EU Equality Law and Precarious Work

This chapter discusses how the growth of precarious work and the polarization of the US labor market have produced major problems for the employment experiences of young workers. A prominent indicator of young workers’ difficulties in the labor market has been the sharp increase in their unemployment rates since the Great Recession. Another, equally if not more severe, problem faced by young workers today is the relatively low quality of the jobs that they were able to get. Other problems include the exclusion of young workers from the labor market and from education and training opportunities; the inability to find jobs that utilize their education, training, and skills; and the inability to obtain jobs that provide them with an opportunity to get a foothold in a career that would lead to progressively better jobs and thus be able to construct career narratives.

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Mortal Democracy and Plato’s Apology

Political Theory ◽

10.1177/0090591720982950 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 009059172098295

Author(s):

Elizabeth Barringer

Keyword(s):

Democratic Politics ◽

Political Life ◽

Partial Transformation ◽

Critical Space ◽

Athenian Democracy ◽

Precarious Work ◽

Democratic Practice

The Apology is often read as showing a conflict between democracy and philosophy. I argue here that Socrates’s defense critically engages deeply political Athenian conventions of death, showing a mutual entanglement between Socratic philosophy and democratic practice. I suggest that Socrates’s aporetic insistence within the Apology that we “do not know if death is a good or a bad thing” structures a critical space of inquiry that I term “mortal ignorance;” a space from which Socrates reapproaches settled questions of death’s appropriate place in political life, ultimately prompting a partial transformation of Athenian democracy. I argue here that Socratic mortal ignorance supports a self-reflective politics of death, one which produces many potential responses and accepts the impossibility of closing off death’s meaning in any final sense—an aporia suitable for the unending, precarious work of democratic politics.

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Poverty, precarious work, and the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from Bolivia

The Lancet Global Health ◽

10.1016/s2214-109x(21)00001-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Calla Hummel ◽

Felicia Marie Knaul ◽

Michael Touchton ◽

V Ximena Velasco Guachalla ◽

Jami Nelson-Nuñez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Precarious Work

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Precarious Work, Marital Quality, and Divorce: A Gendered Dyadic Analysis of Aging Couples

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2043 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 605-605

Author(s):

Rachel Donnelly

Keyword(s):

Risk Factor ◽

Marital Quality ◽

Job Insecurity ◽

Dyadic Analysis ◽

Dyadic Data ◽

Precarious Work ◽

Aging Adults ◽

Midlife Adults ◽

Marital Strain ◽

Retirement Study

Abstract Precarious work – work that is unstable and insecure – is often stressful and may contribute to marital strain and dissolution among midlife adults. However, prior research has not considered how precarious work spills over to spouses. Using longitudinal dyadic data of midlife couples from the Health and Retirement Study, I examine whether having a spouse in precarious work is associated with marital strain and dissolution, with attention to differences by gender. I find that indicators of precarious work (job insecurity, schedule variability) are associated with a heightened risk of marital strain and divorce in midlife. These patterns depend on the gender of the spouse experiencing precarious work. Understanding the implications of precarious work for marriage is important because poor marital quality and divorce hasten health declines at older ages. Thus, this study suggests that precarious work may be a risk factor for divorce and poor health among aging adults.

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Into the Vicious Cycle of Precarity: Labour Market, Precarious Work, Social Vulnerability and Youth: The case of Greece within the EU context

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal ◽

10.14738/assrj.712.9511 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (12) ◽

pp. 474-496

Author(s):

Nikos Papadakis ◽

Maria Drakaki ◽

Sofia Saridaki ◽

Vassilis Dafermos

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Young People ◽

Labour Market ◽

Social Vulnerability ◽

The State ◽

The European Union ◽

Development Education ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Precarious Work ◽

The Impact

Ιn the last decade, there has been a widespread expansion of both precarious work and precarious forms of employment (such as temporary and low-qualified jobs, seasonal and part-time jobs etc.), in which a growing share of young people work. The impact of precarious work on young people is likely to be permanent, while it seems to affect (even over-determine) their life courses. Non-smooth and early transitions into labour market are very likely to worsen progressively their long-term life chances (Lodovici & Semenza, 2012: 7). Undoubtedly, the long-lasting global economic Crisis and the subsequent Recession, has heavily affected the state of play in the labour market worldwide, provoking severe modifications both in the field of employment and countries’ social cohesion. Based on the above mentioned, the paper deals with precarious work in general, while it emphasizes precarious work among youth. It initially captures, briefly, the state of play in terms of the impact of the Crisis on the widening of the phenomenon of precarious work and then it focuses on theoretical insights and critical conceptual definitions concerning precariousness in the labour market. Further, based on secondary quantitative -data analysis, it analyses the key- parameters and facets of precarious work (focusing on youth) in the European Union and, mainly, in Greece. Additionally, it briefly presents parameters of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on precariousness in Greece. Finally, the paper explores the correlation between precarious work and social vulnerability, especially among young people. The present paper is based on an ongoing Research Project. More specifically, this research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund- ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014-2020» in the context of the project “Precarious Work and Youth in today’s Greece: secondary quantitative analysis, qualitative filed research and research-based policy proposals” (MIS 5048510).

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