An examination of employment precarity and insecurity in the UK

Employment precarity and insecurity are major topics of discussion within the sociology of work and in society at large. This thesis demonstrates the limits to the growth of precarity in the UK labour force. It contests the view that employment is becoming relentlessly more precarious in the neoliberal period. Furthermore, it challenges the view expressed by some theorists, including many on the radical left, that precarity is part of a recasting of class relations undermining the capacity of workers to challenge capital. Precarity is defined here as an objective condition whereby employment becomes more contingent. It is measured through a study of non-standard employment and employment tenure, using surveys of the UK labour force. Non-standard employment has not grown substantially. Mean employment tenure has remained stable overall, having fallen a little for men and risen for women since the 1970s. While there are areas of precarious work, these tend to be hemmed in by permanent, long-term jobs. This is explained through a Marxist theorisation of labour markets, emphasising the interdependence of capital and labour, and the role of the state in securing the reproduction of labour-power. To help understand the resonance of the concept of precarity, subjective job insecurity is measured. Survey data shows little evidence of a secular rise in insecurity. However, in the 1990s, and again after the 2008-9 recession, concerns about the loss of valued features of work combined with a wider ideological climate of uncertainty to increase generalised job insecurity. The findings of this thesis contest widespread pessimism regarding the capacities of the working class under neoliberalism, leading to practical implications for the orientation of the labour movement and the radical left. Finally, the research suggests changes to surveys of the labour force that would improve measures of precarity and insecurity in the future

Individual adaptation to discontinuous employment for Australian workers : a longitudinal mixed method study

This thesis research has had two aims: first, to determine how discontinuous (or “casual”) employment impacts on quality of life, mental health, and coping for a population of Australian job seekers; second, to determine how different groups of workers differ in coping style, quality of life, and mental health when dealing with discontinuous (casual, short-term) work. To address these aims a national survey was conducted of white collar, business and technical/scientific workers (N=229 at Time 1). Workers were sampled three times over the study period of nine months. The mixed method design consisted of two phases in order to capture the richness of the phenomena in question. The quantitative phase (QN) was initiated first with a tri-monthly national survey running from July 2006-until February 2007. The survey yielded information on workers’ employment conditions, job permanency, sense of resilience, and distress levels. Phase QN yielded an “overall snapshot” of worker issues and life facet coping patterns. The qualitative phase (QL) was initiated two weeks after the start of Phase QN. In this phase the investigator conducted semi-structured interviews from a subset of nine workers taken at three- month intervals. Phase QL yielded narratives of nine-month “slices of life” for these respondents, illustrating their most current work/life conflicts and the strategies and attitudes they employed to manage such conflicts. Phase QL also allowed for the uncovering of personal meanings for work-life transitions role conflicts, perceived time shortages and respondents’ personal work-life goals. Narratives, goals and personal meanings were eventually uncovered and were integrated into nine-month case trajectories. Phase QL trajectory results were then compared and integrated with the QN quantitative survey results via a process of audit trailing, data reconfiguring, member checking, and comparing of data sets. Main Findings: for the QN analysis/methods, Distress was predicted by only three Life Facet variables: number of children, permanency (security) of one’s job, and the time of year (season). The outcome variable Resilience/Coherence was predicted by only two of the variables of interest: permanency (job security) and time of year. Overall the weak QN findings could only hint at but not substantiate the patency of the Life Facets Model in explaining discontinuous work. However the Phase QL results showed the Life Facets Model to better fit the coping narratives than other models (of staged grief, active agency, drive reduction, and stress-appraisal-coping). Though some mismatches occurred across the two (QL and QN) methods, most were resolved through mixed method techniques of auditing, cross referencing and integration. Implications of the findings for future research, social welfare, and public policy were suggested

Of Heart and Mind: Social Policy Essays in Honor of Sar A. Levitan

The essays in this volume, authored by close friends, associates and students of Sar Levitan, pay tribute to the enduring mark he left on the field of social policy. The book is loosely organized around the method of analysis taught and practiced by Levitan: identifying problems through the examination of facts, developing a thorough understanding of institutions, assessing institutional policies, and evaluating policy options.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1197/thumbnail.jp

