PRECARIOUS WORKER

A worker with a contract of an uncertain duration, low wages and limited fringe benefits.

"It is now more difficult for workers who have part-time or irregular hours to accumulate a sufficient number of hours at work to acquire employment insurance benefits (EI), and it is also more difficult for workers who are in non-traditional employment situations to obtain benefits. As a result, as the frequency of precarious employment increases, the government is making it more difficult for these vulnerable workers to obtain benefits that were once available to almost every Canadian worker. Clearly, precarious workers are the primary target of these changes to the EI system."
(Oxfam Canada, Women and Precarious Work: A Framework for Policy Recommendations, February 2005, visited 2011-05-12)

Precariousness is a subject of growing debate and political mobilization in Europe, partly in response to changes in the regimes of labour policy and practices.

With regard to work, precariousness refers to a variety of so-called nonstandard work arrangements: time of work (night and weekend work), quantity of work time (flexible or variable hours, part-time work, demands for overtime), and duration of work assignments (temporary work, non-contract work, freelance work). Precariousness also refers to instability of income, poor work arrangements, and limited access to healthcare and housing. It leads to a lack of control over work and the rest of one's life.

"The International Labour Organization defines precarious workers as either:

• Workers whose contract of employment leads to the classification of the incumbent as belonging to the group of "casual workers";
• "Short-term workers" or "seasonal workers";
• Workers whose contract of employment will allow the employing enterprise or person to terminate the contract at short notice and/or at will."

(Tucker, D., Precarious Non-Standard Employment, New Zealand Department of Labour, December 2002, visited 2011-05-12)

Precarious and Atypical Work

Precarious work is often associated with atypical work: work duration is uncertain, it is regulated by a fixed-term contract, the worker receives low and irregular wages, and it is accompanied by few fringe benefits (or sometimes, none at all).
Despite the fact that most of the characteristics of precarious work can apply to atypical workers, typical workers may also be precarious in terms of social protection, salaries and benefits.