Predicting Perceived Employability: Human Capital or Labour Market Opportunities?

Abstract

Employability is believed to be a crucial concept concerning employees’ job security. This study investigates whether factors associated with human capital and the dual labour market predict perceived employability. Two national representative Swedish samples are used, representing economic recession (1993, N ¼ 4952) and prosperity (1999, N ¼ 6696). Employability was perceived as higher during prosperity, but human capital factors as well as dual labour market factors predicted perceived employability, irrespective of the time period. These findings indicate that the understanding of employability is enhanced by considering both structural and individual dimensions.