Precarious Employment Research Articles

The Michigan Farmworker Project: A Community-Based Participatory Approach to Research on Precarious Employment and Labor Exploitation of Farmworkers

Precarious employment is an important social determinant of health inequities. Through in-depth qualitative interviews ( n = 35), we examine precarious employment and labor exploitation, their potential impact on the working environment, and, ultimately, the health of farmworkers. We present results from the community-based participatory Michigan Farmworker Project. Our analysis identified dimensions of precarious employment and labor exploitation that involved lacking access to fundamental labor and social rights—including dehumanization—discriminatory occupational practices, and insufficient access to health care and social benefits. Policy reform is needed to address precarious employment and labor exploitation among farmworkers due to their potential long-lasting health effects.

Trajectories of Unpaid Labour and the Probability of Employment Precarity and Labour Force Detachment Among Prime Working-Age Australian Women

Worldwide, women are over-represented in precarious and insecure employment arrangements. Importantly, the high unpaid labour demands women experience over the life course compromise paid labour force participation for women. This study explores the way different trajectories of time spent in unpaid labour throughout women’s prime working and child-rearing years (from baseline age of 25–35 yrs to 42–52 yrs) are associated with indicators of precarious employment and labour force detachment later in life. We applied group-based trajectory modelling to 17 waves (2002–2018) of data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey to identify trajectories in unpaid labour. We then examined associations between these estimated trajectories and employment outcomes in wave 19 (2019). Our study shows that chronic exposure to high amounts of unpaid labour over prime working-age years (compared to lower exposure levels) increases women’s probability of precarious employment and labour force detachment later in prime working life. This provides evidence that ongoing inequity in the division of unpaid labour has considerable long-term implications for gender inequality in the paid labour force, and underscores the importance of urgently addressing how men and women share and prioritise time across both paid and unpaid labour domains.

Causal effect of shifting from precarious to standard employment on all-cause mortality in Sweden: an emulation of a target trial

BackgroundWe aimed at estimating the causal effect of switching from precarious to standard employment on the 6-year and 12-year risk of all-cause mortality among workers aged 20-55 years in Sweden.MethodsWe...

Interlocked: kinship, intimate precarity, and plantation labour in India

AbstractThis article examines the employment of kinship relations in sustaining the plantation economy and in perpetuating the precariousness of child labourers who later became temporary workers in the tea plantations of Kerala, South India. Kinship ties locked diverse workers into a moral obligation of care that could easily be manipulated by plantation management as a form of labour control. Plantation capitalism, therefore, sustained itself not only through overt forms of violence but also through manipulating the precarity of employment in relation to intimate forms of love, care, and obligation that were bound up with kinship ties. Kinship networks of different kinds need to be understood as integral to the plantation society and as occupying a fundamental place within the capitalist order of plantations. I observe that the entangled relationship between workers’ precarity and plantation capitalism can be understood only if we pay attention to what I call the intimate precarity produced by the employment of kinship networks within plantation capitalism.

Community-level incidence and treatment seeking during febrile illness: Insights from health behaviour surveys in rural Thailand and Laos.

Critical gaps remain in understanding community perceptions and treatment-seeking behaviours in case of fever. This is especially relevant considering global antimicrobial resistance, where fever is assumed to provoke non-judicious antibiotic use. Our study objective was therefore to document the community-level incidence of fever, the resulting treatment-seeking processes, and their underlying behavioural drivers. In a cross-sectional observational design, we used descriptive and inferential statistics and multivariable regression analysis to estimate the population-level incidence of fever and individual and socio-economic factors associated with treatment-seeking process characteristics. We utilised a detailed publicly available survey of community-level treatment-seeking behaviour (collected in 2017/2018), comprising a representative sample of 2130 rural adults in Thailand (Chiang Rai Province) and Lao PDR (Salavan Province). Fever was reported by 7.1% of the rural adult population in Chiang Rai (95% CI: 5.1%-9.0%) and 7.5% in Salavan (95% CI: 4.5%-10.5%) during a 2-month recall period. Treatment-seeking patterns varied by socio-economic characteristics like precarious employment. 69.3% (95% CI: 60.8%-77.7%) of fever episodes involved access to formal (public/private) healthcare providers, 11.0% (95% CI: 4.5%-17.5%) involved informal providers, and 24.3% (95% CI: 16.6%-32.1%) took place without either formal or informal healthcare access. Febrile patients had on average 0.39 antibiotic use episodes when accessing formal healthcare settings, compared to 0.05 otherwise (p < 0.01). Treatment-seeking behaviour during fever varies according to population characteristics. Clinical studies would benefit from contextualising quantitative outcomes. Treatment algorithms for non-malarial febrile illnesses should involve outreach to informal healthcare and community settings to support patients in precarious circumstances, and antibiotic resistance interventions should prioritise formal healthcare facilities.

