Conferences

Today, analysing peoples’ positions and opportunities on the labour market is becoming an increasingly complex issue. This is due to the raise in atypical employment relations, which provokes new questions concerning changes in the 'quality’ of available jobs. Labour economists and sociologists express concern about the raise in underemployment and contingent work, understood mainly in terms of low-quality employment. In this context, some even argue that access to employment, by itself, can no longer be regarded as the major dimension of social inequality in contemporary societies. More detailed characteristics of peoples’ jobs have to be taken into account. The aim of this study is to identify the conditions and characteristics which affect the likelihood of the persistence of underemployment and contingent employment over time, using data from five waves of the Polish Panel Survey (POLPAN 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2008). It is an exploratory analysis, based on dynamic, random effects models estimated using STATA. For the purpose of the study, I define underemployment as low (i.e.: poverty-level) wages and skill mismatch, which occurs when there is a substantial gap between workers’ educational attainment and their occupational status. Contingent work denotes short-term, unstable employment relations, with high levels of worker insecurity and lack of attachment between employer and worker. The study is an attempt to overcome various methodological problems, particularly those associated with the operationalization and measurement of employment inadequacies for the purpose of panel analyses, given the limitations of multi-wave panel data.