role le of f luc luck, chance & social connections 8 th Annual - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Precarious work and precarious liv lives: th the role le of f luc luck, chance & social connections

Alicja Bobek Sinead Pembroke James Wickham

8th Annual NERI Labour Market Conference Webinar – 17th and 18th

• f September 2020

‘Working Conditions in Ireland’ and ‘Social Implications of Precarious Work’ projects

‘Working Conditions in Ireland’ project: ▪ Job quality dimensions (ETUI), e.g. wages, working time, job security, skills and career development, collective representation ▪ Qualitative study (2015-2016) – interviews with Trade Union representative and 40 workers from four sectors (construction, hospitality, finances, ICT) ‘Social Implications of Precarious Work’ project ▪ Contractual (objective) precarity, e.g. irregular part-time work, fixed term contract, self-employment => consequences for other areas of life ▪ Qualitative study (2016-2017) – interviews with stakeholders and 40 precarious workers Also – the analysis of the existing statistical data (Quarterly National Household Survey; Census data)

Prec ecario ious and and fl flexib ible le em emplo ployment: : midd ddle le cl class and and pr prof

• fessio

ional l work

• rkers

Types of precarious work ▪ ‘Precarious work’ usually defined in opposition to ‘standard employment’ ▪ Focus on erosion of permanent employment for manual workers and service workers ▪ Young people often mostly affected? Precarious employment and ‘middle-class’ careers ▪ Demand for flexibility: fixed-term contracts and own account work ▪ ‘Professionalization’: e.g. early years education, care work ▪ No longer a ‘stepping-stone’? => challenges with traditional career paths and transition from precarious to permanent employment Availability of data and statistics ▪ Workers not always aware of their contractual status

Em Emplo ploym yment in n Ir Irela land: levels ls of

• f educ

educatio ion (19 (1999- 20 2019)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Levels of education and employment (15-64); %

Less than primary, primary and lower secondary education (levels 0-2) Upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 3 and 4) Tertiary education (levels 5-8)

Fle Flexib ibili ilisatio ion of

• f pr

prof

• fessio

ional l wor

• rk: con
• ntractual

l shif shifts

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 1999 2008 2018 1999 2008 2018 1999 2008 2018 Part-time employment Own account work Temporary employment

Non-standard employment and education levels

Less than primary, primary and lower secondary education (levels 0-2) Upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 3 and 4) Tertiary education (levels 5-8)

‘Traditional’ versus ‘flexible’ career: context and cons

• nsequences

Traditional career: predictable path of employment BUT: also important consequences for other aspects of life ▪ Occupational mobility linked with crucial life course events ▪ Implications for housing tenure, family formation, retirement, health => often connected with employment! Flexible career: possible precarisation of employment ▪ ‘Boundaryless career’ (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996) ▪ Lack of predictability: not only financial but also contractual ▪ Difficulties getting a mortgage and struggles with the rental market ▪ Delayed family formation Question of CHOICES versus CONSTRAINTS Importance of ‘chance’, ‘luck’ and ‘fortune’

Work

• rk, car

areers and and life cour

• urse: pr

prec ecario ious job jobs or

• r

pr precario rious lives?

Traditional career: linear mobility; structured hierarchies Life course and the examination of long-term trajectories and transitions (not only narrow life phases) (Mayer, 2009) ▪ Importance of employment pathways and possible ‘stepping-stones’ ▪ Early events influence later life outcomes (work, housing, relationships…) Individualization of the life course (choices?) ▪ Significance of ‘human agency’ (Giddens, 1984) and personal autonomy (Modell, 1991) ▪ ‘Patchwork biographies’ (Beck, 1986) Employment insecurity => Life course precarity?

(P (Professio ional) l) car areers in n con

• ntext:

xt: midd ddle le-cla lass life cour

• urse exp

xpectatio ions

Education and career

Childhood/school Further education and college First job Occupational career Retirement

Family status

Childhood Single Living with partner Children Empty nest (living with partner)

Housing and tenure

Living with parents Sharing with friends Renting with partner House ownership Downsizing

Prec ecario ious (P (Prof

• fessio

ional) l) car areers in n con

• ntext:

unpr unpredic ictable le pa path thways?

Education and career

Childhood/school Further education and college First job Fragmented career Retirement?

Family status

Childhood Single Living with partner Children? Empty nest (living with partner)

Housing and tenure

Living with parents Sharing with friends Renting with partner Renting or other arrangements ???

Im Impo portance of

• f luck

uck and and soc socia ial l conn

• nnectio

ions: : car areer r and and pr prof

• fessio

ional l pr prog

• gressio

ion

And the story is, so at the beginning of this year, it was true that I was less busy in my

• work. My boss, he didn’t know what was going to happen with me. So, a

coincidence was that someone in another department said: oh look I have a lot of work here; I need someone to help me with some documentation. So, my boss suggested me, and he talked about me very well. So, he asked me: now that you are not very busy maybe you’d like to go there, and there is something coming up there? Maybe if they are very busy they might need to hire somebody. I said, ah well good because even if I don’t get a job there I’m going to learn because they are doing something different (Quality Control Administrator, fixed-term contract) From that job, I got in under a fantastic PI, and I’m so lucky to have met this woman because she has just been our guiding light for the last 2 and a half years. Any jobs or funding or anything that she can think of, any little slot she can fit us into she’ll do it, she’s so generous with her time. So, I think having met her was just really good luck for me because it allowed me when my contract finished with her, to move over here and she’s still my PI over here. So I did a Research Assistant contract with her for about 6 months, and then when I finished that one up, and I came over here I did an RA contract for a year. And then I had finished my VIVA and then I got another 2 year Post-doc contract here. (Researcher, fixed-term contract)

Fam amily ily conn

• nnectio

ions: fi financia ial l sec securit rity and and mor

• re
• p
• ptio

tions for

• r the

the futu future

And in ways I don’t have to worry because my husband does have a permanent job. He’s well paid and we would survive. We set ourselves up in a way, like we bought

• ur house in the recession, we don’t have a big mortgage, we can cope, we’re lucky,

we are so incredibly lucky! So, our circumstances are I’m not incredibly worried about not having a job really. But, if things were different, yea I would be very, very worried. (Researcher, fixed-term) I’m so lucky I have my husband; if I was single I don’t even know if I could afford rent, never mind a mortgage! I don’t know how – like (name of colleague), used to be scraping money together every week, and she was trying to save up to do teaching, which she’s doing at the moment. The only reason she could do it is she moved back home and she’s living with her mam. So she doesn’t have to pay rent. It was really tough for her, it’s so unfair because she worked so hard; she was amazing, she was a really hard worker. And the same with (name of colleague), the two of them just worked really hard and when you don’t have someone to depend on financially, it’s really tough to survive in childcare on your own, it’s next to impossible. (Early Years Educator, fixed-term and part-time)

Occ ccupatio ional l car areer, , pr prec ecario ious work

• rk and

and life cour

• urse:

: caus auses, , con

• ntexts

xts and and cons

• nsequences

Traditional versus flexible career: predictable paths but also ‘traps’ => revolt against work (Ross, 2008) ▪ Increase of non-standard work and flexibilization of employment relationship Choices versus constraints: changing nature of flexible career? ▪ Importance of planning in ‘intelligent’ careers ▪ ‘Luck’ and ‘coincidence’ even more important? Context and consequences: occupational career and other aspects of life ▪ Social consequences of precarious employment – housing, family formation, health, planning for the future ▪ Possible ‘flexicurity’ model – the role of state and social policy

THANK YOU!

Contact: bobeka@tcd.ie