Disentangling professional careers: an auto/biographic investigation into the occupational histories and aspirations of professional business workers in the third-age of their employment

In an evolving professional services market, the structure of career is changing; this research asks older professional practitioners in business consulting about their occupational histories and career aspirations for the period leading towards their occupational disengagement. In their ‘third-age’ of employment – the life transition between career maturity and withdrawal (ages 50 to 65) – professional workers often consider their employment options as they move toward occupational withdrawal. With demographics showing an ageing population, employers can expect to find that ‘third-age’ workers represent a greater proportion of their workforce. As they reflect on their circumstances, these older professional workers often decide to adjust working practice to complement their lifestyle choices, taking account of family responsibilities, financial obligations, occupational values and possibly personal health. Through the lens of narrative inquiry, I reflexively review my occupational experiences and those of 12 research collaborators over a working trajectory of up to 45 years, as each person progresses through the concluding episode/s of their occupational transition. This auto/biographic bricolage represents occupational lives spent working within financial, legal and management consulting roles in professional firms within the United Kingdom. By embracing their occupational histories, this research investigates whether older professional practitioners can better determine their occupational futurity and benefit from the opportunity to accommodate other considerations – career preferences, life obligations, family relationships – as they conclude their occupational trajectory. In ‘Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career’, Herminia Ibarra (2004) presents a model for career change and argues that people determine their occupational directions by experimenting with different possibilities rather than deciding on a clearly defined career identity. This research investigation extends the inquiry into a later stage of the life course, the ‘third-age’, and helps older professional workers develop a coherent understanding of their occupational history as they approach workplace departure, contemporarily known as ‘retirement’

Employability and career identity: Chilean male middle-aged middle managers' narratives of career

The dynamism and unpredictability of current social and economic conditions present a particular challenge for mature workers who tend to consider work as one of the main sources of their identity. The challenge is perhaps even more profound for those, such as managers, who are expected to be active agents in managing their own careers.The relationship between the self and organisations in the changing work context is the main focus of this study. The concept of career identity is explored and its relationship with employability discussed in light of evidence from a study of middle-aged, middle managers in three industries in Chile.A mixed methods approach commenced with an initial mapping of the objective aspects of career by means of a questionnaire survey. This was followed by interviews using a narrative approach which allowed access to the sensemaking process individuals develop to construct and inform their identities at work.The findings indicate that Chilean middle-aged middle managers' careers tend to unfold in single organisational settings, with high tenure and low expected mobility. Age and mobility are related to both perception of employability and the attitudes and behaviours leading to employability. Mature workers with stable careers appear less employable than younger and more mobile workers. The dominant narrative or 'career script' in the population studied, is the traditional one that stresses notions of continuity and progression in a more or less predictable sequence of stages leading to positions with higher status and social recognition.In this study, career identity is conceptualised as a dynamic aggregate of descriptors that individuals ascribed to themselves at work. A complex identity that includes a large set of characteristics, a variety of future possible selves and different objects of identification in a flexible interplay, closer to personal identities and to processes rather than to groups, seems to be a key antecedent of the career behaviour leading to employability. Work history, specifically diversity of work experience and social connections, plays a significant role in complexity of career identity.Since participants tend to stress collective values, work stability and the membership to social groups, such as industries and firms, there might be a risk of narrow career identity, reduced mobility real and expected, and low employability. However, a new notion of career is just emerging which decouple identity from organisations and promote independence in the labour market.A typology of four career stories was constructed, which depicts a particular configuration of career identity and sensemaking of careers. Their implications in career behaviour are explored.Current work conditions open up new opportunities to exercise choice, however, in the light of the current findings they might imply also lack of references and sense of insecurity for an important group of the working population. The potential implications of these findings for middle-aged workers' employability are explored and propositions for both theory and practice are suggested

Does the Career Adaptation Process Change as a Function of an Employee\u27s Age or Employment Gaps? An Investigation of Relationships Among Personal Resources, Contextual Factors, Coping Behaviors, and Career Success

The goal of the current research was to enhance understanding of the career adaption process by developing and testing a new psychological framework by integrating three contemporary career theories (i.e., Protean, Boundaryless, and Social Cognitive Career (SCCT) theories). All of these career theories emphasize adaptability and agency as central constructs and stress career self-management as part of having a contemporary mindset because taking control of your career is important. To understand the adaptation process, antecedents and consequences of job-related coping behaviors, which are defined as cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands, were investigated. The model developed in this research depicts a complex process showing how personal resources (i.e., social and psychological capital) and contextual factors (i.e., organizational support for career management and labor market conditions) relate to career outcomes (e.g., perceived career success) and employment quality (i.e., job satisfaction and commitment). Also, the frequencies of job-related coping behaviors (e.g., information seeking) were predicted to mediate the relationships of resources and contextual factors with employment quality, and employees’ age and prior employment gaps were predicted to moderate use of coping behaviors. The proposed relationships were tested using a repeated measures design by collecting data three times, two months apart. The results showed that perceived organizational support for career development predicted employees’ perceived and objective career success. Moreover, organizational career support and protean mindset were the strongest predictors of frequencies of coping behaviors. Although age did not function as a moderating variable in most of the tested relationships, the number of employment gaps that individuals experienced in the past was an important moderator in the relationships between personal resources and coping behaviors. One of the main contributions of the study was developing and testing a new, more comprehensive model which integrated contemporary career theories. The results contribute to both theory and practice by testing alternative constructs and clarifying relationships. Specifically, among the variables investigated, protean mindset was related to coping behaviors, perceived career success, and employment quality, suggesting that those willing to proactively navigate their careers are likely to use active coping behaviors and achieve perceived career success. Another important contribution is the finding that the process of adaptation was not different for older workers compared to younger ones which contradicts prior research and theories. However, the number of employment gaps was an important moderator of several relationships, which is consistent with boundaryless career theory’s proposal that career advancement requires experiencing more than a single employer and organization. Moreover, the study provided insights about which resources were better predictors of career outcomes and clarified relationships to career success. Taken together, the findings provide important empirical support and also extend theoretical ideas from SCCT’s unified view on effects of cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors. Specifically, the study suggests that employees\u27 path to career success involves a complex function of many factors, including their career mindset, personal characteristics, social network, contextual factors, and frequencies of coping behaviors

The World Wide Web of Work

Global Labour History has rapidly gained ground as a field of study in the 21st century, attracting interest in the Global South and North alike. Scholars derive inspiration from the broad perspective and the effort to perceive connections between global trends over time in work and labour relations, incorporating slaves, indentured labourers and sharecroppers, housewives and domestic servants. Casting this sweeping analytical gaze, The World Wide Web of Work discusses the core concepts ‘capitalism’ and ‘workers’, and refines notions such as ‘coerced labour’, ‘household strategies’ and ‘labour markets’. It explores in new ways the connections between labourers in different parts of the world, arguing that both ‘globalisation’ and modern labour management originated in agriculture in the Global South and were only later introduced in Northern industrial settings. It reveals that 19th-century chattel slavery was frequently replaced by other forms of coerced labour, and it reconstructs the laborious 20th-century attempts of the International Labour Organisation to regulate labour standards supra-nationally. The book also pays attention to the relational inequality through which workers in wealthy countries benefit from the exploitation of those in poor countries. The final part addresses workers’ resistance and acquiescence: why collective actions often have unanticipated consequences; why and how workers sometimes organise massive flights from exploitation and oppression; and why ‘proletarian revolutions’ took place in pre-industrial or industrialising countries and never in fully developed capitalist societies

Human Resource Economics and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Vernon M. Briggs Jr.

This book pays tribute to Vernon Briggs and his enduring mark on the study of human resources. The chapters, by his students and colleagues, explore and extend Briggs’s work on employment, education and training, immigration, and local labor markets. His unwavering emphasis on institutional reality, public policy, and economic dynamics animates the entire collection.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1161/thumbnail.jp