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Temporary Agency Workers in Italy and the UK

The Comparative Experience of Labour Market Disadvantage

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Compares the disadvantages experienced by one specific category of atypical workers, namely temporary agency (TA) workers, one of the most rapidly increasing types of atypical employment in the past two decades
  • Considers two countries which have been regarded as very different in terms of employment-related institutional divides
  • Draws heavily upon original primary data collected through 50 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with full-time TA workers and other relevant stakeholders in comparable British and Italian cities

Part of the book series: Work and Welfare in Europe (RECOWE)

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction

    • Alessio Bertolini
    Pages 1-16
  3. Employment Experience

    • Alessio Bertolini
    Pages 51-97
  4. Temporary Agency Work and Work Precariousness

    • Alessio Bertolini
    Pages 99-141
  5. Temporary Agency Work and Income Precariousness

    • Alessio Bertolini
    Pages 143-199
  6. Conclusions

    • Alessio Bertolini
    Pages 201-213
  7. Back Matter

    Pages 215-243

About this book

This book offers a comparative exploration of the various disadvantages experienced by a category of atypical workers compared to standard employees, in the UK and Italy, and considers whether and how the differences can be attributed to contrasting institutional settings and political economies.

Bertolini explores the lived experience of these workers, and demonstrates how institutional variables interact in complex ways with individual socio-demographic characteristics as well as the broader socio-economic context to shape individual disadvantages and engender different experiences of precariousness. 

Temporary Agency Workers in Italy and the UK will be of interest to students and scholars of political economy, sociology of work, welfare studies, labour market policy, and industrial relations.


Reviews

“Alessio Bertolini’s timely book provides a detailed, clear-sighted analysis of the disadvantage experienced by atypical workers. The rich insights gleaned from research with temporary agency workers in the UK and Italy highlight how institutional and workplace contexts shape individual experiences of disadvantage and precariousness. This book should be essential reading for researchers and students interested in how increasing insecurity in the workplace produces new forms of social risk and inequality that disadvantage vulnerable workers.” —Colin Lindsay, University of Strathclyde, UK

“What shapes atypical workers’ precariousness? This volume addresses the puzzle, providing an original and analytically sound investigation into the world of temporary agency workers’ perceived disadvantages related to employment, work and income conditions. A key contribution, which enriches both the institutional literature on labour market dualisation and studies on individual precariousness, relying on carefully conducted qualitative comparative research.”—Matteo Jessoula, University of Milan, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Law, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Alessio Bertolini

About the author

Alessio Bertolini is Research Associate in the School of Law at the University of Glasgow, UK. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Temporary Agency Workers in Italy and the UK

  • Book Subtitle: The Comparative Experience of Labour Market Disadvantage

  • Authors: Alessio Bertolini

  • Series Title: Work and Welfare in Europe

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40192-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-40191-7Published: 14 May 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-40194-8Published: 14 May 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-40192-4Published: 13 May 2020

  • Series ISSN: 2947-4124

  • Series E-ISSN: 2947-4132

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 243

  • Number of Illustrations: 6 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Comparative Social Policy, Sociology of Work, Labor Economics, International Political Economy

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access