Nothing to fear but fear itself : perceptions of job security in Australia after the global financial crisis

The effects of the global financial crisis on workers’ anxiety are examined using panel data from Australia. Australia presents a unique opportunity to estimate anxiety effects as it emerged from the crisis period without enduring a recession and the economy rebounded very quickly. Our estimates focus on workers who are overeducated and their perceptions of job security; this group are known to have lower levels of satisfaction with job security and so offer a baseline estimate from which to evaluate changes associated with the crisis. We argue that a workers level of commitments and responsibilities would be important in determining anxiety effects. The results support this contention; partnered workers exhibit significantly lower satisfaction with job security after the crisis and this is increased if children are present. More objective assessments of their employment stability and their financial conditions following the crisis were also examined. These factors did not seem to explain the relative changes in job security satisfaction, suggesting these were more likely to be general anxiety effects.