Von steigender Arbeitsplatzunsicherheit zu sinkender Lebenszufriedenheit: Eine längsschnittliche Darstellung bei Angestellten einer öffentlichen Bildungseinrichtung über die COVID-19-Pandemie hinweg

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the lives of many employees by eliminating the boundary between personal and work life, and by increasing the possibility of losing one’s job. In order to evaluate how job insecurity and life satisfaction are perceived by employees in the public sector, a longitudinal study (two measurement time points: during vs. after the lockdown) of 60 participants was conducted. Furthermore, this study was also aimed to investigate the effect of subjective job insecurity on life satisfaction. The results show that subjective job insecurity increased significantly after the lockdown, whereas life satisfaction decreased significantly. Additionally, the decrease of life satisfaction can be explained by the increase in job insecurity. Possible reasons and limitations are discussed.