Erwerbseinstieg und erste Erwerbsjahre

The debate about the structural change of the labor market and the organization of dependent work has not been decided, neither theoretically nor empirically. This paper investigates on the basis of data from the GSOEP (German Socio Economic Panel) the entry into the labor market and the first years of gainful employment for four birth cohorts. The central focus of our argumentation lies on the following questions: Is there an increase of atypical entries into the labor market (aged 15 to 26) — i.e. part-time employment, unemployment or non labor market participation — and what proportion of their first years of working life (aged 15 to 36) do people spend in full-time employment. The results show a rise of atypical entries into the labor market for the younger cohorts. The duration of male full-time employment will be shorter because of longer education periods, while this duration rises for women as a result of decreasing relevance of housewife work. An atypical entry into the labor market has long-term consequences for the further working life, so that it hardly can be compensated. A de-standardization of the entry into the working life is most frequent for men and women with lower professional qualification. The results show that society is increasingly polarizing along the lines of qualified and non-qualified persons.