What is Labour Precarity and Did it Increase in Spain After the Labour Reforms of 2010 and 2012?

Labour precarity is often presented as a phenomenon constantly on the rise and which is behind a purported transformation of labour markets, if not work in general. The concept, however, lacks a generalized definition that is also empirically measurable, with different scholars using diverse definitions of the term, some of these overlapping with other concepts. I review the literature on the topic, both theoretical and empirical, and identify five themes present around which the concept is built by each author: contigency of the employment relation, inadequate income, lack of rights and protection, issues regarding work environment and social and health consequences. Following the work of Goertz and Gerring, I then set out to conceptualize “labour precarity” in a way that is both theoretically consistent and empirically operativizable, while avoiding the overlap with other concepts. This leads me to focus on contigency of the employment relation as the key theme.The resulting concept is being used to measure the extent to which labour precarity is present and has evolved in the Spanish labour force after the recent major labour reforms (2010 and 2012) that were passed following the Great Recession of 2008, and to inquiry which segments of it have been particularly affected by it, by means of using the Active Population Survey (Encuesta de Población Activa or EPA) and the Labour Lives Continuous Sample (Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales or MCVL).

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Speaker: Guillermo Murcia López (Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences, University of València, Spain)

Sponsors: RCCHU; University of València