Temporary Contracts, Employment Trajectories and Dualisation: A Comparison of Norway and Sweden

• Published in: Work, employment and society Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 505 - 524
• Main Authors: Berglund, Tomas, Nielsen, Roy A, Reichenberg, Olof, Svalund, Jørgen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.04.2023; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Arbetlivsvetenskap; Attachment; dualisation; Employment law; employment protection legislation; EPL-gap; fixed-term contract; Labor force; Labor market; Legislation; Middle age; Protection; Regulation; sequence analysis; Sociologi (exklusive socialt arbete, socialpsykologi och socialantropologi); Sociology (excluding Social work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology); Temporary employment; Work Life Studies; fixed-term contract; sequence analysis; dualisation; temporary employment; EPL-gap; employment protection legislation
• ISSN: 0950-0170; 1469-8722; 1469-8722
• DOI: 10.1177/09500170211031466

This study compares the labour market trajectories of the temporary employed in Norway with those in Sweden. Sweden’s employment protection legislation gap between the strict protection of permanent employment and the loose regulation of temporary employment has widened in recent decades, while Norway has maintained balanced and strict regulation of both employment types. The study asserts that the two countries differ concerning the distribution of trajectories, leading to permanent employment and trajectories that do not create firmer labour market attachment. Using sequence analysis to analyse two-year panels of the labour force survey for 1997–2011, several different trajectories are discerned in the two countries. The bridge trajectories dominate in Norway, while dead-end trajectories are more common in Sweden. Moreover, the bridge trajectories are selected to stronger categories (mid-aged and higher educated) in Sweden than in Norway. The results are discussed from the perspective of labour market dualisation.