Experiences Of Precarious Work Research Articles

Precarious work and constructions of masculinities: the case of day labour workers in Cape Town, South Africa

Masculinities are organised hierarchically, and how a man sees himself is often informed by his positioning within this hierarchy. The context within which men are located determines which factors or markers of masculinity become more salient at different times, and so do the social situations and spaces men are interacting within, and with whom they are interacting. Their socio-cultural, political, and economic positioning inform not only how they construct their gendered identities, but also where they are located within social hierarchies of masculinity. This article examines constructions of masculinities among economically marginalised men who seek work on the side of the road in Cape Town, South Africa. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 Black African men and the findings suggest that economic provision remains a central feature in participants’ constructions of masculinity. Men’s experiences of precarious work not only impact how they see themselves but also their ability to establish and maintain romantic relationships which, as argued in this study, serve an important role in validating and affirming participants’ masculinity. This study shows that when some men are not able to provide, their romantic relationships fail, which adversely impacts their self-esteem. In response, some of the participants in this study turned towards alcohol abuse, and neglecting/abandoning their homes and families as a way to avoid the shame and humiliation they experience as ‘men who cannot provide’.

Risking one's life to save one's livelihood: Precarious work, presenteeism, and worry about disease exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The present study advances research on the negative consequences of precarious work experiences (PWE), which include perceptions of threats to one's job and financial security as well as a sense of powerlessness and inability to exercise rights in the workplace. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop, we examine how PWE relate to sickness presenteeism and worry about work-related COVID-19 exposure. In a 12-week, four-wave study of workers working fully in-person, perceptions of powerlessness and job insecurity were associated with presenteeism (e.g., general presenteeism as well as attending work with known or possible COVID-19 infection) and concerns about disease exposure at work. Whereas powerlessness primarily operated at the between-person level of analysis, job insecurity's effects emerged at both levels of analysis. A sense of powerlessness at work also predicted sending children to school/daycare sick. In sum, the findings suggest that precarity related to being able to keep one's job and a sense of powerlessness at work contribute to concerns about the risk of COVID-19 exposure at work and, simultaneously, behaviors that may contribute to the health risks faced by others. This research provides added support to the argument that precarious work should be addressed in order to improve both worker well-being and public health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Experiences of precarious work within higher education institutions: a qualitative evidence synthesis

IntroductionA qualitative evidence synthesis was employed, to identify and synthesize the best evidence on the experiences of precariously employed academics in high education institutions.MethodsThe Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) principles were followed. The identified studies were screened by titles and abstracts (n = 308)-full-text (n = 19), employing these inclusion criteria: studies reporting on precarious employment experiences in higher education; part-time or fixed-term academic positions; qualitative studies between 2010 to 2021. The selected studies were not limited to a particular geographical location. A quality appraisal was conducted. Data were extracted while findings from the included studies (n = 19) were collated using meta-aggregation with the Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-QARI). The primary study findings emanated from research conducted across 14 countries both from the northern and southern hemispheres.ResultsNinety-four extracted findings were aggregated into 19 categories and then grouped into five synthesized findings: (1) Precarity is created and perpetuated through structural changes in the global economy and wider higher education landscape; (2) Coping strategies precariously employed academics used to endure precarious employment in higher education; (3) Gendered dimensions shaping employment precarity in academia; (4) Impact of precarious employment on academics; (5) Impact of academic precarity on the university.DiscussionThese precariously employed academics felt overwhelmed, vulnerable, exploited, stressed, anxious, and exhausted with their employment conditions. These circumstances include operating in unstable and insecure employment with no guarantees of permanent employment. The need to reassess policies and practices within higher education institutions is necessary and could offer these precariously employed academics the much-needed support and assistance to combat the effects of precarious employment.

Coping with precarity in the tourism performing arts industry: a case study of China’s Wa entertainers

This article examines the precarious work experiences and coping tactics of entertainers in China’s tourism performing arts (TPAs), who are also tourism labour migrants (TLMs). Focusing on a particular ethnic group, Wa entertainers (WEs), this article aims to highlight how TLMs sustain their careers and fight for decent work. Qualitive methods were applied to investigate entertainers in a neglected sector of the tourism industry. The findings show that entertainers face two main aspects of precarity: labour relations and job attributes. Inspired by the precarious TPA work, WEs develop micro-tactics to resist, namely, they have suitable geographical mobility choices and actively participate in skilling and learning. Thus, WEs become more capacitated to switch smoothly between different jobs to sustain a broader career in tourism-oriented sectors. This article offers critical insights into the capability development of tourism practitioners. It reflects on a vernacular, grassroots redefinition of sustainability with respect to decent work, in which a stable or predictable career pathway may not be the ultimate purpose for grassroots TLMs.

