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Project B4

Companies and Inequality: The Synchronic and Diachronic Inequality Effects of Temporary Layoffs (Recalls)

Edler, Susanne
Research associate Project B4
Hense, Andrea
Research associate Project B4
Liebig, Stefan, Prof. Dr.
Head of Project B4

This project studies how "atypical employment relationships" arising from a conjunction of different company employment policies, individual labor-market characteristics, and the interests of employees impact upon inequality over time. During the first funding period, the project will examine the example of a phenomenon previously neglected in labor market research: dismissal and subsequent rehiring by the same employer ("recalls"). Recalls are a particularly appropriate object of research, because they activate a whole spectrum of mechanisms of inequality production studied by the Collaborative Research Group (inclusion and exclusion, hierarchization, "opportunity hoarding," and the stabilization of asymmetrical dependencies). The goal is to find out why, how, and under which conditions companies and jobseekers enter a recall employment relationship, and what consequences this has not only for the companies but also for employees’ relationships in the workplace (work style) and outside it (lifestyle). This extends the current state of research in three directions:
(1) It will be shown that the company level plays a crucial role in the generation of inequalities.
(2) The causes and consequences of nonstandardized, unstable forms of employment will be observed and analyzed in a way that goes beyond the workplace context to include the context of individual daily life and the household.
(3) Because company and individual rationalities cannot be reconstructed empirically with the quantitative data that labor market research has hitherto concentrated on collecting, it is necessary to apply qualitative assessment methods and linked personal and company data.

Research questions
(1) Why, how, and under which conditions do companies and employees enter recall employment relationships?
(2) What are the effects of "disrupted organization memberships" on employees and within companies, and do these produce inequalities?
(3) What mechanisms of inequality production can be identified, and what effects do they have?

Design
(1) Secondary analyses (data from the German Institute for Employment Research IAB and the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, SOEP)
(2) Qualitative interviews (focused, semi-structured interviews, expert interviews) on a company and individual level
(3) Standardized employee survey and subsequent linkage of data with IAB datasets

8 Publications

2015 | Working Paper | PUB-ID: 2724548
Effects of unemployment on wages: differences between types of reemployment and types of occupation
Edler S, Jacobebbinghaus P, Liebig S (2015) SFB 882 Working Paper Series; 51.
Bielefeld: DFG Research Center (SFB) 882 From Heterogeneities to Inequalities.
PUB | PDF
 
2015 | Working Paper | PUB-ID: 2724528
Changing reward structures: (Temporary) layoffs and returns on human capital
Edler S, Hense A (2015) SFB 882 Working Paper Series; 50.
Bielefeld: DFG Research Center (SFB) 882 From Heterogeneities to Inequalities.
PUB | PDF
 
2015 | Working Paper | PUB-ID: 2712453
Potenziale und Voraussetzungen für die Sekundäranalyse qualitativer Interviewdaten in der Organisationsforschung
Rosenbohm S, Gebel T, Hense A (2015) SFB 882 Working Paper Series; 43.
Bielefeld: DFG Research Center (SFB) 882 From Heterogeneities to Inequalities.
PUB | PDF
 
2013 | Book Chapter | PUB-ID: 2718516
Die Dokumentation qualitativer Interviews im Rahmen von Organisationsstudien
Gebel T, Liebig S (2013)
In: Forschungsinfrastrukturen. Huschka D, Knoblauch H, Oellers C, Solga H (Eds); Berlin: Scivero: 73-90.
PUB
 
2013 | Working Paper | PUB-ID: 2563496
Individual Determinants of Recalls
Hense A, Edler S, Liebig S (2013) SFB 882 Working Paper Series; 18.
Bielefeld: DFG Research Center (SFB) 882 From Heterogeneities to Inequalities.
PUB | PDF
 
2010 | Book Chapter | PUB-ID: 2002596
Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Surveys: Linking Individual Data to Organizational Data in Life-Course Analysis
Liebig S (2010)
In: Building on Progress - Expanding the Research Infrastructure for the Social, Economic, and Behavioral Sciences. ;2 Opladen & Farmington Hills: German Data Forum (RatSWD): 971-984.
PUB
 
2010 | Book Chapter | PUB-ID: 2002597
Organizational Data
Liebig S (2010)
In: Building on Progress - Expanding the Research Infrastructure for the Social, Economic, and Behavioral Sciences. ;2 Opladen & Farmington Hills: German Data Forum (RatSWD): 985-999.
PUB
 
2009 | Working Paper | PUB-ID: 2465310 PUB