Conference Agenda

In contemporary capitalist societies, one dimension of paid labour particularly gains importance, namely job security, and its unequal distribution becomes a new source of social inequalities. The paper investigates various micro-level and macro-level determinants influencing subjective job insecurity among young Europeans, both before and after the Great Recession, assessing how these influences shift over time. Our research focuses on the change in the relative importance of macro-level factors compared to individual-level concerns in shaping job insecurity perceptions among young individuals in Europe. The scarcity of job opportunities and heightened competition significantly contributed to the pervasive job insecurity experienced by young individuals during and after the economic downturn. Moreover, based on research indicating that the economic and labour market conditions of a country shape individuals' perceptions of job insecurity, and considering the impact of the crisis on these conditions, we argue that macro-level factors have gained increased significance. To address this issue, our paper integrates both macro and micro-level factors into a comprehensive job insecurity model. Utilizing data from the 2nd and 5th waves of the European Social Survey, we examine the years 2004 and 2010 to assess the impact of the economic crisis on determinants of job insecurity among young individuals. Our analysis employs multilevel models that account for both individual and contextual factors. The preliminary findings partially support our hypothesis, revealing that while macro-level determinants have indeed grown in importance, micro-level determinants remain the most influential factors in shaping the perceived job insecurity of young people.

This paper examines the factors influencing trade union membership across European countries using data from the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 10. Earlier research has predominantly focused on single-country cases or has separately analyzed macro and micro variables in cross-national comparisons. In contrast, this study adopts a comprehensive approach by simultaneously investigating the impact of both macro/structural and micro/individual variables on union membership. Macro-level determinants include the political regime of the country and workplace and occupational characteristics. Specifically, this study examines government type (left-right), workplace size, and organizational type (public vs. private) as macro-level variables. At the micro level, individual characteristics such as age, gender, education, and employee qualifications are considered. By using logistic regression analysis, this study explores the determinants of both current and former union membership.

In recent decades, advanced capitalist democracies have witnessed the expansion of mass higher education. However, not all graduates find employment that matches their educational qualifications which leads to a rising share of graduates being mismatched (over-qualified). Yet, the political consequences of such a mismatch remain scarcely examined. In this article, I argue that mismatch creates frustration due to relative deprivation, which is evidenced by status inconsistency and economic disadvantages. This frustration manifests as political dissatisfaction because mismatched graduates externalize their frustration and blame the political environment. The empirical analysis examines a wide range of political indicators, focusing on 22 European countries. I rely on data from the European Social Survey 2016, 2018 and 2020, which I analyze using linear fixed effects models. The results demonstrate that educational mismatch significantly and robustly decreases satisfaction with the political system, political trust, external political efficacy and the likelihood to participate in elections among mismatched graduates. Furthermore, mismatched graduates are more in favor of redistribution, hold more negative attitudes towards immigration and are more likely to vote for the radical right, compared to their matched peers. Even in comparison to non-graduates, mismatched graduates exhibit lower satisfaction with democracy, reduced external political efficacy, trust, and decreased electoral participation. My findings provide insights into the complex interplay between educational systems, labor market dynamics, and political engagement. It illustrates important implications for our understanding of how educational experiences shape political orientations and behaviors within the context of post-industrial structural transformations.

In the last fifteen years, the number of self-employed workers in Europe and Italy has increased at a remarkable pace. This trend has involved high- and low-skilled workers. Moreover, it has affected established and ‘emerging’ professions, often in production sectors developed or transformed due to digital innovation, as in the creative industries, where a range of professions is subjected to disruptive transformative pressures, characterised by individualisation, fragmentation and deregulation. Trade unions have pursued a number of different paths to respond to the emerging needs and struggles of these workers.

The focus of the paper is two-fold. The first objective is to discuss the processes of convergence and divergence in union membership rates for creative workers across European countries belonging to distinct models of capitalism during the past two decades. Through a case study involving creative professionals, the article aims to comprehensively examine the various traditional and emerging divisions within the labour market. The second objective is to shed light on the mechanisms that have produced the ‘mismatch’ between creative workers’ needs arising during the COVID-19 pandemic and institutional responses.

To address our research questions, we employed a convergent parallel mixed methods design. In the quantitative strand of the study, we analysed data from the European Social Survey (ESS). To describe the social, economic and institutional contexts in which labour markets operate and capture the trends and degree of changes in workers’ unionisation within the creative industries, we used data from three rounds of the ESS, with two distant points in time, one prior to the Great Recession (2002), one after (2018), and one in the midst of crisis (2012). Additionally, we used ESS data to estimate specified empirical models for each country group included in the analysis. Furthermore, an empirical study was carried out to investigate the Italian context from September to November 2020, through 30 interviews with key informants, comprising three union officials of SLC-CGIL, three managers of the leading cooperative social enterprise in the sector, and 24 workers (namely audio and video technicians).

The paper uncovers two hitherto unexplored phenomena. The first pertains to a significant segmentation within the domain of self-employment concerning job market security and working conditions. These divisions are not exclusively determined by the distinction between regulated and unregulated professions; while the latter group remains more vulnerable, these divisions seem to hinge on an individual worker’s position in the market, client base, and other factors. The second distinctive element is that, despite its imperfections and inefficiencies, the COVID-19 pandemic marks the first instance in Italy where economic safeguards have been extended to self-employed workers lacking adequate reserve coverage. Indeed, the argument of this paper, centred on the Italian case, is that the pandemic crisis has pushed these workers to establish relationships with trade unions to benefit from their ability to pressure State institutions and influence the drafting of emergency measures of employment protection and income support. As a push factor, the pandemic raised the possibility of reconnecting the missing threads between unions and disintermediated workers.