Families in the Changing World of Work

Labour markets in post-industrial countries have been undergoing tremendous transformations in the last two decades, substantially changing the conditions in which young adults form families and raise children. These changes are largely driven by the ongoing integration of the global economy, quickly progressing technological change, and the upcoming shift toward the green economy. They create new opportunities for workers but also generate new risks and uncertainties.

On the positive side, wealthy societies have experienced advances in information and communication technologies, significant decreases in transportation costs, and increased purchasing power. New jobs are being created in the quickly expanding sectors of the economy, such as IT and high tech sectors, but also care and small service economy (e.g. cleaning, delivery). We are becoming more flexible in the way where, how and when we are working. Last but not least, legislative efforts have been made across countries to improve working conditions and the compatibility of paid work with private life (e.g., regulations reducing the incidence of long working hours). On the negative side, globalisation, digitalisation and the shift toward the green economy have also exacerbated the sources of uncertainty and have been accompanied by such negative adjustments as salary cuts, job losses, layoffs, bankruptcies, and business failures. Working in the twenty first century requires from workers to invest more time and effort in their work careers, i.e. to care about upgrading their skills, combine several jobs and deal with unpredictable time schedules. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, and its outbreak responses, escalated uncertainty at the core of public debate and personal lives.

This Special Issue will encompass a series of contributions from top experts in the field, make use of numerous data sources at various levels of scientific investigation, employ a variety of methods of scientific inquiry, and adopt a cross-country comparative perspective to capture the role of institutional and cultural settings in moderating the impact of a changing world of work on families. Altogether, it will go beyond the current state of knowledge on the triangular relation between labour market changes, uncertainty, and family life in contemporary societies. The Guest Editors believe it will represent a turning point for contemporary research on families.