| dc.description.abstract | The rise of non-standard jobs in Europe is believed to subject a growing amount of employees
to increasing job and social insecurity, which in turn can harm their health. The European
Union addresses this issue through adult education programs, but their overall effectiveness
remains uncertain. This research examined the impact of labour market flexibility, in the form
of the proportion of temporary employment and employment protection, on cognitive and
affective perceived job insecurity. It also investigated whether adult education participation
(AEP) moderates this relationship. Utilising a cross-country multilevel regression analysis
with data from 16 European Member states (N =9226), it was found that a higher proportion
of temporary employment predicts higher cognitive perceived job insecurity, but did not
predict higher affective perceived job insecurity. Employment protection did not predict either
form of perceived job insecurity. No evidence of moderation through AEP was found,
although AEP independently predicted lower cognitive and affective perceived job insecurity.
This aligns with existing literature suggesting a Matthew's effect in adult learning
programmes and questioning its current ability to protect vulnerable employees on the labour
market. It is recommended to improve data collection on the topic, do further research on the
relationship between both cognitive and affective perceived job insecurity and employee
health, and investigate what barriers vulnerable people on the labour market experience in
participating in adult education and how they can be motivated and enabled to do so. With
this additional research, policy-making can be informed in order to achieve labour markets
that can maintain flexible while also offering sufficient protection against social insecurity to
their employees, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes. | |
