Job (in)stability

Seems that the news of the death of jobs for life is premature. This study uses quantile regression methods to analyze the changes in the job duration distribution in Portugal using matched employer-employee data. The paper uses a decomposition method proposed by Machado and Mata (2005) to disentangle the contribution of the compositional changes and the structural changes. Our findings indicate that there is a decrease in job durations. Both compositional changes and structural changes play a role, albeit in opposite directions. We find that the decrease in job duration is an illusion brought about by the bigger share of external services industry and by the changing relationship between firm-size and job duration.