Career patterns in the XX century. An interplay of gender, family and career success

Career patterns have been undergoing substantial transformations during the last several decennia. A larger share of the XX century was characterized by the ideal type of so-called traditional career. Most readers will be familiar with the concept - it refers to the linear succession of working positions with one or two employers, usually marked by a certain emphasis on the progress in terms of external motivators, such as salary or status.

This ideal type is no longer the reality for most workers of today. The dynamic of the latest social and economic changes, including globalizing markets, technological advances and cultural transformations exert a tremendous pressure on the stability of jobs. New career patterns emerge in the light of that pressure. An average worker must expect to switch between multiple employers during the course of career; an average Belgian employee is estimated to work at six different organizations during his/her lifetime. The traditional psychological contract stressing the value of organizational loyalty and job stability is void; terms such as employability and flexicurity describe the ideal contemporary arrangements. Subjective markers of career success gain importance, such as intrinsic meaning of the job, while the emphasis on pay and promotion declines. Responsibility for career management is lain on the shoulders of the individual, and no longer is the prerogative of the employing organization, as was the case with traditional working arrangements.

While it is certain that the change is underway, research on their extent and properties remains limited. Alternative career patterns may be new, but their development unavoidably stems from the pre-existing social and economic conditions. The pressures posed by the changing economy are bound to interact with the diversity of the mentioned conditions, and may therefore produce variant outcomes for different strata of the working population. It is clear, for instance, that the transformation of the traditional career logic is not unequivocally beneficial, as some of the optimistic initial accounts attest. Increased career transitionality may be used as a strategic resource by individuals equipped to do so in terms of career capital. For others, however, switching jobs results in precarious working arrangements without much prospect for permanence of employment or income, not to mention the negative psychological consequences due to heightened uncertainty or stress.

The distribution of costs and benefits of the various career paths - differentiated by the patterns of labor market transitionality - forms the focus of this inquiry. This study has predominantly an explorative nature, although we do formulate several general hypotheses based on the literature. After setting the theoretical background, we will (1) construct a career taxonomy based on job mobility patterns and (2) evaluate the differences between established career types in terms of family variables, career success and labor market exit. Separate models for men and women will be presented.