ABSTRACT

The recent economic and financial crisis has been the most severe economic downturn that the European Union has faced since its creation. Most of the labour market reforms passed in response to the crisis decreased protections for workers by making employment contracts less secure, expanding the coverage of temporary and agency work, as well as by reducing the power that trade unions used to enjoy. What have been the implications of the crisis-induced labour market reforms for the quality and security of jobs in Europe? Has deregulation affected workers’ perceptions of job security and employability? And was the crisis experienced similarly across Europe? This chapter seeks to answer these questions by analysing the effects of the economic crisis and labour market deregulation on individual perceptions of job security and employability in Europe. Using a multilevel estimation strategy, the chapter finds that the crisis-induced labour market reforms have not impacted negatively workers’ perceptions of job security. Instead, unemployment levels and the generosity of active labour market programmes are the only significant predictors of individual perceptions about job security. Furthermore, we find that self-perceived employability is negatively affected by unemployment rates and positively correlated with economic growth.