Abstract
The emergence of a new underclass composed of young people usually described in the press as the “Precarious Generation” or the “Generation of 1,000 euros”1 (and earning even less in certain cases) is, currently, one of the most widely discussed issues in the international discourse about the future of work. The obvious reasons for such a development are related to the dramatic expansion of jobs, which are precarious in nature in recent decades, as well as to the multiple and decisive ways that such a development affects the social and political inclusion of the young people,2 as well as other vulnerable groups of the workforce, such as immigrants, women and other vulnerable groups. The contemporary context in Europe appears to be marked by an increase in economic inequalities and growing disparities in social participation and citizenship rights. In other words, current socio-economic forces have made work more insecure, unpredictable and risky.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The term, inspired by social movement activists, independent writers and radical political bloggers is currently used to describe the labour market situation of the young workers generations (18–30 years old), who have to make their own living and to organise their life under the restricted stream of low-paid and contingent jobs. Similar or associated terms used in the modern literature to describe the emergence of the new underclass include the following: contracto a vassoura, milleuristas, Generation P (acronym from the Precarious), the contrat première embauche (CPE) generation, and Generation Kangourou.
- 2.
Age is a useful, but not sufficient indication to characterise the transition to adulthood. The focus of this paper is on the people age 16–30 years.
- 3.
According to this philosophical approach of precariousness, such elements are distributed across the whole time and space of life and they form an existential condition that spreads beyond the boundaries of work (Neilson and Rossiter 2005). For example, Tsianos and Papadopoulos (2006) consider precarity (the state of precariousness) as a mean to exploit the continuum of everyday life and not simply the workforce. Precarity is a form of exploitation, which operates on the level of time and forms an embodied experience.
- 4.
For example, Marshall described unemployment as inconstancy of employment. In general, the definitions of unemployment used before Keynes’ theory on employment (1936) usually implied a type of work or an employment pattern characterised by inconstancy, irregularity, variability and discontinuity. For further information, see the analysis of Winch (1972) and Dedousopoulos (2000).
- 5.
- 6.
The Euro-Barometer (http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/standard_en.htm) and the European Working Conditions Surveys (http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/surveys) have come to similar conclusions regarding the work insecurity of young people for several years.
- 7.
Data about earning by age groups come from Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) ,which was carried out in 2002 and 2006 in all EU countries. Data are available in PPS (Purchasing Power Parities), a unit which equalizes the purchasing power of different countries for a given basket of goods. Using a PPP basis is arguably more useful when comparing differences in living standards on the whole between nations (European Commission 2006).
- 8.
Young people cannot be considered as a powerful political group that can influence to a great or to a certain extent the decisions about labour market reforms. According to relevant publications by the European Commission (The White Paper “A New Impetus for European Youth”, COM 2001/ “Renewed Social Agenda-Opportunities, Access and Solidarity in twenty-first Century Europe”, COM 2008) it is argued that there is an urgent need to ensure that those for whom policies are designed are part of the policymaking process as subjects rather than objects of the planning process.
References
Auer P, Cazes S (eds) (2003) Employment stability in the age of flexibility. International Labour Office (ILO), Geneva
Becker G (1967) Human capital and the personal distribution of income: an analytical approach. Columbia University Press, New York
Beveridge WH (1909) Unemployment: a problem of industry. Longmans, Green and Co., London
Biletta I, Eisner M (2007) Youth and work. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin
Bluestone B, Rose St (1997) The growth in work time and the implications for macro policy. Levy Economics Institute Working Paper 204
Böckerman P, Laaksonen S, Vainiomaki J (2007) Who bears the burden of wage cuts? Evidence from Finland during the 1990s. Int J Manpow 28(2):100–121
Böheim R, Muehlberger U (2006) Dependent forms of self-employment in the UK: identifying workers on the border between employment and self-employment, IZA Discussion Papers, No. 1963, http://www.iza.org/
Brenner R (1998) The economics of global turbulence. New Left Rev 229:1–264
Buchel F (2002) Successful apprenticeship-to-work transitions. On the long-term change in significance of the german school-leaving certificate. Int J Manpow 23(5):394–410
Callinicos A (2003) Feature review: the boom and the bubble: the US in the World Economy, Robert Brenner (Verso, 2002). New Polit Econ 8(3):419–425
Dedouspopoulos A (2000) Θεωρíες της Aνεργíας, τóμος, vol Á. Aθ ήνα, Tυπωθήτω-Δαρδανóς
Duell M (2004) Defining and assessing precarious employment in Europe: a review of main studies and surveys. Discussion paper in economix, research and consulting, Munich
Dumenil, Levy (2005) Costs and benefits of neoliberalism in Eipstein, G. A. “Financialization and the world economy”, Edward Elgar, pp 17–45
EIRO (2005) ‘Industrial relations and undeclared work’, Dublin: EIRO online available: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/2005/135/en/1/ef05135en.pdf
ETUC (2007) Quality of jobs at risk. ETUC, Brussels
European Commission (2005) Precarious employment in Europe: a comparative study of labour market related risks in flexible economies. European Communities, Brussels
European Commission (2006) Eurostat-OECD methodological manual on purchasing power parities. European Communities, Paris
European Commission (2007) Undeclared work in the European Union. European Communities, Brussels
Frade C, Darmon I (2005) New models of business organization and precarious employment: towards the recommodification of labour? J Eur Soc Policy 15(2):107–121
Frey L, Croce G, Pappadà G (2002) Precarious employment in Italy – a literature review, precarious employment in five countries, country report Italy. European Commission, Brussels
Gallie D, White M, Cheng Y, Tomlinson M (1998) Restructuring the employment relationship. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Garraty JA (1978) Unemployment in history: economy thought and public policy. Harper, New York
GSEE (2008) Labour and trade unions: quantitative research results. VPRC, Athens
Hicks JR (1932) The theory of wages. Macmillan, London reprinted in 1963
Hyman R (2007) How can trade unions act strategically? Paper presented for the industrial relations in Europe Conference 2007. Centre of Industrial Relations & Negotiations (CIRN), Athens, July
Karamessini M (2008) Continuity and change in the southern European social Model. Int Labour Rev 147(1):43–70
Lagarenne C, Legendre N (2000) Les Travailleurs pauvres en France: facteurs individuals et familliaux. Econ Stat 335:2000 INSEE
Marshall A (1920) Principles of economics: an introductory volume (1st edition 1890), 8th edn. Macmillan, London reprinted in 1972
Mitropoulos A (2005) Precari-us? In mute – culture and politics after the net. 1(29Spring):88–96
Moseley F (1999) United States economy at the turn of the century: entering a new era of prosperity? Cap Class 67:25–46
Neilson B, Rossiter N (2005) From precarity to precariousness and back again: labour, life and unstable networks. Fibreculture, issue 5: Precarious Labour. http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue5/index.html
OECD (1997) Is job insecurity on the increase in OECD countries? OECD employment outlook. OECD, Paris, pp 129–160
O'Reilly J, Fagan C (eds) (1998) Part-time prospects: International comparisons of part-time work in Europe, North America and the Pacific Rim. Routledge, London
Pedersini R (2002) Economically dependent workers, employment law and industrial relations, EIRO online, http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/index.html, pp 1–22
Renoy P, Ivarsson St, van der Wusten-Gritsai O, Meijer Em (2004) Undeclared work in an enlarged union, an analysis of undeclared work: an in-depth study of specific items. European Commission, Brussels
Rodgers G (1989) Precarious employment in Western Europe: the state of the debate. In: Rodgers G, Rodgers J (eds) Precarious jobs in labour market regulation: the growth of atypical employment in Western Europe. International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva
Schmid G et al (1997) The Dutch employment miracle? A comparison of employment systems in the Netherlands and Germany. WZB Discussion Paper FS I 97-202, Berlin
Schumpeter J (1954) History of economic analysis. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Shaikh A (1999) Explaining the global economic crisis. Hist Materialism 5(1):103–144(42)
Sweet S, Meiksins P (2008) The changing contours of work. Pine Forge Press, London
Thompson EP (1981) The making of the English working class. Pelican, Harmondsworth
Tsianos V,Papadopoulos D (2006) Precarity: a savage journey to the heart of embodied capitalism, http://precariousunderstanding.blogsome.com/2006/08/12/precarity-a-savage-journey-to-the-heart-of-embodied-capitalism/
Winch D (1972) Economics and policy: a historical study. Fontana, London
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Dr. Mary Brown (Robert Gordon University), Maria Markaki (National Technical University of Athens) Dr. Ilias Livanos (University of Warwick) and Maria Koumenta (LSE) for their contribution in the collection of the data and their comments about the analysis followed.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kretsos, L. (2010). The Persistent Pandemic of Precariousness: Young People at Work. In: Tremmel, J. (eds) A Young Generation Under Pressure?. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03483-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03483-1_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-03482-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-03483-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)