferences and workshops. We engaged in collaborations with leading scholars in the field by organizing two workshops with other ERC projects with similar research topics, by making several longer-time research visits (e.g. in Australia, Italy and Japan) and by co-authoring six out of 11 journal publications with scholars who are based in Australia, Germany, Japan, Korea, Sweden, and the U.S. Two PhD thesis and one MA thesis emerged from the project and were successfully defended during the lifetime of the project. A third PhD thesis is almost completed and will be defended in summer 2023. Our project homepage and Twitter account have continued providing lively updates on the project.
The project produced the following key findings, structured along the six main objectives of the project:
(1) We found effects on employment and wage trajectories, wealth, income poverty, intergenerational transfers and subjective well-being. Temporary job tend to have negative effects compared to permanent jobs but positive effects when being compared to unemployment.
(2) We documented a variety of temporary employment sequences and transition events, which varied also in their socio-economic consequences. Our dynamic and life course studies revealed that socio-economic consequences do not only show up in the short run but prevail in the medium and long run over many years, even after a successful transition of a temporary worker to a permanent job position.
(3) Several project publications advanced the methodological research in the field of temporary employment and showed that a substantial part of the association between temporary employment and outcomes in different socio-economic fields are due to selection into temporary employment based on observed and unobserved individual characteristics. However, even accounting for this selection, temporary employment still shows substantial consequences.
(4) The socio-economic consequences of temporary employment vary across subgroups of workers, with stronger disadvantages for otherwise advantaged groups The consequences also depend on the type of temporary employment. Next to different types of sequences of temporary employment and transitions, results significantly varied across different types of temporary contract and other forms of non-standard work (such as part-time work or informal work).
(5) The socio-economic consequences of temporary employment should be also be studied in a household perspective. Our results highlight that temporary employment can affect also other household members and that the consequences of temporary employment can be intensified or mitigated by the household context.
(6) Various project publications took a cross-country comparative perspective and revealed cross-country differences but also similarities. Moreover, it was shown that the structural and institutional context, such as the welfare regime, labor market regulation and dualization or social cohesion, mitigates or amplifies the socio-economic consequences of temporary employment.
