This paper answers three research questions: What is the impact of fixed-term employment on the well-being of partners? How do these spillover effects differ by gender, and do gender differences depend on socialization in East or West Germany? Do individual well-being, perceived job insecurity, and financial worries mediate the spillover effects? We use longitudinal data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), 1995–2017, and a sample of heterosexual couples living together, to estimate fixed-effects panel regression models. In contrast to previous studies, we consider asymmetric effects of entering and leaving fixed-term contracts by focusing on transitions from unemployment into fixed-term and fixed-term into permanent jobs. Confirming previous research on spillover effects of unemployment, we find that fixed-term re-employment increases partners’ well-being and that these effects are larger in case of re-employment by men and partners’ socialization in West Germany. We also show that transitions from fixed-term to permanent jobs do not substantially increase the well-being of partners with little differences by gender and place of socialization. While the spillover effect of re-employment is mediated by changes in the well-being of the individual re-entering the labor market, changes in job insecurity and financial worries due to transitions from fixed-term to permanent jobs are too small to produce meaningful effects on well-being. Although fixed-term contracts have been referred to as a new source of inequality, our results show that they cause little difference in the well-being of individuals and their partners and that finding a job matters more than the type of contract.

本文回答了三个研究问题：定期就业对合作伙伴的福祉有什么影响？这些溢出效应如何因性别而异，性别差异取决于东德或西德的社会化吗？个人福祉，感知的工作不安全感以及财务忧虑是否会影响溢出效应？我们使用社会经济专家组（SOEP）1995-2017年的纵向数据，以及生活在一起的异性恋夫妇样本，来估算固定效应专家组回归模型。与先前的研究相反，我们通过关注从失业到固定期限的过渡以及从固定期限到永久性工作的过渡，来考虑订立和离开定期合同的不对称影响。确认先前有关失业的溢出效应的研究，我们发现，定期再就业可以提高伴侣的幸福感，并且在西德男性和伴侣进行社会化再就业的情况下，这些影响更大。我们还表明，从固定工作向永久性工作的转变不会显着增加合作伙伴的福祉，但在性别和社会化地点方面差异不大。再就业的溢出效应是由个人重新进入劳动力市场的福利变化所介导的，但由于从固定工作向永久性工作的过渡而引起的工作不安全感和财务忧虑的变化太小，不足以产生有意义的影响对幸福感的影响。尽管定期合同被称为不平等的新来源，