Smooth transition or permanent exit? Evidence on job prospects of displaced industrial workers
Title | Smooth transition or permanent exit? Evidence on job prospects of displaced industrial workers |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2015 |
Authors | Oesch, D, Baumann, I |
Journal | Socio-Economic Review |
Volume | 13 |
Issue | 1 |
Pagination | 101-123 |
Keywords | economic 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. |
DOI | 10.1093/ser/mwu023 |
Refereed Designation | Refereed |