Tackling job insecurity through a more inclusive economy

Job insecurity affects a wide range of people, comprising mainly young people, women, older people, low-skilled workers, people from migrant backgrounds, people with disabilities, and public sector workers. It is particularly acute in disadvantaged areas: residents of working-class neighbourhoods or rural areas, and residents of overseas territories. Most sectors of activity are affected (home care, retail, logistics, healthcare, education, agriculture, etc.). This job insecurity is intensifying against a backdrop of economic transformation and changes in the world of work: the shift towards the service sector and the loss of industrial jobs, the growth of the residential economy, the fragmentation and increased flexibility of employment, the digitalisation of activities and the use of artificial intelligence, the rise in subcontracting, the dominant ‘low-cost’ model, etc.
The growing rise of precarious platform work, which constitutes undeclared work due to the erroneous classification of these workers as ‘self-employed’1, undermines collective protections and threatens the financial viability of social protection bodies due to unpaid social security contributions.
Finding and securing a job, and above all keeping it, is becoming increasingly difficult due to the housing crisis and transport difficulties, particularly for jobs involving shift work or fragmented working hours (for example, in the home care sector). Commuting time has doubled in ten years, and one in two workers living in rural areas now travels more than 13 kilometres to get to work.