All precarious? Institutional change and turning points in labour market trajectories in Spain. Insights from narrative biographies
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-03-2016-0062 |
| Pages | 408-422 |
| Date | 03 April 2017 |
| Published date | 03 April 2017 |
| Author | Martí López Andreu |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
All precarious? Institutional
change and turning points
in labour market trajectories
in Spain
Insights from narrative biographies
Martí López Andreu
Department of People, Management and Organisations,
University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The purposeof this paper is to explore the effects of changesin employment regulation in Spainon
individuallabour market trajectories. It is wellknown that the Spanish labour markethas been strongly hit by
the 2007 recession. Furthermore, after 2010 and in the benchmark of “austerity”, several reforms were
implemented to further flexibilise employment regulation. At the same time, public sector budgets suffered
severe cutbacks,that impacted working conditionsand prospects of public sectorworkers. These reforms were
implemented by different governmentsand substantially changed previous existing patterns of employment.
This paper explainshow these reforms have reinforcedprevious existing trendstowards greater flexibility and
weaker employmentprotection and how they lead to a shift in the position of workin society.
Design/methodology/approach –The emerging patterns that these changes provoked are illustrated
thorough data from narrative biographies of workers affected by a job loss or a downgrading of working
conditions. The workers of the sample had relatively stable positions and careers and were affected by
changes that substantially modified their paths.
Findings –The paper shows how reforms have expanded work and employment insecurities and have
broken career paths. It demonstrates how the reforms have weakened the position of work and organised
labour in society and how, when institutional supports are jeopardised, the capacity to plan and act is
harassed by the traditional social inequalities.
Originality/value –The paper enhances the knowledge about the impact of institutional changes by
analysing their effects in individual working lives by means of narrative biographies.
Keywords Redundancy, Unemployment, Biographies, Spain, Trajectories
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
This paper analyses the impact of changes to employment regulations made during
“austerity”on the trajectories of Spanish workers. Taking its cue from Anxo et al. (2010),
this paper considers that life courses are shaped by the labour market, the family and the
state, in interaction with individuals as agents. Trends in labour market patterns and
changes in employment regulation can, therefore, modify the way life courses are
institutionalised. The so-called standard employment relationship developed in many
countries after the Second World War has provided the conditions and securities in which
individuals develop their careers. Life courses have been institutionalised and have become
part of the social structure of society (Bartelheimer et al., 2009) through the regulation of
employment. Inequalities and boundaries of exclusion have been set up (from social rights,
employment protection, etc.) for those with intermittent participation in paid work,
Employee Relations
Vol. 39 No. 3, 2017
pp. 408-422
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-03-2016-0062
Received 18 March 2016
Accepted 21 November 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
This research was supported by the European Commission (Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship
“Labour trajectories in UK and Spain. Analysis of capabilities in transitions using a mixed-method
approach”, TRANSICAP, ref. FP7-328223), undertaken at the Manchester Business School, 2013-2015.
408
ER
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