There are positive points, such as the protection by the company. But where it becomes difficult to get a good job, the population “plays for insurance”: one third of the Portuguese has had the same work for 20 years.
33% of Portuguese workers have been in the same company for at least 20 years. After Greece (38%), Portugal is the country with the most contracts with more than 20 years in Europe, closely followed by Italy (32%).
The scenario is quite different in the countries of Scandinaviawith Norway and Denmark to head the list of countries whose inhabitants change their jobs. In these 2 countries, only 13% of workers have been in the same company for 20 yearsaccording to data advanced by the newspaper, recalled by the European Central Bank.
Compared to another major economy, the US, the contrast is even more visible-only 10% of Americans have “jobs for life.”
In this country, 20% of workers started a new job less than a year ago – The vast majority of European countries (except Denmark, Norway and Austria) does not reach 10%. In Portugal, Only 5% of the population employed began a new job less than 1 year ago.
“Long -term jobs can be a symptom of sclerotic labor markets, which keep people at the same time for several decades. There are benefits and costs associated with these prolonged work relationships,” says economist Benjamin Schoefer, which explains that the social model of southern Europe is in this very different field from Nordic countries.
“One of the costs is the impediment of beneficial relocation and promoter of labor force productivity for growing sectors in the future, ”he says.
“It seems that the economies of southern Europe have particularly low levels of fluidity and dynamism in the labor market. A possible explanation is in Employment Protectionwhich becomes stronger with antiquity at the job, ”says the economist.
“In economies where to find another good job is difficult, memployment is a high risk. Therefore, staying in the same work as long as possible can make sense. At the same time, this logic makes it difficult for the economy to grow and to resume its resources to expanding sectors ”denotes.
