ABOUT THE PROJECT

MAPA: Multidisciplinary Analysis of the PrecArious work ? legal, economic, social and health protection aspects

This multidisciplinary project MAPA is focused on determing the actual situation regarding precariousness in Slovenia and on reducing the negative consequences of the precariousness and also the segmentation of the labour market, and on providing decent work for all workers. Labour law studies have warned against the negative effects on workers, labour markets and society since the beginning of the implementation of the nonstandard forms of work due to their potential decent work deficits and, consequently, precariousness.The project is relevant due to the broad applicability of the project results and its importance for science, politics, economy, and society, sincer the precarious work appears practically in all sectors in the private and the public sector. This multidisciplinary research study and its results would significantly contribute to the better understanding of the appearance, consequences and potential further development of precarious worl.

Key words: labour market, precariousness, employment relationship, worker, employer, false self-employer, decent work, flexible work, atypical work, digitalisation, social security, health.

TENDER / Public call: Slovenian Research Agency : Javni razpis za izbiro raziskovalnih projektov Ciljnega raziskovalnega programa »CRP 2017« v letu 2017

CODA: V5 – 1741

PERIOD: 1.4.2018 – 31.3.2020

PARTNERS AND FUNDERS

HEAD: prof. dr. Grega Strban

RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS:

• Univerza v Ljubljani, Pravna fakulteta
• Univerza v Ljubljani, Ekonomska fakulteta
• Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za socialno delo
• Univerza v Ljubljani, Medicinska fakulteta
• Inštitut za delo pri Pravni fakulteti v Ljubljani
• Univerza v Mariboru, Pravna fakulteta
• Univerza na Primorskem, Fakulteta za management

RESEARCHERS:
Prof. dr. Grega Strban (PF UL), dr. Kresal Šoltes Katarina (IDPF), as. Sara Bagri (IDPF, PFUL), doc. dr. Luka Tičar (PF UL), as. Primož Rataj (PF UL), doc. dr. Valentina Franca (IDPF, FU UL), prof. dr. Barbara Kresal (FSD UL, IDPF), doc. dr. Liljana Rihter (FSD UL), prof. dr. Vesna Leskošek (FSD UL), prof. dr. Polona Domadenik (EF UL), prof. dr. Tjaša Redek (EF UL), prof. dr. Darja Senčur Peček (PF UM), prim. prof. dr. Marjan Bilban (ZVD, FM UL)

FUNDERS:

• Slovenian Research Agency
• Ministry of labour, family, social affairs and equal opportunities

RESEARCH /RESULTS

INTRODUCTION

The examination of precarious work is closely related to the issues of the atypical (non-standard) forms of work and their negative consequences for the functioning of the labour market, the individual and society. Though a significant majority of workers in Slovenia and EU still work under an SER, non-standard work is growing fast. Since the 1990s the EU has followed a dual approach of liberalisation/protection in its policy of encouraging diversity in employment contracting. The precarious work has a negative connotation. Numerous Slovenian and foreign studies have warned against the negative consequences since the beginning of the implementation of the atypical forms of work. Another important issue is to assess the atypical forms of work from the aspect of the effects they have on different categories of workers, especially the more vulnerable ones. The project challenges the discussion that not all non-standard work is inherently precarious and that simply extending one or two features from standard work to precarious work is not a sufficient remedy for precarious, because precariousness is much more complex problem.

The project MAPA is therefore focused on reducing the negative consequences of the precariousness and also the segmentation of the labour market, and on providing decent work for all workers.
General objectives of the MAPA:

• gaining comprehensive insight of the precariousness in Slovenia, through the exact findings of the extent, characteristics and the comparison with other EU member states,
• developing measures against precariousness on the basis of the comprehensive multidisciplinary study.

Specific objectives:

• incentive for research and multidisciplinary approach in this area
• greater awareness on decent work and the negative consequences of the precarious work among decisions-makers, social partners, etc.
• promotion of good practice examples from other EU member states as regards the inclusion of the measures for combating precariousness into the Slovenian regulation.

The work content and method are based on a multidisciplinary approach of research in all phases of the project, with which the synthesis and the exceedance of various approaches regarding the definition of the concept of precarious work are to be achieved. The research group consists of researchers from the fields of legal, economic, sociological and medical sciences from all three Slovenian universities. The first phase addresses the question of what counts as precarious work. The manifestations of atypical forms of work under the applicable law and in praxis will be identified in terms of the risk level for precariousness of each form. In the second phase, an economic analysis of the Labour force survey will be conducted, and empirical analyses based on a survey and interviews with precarious and potentially precarious workers will be based on the conceptional considerations from the first phase. The third phase will deal with an international and a comparative law-based analysis. Tabular statistical and descriptive representations of the manifestations of atypical forms of work in Slovenia and EU will be made, and the trends will be compared; with a comparative law-based analysis, examples of good practice in other EU countries in the field will be sought. The emphasis will be on the five identified most-frequent forms of atypical work including work under a civil contract, false self-employment and disguising an employment relationship, agency work, work based on platforms and IT technology, temporary student work, and other atypical forms of work. It the fourth phase, the conclusions will be given, and the suggestions will be made to alleviate the negative effects of precarious work.