The difficulty of getting a new job

How hard was it to get a new job? The length of periods of non-employment and the intensity of a job search before starting a new job are relevant indicators. On average, individuals were not employed for 26 weeks before starting a full-time job with a new employer. However, this does not reflect the difficulties experienced by some people. Omitting the 44% of transitions into full-time employment that did not involve any non-employment period results in an average period of non-employment of 49 weeks for the remainder.

The number of consecutive weeks spent in searching for a job is much lower than the number of weeks not employed. Only 41 % of periods of non-employment included time spent in active job search and, in those cases, the duration of the search averaged 15 weeks. Active job search was reported by fewer than three quarters of people who experienced a transition into employment after a non-employment period.

The average period of non-employment was calculated from a wide distribution, reflecting quite diverse attachments to the labour force. Some people -- most often women -- enter or reenter the labour force after long periods of non-employment. Considering only spells of non-employment of less than 2 years identifying those most likely to show long-term attachment to the labour market -- the average time not worked before starting jobs was about 11 weeks (and similar for men and women), and the average number of consecutive weeks of job search was 6 (slightly longer for men than for women).

Education

Getting a New Job in 1989-90 in Canada underscores in several different ways the importance of education and training in making a transition to employment.

• Frequency of transitions: People who did not graduate from high school were more likely to experience discontinuities in employment than better educated people: only 54% of men and 43% of women who did not complete high school and worked at some time in the study period worked all weeks of the 2-year period; the corresponding proportions are 61% and 56% of those with a trades certificate or diploma and 76% and 63% of those with a university degree. In other words, the lower the education level, the higher the probability of experiencing job instability.