The aim of this report is to analyse the labour market in Catalonia, more specifically, the phenomenon of job precariousness through its dual objective and subjective dimensions.
The socioeconomic changes of recent decades have broken with the so-called social norm of work and the hegemonic model of male employment built around the ideal of a stable job for one’s entire working life. This image of trust, based on the professional trajectory of many men who moved seamlessly from education to employment and then to retirement, has been undermined by the successive employment crises experienced in Europe over the past decades. From a gender perspective, however, it should be remembered that the phenomenon of precariousness had long been part of women’s labour trajectories, which often did not conform to the standard of reliability characteristic of the industrial model.
Start date: 01/02/2024
Finish date: 31/12/2025
Funding: CÀRITAS Catalunya
Principal investigators: Sara Moreno Colom & Vicent Borràs
Team: Mireia Bolíbar Planas
Publications:
Flores Martos, R. et al. (coords.) (2025). Informe sobre exclusión y desarrollo social en Cataluña: Resultados de la Encuesta sobre Integración y Necesidades Sociales. (Informes Territoriales). Madrid: Cáritas Española; Fundación FOESSA. 331 p.
Moreno-Colom, Sara; Borràs Català, Vicent; Bolíbar Planas, Mireia; Álvarez Jorba, Cristina (2026). El mercat laboral i la precarietat laboral a Catalunya. In Articles d’investigació social. Informe FOESSA sobre Exclusió i desenvolupament social a Catalunya, pp. 38–85. Barcelona: Càritas Catalunya.
Dissemination activities:
Why are the most precarious workers not the most insecure? Experiences of precarious employment: security, threat, normalisation and vulnerability. QUIT Seminar, 21 October 2025. Speakers: Sara Moreno-Colom, Vicent Borràs and Mireia Bolíbar Planas.
Presentation of the findings on precarious employment from the FOESSA Report. Event marking the World Day for Decent Work, CaixaForum Barcelona, 7 October 2026. Sara Moreno Colom presented the findings of the study El mercat laboral i la precarietat laboral a Catalunya, while Mireia Bolíbar Planas participated in the roundtable discussion “Working with Dignity”.
Media presence:
EFE. (2025, November 5). La exclusión social severa afecta a 4,3 millones de personas, y un tercio de ellas son menores. El Periódico. Read article.
de Lima, C. (2025, November 5). Una generación atrapada en la precariedad: 2,5 millones de jóvenes españoles sufren pobreza o exclusión. El País. Read article.
Rodríguez Carrera, M. (2025, November 27). A Catalunya hi ha 1,4 milions de treballadors pobres. Ara. Read article.
Bosch, R. M. (2025, November 27). El 38% de la población ocupada en Catalunya es pobre, alerta Càritas. La Vanguardia. Read article.
Castaño, J. (2025, December 17). Casi el 60% de las personas en situación de exclusión social en Barcelona tienen trabajo. Público. Read article.
Granados, N. (2026, February 25). Persones en risc d’exclusió social s’han duplicat, segons Càritas Barcelona. betevé. Read article.
