Paulo Marques

Research Group: Innovation and Labour

Supervisor(s): Isabel Salavisa

Summary

This thesis aims to identify the causes that have led to growing labour market segmentation, particularly the one characterized by a precarious labour situation of young people. We begin by claiming that arguments based on a supposed rigidity of the labour market due to high employment protection for insiders or arguments based on a growing dichotomy between the industrial core and the service sector cannot explain why, in some European countries, outsiders are mainly young labour market participants. To address this puzzle, it is argued that high social conflict (due to the existence of an uncoordinated system of industrial relations or liberalization) and a small proportion of primary sector jobs are the driving forces of this process. In addition, we also argue that, even though high employment protection aggravates segmentation because it reinforces the power of those with more political power, high employment protection alone is not sufficient for the process to occur. The empirical part of this study uses two different methodologies: fsQCA and a comparative analysis of two case studies. The fsQCA analysis supports the theoretical argument and hypotheses, and shows that it is in Southern and Anglo- Saxon countries that this process is more present. A comparative analysis of the two sectors shows that while in telecommunications young people have been particularly affected by more precarious working conditions, a similar process did not occur in the vehicle manufacturing industries

Period: 2011 - 2015

Resources: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/10873