Flexicurity as a moderator of the relationship between job insecurity and psychological well-being

Flexicurity has been heralded as the solution to simultaneously maintain the well-being of employees through employment security while allowing employers to benefit from flexibility. This paper examines one of the claimed benefits that countries with flexicurity policies will reduce the stress on employees who experience job insecurity. More specifically, it is argued that more generous unemployment benefits along with active labour market policies to facilitate rapid re-employment reduces the anxiety associated with insecurity. Analyses of two international data sets found little evidence for this moderation of the link between insecurity and well-being in countries that are assumed to be exemplars of flexicurity. The economic rationality behind these claims is questioned, and a psychological approach to job insecurity is suggested as an alternative. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.