The resilience of the long-term employment relationship: Evidence from theindustrialized countries

The authors challenge the popular idea that the long-term employment relati onship is a thing of the past. Focusing on trends in employment tenure, the y also investigate the effects of age, the business cycle, temporary employ ment and other factors relevant to job stability and job security. Although perceived job insecurity has been rising, the labour markets of most indus trialized countries show little sign of becoming generally unstable. Countr y differences in patterns of job stability and instability over time also p rove to be stable. This, the authors argue, should refocus the research and policy agendas on optimizing combinations of stability and flexibility.