Sustaining precarity: critically examining tourism and employment

Abstract

There is consensus that the social, or people, dimension of sustainability including its workforce thematics are neglected in the tourism literature and policy despite its prevalence in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Premised on the understanding that sustainability is inherently set in neo-liberal discourses of progress, development and growth, we set about to investigate tourism's performance principally relative to SDG, no. 8 (UN, 2015), which calls for 'decent work'. Underpinned by precarity, an emerging sociological concept applied in the workforce context, and adopting critical approaches, this paper presents a review of a sample of industry reports from global, regional and national levels. The study provides evidence that tourism sustains precarity vis-à-vis its employment practices. Our findings suggest that, counter to prevailing sustainability discourse, tourism (employment) sustains deep social cleavages and economic inequalities-a triumvirate of precariousness of work, precariousness at work and subsequent precariousness of life.

Dynamic capability building and social upgrading in tourism - Potentials and limits of sustainability standards

“…This paper focuses on sustainability standards and how they can contribute towards better working conditions in tourism. Particularly in the Global South 1 , the tourism sector is often characterized by precarious working conditions with low wages, long hours, exploitation, and job insecurity (De Beer et al, 2013;Ladkin, 2011;Robinson et al, 2019;Winchenbach et al, 2019). The International Labour Organisation (ILO) points out that in tourism "the predominance of on-call, casual, temporary, seasonal, and part-time employment is related to insecurity, comparatively low pay, job instability, limited career opportunity, a high level of subcontracting and outsourcing, and a high turnover rate" (ILO 2010:14).…”

Tourism employment paradoxes, 1946-2095: a perspective article

“…These are apparent in the early work of Whyte's (1948Whyte's ( , 1949 analysis of US restaurant workers and Chivers' (1973) study of chefs in the United Kingdom. Authors such as Smeral (2004), Baum (2018), and Ioannides and Zampoukos (2018) highlight industry workplace characteristics that, inter alia, include precarity, low pay, poor working conditions and intersectional disadvantage seen in jobs of often low quality for women and migrants (Mooney et al, 2017;Robinson et al, 2019). If this 'no change' status is indeed a fair depiction of the industry, there appear few grounds to anticipate any significant changes in the future.…”

Tourism and the SDGs: An Analysis of Economic Growth, Decent Employment, and Gender Equality in the European Union (2009–2018)

“…In this sense, it maintains that the SDGs for inclusive growth are in contradiction with the principles of growth, competitiveness, and obtaining profitability that drive the expansion and development of tourism activity. It has even been claimed that tourism activity maintains job insecurity, even considering the lack of job security when referring to capitalist economies, widening social divisions and economic inequalities [59]. Lately, the highlighting of the role of dignity in employment has contributed to the theoretical debate on sustainable tourism, generating discussion of this facet in the workplace and causing it to be valued [60].…”