Non-Standard Employment in Post-Industrial Labour Markets: An Occupational Perspective

The introductory chapter, written by Werner Eichhorst and Paul Marx, opens with a generally accepted proposition that European labour markets are undergoing a process of deep transformation characterised by deindustrialization and the growth of non-standard work. This premise is further supported and elaborated through specific insights which establish the general framework for this book. For instance, the authors note that for understanding the developments within contemporary labour markets, one must go beyond popular dichotomies such as the industry vs. service sector or skilled vs. unskilled labour as they are too simplistic. Similarly, they note that the replaceability of workers and flexibility of hiring practices are not homogenous within the institutional setting of a particular labour market but that they very much differ across various sectors and occupations. An important insight which arises in many other chapters concerns the asymmetrical effects of labour market regulation. Namely, it is observed that stability and standardization for the core workforce quite often bring higher risks of non-standard employment for others.