Don't look down: the consequences of job loss in a flexible labour market

Upward, Richard; Wright, Peter

Abstract

We estimate the earnings, hours and income effects of job loss for a representative sample of UK workers from 1991–2007. We follow workers before and after job loss, regardless of their labour market state, and we match displaced workers with similar non-displaced workers. This provides a more comprehensive picture of the effect of job loss in the UK than previously available. Job loss causes a long-run reduction in income which is mainly due to reductions in monthly pay rather than in employment propensity. Income from other labour market states and from welfare payments does little to compensate for income losses. This lack of a “safety net” means that job loss in the UK has a similar impact to job loss in the US.

Citation

Upward, R., & Wright, P. (2019). Don't look down: the consequences of job loss in a flexible labour market. Economica, 86(341), 166-200. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12254

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 25, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Nov 7, 2017
• Publication Date: 2019-01
• Deposit Date: Sep 12, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 8, 2019
• Journal: Economica
• Print ISSN: 0013-0427
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-0335
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 86
• Issue: 341
• Pages: 166-200
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12254
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/893547
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecca.12254/full
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Upward, R. and Wright, P. W. (2017), Don't Look Down: The Consequences of Job Loss in a Flexible Labour Market. Economica, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12254. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving