Precarious Forms Of Employment Research Articles

Migration, Vulnerability, and Protection: Changing Labour Law Regime in Contemporary India

ABSTRACTThis article undertakes a socio-legal analysis of India’s changing labour laws and situates migrant workers within the broader context of the changing relations between state, capital, and labour amid the reforms that were introduced in 2019–2020. It illustrates the precarity of migrant workers and the possibility of their legal exclusion from the revised labour codes, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic-led lockdowns. The new codes reduced the number of establishments under regulation and diluted provisions that can hold contractors and employers accountable, which increases the scope for exploitation of workers and has serious implications for the rights of migrants. The labour law reforms, we argue, appear to have favoured capital in its relations with workers and have increased the degree of informality in a wide range of industries. Inter-state migrant workers may find themselves excluded from protective provisions that hold employers accountable for their treatment and this may make them more vulnerable in the informal sector. The article concludes that this push by the state to boost the ‘ease of doing business’ via precarious forms of employment and whittling away the protections of inter-state migrant workers may be far more detrimental than expected.

Heat is associated with short-term increases in household food insecurity in 150 countries and this is mediated by income.

Rising temperatures are expected to stall progress on food insecurity by reducing agricultural yields in the coming decades. But hot periods may also increase food insecurity within days when it gets too hot to work and earn an income, thus limiting households' capability to purchase food. Here I exploit variations in heat levels during a household survey spanning 150 countries in a quasi-natural experiment to show that particularly hot weeks are associated with higher chances of food insecurity among households (0.5767, 95% confidence interval 0.2958-0.8576, t = 4.024, d.f. = 427,816, P < 0.001). This association is mediated by reductions in income and health for households and the effects are stronger in countries with lower incomes and more agricultural or precarious forms of employment. The results highlight the importance of labour market disruptions for food insecurity and suggest integration of these concerns into heat action plans and food programmes.

The labour consequences of Covid-19: migrant workers in tourism and hospitality

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the consequences of Covid-19 for the migrants and the tourism industry following the emergence of the new business models and operational practices in the following three areas: i) Covid-19 and post-Covid-19 labour shortages, ii) the development of migrant gig jobs and iii) future trends.Design/methodology/approachCovid-19 posed challenges for labour retention and has given rise to new outsourced and precarious forms of employment. The growth of various tourism-related apps and establishments, such as “ghost kitchens” or pop-up restaurants, has transformed the landscape of tourism work and opportunities. This short paper provides an overview of the labour consequences of Covid-19, focusing on migrant tourism workers.FindingsDespite growing attention towards promoting sustainable, just and decent employment, global trends and changing industrial relations in the sector have led to heightened levels of precariousness and uncertainty in migrants’ work.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature on tourism employment by examining the forms of new business models and operational practices that affect migrant labour.

The nature of working in the hospitality industry: Evidence from 3S tourism in Turkiye

The main purpose of the study is to reveal the nature of working in the field of hospitality by examining employment forms and working conditions. For this purpose, the phenomenology approach was used and interviews were conducted with 32 hotel employees. According to the findings, it has been seen that temporary and precarious forms of employment are common in tourism. It is seen that the employees are kept under strict control for efficiency and productivity and the managerial hegemony is at a significant level. In addition, it has been determined that due to standardization and simplification in hotel businesses with an all-inclusive system, employees are deprived of their qualifications and become unqualified.

НОАНЪАНАВИЙ БАНДЛИК ИННОВАЦИОН ШАКЛЛАРИНИ ТАРТИБГА СОЛИШ МАСАЛАЛАРИ

In this article the research in the sphere of regulation of social and labour relations in terms of recarious employment (on the example of outsourcing) is carried out. Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing application for subjects of social and labour relations are revealed. Exploring the relationship between employee and employer in terms of use of such forms of precarious employment as outsourcing, it is concluded that it is necessary to increase the effectiveness of regulation of social-labour relations, that is, during the events of outsourcing, workers’ representatives (trade union organization) have to offer employers (the managers of the enterprise and the outsourcing company) to negotiate. After all, often during the transition of the company to outsourcing, the interests of employees fall by the wayside or they are simply neglected

Diversity of forms of socialization in science: Russian and world experience

The article reveals the main characteristics of the modern process of professional socialization of novice scientists, as it proceeds in Russia in comparison with foreign countries. It is shown that the widespread view of socialization as associated with the period of postgraduate studies and the preparation and defence of a dissertation for a degree does not correspond to modern realities in which socialization can be both early (postgraduate) and late (postdoctoral). At the same time, while in the countries of the European Union, obtaining a degree retains the role of a necessary condition for obtaining a research position in the academic environment, in Russia the share of researchers without a degree is more than 70%, and the number of decisions of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia on issuing a diploma to those who defended their PhD theses steadily decreased in the period 2010–2018. During the designated period, the Russian training system went through a transformation associated with a change in the status of postgraduate studies, but instead of the desired approximation to the European system, this led to the emergence of a unique combination of features. It is shown that in European countries, the USA, China, Japan, etc., the role of the institute of socialization is gradually shifting from postgraduate studies to postdoctoral studies. In this configuration, postgraduate studies contribute to the development of professional independence, while postdoctoral studies provide a chance to realize this independence on a wider range of tasks than conducting and defending a dissertation research. At the same time, the state of the postdoctoral institute in a number of countries, for example, in Japan, demonstrates that under certain conditions it turns into a form of precarious employment, breaking the synonymy between socialization as obtaining recognition of the scientific community on the basis of professional achievements and obtaining a stable position in the social research hierarchy. The directions of minimizing the risk of failure of scientific socialization in Russian science are systematized, it is proved that they lead to an expansion of the diversity of socialization practices of a young scientist and thereby transform the transition situation itself. It acquires a prolonged and, due to this, less labor- and emotionally costly character.

Exploring biographies in a rapidly changing labor world

The field of work and employment is among the most rapidly changing fields in current societies. The sociology of work attempts to map these changes, developing concepts that seek to grasp the transformations of labor. Currently, the discussion revolves around two main topics: (a) the ‘normality of non-normality’ expands on the flexible, insecure, and precarious forms of employment, while (b) the ‘subjectivation of work’ has been introduced in order to reflect the newly observed trend in which entrepreneurial strategies and rationales colonize the whole spectrum of an employee’s personal life and the self. It is a paradox, however, that while all these transformations in the labor world are taking place, interest in biographical research on the field has declined. This article aims to show the ways in which biographical narrative research has studied the changes that have taken place in the world of labor and to highlight new research possibilities. We especially wish to highlight ways in which reconstructive biographical research can contribute to the corpus of knowledge generated on this topic. We argue that, through biographical case reconstruction, paths by which transformations of the labor world become biographically significant for individuals and their social life worlds can be grasped in a dialectical manner. Employing systematic reconstruction of the ways in which social actors construct their work experiences biographically can serve a twofold purpose. First, it reveals how social rules, dominant discourses, and social conditions form new workers’ subjectivities, and second, it identifies biographical sources of resistance on the part of the actors.

What does non-standard employment look like in the United States? An empirical typology of employment quality.

Despite significant interest in the changing nature of employment as a critical social and economic challenge facing society-especially the decline in the so-called Standard Employment Relationship (SER) and rise in more insecure, precarious forms of employment-scholars have struggled to operationalize the multifaceted and heterogeneous nature of contemporary worker-employer relationships within empirical analyses. Here we investigate the character and distribution of employment relationships in the U.S., drawing on a representative sample of wage-earners and self-employed from the General Social Survey (2002 - 2018). We use the multidimensional construct of employment quality (EQ), which includes both contractual (e.g., wages, contract type) and relational (e.g., employee representation and participation) aspects of employment. We further employ a typological measurement approach, using latent class analysis, to explicitly examine how the multiple aspects of employment cluster together in modern labor markets. We present eight distinct employment types in the U.S., including one resembling the historical conception of the SER model (24% of the total workforce), and others representing various constellations of favorable and adverse employment features. These employment types are unevenly distributed across society, in terms of who works these jobs and where they are found in the labor market. Importantly, women, those with lower education, and younger workers are more likely to be in precarious forms of employment. More generally, our typology reveals limitations associated with binary conceptions of standard vs. non-standard employment, or insider-outsider dichotomies envisioned within dual labor market theories.

