H2020Individual fellowship2018–2020

LABOREP · Labor Market Segmentation and Political Participation

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2018-09-01 → 2020-08-31
EU contribution
€170,122
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Labor Market Segmentation and Political Participation

LABOREP examined the consequences of labor market inequalities for political mobilization. Labor market segmentation is a defining feature of advanced industrial democracies. Workers experience different levels of labor risks and protections, with those in secure employment enjoying statutory entitlements and social benefits while the low-paid, insecurely employed, underemployed and long-term unemployed do not. During the recent economic recession, the process of labor market segmentation has hastened, reaching unprecedented levels of differentiated labor risks. The project has examined the important but neglected implications of labor market segmentation for political inclusion and representation. The overall objectives of LABOREP have been to conduct a set of empirical studies to understand the consequences of labor market segmentation for political participation; and to build a novel, interdisciplinary model of political participation by (a) integrating insights from extra representational forms of participation and the sociology of labor markets and (b) accounting for contextual differences in economic performance and in the presence of alternative civic and political organizations as moderating forces.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Labor market segmentation is a defining feature of advanced industrial democracies. Workers experience different levels of labor risks and protections, with those in secure employment enjoying statutory entitlements and social benefits while the low-paid, insecurely employed, underemployed and long-term unemployed do not. During the recent economic recession, the process of labor market segmentation has hastened, reaching unprecedented levels of differentiated labor risks. Apart from the consequences of segmentation on social and economic inclusiveness and on long-term economic growth potential, segmentation has important but neglected implications for political inclusion and representation. LABOREP aims to fill this gap by examining how labor market inequalities shape political mobilization.The Action traces how workers across labor divides participate in politics and how the recent economic recession and its aftermath have affected political participation across labor segments. To do so, LABOREP exploits variation in the impact of the economic recession across over 70 Barcelona neighborhoods and over the course of the economic recession in Spain (using three original datasets collected by the host), a country that represents an ideal “laboratory” for the study of segmentation.Apart from testing a set of original theses that further our understanding of theories of participation in politics, LABOREP develops a novel methodological approach to account for labor risk differentials within the same categories of work across countries and over time. Such differentials have hindered effective cross-national research on segmentation. The approach makes a contribution to the study of labor segmentation across the disciplines of economics, sociology and political science.The theory and method gaps along with the increasing economic relevance of segmentation suggest that LABOREP has identified a topic ripe for empirical investigation and of substantial policy relevance.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA · Cerdanyola Del VallesCoordinatorSpain

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union