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Track Employer Trajectories

Source: R/trajectory_analysis.R
track_employer_trajectories.Rd

Tracks employer transitions for individuals who experienced a specific contract type, following their employer changes for 4 quarters (91 days each) after the end date of their chronologically first occurrence of that contract type.

Usage

track_employer_trajectories(
  data,
  contract_type_var = "COD_TIPOLOGIA_CONTRATTUALE",
  contract_type_value,
  employer_col,
  n_quarters = 4,
  person_id = "cf",
  start_date_col = "inizio",
  end_date_col = "fine",
  arco_col = "arco",
  return_plot = TRUE,
  palette = "employer",
  use_bw = FALSE,
  plot_title = NULL,
  plot_subtitle = NULL,
  person_vars = NULL,
  chunk_size = 10000,
  language = "it"
)

Arguments

data

A data.table containing vecshift-processed employment data

contract_type_var

Character. Column name containing contract type codes (default: "COD_TIPOLOGIA_CONTRATTUALE")

contract_type_value

Character. Specific contract type value to track

employer_col

Character. Column name containing employer codes (required parameter, no default)

n_quarters

Integer. Number of quarters to track after reference date (default: 4)

person_id

Character. Column name for person identifier (default: "cf")

start_date_col

Character. Column name for contract start dates (default: "inizio")

end_date_col

Character. Column name for contract end dates (default: "fine")

arco_col

Character. Column name for employment status indicator where 0 = unemployment and > 0 = employment (default: "arco")

return_plot

Logical. Whether to return the alluvial plot (default: TRUE)

palette

Character. Color palette to use: "employer", "main", "desaturated", "bw" (default: "employer")

use_bw

Logical. Force black and white palette (default: FALSE)

plot_title

Character. Custom plot title (default: auto-generated)

plot_subtitle

Character. Custom plot subtitle (default: auto-generated)

person_vars

Character vector of person-level variable names to include in the output data (e.g., c("eta", "sesso", "istruzione")). Variables are extracted from the first target contract for each person. Default is NULL (no additional variables).

chunk_size

Integer. Number of persons to process per chunk for memory management (default: 10000)

language

Character. Language for status labels: "it" for Italian, "en" for English (default: "it")

Value

A list containing:

  • data: data.table with individual-level quarterly employer trajectories

  • summary: data.table with aggregated trajectory patterns

  • transitions: data.table with aggregated transition counts between quarters, including columns: from_quarter, to_quarter, from_status, to_status, person_vars (if provided), count

  • plot: ggplot2 alluvial plot (if return_plot = TRUE)

  • parameters: List of function parameters used

Details

This function identifies individuals who had a specific contract type, uses the end date of their chronologically FIRST occurrence (earliest start date) as a reference point, then tracks employer transitions in the subsequent quarters. Employer status is determined by comparing the quarter's employer with the reference contract's employer.

Employment is determined by the arco variable where:

  • arco = 0: Indicates unemployment (not working)

  • arco > 0: Indicates employment (working)

When multiple contracts exist within a quarter:

  • Employment contracts (arco > 0) take priority over unemployment periods

  • Within each quarter, the employer is taken from the contract with the latest end date

  • Employer status is classified as:

    • "Same Employer": Employer matches the reference contract employer

    • "Different Employer": Employer differs from the reference contract

    • "Not Working": All contracts in the quarter have arco = 0 (unemployment)

    • "No Information": No contract data available for the quarter

The function only tracks forward in time from the reference date. When multiple contracts exist within a quarter, employment contracts (arco > 0) take priority, and among those, the contract with the latest end date provides the employer code.

See also

track_contract_trajectories, track_professional_trajectories, theme_vecshift

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Track employer trajectories after temporary contracts
result <- track_employer_trajectories(
  data = employment_data,
  contract_type_value = "B.01.00",
  employer_col = "COD_DATORE_LAVORO",
  n_quarters = 4
)

# View the summary of employer trajectory patterns
print(result$summary)

# Display the alluvial plot
print(result$plot)

# Custom visualization with black and white
result_bw <- track_employer_trajectories(
  data = employment_data,
  contract_type_value = "B.01.00",
  employer_col = "COD_DATORE_LAVORO",
  use_bw = TRUE,
  plot_title = "Employer Trajectories After Temporary Contracts"
)
} # }