New article on the role of labour market policies in moderating the effect of unemployment and insecure jobs is published in Social Indicators Research

EXCEPT researchers Jonas Voßemer, Michael Gebel, Kadri Täht, Marge Unt, Björn Högberg and Mattias Strandh published the article "The Effects of Unemployment and Insecure Jobs on Well-Being and Health: The Moderating Role of Labour Market Policies" in the journal Social Indicators Research.

The article investigates how passive and active labour market policies (PLMP, ALMP) as well as employment protection legislation (EPL) shape the experience of unemployment and insecure jobs in Europe, using micro data of round 1–6 (2002–2012) of the European Social Survey (ESS) and time-varying macro indicators of PLMP, ALMP, and EPL from various other data sources. The results show that labour market policies are important in shaping the experience of unemployment but are less relevant for workers in insecure jobs. Specifically, higher unemployment benefits buffer the negative effects of unemployment on well-being, but not health. The researchers also discuss different interpretations for the finding that higher ALMP expenditures are associated with more negative effects of unemployment on well-being and health. With respect to EPL, they found that in countries with high insider protection, deregulating the restrictions on the use of temporary employment increases the negative effects of unemployment on well-being and health.
The article is open access and can be downloaded from here.