ABSTRACT
Job loss and unemployment are major problems of modern capitalist societies. It is beyond question that employment instability is connected to many unfavorable outcomes for individuals and countries. At the same time, such instabilities are, to some degree, inevitable elements of labor markets in capitalist economies. Despite the existence of employment protection legislation in most countries, there are always firms that displace employees for a variety of reasons. For those affected, losing a job has severe consequences for many aspects of their lives (Brand 2015). This is even more pronounced if they are not able to obtain a new job after displacement and enter a longer spell of unemployment. Among all of the negative consequences that job loss entails for individuals, I focus on the most obvious in this study: decreases in individual economic well-being. While there are other important effects of job loss, for example on life satisfaction as well as on physical and mental health, the effects on economic well-being are arguably the most far-reaching. The aim of this study is to advance the knowledge about economic insecurity that job loss causes over the life course. In particular, I want to find out which factors offset and which factors increase the impact of displacements on economic well-being.
