Not only is a job an important part of the economic development of any society or country, but it is also the main source of livelihood and income for many families. Most people spend more than 35 hours every week in paid employment. Jobs are offered by either government or private entities with an expectation of compensation as agreed between the employer and the employee, and job security is important in ensuring that one does not become unexpectedly unemployed. During the economic expansion period, businesses experience expansion leading to demands for more capital or labor. The job security and confidence increase with the growth in business. However, the opposite holds during the recession when business look to downsize their workforce to lower the cost of operation.
Measuring Job Security
Job security is an important aspect of a person’s well-being as well as labor participation, production, and economic performance. An employee in the any OECD country spends 32 to 42 hours a week at work. Hours at work account for an increasingly large share of adult life. Job security, therefore, captures the aspect of economic security related to the risk of losing a job and financial implication for the worker. Job security depends on the prevailing business conditions and the capacity of the personnel. A job security score expresses unemployment risk based on the analysis of an individual’s demographics including their occupation, location, and the industry in which they are employed. Other internal factors like technology, outsourcing, and competition may also influence the job security score. Job security score highlights the creditworthiness of an individual by predicting the probability of unemployment risk. Job security index, on the other hand, measures the job conditions and how the factors such as the economy, outsourcing, competition, and job migration affect demand and supply of employment
OECD Countries By Job Security
OECD countries are listed according to the chances of workers losing their jobs. Countries with several of its workers facing a high risk of losing their jobs are ranked lowest in the list. OECD is an intergovernmental economic organization founded in 1960 to stimulate economic growth and trade among its 35-member countries. Most of the OECD countries are developed economies with fairly high job security. The OECD list of countries by job security also includes non-OECD countries. Switzerland has the highest job security among the OECD countries with a score of 2.8% chance of losing a job. Workers in Japan, Norway, South Korea, Germany, Austria, and Netherlands have more than 96% chance of keeping their jobs. Workers in Spain have the highest chance of losing their jobs among the OECD countries at 17.7% chance of losing a job. Greece, Portugal, Turkey, and Poland have more than 7% chance of losing their jobs.
Analysis Of Job Security
Most European countries have high job security than their counterparts because employees have indefinite contracts which make it more expensive for the employer to terminate a contract. The employees can, therefore, be dismissed for disciplinary reasons after several warnings or when the company is undergoing major reconstruction. The high redundancy cost in practice gives employee high job security. In Germany, a company is likely to retain an employee whose occupational training they have paid for. Employees in most of the OECD countries are also likely to retain their contractual rights if the company they are working for is taken over under the Acquired Rights Directive. Employees also have the rights to take the company to an employment tribunal for wrongful dismissal further cementing the job security.