Entry of Men into the Labour Market in West Germany and their Career Mobility (1945–2008). A Long-term Longitudinal Analysis Identifying Cohort, Period, and Life-course Effects

Becker, Rolf; Blossfeld, Hans-Peter (2017). Entry of Men into the Labour Market in West Germany and their Career Mobility (1945–2008). A Long-term Longitudinal Analysis Identifying Cohort, Period, and Life-course Effects. Journal for Labour Market Research, 50(1), pp. 113-130. Springer 10.1007/s12651-017-0224-6

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This study analyses how the long-term modernisation
process as well as ups and downs of business cycles
affect the entry of men into the labour market in West
Germany and their career mobility. Combining longitudinal
data from the German Life History Study and the ALWA
study, we first reconstructed men’s job histories continuously
for the period between 1945 and 2008. As a measure
of men’s ‘goodness of jobs’ at entry into the labour market
and across the job career, the magnitude prestige scale
(MPS), has been employed. Then, we used the time series
data obtained from official statistics to perform factor analysis
and suggest a more substantially grounded approach
than the conventional approach to the analysis of age (A),
period (P) and cohort (C) effects. In particular, we assessed
how the modernisation process and continuously changing
labour market conditions affect men’s entry into the labour
market across successive cohorts. Based on their further
occupational careers, we used a multi-level event-history
model to study how placements in first jobs (cohort effect)
and the continuously changing macro structure (period effect)
influence men’s upward, lateral, and downward career
mobility, controlling for men’s individual-level resources,
such as educational attainment and changing labour force
experience (life-course or age effect). This fully dynamic
analysis shows that there was improvement in the quality of
entry-level jobs and increased mobility across men’s birth
cohorts. This allows us to gain a better understanding of
how long-term macroeconomic trends have influenced social
inequality in West Germany across several generations.
Keywords APC analysis · Labour market entry · Career
mobility · Modernisation process · Business cycles

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