Péče jako individuální odpovědnost a prohloubení ekonomického znevýhodnění sólo matek v pandemii covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic had a particularly severe impact on people in a vulnerable position, such as solo mothers living alone with their children. In this article I use an intersectional approach in order to understand how their different positions in life affected their ability to cope with the crisis situation. I present a longitudinal qualitative study of the situation of solo mothers in the Czech Republic during the Covid-19 crisis, based on repeated interviews with women from three Czech regions. The preliminary findings indicate that a crucial factor in the women's ability to cope with increased care responsibilities was the kind of job they had before the pandemic hit. Women with higher qualifications and stable jobs faced a decline in income coupled with stress resulting from a conflation of paid work and care. In response, they reduced their professional ambitions. Women who were unemployed or lost their job during the pandemic faced long-term unemployment, and the jobs that they were offered on the labour market were forms of precarious employment. For all of them, irrespective of their work situation, the pandemic deepened their sense of vulnerability, and all of them experienced some form of economic hardship. The lack of any systemic support and the ignoring of the needs of (solo) parents (and children) were accompanied by the individual responsibilisation of the mothers. As a consequence, old inequalities deepened and new ones emerged.

On the Job, Off the Books: Organizing Against Worker Misclassification in the Neoliberal Era

Worker misclassification is a form of precarious employment in which employers illegally designate their employees as ‘independent contractors’ to cut labor costs. Non-standard employment arrangements and the emergence of the misclassification problem are expressions of neoliberal economic reform and attendant shifts in managerial strategy. Although scholars and government statisticians have documented the prevalence of worker misclassification, extant research on labor-organizing campaigns in response to this practice is lacking. This paper presents case studies of two successful organizing campaigns against worker misclassification: (1) a United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBCJA) effort in the Northeastern construction industry and (2) a Teamsters campaign focused on the West Coast port trucking industry. Both campaigns employ similar frames highlighting competition, free markets, and the necessity of industrial change to achieve these ideals. We conclude with a discussion of the prospects and limitations of these organizing strategies given the countervailing political and economic headwinds posed by neoliberal restructuring.

Constructing Conflict: The Politics of Job Creation Policy, Precarious Work, and Citizenship in South Africa’s Construction Industry

The paper examines the politics of state job creation policy in South Africa. We focus on the construction industry, which is a major sector for job creation policy, especially through a large scale public works programme. We argue that, while the creation of jobs is framed by government as a path towards dignity and social inclusion for poor and unemployed citizens, the precarious reality of low-wage work in the construction industry undermines the potential pro-social effects of wage employment. Beneficiaries of job creation policy often experience frustration and alienation, and the construction sites on which they work are often marked by conflict and disruption. We describe two different forms that this conflict takes, on the one hand demanding wage work as a citizenship right, on the other eschewing generalized citizenship claims in favour of particularistic and exclusionary demands for jobs based on localized identities. These seemingly contradictory but intertwined types of conflict show the complexity of the relationship between state job creation and citizenship rights in an industry and an economy defined by precarious forms of employment.

Employment Precarity Strengthens the Relationships Between the Dark Triad and Professional Commitment.

The Dark Triad traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy have been found to negatively impact work behaviors including information sharing, reporting of unethical conduct, and mistreatment of colleagues and subordinates. However, research has found the Dark Triad can also be related to forms of organizational commitment which underpin positive work behaviors, including engaging in tasks and duties beyond those required (i.e., “going above and beyond”). Professional commitment is a broader form of commitment that has been found to be significantly related to organizational commitment, sharing antecedents, and having similar outcomes. Professional commitment, the affective, normative, and continuance commitment toward one's profession or occupation, has the benefit of applying to individuals employed by organizations as well as those working for themselves or between jobs. In this research, we explore relationships between professional commitment, using previous research on the relationship between the dark triad traits of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism and organizational commitment, as a basis for predictions. We also explored two forms of precarious employment (career interruptions and part-time or casual work) as possible moderators of the dark triad-professional commitment relationship. Participants were 184 Australian professionals (52.2% men), a slight majority of whom had experienced a career interruption (69.6%) or a year or more of part-time or casual employment (70.7%). The results showed that psychopathy had a negative association with affective commitment, whereas Machiavellianism was positively related to normative commitment, and narcissism was positively related to normative and continuance commitment. Using regression analysis, we found that among individuals who have worked in part-time/casual employment longer, Machiavellianism and psychopathy had significantly stronger negative associations with affective commitment. In contrast, among individuals who have had a significant career interruption, Machiavellianism had significantly stronger positive association with continuance commitment. These findings help expand our understanding of both the dark triad and its contingent impact on workers' attachment to their profession.

