Transition of Employment Status of Non-regular Workers: Determinants of obtaining regular jobs or becoming unemployed

Non-regular work is regarded as a stepping stone from unemployment to employment and also as a career path to regular work. To test the evaluation, this paper investigates the employment transition of non-regular workers and empirically examines the determinants of non-regular workers in becoming unemployed or obtaining regular jobs. The results show that the probability of becoming a regular worker is high when the non-regular worker had worked as a contract worker, served longer hours, was employed at larger firms, and utilized personal networks or the internet as job search methods. The probability of transition from being unemployed to becoming a regular worker is relatively high, but the unemployed with strong concerns of obtaining regular work is likely to fall into a longer unemployment spell. These results suggest that promoting on-the-job search activity might be effective for making a smooth employment transition without experiencing unemployment.