Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Flexible Labour and Non-Standard Employment: An Agenda of Issues

  • Chapter
Global Trends in Flexible Labour

Part of the book series: Critical Perspectives on Work and Organisations ((CPWE))

Abstract

This collection of essays examines the worldwide growth of flexible labour. Flexible labour is conventionally thought of as part-time, temporary and self-employment. However, it is also often taken to include a host of other types of work, such as freelancing, subcontracting, outsourcing, homeworking, teleworking, franchising, zero-hours contracts, fixed-term contracts, seasonal working, flexi-time, consultancy work and many more. A common feature of all these types of employment is that they diverge from the pattern which became regarded in mid-twentieth century advanced capitalist economies as the ‘norm’. Such ‘standard’ jobs and careers were defined as full-time, permanent, open-ended and secure. These rested upon a formal contract of employment, a range of legally binding terms and conditions, and other obligations placed on the employer and the state.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • ACAS (1988) Labour Flexibility in Britain: The 1987 ACAS Survey, London: ACAS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akyeampong, E. (1997) ‘Work Arrangements: 1995 Overview’, Perspectives on Labour and Income, 9: 1, 48–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amin, A. (ed.) (1994) Post-Fordism — A Reader, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, J. and Meager, N. (1986) Changing Working Patterns: How Companies Achieve Flexibility to Meet New Needs, London: National Economic Development Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanchflower, D.G. and Freeman, R.B. (1994) ‘Did the Thatcher Reforms Change British Labour Market Performance?’, in Barrel (ed.) The UK Labour Market: Comparative Aspects and Institutional Developments, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blossfeld, H.-P. and Hakim, C. (eds.) (1997) Between Equalization and Marginalization: Women Working Part-Time in Europe and the United States of America, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boris, E. and Prügl, E. (1996) Homeworkers in Global Perspective: Invisible No More, London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burchell, B. (1989) Precarious Jobs in Labour Market Regulation: The Growth of Atypical Employment in Western Europe, Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, I. (1996) ‘The growth of casual employment in Australia: towards an explanation’, in Teicher, J. (ed.) Non-Standard Employment in Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne: National Key Centre in Industrial Relations, Monash University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casey, B. (1991) ‘Survey Evidence on Trends in “Non-Standard” Employment’, in Poliert, A. (ed.) Farewell to Flexibility?, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casey, B., Metcalf, H. and Millward, N. (1997) Employers’ Use of Flexible Labour, London: PSI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohany, S.R. (1996) ‘Workers in Alternative Employment Arrangements’, Monthly Labor Review, 119: 10, 31–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, S. (1986) ‘Labour Law and the Developing Employment Relationship in the UK’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 10: 3, 225–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dex, S. and McCulloch, A. (1995) Flexible Employment in Britain: A Statistical Analysis, Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dex, S. and McCulloch, A. (1997) Flexible Employment: The Future of Britain’s Jobs, London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Felstead, A. (1993) The Corporate Paradox: Power and Control in the Business Franchise, London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felstead, A. and Jewson, N. (1996) Homeworkers in Britain, London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felstead, A. and Jewson, N. (1999) In Work, At Home: Towards an Understanding of Homeworking London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felstead, A., Krahn, H. and Powell, M. (1997) ‘Contrasting Fortunes across the Life Course: Non-Standard Work among Women and Men in Canada and the United Kingdom’, University of Leicester Centre for Labour Market Studies Working Paper, No. 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregory, A. (1991) ‘Patterns of Working Hours in Large-Scale Grocery Retailing in Britain and France: Convergence after 1992?’, Work, Employment and Society, 5: 4, 497–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakim, C. (1987) ‘Trends in the Flexible Workforce’, Employment Gazette, 95: 11, 54960.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakim, C. (1990) ‘Core and Periphery in Employers’ Workforce Strategies: Evidence from the 1987 ELUS Survey’, Work, Employment and Society, 4: 2, 157–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakim, C. (1996) Key Issues in Women’s Work: Female Heterogeneity and the Polarisation of Women’s Emplayment, London: Athlone.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakim, C. (1997) ‘A Sociological Perspective on Part-Time Work’, in Blossfeld, H.