“so this is not a game” - Brexit as a ‘situation of uncommon precarity’ for migrants of Roma heritage in the UK

The vulnerability of migrants of Roma heritage[1] to insecure, low status, (and sometimes exploitative), employment conditions in the UK has been highlighted by various studies (e.g. Poole & Adamson 2008;, Martin et al 2017, Tileaga et al. 2019). Such patterns of employment have frequently been identified as ‘precarious labour’ across the European Union (e.g. Apostolova et al 2014; Vincze, 2015).Following the 2016 Referendum vote to leave the EU[2], the UK government indicated that providing evidence of consistent, regular working histories would form the basis of applications by EU migrants seeking to remain in the country long-term. (Home Office, 2018, 2020). In doing so, it made evidence of legal, paid employment central to future legitimacy in the country, but those struggling to produce such information face potentially precarious futures (Migration Observatory, 2018). Studies have suggested that, given the specific disadvantages faced by Roma migrants in the UK, the aftermath of ‘Brexit’[3] posed enhanced risks an intensification of the precarity they already experienced.Drawing on interviews conducted in two different locations in 2019, this paper adds experiential detail to their specific experiences of precarious work, located in the ‘no man’s land’ between the 2016 vote and final departure, due at the end of 2020. It assesses the implications for their continued residence, with particular reference to the status of EU migrants post Brexit and the proposed requirements for remaining in the UK. However, it argues that for Roma in the UK, Brexit represents a contemporary, but expanded example of labour precarity, encompassing not only work, but family and future, hopes and aspirations.[1] ‘Migrants of Roma heritage’ is used to recognise the diversity (national, cultural, educational, and linguistic among others) present across the communities who identify as Roma and to avoid the ethnicity based essentialising criticised by many scholars.[2] The 2016 Referendum on EU membership offered UK voters a single question ‘Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union? The 51.6% majority who chose to leave are colloquially referred to as the ‘Leave Vote’, and the process of leaving as ‘Brexit’ [Britain/British-exit][3] ‘Brexit’ is here used to denote the process from the Referendum campaign, through the negotiations, towards final departure.

Escolarização e trabalho de beneficiárias do Bolsa Família: estudo de caso em Ribeirão da Neves - MG

Neste artigo, tem-se como objetivo, discutir a partir de experiências de escolarização e de trabalho de beneficiárias do Programa Bolsa Família (PBF), do município de Ribeirão das Neves, em Minas Gerais, como o Programa se apresenta enquanto porta de entrada para o acesso ao direito à educação e ao trabalho para as beneficiárias. Por meio de uma abordagem qualitativa, foi escrito a partir da análise do conteúdo de 12 entrevistas semiestruturadas de beneficiárias do PBF de um Centro de Referência de Assistência Social (CRAS) do município; entrevista realizada com a coordenadora da unidade em diálogo com estudos do campo da Educação Popular, Trabalho e Gênero e das contribuições de autores que refletem sobre o PBF. Pode-se concluir que as entrevistadas possuem experiências marcadas pela negação do direito de se escolarizarem e experiências de trabalhos precários. Apesar do PBF se mostrar como um importante programa social no que concerne ao alívio imediato da pobreza entre as entrevistadas, o Programa apresenta restrições consideráveis no que tange ao acesso ao direito à educação e ao trabalho por essas mulheres, entre elas, a não articulação com as demais políticas públicas disponíveis no município.

Precarious labour in waiting: Internships in the Chinese Internet industries

Internships are prevalent in new media industries and have become the focus of news reports and popular writings in recent years. This article addresses the gap between intern research and digital labour research. It asks: How are these interns working and living? What are the power dynamics behind interns’ experiences? To what extent can digital labour theories be applied to explore these experiences? Based on empirical research conducted at two Chinese Internet companies, this article shows that interns in Chinese Internet industries experience poor working conditions and difficult living conditions. These are caused by power dynamics within the companies, such as tensions between interns and full-time Internet workers, and power dynamics within Chinese society, such as those between Chinese universities and Internet companies involved in these internships. The article argues that such difficult conditions are caused by Internet companies and the Chinese higher education system, both of which engage in forms of coercion and alienation. Digital labour theories need to take greater account of intern labour and of interns’ experiences of precarious work in the new media industries.JEL Codes: J220, J210

