Smooth transition or permanent exit? Evidence on job prospects of displaced industrial workers

TitleSmooth transition or permanent exit? Evidence on job prospects of displaced industrial workers
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsOesch, D, Baumann, I
JournalSocio-Economic Review
Volume13
Issue1
Pagination101-123
Keywordseconomic sociology, labour markets, manufacturing, political economy, unemployment, wages
Abstract

This article examines the job prospects of displaced industrial workers in Switzerland. Based on a survey of 1,203 workers who were dismissed after their manufacturing plants closed down, we analyse the determinants of re-employment, the sector of re-employment and the change in wages. Two years after displacement, a majority of workers were back in employment: 69% were re-employed, 17% unemployed and 11% retired. Amongst re-employed workers, two thirds found a job in manufacturing and one third in services. Contrary to a common belief, low-end services are not the collecting vessel of redundant industrial workers. Displaced workers aged 55 and older seem particularly vulnerable after a plant closes down: over 30% were long-term unemployed, and those older workers who found a new job suffered disproportionate wage losses. Advanced age—and not low education—appears as the primary handicap after mass redundancy.

DOI10.1093/ser/mwu023
Refereed DesignationRefereed