Gender, Space, and Precarious Employment in Canada

AbstractThis study aims to examine how gendered precariousness is spatially patterned across Canada's landscape using Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey. We compare gender differences in distinct precarious forms of employment (PFEs) across a range of geographies, including national, provincial, census metropolitan areas, and urban/rural areas. We find that distinct spatial patterns and degree of gendered precariousness were evident within and across geographic spaces. Logit models further confirmed the robustness of gender differences in PFEs across space, revealing that PFEs were associated with gender, immigration status, age, type of economic family, education, income, and occupation. This study has implications for further understanding the causal factors at play in producing these uneven economic geographies. In terms of policy recommendations, this study calls for greater gender equity in social safety net policies, especially in the wake of the labor market shocks brought by the COVID‐19 pandemic.

The Impact of Mandate Contract and Self-Employment on Workers' Health-Evidence from Poland.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the correlations between two clearly defined forms of non-standard employment (self-employment and mandate contract) and workers’ health. The study also addressed such variables as gender, age, length of service, and the reason for employment (voluntary vs. non-voluntary). The research was carried out in Poland in 2020 using the CATI method (a telephone interviewing technique), and it covered a sample of 200 workers (100 self-employed and 100 working under a mandate contract). Most of the respondents declared that their form of employment did not affect their health. However, the statistical analysis showed significant differences in health status between the self-employed and those working on a mandate contract. Self-employed respondents experienced mental health impacts more often, whereas those working under a mandate contract more frequently declared that their physical health was affected. The length of service was only important for mental health, having a negative impact on it. The respondents’ age and gender turned out to be statistically insignificant, which is in contradiction to many previous research findings. The inability to choose one’s form of employment resulted in worse physical health. These findings demonstrate the importance of certain variables that were not prioritized in previous studies and emphasize the need to clearly define what non-standard and precarious forms of employment are, as well as revealing new correlations between the studied categories and providing directions for further research.

Into the Vicious Cycle of Precarity: Labour Market, Precarious Work, Social Vulnerability and Youth: The case of Greece within the EU context

Ιn the last decade, there has been a widespread expansion of both precarious work and precarious forms of employment (such as temporary and low-qualified jobs, seasonal and part-time jobs etc.), in which a growing share of young people work. The impact of precarious work on young people is likely to be permanent, while it seems to affect (even over-determine) their life courses. Non-smooth and early transitions into labour market are very likely to worsen progressively their long-term life chances (Lodovici &amp; Semenza, 2012: 7). Undoubtedly, the long-lasting global economic Crisis and the subsequent Recession, has heavily affected the state of play in the labour market worldwide, provoking severe modifications both in the field of employment and countries’ social cohesion. Based on the above mentioned, the paper deals with precarious work in general, while it emphasizes precarious work among youth. It initially captures, briefly, the state of play in terms of the impact of the Crisis on the widening of the phenomenon of precarious work and then it focuses on theoretical insights and critical conceptual definitions concerning precariousness in the labour market. Further, based on secondary quantitative -data analysis, it analyses the key- parameters and facets of precarious work (focusing on youth) in the European Union and, mainly, in Greece. Additionally, it briefly presents parameters of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on precariousness in Greece. Finally, the paper explores the correlation between precarious work and social vulnerability, especially among young people.&#x0D; The present paper is based on an ongoing Research Project. More specifically, this research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund- ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014-2020» in the context of the project “Precarious Work and Youth in today’s Greece: secondary quantitative analysis, qualitative filed research and research-based policy proposals” (MIS 5048510).

The Zero-Hour City: Writing London in the End Times

The zero-hour arguably marks much more than a form of precarious employment. Making liquid the injustice of the here and now, it also postpones any reckoning with the temporal, spatial and, more often, racial dispossessions of a city like London in this, its contemporary neoliberal progress. In this article, I offer up a reading of the zero-hour as it emerges within the city’s much longer end time imagination. But I also attempt to trace an immanent critique of this tradition. Turning to the black British poet D.S. Marriott and his latest collection, Duppies (2018), which is best characterized as an elegy for the end of Grime, this article theorizes the possibility for a melancholy writing of London that might resist its many end time dispossessions.

