Policy Press
7 Poor work: insecurity and churning in deindustrialised labour markets
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Tracy Shildrick
Abstract
The chapter focuses on people’s recurrent experiences of getting, doing, losing and leaving jobs. It shows how much of the work now available is typically low-skilled, low paid and insecure yet usually demand uncommonly high levels of personal commitment. These jobs were found to be typically physically and mentally demanding yet poorly valued in terms of remuneration and status. For a few interviewees better quality employment meant they escaped the poverty and churning of the low-pay, no-pay cycle. It is employment opportunities – the demand side of the labour market - which are most significant in shaping the low-pay, no-pay cycle and patterns of recurrent poverty. Intriguingly, although able to - sometimes graphically - describe the pain and unpleasantness of poor work, interviewees would simultaneously proclaim how they ‘loved’ working. This conundrum is explained by reference to the intrinsic social, psychological, moral and class cultural value of work to interviewees. The chapter also scrutinises how and why workers left jobs, which was often related to the pressures of work on personal health or because of wider crises in people’s lives. Predominantly, the inherent insecurity of jobs, with employers who were as quick to fire as they were to hire, meant that jobs were lost.
Abstract
The chapter focuses on people’s recurrent experiences of getting, doing, losing and leaving jobs. It shows how much of the work now available is typically low-skilled, low paid and insecure yet usually demand uncommonly high levels of personal commitment. These jobs were found to be typically physically and mentally demanding yet poorly valued in terms of remuneration and status. For a few interviewees better quality employment meant they escaped the poverty and churning of the low-pay, no-pay cycle. It is employment opportunities – the demand side of the labour market - which are most significant in shaping the low-pay, no-pay cycle and patterns of recurrent poverty. Intriguingly, although able to - sometimes graphically - describe the pain and unpleasantness of poor work, interviewees would simultaneously proclaim how they ‘loved’ working. This conundrum is explained by reference to the intrinsic social, psychological, moral and class cultural value of work to interviewees. The chapter also scrutinises how and why workers left jobs, which was often related to the pressures of work on personal health or because of wider crises in people’s lives. Predominantly, the inherent insecurity of jobs, with employers who were as quick to fire as they were to hire, meant that jobs were lost.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and boxes iv
- Acknowledgements v
- Introduction 1
- Poor work, welfare and poverty 11
- Researching the low-pay, no-pay cycle and recurrent poverty 39
- The low-pay, no-pay cycle: the perspectives and practices of employers and ‘welfare to work’ agencies 61
- The low-pay, no-pay cycle: its pattern and people’s commitment to work 79
- Searching for jobs: qualifications, support for the workless and the good and bad of informal social networks 101
- Poor work: insecurity and churning in deindustrialised labour markets 125
- ‘The ties that bind’: ill health and caring and their impact on the low-pay, no-pay cycle 143
- Poverty and social insecurity 167
- Conclusions 193
- References 225
- Index 247
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and boxes iv
- Acknowledgements v
- Introduction 1
- Poor work, welfare and poverty 11
- Researching the low-pay, no-pay cycle and recurrent poverty 39
- The low-pay, no-pay cycle: the perspectives and practices of employers and ‘welfare to work’ agencies 61
- The low-pay, no-pay cycle: its pattern and people’s commitment to work 79
- Searching for jobs: qualifications, support for the workless and the good and bad of informal social networks 101
- Poor work: insecurity and churning in deindustrialised labour markets 125
- ‘The ties that bind’: ill health and caring and their impact on the low-pay, no-pay cycle 143
- Poverty and social insecurity 167
- Conclusions 193
- References 225
- Index 247
