What occupational paths do payroll workers take after resigning, after their contract expires, or after being made redundant? We attempt to answer this question using data from the 2003 Education and Occupational Skills Survey, in particular its five-year historical summary.We build a typology of paths that distinguishes between upward, stable, and downward career paths, as well as exits and exclusions from the labour market. The data show that, even when employment conditions are favourable at the time of termination, losing or leaving one's job can make a person's occupational prospects uncertain for four years. After an initial termination, one in six payroll workers is practically shut out of the labour market, and one in five shifts to a downward wage or socio-occupational path. In sum, for more than one-third of all payroll workers, the path is negative. The calls for securing career paths seem more relevant than ever, all the more so as payroll workers are clearly not on an equal footing. Depending on personal assets (such as high educational attainment) and liabilities (such as being a woman, being over 50, or being a foreigner) with regard to integration into the labour market, occupational paths offer dimmer or brighter career prospects. Past experience, the previous job held, and the size and type of the economic sector also determine the speed and quality of return to work. Other important factors are the type of employment contract and the termination procedure. Our findings show the outlines of new segmentation of the French labour market. The concept of internal labour market-indirectly visible in our analysis-remains central although it now applies to young, skilled categories with “entry points” consisting of a succession of short-term contracts. We identify several little-known dimensions of the segmentation, which we describe using concepts such as “exit points”, primary labour market, and internal diversity of the secondary labour market.