Emerging Platform Work in Europe (Hungary in Cross-country Comparison)

In this paper, we aimed to assess the main characteristics of a growing form of precarious employment, namely the platform work. These digitally enabled services cover a wide range of activities from personal low or semi-skilled services (e.g. personal transportation) to highly skilled online services such as software development. In our paper, we aimed to characterize the digital platform labor force by their content of the job, working conditions, employment status, and the collective voice. The primary aim of the analysis was to give an overview of theoretical foundations and empirical evidence for an EU supported project on platform workers. Here we presented an overview of the variety of terminology, definitions of platform work, and platform workers and examine the grey zone of labor law regulation in which many of them operate. We assessed the size of platform employment in Europe, indicating the knowledge inequalities within the EU countries and some methodological inconsistencies. As a case study to scrutinize the regulatory challenges accompanying diffusion of platform work, we looked at the failed story of Uber in Hungary and by subsequent success of Bolt which took over the market share of the former. Our findings showed that while the size of the platform economy is growing in Europe, there is no consensus in the social scientific community either on the appropriate terminology or the most convenient methodology on how to measure its extent. This emerging form of employment represents a significant challenge not only for labor law jurisdictions but to the softer forms of social regulation as well. To better understand the proper governance of digital labor markets and the issue of ”collective voice” through the transformation of the content of work, working conditions, and employment status of the Platform Work sector, will be necessary to focus on both the transformation of work/labor as well as its interplay with value creation, governance, management and labor in the platform-based economy.

Geographic variations in precarious employment outcomes between immigrant and Canadian‐born populations

AbstractWe explore the spatial patterning of precarious forms of employment (PFE) by immigration status using Statistics Canada's 2011–2016 Labour Force Surveys. We provide new evidence showing that different PFEs exhibited distinct spatial patterns, with the census metropolitan areas showing the greatest spatial variation for immigrants. More so, immigrants were represented in high shares in PFEs in geographies where they tend to concentrate. Our findings raise a series of important questions on the efficacy of the regionally differentiated entitlement to Employment Insurance (EI) especially as immigrants are represented in high PFE shares in regions where EI coverage rates are low.

Decent work: what matters most and who can make a difference?

PurposeWhat matters most for improving work quality and who can make a difference are perennial topics in employee relations research. The literature on work quality provides answers to these with regard to various constructs on a continuum from “soft” to “hard” variables and stakeholders seeking to influence employers who fall short of reasonable expectations with regard to these. A construct of “decent work” with both soft and hard variables was adopted for research and methods which were collaborative and participative with stakeholders in one national context.Design/methodology/approachThe “decent work” construct was operationalised from the literature and refined by collaborative and participative research. Exploring the relative importance of the constituent parts of decent work involved research with a range of stakeholders; employees, employers and advocates. The study involved most prominently low-paid workers, with employers and advocates also engaged through interviews.FindingsPrimarily hard “decent work” variables were identified among employees, primarily soft variables among employers and a mix of hard and soft among advocates. There are some common priorities across these stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThe main implication is that to engage a range of stakeholders requires a combination of soft and hard variables to be included in research and policy development. However, generalisation about what matters most and who makes a difference to work quality is intrinsically limited in context and time. In this research, the extent of employer engagement in the collaboration initiated by advocates and concerned most with the experiences of low-paid workers is a limitation.Practical implicationsWhat matters most are a set of soft and hard priorities to engage across stakeholders. Pay is an abiding priority among these and the priority most prominent for many advocates seeking to make a difference through influencing low-paying employers to provide a living wage. While the living wage is a significant focus for work quality, it is not in itself sufficient, as other soft and hard variables in the workplace matter as well. Those who can make a difference are the employers falling short of benchmark standards. Influence on these may emerge through decent work knowledge and skills in management and professional development programmes as well as in initiatives advocating wider adoption of the living wage.Social implicationsProblem areas of work quality, and problem employers, can be influenced by strategies shaping “hard” factors, including legislation. This needs to be complemented and integrated with strategies on “soft” factors, including identifying positive role models on themes of well-being, work–life balance and precarious forms of employment, as well as pay.Originality/valueThe identification of what matters and who can make a difference is based on an original, collaborative, research project, in one national context, offering analytical generalisability about “decent work” and an experience of collaborative research.

The Geographies of Precarious Labour in Canada

Using Statistics Canada’s 2011-2016 Labor Force Surveys, this paper examines the spatial dimensions of precarious forms of employment (PFE) in Canada. We first compare different PFEs across a range of geographies including national, provincial, census metropolitan areas and urban/rural areas. The results show that different PFEs exhibited distinct spatial patterns across space and scale. Second, using logistic regression models, results show that patterns in PFEs were reinforced by factors such as immigration status, gender, age, education, and income. These models further confirm that spatial variations in PFEs were robust even when controlling for socio-demographic and socio-economic effects. Taken together, these marked spatial patterns advances our understanding of the spatial divisions of precariousness in Canada.