Recasting work in an era of insecurity

The text examines the transition from the Keynesian-Fordist model of steady employment to a precarious landscape defined by 'Uberisation', digital platforms, and automation. It highlights the inadequacy of current labour laws based on employer-employee subordination and proposes a shift toward recognizing 'economic dependence' to protect hybrid workers. The author advocates for a new social model for a post-employment world, including basic income and reduced working time, to ensure social welfare is no longer solely dependent on waged labour.

• A significant portion of the European workforce suffers from health issues related to work, with stress alone costing the European Union between 15 and 20 billion euros.
• The traditional model of lifelong, full-time employment is no longer a realistic expectation for millions of people due to the prevalence of temporary and fixed-term contracts.
• The labour market is evolving toward hybrid statuses where workers are neither fully self-employed nor traditional employees, often owning their tools but remaining dependent on platforms for fees and conditions.
• Current labour laws are ill-equipped for the modern economy because they rely on a binary opposition of employer and employee; the author suggests introducing the concept of 'economic dependence' to protect those in the 'grey area' of employment.
• In France, recent legislative changes, including the 2016 El Khomri Law and decrees by President Emmanuel Macron, have further eased social protections and made economic dismissal easier for employers.
• The rise of the 'precariat' and mass unemployment—with nearly 18 million unemployed in the EU at the start of 2018—threatens the stability of Western democracies.
• The document proposes a transition to a 'post-employment world' and a post-growth society, which would require experiments with basic income, massive reductions in working time, and the sharing economy.

APA

Coulombel, A. (2018). Recasting work in an era of insecurity. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/recasting-work-in-an-era-of-insecurity/

Chicago

Coulombel, Alain. Recasting work in an era of insecurity. Green European Journal, 2018. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/recasting-work-in-an-era-of-insecurity/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Coulombel |first1=Alain |title=Recasting work in an era of insecurity |publisher=Green European Journal |date=23 May 2018 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/recasting-work-in-an-era-of-insecurity/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{coulombel2018recasting, author = {Coulombel, Alain}, title = {{Recasting work in an era of insecurity}}, institution = {Green European Journal}, year = {2018}, month = may, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/recasting-work-in-an-era-of-insecurity/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }