Has Job Stability Decreased? Population Data from a Small Open Economy

Abstract

We use a population-based employer–employee dataset to analyze changes in job stability in Norway. We first present descriptive analyses of tenure and separation rates, followed by regression-adjusted measures controlling for changes in demographics and the business cycle. We see only weak evidence of changes in the tenure rates. In particular, for the public sector we find a slight increase in short tenures and a decrease in tenures above eight years. However, we do not find that this tendency towards less stable jobs leads to an increase in the flow to unemployment or out of the labor force.