WISERD would like to invite you all to the latest WISERD Lunchtime Seminar, presented by Yongchao Jing (Cardiff University). The presentation will take place on November 24, 12:00 – 13:00. This seminar will take place online. If you would like to join, have any questions, or would like to enquire about running your own lunchtime seminar; please contact wiserd.events@cardiff.ac.uk.
Why do fixed-term workers often earn less than their permanent counterparts, even when they possess similar skills and qualifications? And do labour market institutions designed to protect workers actually contribute to this inequality?
As labour markets have become increasingly flexible, the divide between permanent and fixed-term workers has emerged as a major concern. Fixed-term employees often face a substantial wage penalty in addition to greater job insecurity. A prominent explanation attributes this inequality to institutional dualism, whereby fixed-term workers (outsiders) are systematically afforded fewer protections and entitlements than their permanent counterparts (insiders). Yet do stronger protections for insiders necessarily come at the expense of outsiders? And does the deregulation of the use of fixed-term contracts widen the wage gap?
Drawing on cross-national data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), this seminar revisits competing theoretical perspectives on institutional dualism and examines how institutions protecting insiders and regulating outsiders shape the fixed-term contract wage penalty.