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The Persistent Pandemic of Precariousness: Young People at Work

  • Lefteris KretsosEmail author
Conference paper
First Online:

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.

Keywords

Labour Market Young People Minimum Wage Trade Union Young Worker 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

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.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Faculty of Business, Environment and SocietyCoventry UniversityCoventryUK

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