Precarious work and precarious workers: Towards an improved conceptualisation

Abstract

Discussion of the implications of precarious work for individual workers remains hesitant and often confused. A clear conceptualisation would separate out five analytical levels: precariousness in employment, precarious work, precarious workers individually and as an emerging class, and precarity as a general condition of social life. To illustrate the need to avoid slippage between the concepts of precarious work and precarious workers, we present one ‘theory-relevant’ example – full-time secondary school students in Australia who hold part-time jobs in the retail sector. Their part-time jobs are indeed precarious but the negative effects on the student-workers are modest, both because participation in precarious work is limited (moderate weekly hours and intermittent work within the framework of a brief stage of the life course) and because many (though not all) of the associated risks are cushioned by structural forces such as access to alternative income sources and career paths. At the same time, however, a longitudinal perspective reveals that the same group of student-workers faces major risks in the future, as a result of increasingly insecure labour markets. Reflections on this example help to identify conceptual tools that can be applied to a wide range of other examples of precarious work.

Patronage in the Financing of Social and Sustainable Projects

“…Lower secure in employment Lower rights After this short review of the definition of precarious work, five different levels arise as important issues that should be analysed when dealing with this kind of employment according to Campbell and Price (2016): i. Precariousness in employment. This is a multi-dimensional concept related to specific features of job which trigger insecurity; such as, a weak regulatory protection, low wages and low levels of control over wages, hours or working conditions from the perspective of employees.…”

“…This chapter ends with Section 7 where some important conclusions are discussed. Campbell and Price (2016) explain that four dimensions of precariousness in employment can be identified:…”

“…The employers are taking advantage of the weak labour regulation to reduce labour costs and the quality of employment. And the consequences for precarious workers may range from a decrease of physical, mental well-being to the decline of other aspects of social life linked to paid work (Campbell and Price 2016). Paid work is relevant for the quality of life because of the income but also because it provides identity to people and opportunities to socialize with others (Stiglitz et al 2009).…”

Inhospitable workplaces? International students and paid work in food services

“…We follow recent research on the employment experiences of migrant workers, which adopts a useful concept of 'precarious' workers, in preference to the more traditional notion of 'vulnerable' workers (Anderson 2010). The concept of precariousness, linked with the rich literature on precarious work and precarious workers (Campbell & Price 2016), facilitates a broad agenda of explanatory research into labour market processes, which goes beyond supply-side characteristics to include the impact of state regulations on immigration, minimum labour standards, taxation and social welfare, as well as demand-side processes associated with specific industries and employers (Vosko et al 2009). Analysis couched in terms of precariousness has been used for the study of temporary migrant nurses in Australia (Boese et al 2013) and for studies of migrant workers in hotels in the United Kingdom (for example, McDowell et al 2009), but it is yet to be applied in food services, which remains a neglected sector of research in most countries (cf Bloch & McKay 2013).…”

Labour Relations Trends In Employee Evaluations: Country To Country Comparison

“…Therefore, it is necessary to identify the peculiarities of modern labour relations. Institutions pay special attention to precarious employment, as well as to the flexibility of personnel (Campbell, Price, 2016, Kalleberg, Hewison, 2013. The phenomenon of precarious employment has been growing over several decades, which has given rise to a new social class: the precariat (Standing, 2011).…”