Nonstandard Jobs, Nonstandard Lives? Impacts of Temporary Employment and Unemployment on the Life Course

Hande Inanc

It is well documented that unemployment has a strong impact on individuals’ life courses, affecting the timing and sequencing of family transitions. Those with unemployment experience are more likely to postpone marriage, instead cohabit, become parents before getting married, and experience partnership dissolution. Temporary employment, is often regarded as a better alternative to being unemployed for it provides individuals with income and opportunities to connect with employers. In reality temporary jobs are associated with a large amount stress and insecurity, and thus could affect individuals’ family lives. Applying discrete-time event history analysis to a representative sample of individuals from the British Household Panel Study, I show that temporary workers, like the unemployed, postpone marriage, become parents before getting married, and experience partnership dissolution, however, unlike the unemployed, they postpone cohabiting unions. The findings underline the importance, not only of accessing a job, but a good quality job, for family outcomes.

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 Presented in Session 136. Families and Work