The limits to mobility: Precarious work experiences among young Eastern Europeans in Spain

This article contributes to the existing literature on the geography of mobility by examining the precarious work experiences of young people in relation to the limits to their mobility. Using 60 in-depth interviews with young immigrants from Eastern Europe who practised mobility to and from Spain, the article highlights the concern of ‘limits to mobility’ to show how respondents try to end their precarious work and labour instability in order to reach a stable destination. What are the limits to mobility? When is the peak reached? I argue that the limits to mobility can be explained by the interplay between the political-economic structure and people’s spatiotemporal experiences. I have found three different types, depending on the life-course contexts in which young people live their limits to mobility: (1) mobility as tiredness – specific to those who have practised mobility to Spain and, after travelling, training and changing precarious jobs in several countries, try to move and settle in one place; (2) mobility as a labyrinth – situated between the fulfilment of objectives and the uncertainty of relocation; and (3) mobility as resistance to precarity through return – practised by people who migrated with their parents at an early age, who studied in Spain, but for professional reasons had to leave, and are currently either back in their countries of origin or in Spain. The limits to mobility have not as yet been researched in this way, and the findings may contribute to a refinement of the spatiotemporal framework of youth mobility.

‘I don’t want to be a vagrant for the rest of my life’: young peoples’ experiences of precarious work as a ‘continuous present’

ABSTRACTThis work presents findings from a qualitative multi-case study investigating the lives of young, precariously employed academics working at a large Australian university. The lived experience of precarious employment is explored through a temporal analysis of how lifestyles are conceived and constructed under the conditions of liquid modernity. The findings highlight how participants felt limited in their capacity to commit to long-term life plans due to invasive feelings of insecurity and dependency that confronted participants with feelings of inadequacy. Participants referred to an inability to make adult-like decisions and bind themselves to future commitments such as independent living arrangements and starting a family. Engagement with concepts of temporality assisted in the theorising of a ‘continuous present’, which refers to the deferring and sacrificing of lifestyle plans in the hope for an imaginary future that never seems to arrive. This theorisation contributes an understanding of how precarious employment can disrupt the flow of culturally acceptable expectations surrounding adulthood and how precarity develops over time. The analysis illustrates that an extended durée of precarious employment increases precarity beyond the present and into the future temporal zone of young peoples’ lives.

Precarious work and the reluctance to complain: Italian temporary migrant workers in Australia

ABSTRACT The reluctance of many temporary migrant workers (TMWs) to challenge poor wages and conditions is an important puzzle for both research and policy. This article explores the puzzle by drawing on in-depth interviews with Italian TMWs who have had recent work experience in food services and/or farms in Australia. The article describes their experiences of precarious work, marked by widespread and systematic underpayment of wages in breach of minimum wage regulation. It shows that few Italian TMWs challenged underpayments, whether through collective or individual action. The article reviews the varied rationales offered by the interviewees for their reluctance to pursue an individual complaint about underpayments. It finds that fear of employer reprisals was a powerful and understandable barrier to action. Also influential, however, were attitudes that had the effect of downplaying the significance of low pay in the current job, for example, by means of a judgment that the current job is only a temporary stage in a long-term life-course project. The findings indicate that reluctance to complain needs to be situated in relation to other forms of migrant worker agency, both within and outside the workplace, and the social relations in which they are embedded.

Counterfactual theory as an under-utilised analytical framework for studying precarious work experiences

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore experiences and attitudes associated with “precarious work”, an umbrella term for insecure, casual, flexible, contingency, non-standard and zero-hour types of employment.Design/methodology/approachThe investigation was carried-out through two studies. The “outside-in” view was represented by business undergraduates (n=56), responding to a four-item questionnaire on precarious work. It was contrasted with the “inside-out” perspective of migrant, care and hospitality workers (n=72) expressed in 48 in-depth interviews, and four focus groups.FindingsParticipant narratives included counterfactual comparisons that were more often of a downward (“it could have been worse”) than of an upward (“not as good as it could have been”) kind. Precarious participants spontaneously remarked that they were “lucky” (rather than “unlucky”) to be in precarious work.Research limitations/implicationsPrecarious work is likely to give rise to insecurity, uncertainty and vulnerability. However, this study distinguishes between the perspectives of “outside-in” observers, and “inside-out” participants. The former view was aligned with the standard view of work social scientists, yet the latter ran counter to both. Interestingly, the narratives of participants were compatible with the self-evaluations of people exposed to other hardships (like natural disasters).Originality/valueThere is a limited research on how the use of counterfactual thinking and difference of vantage points shapes attitudes and evaluations of precariousness. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study which has identified and explained the unprompted use of “luck” in the narratives of precarious workers.

Invisible Lives: Gender, Dispossession, and Precarity amongst Syrian Refugee Women in the Middle East

This article attends to the connections between neo-liberal and neo-developmentalist labour regimes, asylum and immigration management, and the exploitation of undocumented, refugee, and migrant women, based on the experiences of Syrian refugee women in Turkey. The concept of precarity is explored as a selectively applied strategy by states to people who lack “status” or who are unable to benefit from “membership rights.” Forced migrants, illegal migrants, and asylum seekers are directly implicated in highly precarious work experiences at the bottom end of labour markets across the Global South, becoming trapped in forced labour and human trafficking arrangements. The article establishes a link between extreme forms of migrant labour exploitation in precarious life worlds and gender-based profiling of life chances.

Not all experiences of precarious work lead to precarity: the case study of young people at university and their welfare mixes

ABSTRACTThe concept of precarity has gained momentum and challenges social scientists to consider the effects of labour-market insecurity across classes and welfare arrangements. This article discusses the varieties of experiences of precarious work by young people in university and identifies in which cases they are also experiences precarity. It is one of the first studies of its kind to investigate the material triggers of inequality by comparing young people’s experiences across countries (England, Italy and Sweden) and by looking at the welfare mixes available to young people who are working at university. Through a comparative qualitative research involving young people from different socio-economic backgrounds and ‘welfare mixes’, the article shows that experiences of precarity concern a minority of young people who have an absolute necessity to rely on labour-market sources, due to the lack or insufficiency of state support and family sources. It also identifies: a group of young people who feel pressure to get precarious jobs to fill a decline in family resources; and a convenient use of precarious jobs suiting the circumstances of young people with abundant family resources. Overall, the research found that precarity is deeply connected to young people’s welfare mixes.

Neoliberal Capitalism and Precarious Work: Ethnographies of Accommodation and Resistance by Rob Lambert and Andrew Herod

Reviewed by: Neoliberal Capitalism and Precarious Work: Ethnographies of Accommodation and Resistance by Rob Lambert and Andrew Herod Arne L. Kalleberg Rob Lambert and Andrew Herod, Neoliberal Capitalism and Precarious Work: Ethnographies of Accommodation and Resistance (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2016) This book addresses the increasingly important topic of precarious work, or work that is insecure and uncertain and in which risks are shifted to workers rather than employers or governments. Theory and research have established that the spread of neoliberal political-economic policies, associated with the [End Page 312] decline of unions and the growing imbalances of power in favour of employers over workers, underlie the transformation in employment relations from the standard employment relations of the 30-year period after World War II in the Global North to the precarious, often non-standard, employment relations that characterize both the Global North and South. This book assembles a collection of case studies that show the consequences of precarious work for workers in diverse contexts - such as sweatshops, day labourers, homeworkers, construction workers, and sugarcane cutters - and their varied ways of accommodating and resisting their precarious situations. The editors' introduction summarizes some of the definitional issues regarding precarious work and provides an overview of the main forms of nonstandard work arrangements (temporary and part-time work and independent contracting) and of the reasons why these have become more prominent in the past quarter century. They emphasize especially how spatial and geographical aspects of capitalism and neoliberal political-economic policies have led to the restructuring of work on a global scale and how this has impacted local workplaces and communities, a theme that is echoed throughout the volume. The book is divided into two parts. The first consists of six case studies that examine various forms of precarious work and illustrate the variety of ways in which people accommodate themselves to their precarious work experiences. These chapters also show the diverse strategies by which workers resist and protest their precarious situations, as they seek alternatives to unions, who are often reluctant to engage with precarious workers. Thus, the study of workers in unregulated factories in the clothing industry in the Fashion District in inner-city Johannesburg shows how international competition has weakened organized labour, making coalitions with faith-based organizations a more likely source of power. The chapter on immigrant industrial day labourers in Chicago in the mid-2000s examines a labour rights campaign that was done without union involvement. This accountability campaign was designed to shame the client company into transferring its temporary workforce from an abusive temp agency to a more ethical one. Another chapter looks at home-based work and provides examples of the new ways in which women home-based workers are organizing in Bulgaria and Turkey. These forms of organizing are different from traditional union or collective bargaining strategies, as they use non-union international linkages (such as with the Federation of Homeworkers Worldwide, women's movements, and consumer campaigns in Europe) to build solidarity. A chapter on the construction industry and labour subcontracting in China elucidates the culture of violence between subcontractors and workers. Its analysis of four construction sites shows how the labour subcontracting system (which is the single most important way of obtaining the labour needed by the industry) is leading to widespread collective action among workers, who are among the worst-paid in China today and are ripe for exploitation since most are not protected by China's labour laws. Another chapter looks at how the toxic pollution of air and groundwater generated by large steel corporations have led to social and economic insecurity in a South African community (Steel Valley, near Johannesburg). The authors' analysis links nature and capitalism by revealing how the marketization of nature driven by global corporations and ecological degradation deepens social and economic insecurity. They argue that transnational solidarity networks led by labour (such as sigtur - Southern Initiative on [End Page 313] Globalization and Trade Union Rights) and environmental campaigns ("ecological unionism") are needed to address the growing ecological crisis. The final chapter in the section examines how global ethanol corporations and export-oriented sugar policies are leading to greater concentration in the ownership of land and...

Equally dressed-up, unequally casual: different experiences of precarious work in designer fashion retail boutiques

Casual employment in Australia is highly precarious with minimal job security, and it is used heavily in the retail sector. With few legal entitlements, casual employment creates an unregulated space for workers and employers to negotiate work conditions. This underlies claims that casual employment increases flexibility for both employees and employers. However, with low employment security, casual workers have low workplace power to assert their preferences. At the same time, recent analysis shows that vulnerable workers are likely to get trapped in highly precarious work such as casual employment. This study explores the experience of 18 women working casually in designer fashion retail boutiques in Melbourne. Findings show that even in the same role in similar workplaces, some workers are able to broker better working conditions for themselves. Factors that improved participants’ empowerment levels to seek better conditions were general knowledge of workplace rights and having a high workplace sense of entitlement. Those who had spent less time in the role had lower empowerment levels. The social class background of participants was an important underlying factor. The research finds that due to differences in individual agency, vulnerable workers receive inferior working conditions compared to their less vulnerable co-workers in equivalent roles.

Precarious Work Experiences of Racialized Immigrant Woman in Toronto: A Community- Based Study

Despite their high levels of education, racialized immigrant women in Canada are over-represented in low-paid, low-skill jobs characterized by high risk and precarity. Our project documents the experiences with precarious employment of racialized immigrant women in Toronto. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with racialized immigrant women. Participants were recruited through posted flyers, partner agencies, peer researcher networks and snowball sampling. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using NVivo software. The project followed a community-based participatory action research model. Participants faced powerful structural barriers to decent employment and additionally faced barriers associated with household gender relations. Their labour market experiences negatively impacted their physical and mental health as well as that of their families. These problems further constrained women’s ability to secure decent employment. Our study makes important contributions in filling the gap on the gendered barriers racialized immigrant women face in the labour market and the gendered impacts of deskilling and precarity on women and their families. We propose labour market reforms and changes in immigration and social policies to enable racialized immigrant women to overcome barriers to decent work.

Hyper-precarious lives

This paper unpacks the contested inter-connections between neoliberal work and welfare regimes, asylum and immigration controls, and the exploitation of migrant workers. The concept of precarity is explored as a way of understanding intensifying and insecure post-Fordist work in late capitalism. Migrants are centrally implicated in highly precarious work experiences at the bottom end of labour markets in Global North countries, including becoming trapped in forced labour. Building on existing research on the working experiences of migrants in the Global North, the main part of the article considers three questions. First, what is precarity and how does the concept relate to working lives? Second, how might we understand the causes of extreme forms of migrant labour exploitation in precarious lifeworlds? Third, how can we adequately theorize these particular experiences using the conceptual tools of forced labour, slavery, unfreedom and precarity? We use the concept of ‘hyper-precarity’ alongside notions of a ‘continuum of unfreedom’ as a way of furthering human geographical inquiry into the intersections between various terrains of social action and conceptual debate concerning migrants’ precarious working experiences.