Structural change in the ICT sector: Where have former Nokia employees ended up?

Abstract

This study empirically examines the reemployment of employees displaced from a high-tech firm. Since 2008, the plummeting market share of Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer at the time, has resulted in massive layoffs and the downsizing of its workforce. We analyze the labor market status of more than twenty thousand former Nokia employees in Finland who left the company during 2009-2014. Using a unique matched employee-employer dataset, we identify the key factors associated with the probability of reemployment. Our findings show that the majority of former Nokia employees were successful in becoming reemployed. According to the latest available data from 2017, more than three-quarters of these employees found new jobs. The remaining share includes people who retired or returned to study. Reemployment was often found in the service sector. Employees with higher education levels and those who had held senior positions at Nokia were more successful in finding new jobs than others. Some regional differences in reemployment were also found.