A new study from the University of Auckland found that people who started out in a non-standard work arrangement, such as temporary, casual, contract or part-time work, had a low likelihood of changing to standard job.

The study also found that people who started in standard employment were more likely to be in this kind of job at any given point months or years later. It also suggests most people prefer a regular nine-to-five-style job.

For the study, Professor Elizabeth George, from the Graduate School of Management in the Business School, University of Auckland, and her collaborators studied data from a long-range French survey that followed the work lives of 10,000 young people who finished their education in 1998.

“We wanted to know if the gig economy delivered on its promise of choice and flexibility for workers,” George said. “Do individuals want ‘nonstandard’ gig-style jobs? And can they easily switch between standard and nonstandard jobs? We were also curious to see if educational levels shaped preferences and outcomes.”

The study also found the difference was more dramatic for people with high and low levels of education compared to medium levels. For example, highly educated people who had a standard job at one point in time were nearly eight times more likely to also have a standard job at a later point than those who had had a non-standard job. For people with low levels of education, those who had non-standard employment at a given time were nearly three times more likely to have non-standard work at a later time compared to those who had had a standard job.

“In other words, the stickiness of employment status was higher for high and low education levels,” George said.

The possible reasons have to do with the investment businesses make in permanent staff, but not temporary or casual staff, George added.

“When you’re in a temporary job the organisation has very little incentive to invest in you,” George said. “You probably don’t get the same training or opportunities for career development as you would in a permanent role, which means you come out of that job with fewer new skills. You may well also miss out on mentoring and professional networking via workmates. Also, having lots of nonstandard jobs on your CV is still perceived by some employers as signalling a lack of commitment.”

The University of Auckland researchers also found that compared to those in non-standard jobs, people in standard employment were more satisfied with their pay, reported a greater sense of professional accomplishment, and had greater optimism about the future. They were also less likely to be searching for a new job.

People with high and low levels of education and in standard jobs were even more optimistic than those with medium levels, while people with low education levels in standard jobs were least likely to be job-hunting.

George suggested that people with low education levels in permanent work are happier because their expectations of getting a regular job at all are lower. 

She concluded, “For a long time there’s been this belief that people, especially young people, prefer the freedom, and lack of office politics, of non-standard work. But our study shows that most young people, like older people, actually want regular jobs.”