Economic and Labour Relations Review 

About: Economic and Labour Relations Review is an academic journal published by SAGE Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Industrial relations & Unemployment. It has an ISSN identifier of 1035-3046. Over the lifetime, 864 publications have been published receiving 8645 citations. The journal is also known as: ELRR.

Regulating work in the gig economy: What are the options?

Abstract: Paid work associated with digital platform businesses (in taxi, delivery, maintenance and other functions) embodies features which complicate the application of traditional labour regulations and e...

The COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons on building more equal and sustainable societies

Abstract: This discussion paper by a group of scholars across the fields of health, economics and labour relations argues that COVID-19 is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis from which there can be no retu...

Precarious work and precarious workers: Towards an improved conceptualisation:

Abstract: Discussion of the implications of precarious work for individual workers remains hesitant and often confused. A clear conceptualisation would separate out five analytical levels: precariousness in ...

The resurgence of gig work: historical and theoretical perspectives

Abstract: Digital platform businesses primarily utilise on-call contingent workers, using their own tools and equipment, to perform the productive work associated with the supplied service. The expansion of this business model has led some to proclaim that traditional ‘jobs’ will come to an end. Some welcome this development, others fear its consequences for the stability and quality of work – but most see it as driven primarily by technology, and therefore largely ‘inevitable’. This article provides historical and theoretical perspective on the expansion of digitally mediated work, to better understand the range of forces (technological, economic and socio-political) at work. It shows that the major features of platform work were all visible in earlier periods of capitalism, but they became less prominent with the rise of the ‘standard employment relationship’ in the 20th century. The rise and fall of the standard employment relationship is described with reference to the changing context for the labour extraction...

The ‘Pre-Invention’ of Precarious Employment: The Changing World of Work in Context:

Abstract: The term 'precarious employment' is widely used to describe irregular and insecure work arrangements that have grown substantially in both rich and poor countries since the late 1970s. Like the term 'contingent work', precarious employment has been adopted and increasingly used by academic researchers and later policymakers since the 1980s. However, the term has deeper historical roots and its recent use can be more accurately seen as a revival as labour markets have taken on some features characteristic of an earlier period. This article examines the use of the term 'precarious employment' in political and public debate in the century or more prior to the 1930s, finding that in key respects, this use mirrors contemporary debates. Recognising that precarious employment was a pervasive feature of labour markets in developed countries prior to World War Two has a number of major benefits for contemporary debates. These include a better understanding of the policies that shape the extent of precarious employment. Historical evidence also provides a guide for and reinforcement of a growing body of contemporary research, pointing to both the immediate and broader social effects of precarious employment.