Dynamic Outcomes: Effects of Job Mobility in Germany and the UK

The concept of job mobility is useful to sociologists who see inequality as stemming from positions in a social structure, instead of the characteristics of those holding the positions. Yet, authors more often explore the causes of job mobility than its consequences. An important but rarely tested assumption in the labour market literature is that job mobility leads to better positions. This research explores the assumption, asking “what do workers get from mobility?” It considers three aims. First, it explores the relationship between mobility types and subjective and objective outcomes. Second, it explores differences between labour market insiders and outsiders in the relationship between mobility and outcomes. Third, it compares institutional differences between liberal and coordinated economies in the mobility-outcomes relationship. The thesis uses two longitudinal panels to analyse the outcomes of different forms of job mobility in the UK and Germany during the precrisis years of 2000-2008. The three aims act as configurations of the mobility-outcomes relationship, shedding light on how it shapes worker action. Regarding mobility types, inter-firm mobility leads to subjective gains, but does not result in objective ones. Intra-firm mobility leads to objective gains, but has minor effects on subjective outcomes. Differences between workers rely strongly on the institutional context. British women appear to gain more from mobility than men; yet the gains are subjective or tied to hours. German women are unaffected by mobility, whereas men make subjective bargains using changes. Education differences suggest non-tertiary groups gain the most from mobility when outcomes are subjective but the least when outcomes are objective. Institutional comparison shows separate opportunity structures and separate meanings to mobility in both countries. German institutions internalise workers with high promotion premiums, which are smaller in the UK. The UK has a wide variance in working conditions which may explain large subjective premiums tied to inter-firm change. In Germany, quits may be fuelled by a want for more interesting or satisfactory work, at the compromise of other outcomes. In the UK, quits may be fuelled by a need to improve one’s immediate environment or responsibilities. The thesis concludes that the promises of mobile markets should be treated with scepticism