The Effect of Unemployment and Low-Quality Work Conditions on Work Values: Exploring the Experiences of Young Europeans

AuthorEmily Rainsford,Sebastian Adrian Popa,William A. Maloney
Published date01 March 2019
DOI10.1177/0002716219830378
Date01 March 2019
Subject MatterWhat are the Effects of Attitudes Toward Work?
/tmp/tmp-17udkee9C3QmSq/input 830378ANN
THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYUNEMPLOYMENT AND LOW-QUALITY WORK CONDITIONS
research-article2019
This article examines the impact that unemployment
and low-quality work conditions have on young adults’
work values. Academic theory suggests that harsher
economic conditions will make people prize extrinsic
work values (income, security) more and intrinsic work
values (creative, independent working conditions,
autonomy) less. We apply this reasoning to study young
Europeans’ response to unemployment and low-quality
work conditions, expecting that those who have these
The Effect of experiences will value extrinsic values more and intrin-
sic work values less than those who do not have these
Unemployment experiences. Using the CUPESSE dataset of 18- to
35-year-olds in eleven European countries, we do not
find support for the effect of previous unemployment
and Low-
experience on intrinsic or extrinsic work values.
However, when it comes to the effect of low-quality
Quality Work work conditions, there are mixed results. We find that
one dimension of low-quality work conditions—
overqualification—does have a positive effect on extrinsic
Conditions on work values. further, we find that age has a moderating
effect: unemployment and low-quality work conditions
Work Values: have a larger impact on the younger workers in our
sample than their older counterparts.
Exploring the Keywords: work values; working conditions; CUPESSE;
overqualification; precarious; unemploy-
Experiences of
ment; young people
Young
Europeans
Structural changes within the labor market—
including increased flexibility, high levels of
unemployment, rising educational attainment
levels, the changing nature of work itself (e.g.,
technological modernization and employment
precarity), and the 2007 economic crisis—have
all had a significant impact on the ways in
By
which people experience work (Cahuc et al.
EMILY RAINSfORD,
WILLIAM A. MALONEY,
Emily Rainsford is a research associate at Newcastle
and
University working on youth political engagement and
employment.
SEbASTIAN ADRIAN POPA
William A. Maloney is a professor of politics and head
of the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at
Newcastle University. His research interests include
civil society organizations and political participation.
Correspondence: emily.rainsford@ncl.ac.uk
DOI: 10.1177/0002716219830378
172
ANNALS, AAPSS, 682, March 2019

UNEMPLOYMENT AND LOW-QUALITY WORK CONDITIONS
173
2013; O’Reilly et al. 2015). These developments have had the most profound
impact on those entering the labor market—the young (Dietrich 2012; Shore and
Tosun 2017). Even though unemployment levels have recovered in many
European countries after the crisis, youth unemployment levels remain stub-
bornly high (Cahuc et al. 2013; Oesingmann 2017; Tosun 2017).
Early unemployment experiences for young people can have various long-
term effects both for society and the individual. Youth unemployment carries a
significant economic cost, estimated at more than €50 billion in the European
Union (EU) in 2011 (see Tosun 2017, 40). At the individual level, not only are
young people more likely to experience unemployment “because their relative
position in the queue for jobs deteriorates more easily when the growth for
employment slows down” (Wolber 2007, 189), but unemployment can also have
long-term scarring effects. The transition to the first sustainable job remains a
critical and formative period that has consequences for the life chances of young
people (Arnett 2000; Ryan 2001). Unemployment experience during this time
increases the likelihood of being unemployed later in life, can decrease future
salaries, send a negative signal to future employers, and lead to a loss in social
networks and opportunity to develop important skills with a labor market cur-
rency (Dietrich 2012; Shore and Tosun 2017). Experience of unemployment
during this formative time can directly influence young people’s work values
(Chow, Krahn, and Galambos 2014; Cemalcilar, Tosun, and Jensen, this volume;
Gallie, this volume; Kalleberg and Marsden, this volume).
Previous research has explored how societal changes influence work values
across generations (Van den broeck et al. 2010). for example, when times are
tough during an economic crisis or in its immediate aftermath, or if individuals
have experienced unemployment, then people tend to value job security and high
incomes—extrinsic work values—over independent working and opportunities for
personal development and growth—intrinsic work values (Kalleberg and Marsden
2013). However, it is not only unemployment that shapes work values but also
workplace and work-life experiences (Adkins and Naumann 2016). As Gallie (this
volume) highlights, “while early socialization and education were generally impor-
tant determinants of employment commitment and intrinsic reward values, differ-
ences in job quality are central for the explanation of country differences.” In
Europe, a growing concern for young people entering the labor market, and for
policy-makers, is the quality of work (Cedefop 2018; Eurofound 2002).
Recent research in the UK characterized the labor market as resembling an
hourglass with plenty of high quality jobs at the top, and low quality jobs at the
bottom, and a hollowing out of the middle-range occupations (Sissons 2011, 4).
As Sissons (2011, 4) notes, this structural change means that highly skilled
Sebastian Adrian Popa is a lecturer in comparative politics at Newcastle University and a
researcher at MZES, University of Mannheim. His research focuses on political behavior in a
comparative perspective.
NOTE: We recognize financial support by the project Cultural Pathways to Economic Self-
Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship (CUPESSE; Seventh framework Program of the European
Union; Grant Agreement No. 613257). We thank Carolin Rapp, the guest editors, and one
anonymous reviewer for their comments on earlier versions of this article.

174
THE ANNALS Of THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
workers may find themselves getting “bumped down” the labor market, having to
take on jobs that they are overqualified for. There are similar concerns regarding
the skills mismatch beyond the UK. The EU identified the skills mismatch as a
critical issue following the 2007 economic crisis, with significant reductions in the
number of jobs in certain sectors and employers finding it difficult to find people
with the right skills for the jobs on offer (Cedefop 2018).1 The Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 1996, 132–33, cited in
Curtain 2001, 8) estimated that “men even up to the age of 28 may have prob-
lems in settling into stable work; for some who are early school leavers, the transi-
tion can last to age 35.” The quality of work is thus a major concern for young
people and policy-makers today, and it is therefore important to understand how
this experience affects what contemporary young people value in work.
The concept of quality of work is complex and the exact definition depends on
whether it is assessed from the individual or societal perspective. The United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE; 2015, 13) defined quality
of work as “the conditions and ethics of employment, monetary and non-pecuniary
benefits, working time arrangements and work-life balance, employment security
and social protection, skills development and training as well as work motivation
and employment-related relationships.” In this article, we take an individual per-
spective and focus on the skills match and the type of contract the individual has,
tapping into both the employment security and skills development aspects of the
UNECE definition.2
We advance previous research and contribute to the policy debate on quality
of work by exploring not only the impact of unemployment on contemporary
young European’s work values but also the effect of low-quality work. both these
experiences are highly likely to shape what young people value in work, and we
aim to test the effects on intrinsic and extrinsic work values. To do this, we draw
on the Cultural Pathways to Economic Self-Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship
(CUPESSE) dataset of 18- to 35-year-olds in elven European countries (see
Tosun et al. 2018), focusing only on the employed respondents as we are inter-
ested in the effect of working conditions on work values. Herein, low-quality
work is defined as precarious or nonstandard jobs (casual, temporary, fractional
work, or disadvantageous contracts—e.g., zero hours3) and/or jobs in which work-
ers believe that their qualifications are beyond the requirements of their current
position (i.e., they consider themselves to be overqualified for the job). Drawing
on Kalleberg and Marsden’s (2013) problematic rewards thesis that suggests that
those who have secure and well-paid jobs value intrinsic values more than those
...

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