Expanding Community Health Worker decision space: learning from a Participatory Action Research training intervention in a rural South African district

BackgroundWhile integral to decentralising health reforms, Community Health Workers (CHWs) in South Africa experience many challenges. During COVID-19, CHW roles changed rapidly, shifting from communities to clinics. In the contexts of new roles and re-engineered primary healthcare (PHC), the objectives were to: (a) implement a training intervention to support local decision-making capability of CHWs; and (b) assess learning and impacts from the perspectives of CHWs.MethodsCHWs from three rural villages (n = 9) were trained in rapid Participatory Action Research (PAR) with peers and community stakeholders (n = 33). Training equipped CHWs with tools and techniques to convene community groups, raise and/or respond to local health concerns, understand concerns from different perspectives, and facilitate action in communities and public services. CHWs’ perspectives before and after the intervention were gained through semi-structured interviews. Data were collected and analysed using the decision space framework to understand local actors’ power to affect devolved decision-making.ResultsCHWs demonstrated significant resilience and commitment in the face of COVID-19. They experienced multiple, intersecting challenges including: limited financial, logistical and health systems support, poor role clarity, precarious employment, low and no pay, unstable organisational capacity, fragile accountability mechanisms and belittling treatment in clinics. Together, these restricted decision space and were seen to reflect a low valuing of the cadre in the system. CHWs saw the training as a welcome opportunity to assert themselves as a recognised cadre. Regular, spaces for dialogue and mutual learning supported CHWs to gain tools and skills to rework their agency in more empowered ways. The training improved management capacity, capabilities for dialogue, which expanded role clarity, and strengthened community mobilisation, facilitation and analysis skills. Development of public speaking skills was especially valued. CHWs reported an overall ‘tripe-benefit’ from the training: community-acceptance; peer support; and dialogue with and recognition by the system. The training intervention was recommended for scale-up by the health authority as an implementation support strategy for PHC.ConclusionsLack of recognition of CHWs is coupled with limited opportunities for communication and trust-building. The training supported CHWs to find and amplify their voices in strategic partnerships, and helped build functionality for local decision-making.

Precarious employment in early adulthood and later mental health problems: a register-linked cohort study

BackgroundPrecarious employment is a determinant of self-reported mental health problems among young adults. Less is known about more severe and objectively measured health outcomes, such as mental health problems requiring...

Precarity in Higher Education: Perspectives From The 1.5 Generation in Israel

ABSTRACT We examined perceptions of precarity in higher education by conducting interviews with a cohort of academics in Israel. The participants were 1.5 generation immigrants who were born in the former Soviet Union (FSU) and then moved to Israel as children or teenagers with their family, typically in the 1990s. Using a narrative research approach, we examined the personal perceptions of 43 academics employed at colleges and universities in Israel. Despite differences in their employment status and contract conditions, our findings made clear that all the academics in our cohort had experienced employment precarity. Using a Bourdieusian framework, we attribute Israeli academic precarity to a deficiency in the cultural and social capital necessary for establishing relevance. Although they had been relatively successful in integrating into Israeli society, and had decades of living within it, our interviewees from all types of academic institutions reported feelings and experiences of extreme precarity. This precarity was ascribed by interviewees to the structure of the Israeli higher education market, which is characterized by an unstable, hyper-competitive, and neoliberal environment, leaving minority groups employed within it particularly vulnerable.

Increased risk of sleep problems according to employment precariousness among paid employees in Korea.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between precarious employment (PE) and sleep problems among wage workers in Korea. Data from 29,437 wage workers were obtained from the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey. PE was defined based on four dimensions: employment temporariness, irregularity, lack of protection, and economic vulnerability. A PE index indicating employment precariousness was derived. The outcome variables were three sleep problems experienced over the past year: difficulty initiating asleep; difficulty maintaining sleep' and fatigue upon waking. Multiple logistic regression was performed after adjusting for age, educational level, occupation, job tenure, company size, and working hours, to estimate the association between PE and sleep problems. For both sexes, the risk of all sleep problems significantly increased as the precariousness of employment increased, showing a dose-response relationship. An increased risk of sleep problems is evident as employment becomes more precarious. These findings could help improve the health of workers with PE by addressing sleep problems.

“Our People Can’t Hold the Line!”

A protracted movement emerged in Kashipur in Southern Odisha in 1993 that stalled a bauxite mining project for over 18 years. It went through fragmentations and eventually petered out by the early 2010s. This paper aims to understand how and why the processes of capital accumulation through dispossession cause fragmentation of social movements and their eventual petering out. I analyse the collective strikes that the villagers engaged in during 2008–2010, paralyzing the company’s incipient construction work over a tumultuous nine months. Critically engaging with David Harvey’s concept of “accumulation by dispossession” (ABD) and Kalyan Sanyal’s concept of “jobless growth”, I argue that ABD processes entail protracted interaction of extractive capital, bureaucratic structures, ecology, and the movements of subaltern communities with existing divisions. Dispossession processes generate new fissures in which ownership of land or lack of it due to land acquisition becomes the central axis of cleavage, shaping the politics and outcomes of dispossession. I further reveal that ‘jobless growth’ is unachievable for a company that can push ahead only through the provision of precarious employment and such promises...

Multidimensional employment precariousness mediates the association between low educational attainment and poor subjective well-being: results from a nationwide cross-sectional study in South Korea.

This paper explored how multidimensional employment precariousness (MEP) mediates the relationship between educational attainment and subjective well-being. A nationwide sample of 46 919 Korean workers participated in surveys between 2017 and 2020. Educational attainment was divided into four categories: elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. Subjective well-being was assessed using the 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index, and MEP was evaluated using a modified version of the Employment Precariousness Scale (ERPES-E), with scores ranging from 0 to 100 and higher scores indicating worse employment precariousness. A counterfactual-based logistic mediation analyses were used to estimation. The mean MEP score was 36.0 [standard deviation (SD) 12.1] for college education, 44.3 (SD 11.5) for high school, 49.5 (SD 10.1) for middle school, and 51.1 (SD 10.0) for elementary school. The prevalence of poor subjective well-being was 24.0% for college education, 31.3% for high school, 40.6% for middle school, and 44.8% for elementary school. Odds ratios (OR) for the total effect of education on the poor subjective well-being were 1.44 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.37-1.53] for high school, 2.19 (95% CI 1.98-2.24) for middle school, and 2.40 (95% CI 2.04-2.82) for elementary school when compared to college education. The OR for the indirect effect mediated through MEP were 1.27 (95% CI 1.25-1.29) for high school, 1.46 (95% CI 1.42-1.51) for middle school, and 1.53 (95% CI 1.48-1.59) for elementary school, accounting for 63.9%, 48.5%, and 48.6% of the total effect, respectively. Our study suggests that MEP is an important contributor to the disparities in subjective well-being resulting from educational gradients.

Characteristics and Socio-Demographic Distribution of Precarious Employment Among Korean Wage Workers: A Proposition of Multidimensional Approach Using a Summative Score

IntroductionThere is a growing global interest in the issue of precarious employment. We aimed to analyze the characteristics and socio-demographic distribution of precarious employment using a summative score approach. MethodsTo operationalize precarious employment, we utilized data from the Korean Working Conditions Survey and focused on three distinct dimensions: employment insecurity, income inadequacy, and a lack of rights and protections. By constructing a summative scale ranging from -16 to 2, with lower scores indicating higher precariousness, we measured employment precariousness among Korean wage workers. To compare employment precariousness according to survey participant characteristics, we employed the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test. ResultsWe analyzed a weighted number of 38,432 workers. The overall sample showed a median (Q1, Q3) summative scale score of -3 (-6, -1). The median summative score was lower for women compared to men (men: -2; women: -5; p < 0.001), as well as for young or older workers compared to middle-aged workers (young: -4; middle-aged: -2; older: -5; p < 0.001). Similarly, workers with lower educational levels (middle school or below: -8; high school: -5; college or above: -2; p < 0.001) and non-white collar workers (blue collar: -5; service/sales worker: -6; white collar: -2; p < 0.001) experienced higher levels of employment precariousness. ConclusionOur findings indicate that certain vulnerable groups, such as women, young or older adults, workers with low educational attainment, and caregiving or low-skilled elementary workers, are disproportionately exposed to high employment precariousness. Active policy interventions are needed to improve the employment quality of vulnerable groups.

Eating alone as psychological self-care: How the younger generation in Let’s Eat survives in neoliberal South Korea

TV dramas that focus on food and eating reflect the popular trend of single culture, with a rising number of single-person households among the younger generation in South Korea. Analyzing Let’s Eat (tvN), the South Korean food drama series that specifically focus on eating scenes, this paper uses the framework of survivalism and the popular discourse of healing to examine how eating alone as a social and cultural phenomenon represents the psychological turn in neoliberalism. In its three seasons, Let’s Eat reflects how eating alone becomes a practice of endurance and resilience that encourages the younger generation to stay positive, even during an enervated state of mind, to bounce back, and to ultimately spring forward. I argue that Let’s Eat reflects how survivalism especially requires the marginalized population of women in precarious employment to reflect and grow confidence without considering the problems of structural inequality. Let’s Eat shows the younger generation’s struggle and lack of societal support, perpetuating neoliberalism’s focus on individual effort and blaming individuals for their enervation.

Association Between Precarious Employment and Disability in Adults Over 50 Years of Age in Mexico

BackgroundThe risk of disability increases when workers perform a precarious job, in unsafe conditions and without social benefits or any type of contract. The objective of the study was to identify the relationship between exposure to unstable employment and the prevalence of disability in men and women over 50 years of age. MethodsSecondary analysis of the 2018 round of the National Survey on Health and Aging (ENASEM). A precarious employment variable was constructed using historical information on the main job; work activities were classified as cognitive or manual. Disability was assessed by limitations in performing the basic and essential activities of daily living. Bivariate analyses and a logistic regression model were conducted and stratified by sex to assess the association between employment and disability. An interaction between precarious employment and manual labor was calculated and adjusted for schooling and economic situation. ResultsThe final sample consisted of 3480 adults over the age of 50. Fifty-eight percent of the population was classified as having had precarious employment throughout their working life. Associations were found between precarious employment and disability in women (OR 2.92, 95% CI: 1.33–18.87), as well as marginally significant associations with manual activities (OR 2.92, 95% CI: 0.99–8.59), and for the interaction between precarious employment and manual labor (OR 4.01, 95% CI: 0.96–16.61). ConclusionDisability is associated with precarious working conditions, especially in women.

Chapter 10 Archaeologists as Indian Advocates? Lessons from Skinner, the Little‐Weasel; Moorehead, the Indian Commissioner; and Other Predecessors

ABSTRACTArchaeologists who study the Native past have a responsibility to the Native present. But our academic training does little to prepare us for advocacy work. Personal interests, ethics, and the precariousness of employment often dictate what can be done. Doing nothing is easier and safer than speaking out, but idleness reinforces the irrelevancy of archaeology to contemporary social issues. Recalling the advocacy decisions of two archaeological ancestors, Alanson B. Skinner and Warren K. Moorehead, helps us to consider how and when archaeologists should act beyond their own job descriptions. Skinner's attempts to educate the White‐public and Moorehead's work to guide governmental policies were not flawless. But their willingness to do something helps us reconsider if we, as individual archaeologists, are doing enough. First and foremost, archaeologists should ensure that their institutions have complied with the spirit of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, not just the letter of the law. We should also ensure that we take opportunities to connect the Native past to the Indigenous present, in ways that go beyond land acknowledgements. Archaeologists can be better allies, accomplices, and co‐conspirators.

Navigating an Uncertain Future

Abstract: Young people navigate an increasingly uncertain and precarious employment market. They have to mobilise and use psychosocial resources necessary to adapt to a changing career landscape and employment opportunities. Guided by career development theories, this study asks if school-based career preparation activities can support the development of career adaptability and career-related cognitions of young people in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research draws on a nationally representative sample of 16–25 year-olds who participated in the Youth Economic Activity and Health (YEAH) online survey conducted in the UK between May 2021 and May 2022 ( n = 4040). The findings highlight the malleability of career adaptability and the importance of school-based career preparation activities in supporting adaptive career-related cognitions as well as life satisfaction among young people in times of economic uncertainty and upheaval.

Universities as a Source of Precarious Employment

Introduction. Rapid social changes and new challenges are increasingly transforming all spheres of human life. These factors affect not only the labor market and the general nature of professional activities, but also educational approaches to training specialists in the higher education system. Modern university graduates should possess competencies that meet diverse employer expectations. At the same time, universities are becoming “factories” for the production of graduates focused on precarious employment, since the uncertainty in the type of employment caused by global transformations in the labor market is reorienting the higher education system, thereby changing the vector of educational activity. Aim – analysis of studentsʼ orientations towards precarious employment and identification of the role of universities in their development. Materials and Methods. In 2021, an empirical sociological survey was conducted. The survey sample included 716 learners studying at Yekaterinburg universities, who were interviewed using a questionnaire. In order to elucidate the process of forming studentsʼ orientation towards precarious employment and the role of universities therein, we used semi-formalized interviews with young people whose activities in the labor market could be characterized as atypical employment, as well as with heads of educational programs and curators of projectoriented programs at the Ural Federal University. In addition, the results of a study conducted in 2020–2021 among university graduates in the Ural region were used. Results. Uncertainty in the labor market, secondary employment and involvement of university students in project-oriented activities form their following work preferences: the desire for atypical forms of employment, irregular working hours, and free work schedules. Discussion and Conclusion. The conclusions made by the authors expand the understanding of the needs of young people in the labor market and the transformation of university education in conditions of uncertainty. The materials of the article contribute to the development of sociological knowledge and can be useful to management and administrative structures of Russian universities.

Vulnerable to Precarity: COVID-19 and the Experience of Difference by Newcomers, Immigrants, and Migrant Workers in Canada

When COVID-19 struck Canada in 2020, immigrants, newcomers, and migrant (agricultural) workers were among those most vulnerable to the pandemic. Their experiences of the pandemic were accentuated by an exacerbation of pre-existing racial and other forms of discrimination. The article emerged from a systematic review and thematic synthesis of the broadly defined literature on immigrants, newcomers, and migrant workers’ experiences of multifaceted challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. We established inclusion criteria and systematically searched for articles in databases, including JSTOR Journals, Social Work Abstract (EBSCOhost), PsycINFO, and other grey literature published between March 2020 and January 2023. The findings suggest that immigrants, newcomers, and migrant workers in Canada experienced systemic inequalities, which worsened their socio-economic status, placing them at higher risks of poor health outcomes. The following themes that underscore the experiences of immigrants, newcomers, and migrant workers in Canada were identified: a) that immigrants, newcomers, and migrant workers in Canada experienced negative socio-economic impacts due to COVID-19, b) that immigrants, newcomers, and migrant workers in Canada experienced aggravated precarious and inequitable employment during COVID-19, c) that immigrants, newcomers, and migrant workers in Canada experienced COVID-19 related racial discrimination, and d) that COVID-19 negatively impacted immigrants, newcomers, and migrant workers’ mental health and well-being. Important directions for future research, including for studies that prioritize new immigrants, are provided.

Prediktori prekarnog položaja radno aktivnog stanovništva Srbije, Hrvatske i Nemačke

Precarious employment is a growing phenomenon in many countries, and it has significant economic, social, and political implications. The article examines the predictors of precarious employment in Serbia, Germany, and Croatia using data from the IX round European Social Survey. The study employs a comparative analysis approach, drawing on the world-systems theory, to identify the underlying factors that contribute to the precarious position of the working population in these three countries. While certain predictors, such as age, appear to be important determinants of precariousness in all three countries, there are also differences that reflect the historical development of capitalist social relations in peripheral positions. Additionally, the organizational dimension of precariousness was found to be an important predictor of precarious employment in all three countries. On the other hand, while the absence of trade union membership, the size of the work organization, and citizenship are identified as statistically significant predictors of precarious employment, these factors do not consistently predict precariousness across all observed countries.

Od rada iz nade do nade za novinarstvo

Journalism has always been characterised by unpredictability, freelancing and precarious employment, while it is little-known what exactly happens with precarious employment in journalism over time. To fill this research gap, this study set out to explore the career paths and structural context of precarious millennial journalists in Slovenia. In-depth interviews with stakeholders from media organisations were analysed in order to gain insight into the structural conditions of Slovenian journalism. With the aim of understanding what is going on with regard to the journalists’ career transitions, the authors conducted a longitudinal study of their careers and in-depth interviews with precarious journalists in 2017, and then again in 2021. The results have shown that the widespread professional image of journalists as watchdogs drew young people into the profession and reinforced hope labour. The journalists were motivated and willing to work overtime, thinking that a steady job was just around the corner. After years of hope labour, the structural conditions of journalism had deteriorated and the journalists realised that hope labour would not lead to a permanent contract at a media organisation. At that point, one group switched careers and took on public relations jobs, although they still considered themselves journalists and cherished the ideals of journalism from afar. The second group readjusted their lifestyle and economic interests for the sake of keeping a career in journalism, albeit outside of the legacy media structures and in precarious working conditions. The latter group has demonstrated that precarious and underpaid, yet very motivated journalists uphold journalism ideals.