| Summary: | This doctoral thesis contributes to research on socio-economic inequalities associated with two types of atypical employment, part-time and temporary work. Paper 1, entitled “Wage differences between atypical and standard workers in European countries: Moving beyond average effects” shows that wage penalties associated with temporary and part-time employment differ across the wage distribution, based on a sample of seven European countries. Temporary employment is associated with significant wage penalties that decrease but largely remain significant towards the upper end of the wage distribution. In contrast, wage differences between part-time and full-time workers are smaller and range from part-time penalties at lower deciles of the wage distribution to non-significant differences or premiums at the top. Paper 2, “Bridge for some, trap for others? Career phase variation in the long-term wage growth of temporary workers”, examines whether the long-term wage growth consequences of temporary employment differ by career phase. Focusing on Germany, it shows that the wages of early-career temporary workers eventually converge with those of permanent workers, while temporary workers at later career stages experience long-term wage divergence. This variation can partially be attributed to differences in the subsequent labour market careers of temporary workers. Paper 3 is entitled “Does atypical employment come in couples? Evidence from European countries”. It examines whether partner atypical employment affects own atypical employment, based on a sample of 29 European countries. The results show that partner temporary employment increases the likelihood of own temporary employment. Accumulation of part-time employment is also observed, albeit at a smaller scale. Finally, paper 4, entitled “Accumulation or mitigation? The impact of atypical employment in couples on joint labour income” looks at the effect of part-time and temporary employment in German couples on couples’ joint labour income, and gender differences therein. Both temporary and part-time employment in couples are associated with a negative income effect, which becomes insignificant for part-time employment once adjusting for working hours. There is also some indication that disadvantages are more pronounced when male partners are in atypical employment compared to when female partners are atypically employed.
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