Projects
Projects FNS
Unequal shifts in regions' job structure and the rise of cultural grievances
2022 - 2026 (48 mois)
Applicant : Daniel Oesch
Other partners : Matthias Enggist, Gina-Julia Westenberger
This project first examines how the structure of occupations has changed between 1980 and 2020 in regions of Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The objective is to see whether the regions have moved apart over the past 40 years in terms of the employment opportunities and income offered to their inhabitants. This question is analyzed using data from large surveys and registers that allow us to distinguish long-term changes at the geographic level of districts, counties, departments and cantons.
The second question asks how unequal shifts in regions' job structure affect political attitudes. Our focus is on attitudes towards globalization and thus on one of the defining cleavages of our time, which is expressed in conflictual opinions over migration, multiculturalism and supranational integration. Our goal is to see whether citizens living in declining regions are more likely to develop cultural grievances on these issues. We thus test the claim that unequal economic trajectories across regions are a prime driver of the cultural backlash associated with the radical right.
European Programs
CRITEVENTS
2017 - 2021 (40 mois)
Applicant : Daniel Oesch
Other partners : Alessandro Di Nallo
Others projects
The impact of plant closure in manufacturing on displaced workers' trajectories
2011 - 2013 (21 mois)
grant-giving organisation : SECO (Switzerland)
Applicant : Daniel Oesch
Other partners : Isabel Baumann
This project examines the social and economic consequences of the closure of five large manufacturing plants in Switzerland for displaced workers' lives. The question addressed is how this has affected their occupational trajectories. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 1000 workers who fill out a questionnaire two years after plant closure. The first goal is to find out if and where these displaced workers have found a job. The second goal is to know whether plant closure was accompanied by downward social mobility in terms of occupation and earnings: were displaced workers able to maintain their living standards or did plant closure leave a durable scar? Finally, the project wishes to identify both the categories of workers that succeeded in making the transition to an equivalent job and the categories of workers that lost out from plant closure.
Social networks and access to a job for the unemployed
2011 - 2014
grant-giving organisation : LIVES programme, SECO (Switzerland)
Other partners : Patrick Arni, Giuliano Bonoli, Rafael Lalive, Daniel Oesch, Nicolas Turtschi
This project is part of the LIVES-programme and empirically analyzes the role of social networks in getting a job. More precisely, it examines how networks can help the unemployed find jobs. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of all individuals newly registered as unemployed in the Canton of Vaud over a two-month period (February and March 2012). These unemployed people are asked to fill in two questionnaires on their social contacts and their job-search strategy at the very beginning and the end of their unemployment spell. Our hypothesis is that social networks not only serve as an important channel through which to leave unemployment, but also one that is not fully exploited. By shedding light on how social networks can help - or hinder - the unemployed in finding their way back into the labour market, the project aims to improve our understanding of a particularly critical transition in the life course.
