Escaping the trap of temporary employment: Precariousness among young people before and after Spain's 2021 labour market reform act

Abstract

Temporary employment has been the core dimension of employment precariousness in Spain for decades. In December 2021, a labour market reform aimed at reducing the use of fixed-term contracts, which especially affected young people, was passed. This article compares the situation of young workers before and after this labour market reform, with the objective of identifying internal differences among this age group. The results show a substantial reduction in the prevalence of temporary employment after the reform, although they also show that temporary employment, as well as incipient forms of precariousness such as involuntary part-time employment, are more concentrated than before among the most disadvantaged in this age group, following traditional patterns of segmentation in the labour market. This article, therefore, provides insights into which profiles of young workers were better off after the reform and which were not, offering valuable lessons for other countries with similar labour market challenges.