Precarious work and labour regulation in the EU: current reality and perspectives

Deindustrialization, digital revolution and increased globalization of trade and finance have resulted in a profound reconfiguration of European labour markets. Research into the structure of the globalization seen in recent years has often led to the conclusion that one of the largest and fastest growing problems in Europe is labour market dualization, that is, an increasing divide between insiders in permanent employment and outsiders in precarious work or unemployment.1 One of the key factors affecting the dynamic development of the internally heterogeneous new class of workers – the precariat2 – is undeniably labour market regulation, and more specifically the prevailing SER (Standard Employment Relationship)-centric regulatory model, which rests upon ‘a stable, socially protected, dependent, full-time job the basic conditions of which (working time, pay, social transfers) are regulated to a minimum level by collective agreement or by labour and/or social security law’.3 According to the European Parliament’s 2016 briefing document ‘Precarious Employment in Europe: Patterns, Trends and Policy Strategies’, many of the Member States with the highest proportion of standard contracts counterintuitively have the highest risks of precariousness.4 At the same time, this precarity, as evidenced