Projektbericht

The structural change of the economy, together with the shortage of skilled workers that can be observed for many occupations, are challenges for the German labor market. At the same time, jobs are being cut and employees whose skills are no longer in demand in their current job are being left behind. Occupational mobility can be a mechanism for adapting to these changing conditions. What does the picture look like? Occupational mobility can be understood in various ways – as a change to a new employment relationship (1) within the same occupation and level of job requirements, (2) in combination with a change of occupation (horizontal mobility), (3) in combination with a new level of requirements (vertical mobility) and (4) in a “diagonal” direction, i. e. in combination with a change of occupation and a change of requirement levels. The study examines how occupational mobility affects both individual income and job satisfaction. It uses two different data sources for the empirical analysis of the aforementioned variants of mobility – the Sample of the Integrated Labor Market Biographies (SIAB) and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). It shows that for employees, a change of job is often associated with an increase in income and job satisfaction. The greatest gains in income and satisfaction result from diagonal and horizontal mobility. However, a pure change of job (variant 1) also results in an – albeit less pronounced – increase in income and job satisfaction. It is worth noting here, however, that a higher income alone hardly leads to greater satisfaction. Job changes to large companies and professions with a high level of requirements continue to prove particularly lucrative. Employees with a migration background can also achieve above-average income growth. Parttime employees, on the other hand, tend to benefit less financially from a change. Other factors besides the type of change only play a minor role in job satisfaction. This, in turn, does not apply to migration background. Here, the empirical findings show lower increases in job satisfaction. In general, the probability of improving one‘s personal situation in terms of income and job satisfaction by moving to a new job is high. Factors that promote occupational mobility make an important contribution to coping with structural change in the labor market.

Bertelsmann Stiftung

DOI: 10.11586/2024198