-P. and Hakim, C. (eds.) Between Equalization and Marginalization: Women Working Part-Time in Europe and the United States of America, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Handy, C. (1995) The Future of Work WH Smith Contemporary Papers 8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, L. and Machines, J. (1991) ‘Employers’ Labour-Use Strategies — Case Studies’, Employment Department Research Paper, No. 87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, L., McGregor, A., Machines, J. and Sproull, A. (1993) ‘The “Flexible Firm”: Strategy and Segmentation’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 31: 3, 383–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joyce, P. (1987) The Historical Meanings of Work, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalleberg, A.L., Rasell, E., Hudson, K., Webster, D., Reskin, B.F., Cassirer, N. and Appelbaum, E. (1997) Nonstandard Work, Substandard Jobs: Flexible Work Arrangements in the US, Washington: Economic Policy Institute/Women’s Research and Education Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krahn, H. (1995) ‘Non-Standard Work on the Rise’, Perspectives on labour and Income, 7: 4, 35–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lane, C. (1989) ‘From “Welfare Capitalism” to “Market Capitalism”: A Comparative Review of Trends towards Employment Flexibility in the Labour Markets of Three Major European Societies’, Sociology, 23: 4, 583–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, P. (1986) ‘How Centralised is the Management of Industrial Relations?’, Personnel Management, 18: 10, 53–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, P. (1989) ‘Employment Flexibility in Large Companies: Change and Continuity’, Industrial Relations Journal, 20: 2, 101–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, A. and Sproull, A. (1991) ‘Employer Labour Use Strategies: Analysis of a National Survey’, Employment Department Research Paper, No. 83.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, A. and Sproull, A. (1992) ‘Employers and the Flexible Workforce’, Employment Gazette, 100: 5, 225–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, E. (1994) ‘Flexibility or Polarisation?’, in White, M. (ed.) Unemployment and Public Policy in a Changing Labour Market, London: PSI.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly, J. (1994) ‘What Flexibility do Women Offer? Comparing the Use of, and Attitudes to, Part-Time Work in Britain and France in Retail Banking’, Gender, Work and Organization, 1: 3, 138–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, J. and Payne, C. (1993) ‘Unemployment and Peripheral Work’, Work, Employment and Society, 7: 4, 513–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, J. and Payne, C. (1994) ‘Recession, Restructuring and the Fate of the the Unemployed: Evidence from the Underclass Debate’, Sociology, 28: 1, 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phizacklea, A. and Wolkowitz, C. (1995) Homeworking Women: Gender, Racism and Class at Work, London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piore, M. and Sabel, C.F. (1984) The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Success, New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polivka, A. (1996a) ‘A Profile of Contingent Workers’, Monthly Labor Review, 119: 10, 10–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polivka, A. (1996b) ‘Contingent and Alternative Work Arrangements, Defined’ Monthly Labor Review, 119: 10, 3–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollert, A. (1988a) ‘Dismantling Flexibility’, Capital and Class, 34: 42–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollert, A. (1988b) ‘The “Flexible Firm”: Fixation or Fact?’, Work, Employment and Society, 2: 3, 281–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollert, A. (ed.) (1991) Farewell to Flexibility?, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Procter, S.J., Rowlinson, M., McArdle, L., Hassard, J. and Forrester, P. (1994) ‘Flexibility, Politics and Strategy: In Defence of the Model of the Flexible Firm’, Work, Employment and Society, 8: 2, 221–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Purcell, K. and Purcell, J. (forthcoming) ‘Insourcing, Outsourcing and the Growth of Contingent Labour as Evidence of Flexible Employment Strategies’, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, P. (1994) ‘The British Labour Market in Historical Perspective: Changes in the Structure of Employment and Unemployment’, Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper, No. 202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodgers, G. and Rodgers, J. (1989) (eds) Precarions Jobs in Labour Market Regulation: The Growth of Atypical Employment in Western Europe, Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, E.P. (1968) The Making of the English Working Class, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, G. (1994) ‘The Flexible Workforce and Patterns of Working Hours in the UK’, Employment Gazette, 102: 7, 239–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, G. and Fothergill, B. (1993) ‘Part-Time Employment and Attitudes to Part-Time Work’, Employment Gazette, 101: 5, 213–20.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Alan Felstead
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nick Jewson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leicester, UK

    Alan Felstead (Director of Research and Senior Research Fellow Center for Labour Market Studies) & Nick Jewson (Director of the Ethnicity Research Center Department of Sociology) (Director of Research and Senior Research Fellow Center for Labour Market Studies) &  (Director of the Ethnicity Research Center Department of Sociology)

Copyright information

© 1999 Alan Felstead and Nick Jewson

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Felstead, A., Jewson, N. (1999). Flexible Labour and Non-Standard Employment: An Agenda of Issues. In: Felstead, A., Jewson, N. (eds) Global Trends in Flexible Labour. Critical Perspectives on Work and Organisations. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27396-6_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation