Why are the most precarious workers not the most insecure? Experiencing precariousness: security, threat, normalisation, and vulnerability

The article analyses the relationship between the objective and subjective dimensions of precariousness based on employed individuals’ perceptions of their labour situation. Drawing on theoretical approaches that distinguish objective precariousness from insecurity, it presents the results of a study of the Catalan case using data from the 2024 Survey on Social Integration and Social Needs (EINS) conducted by the FOESSA Foundation. The statistical analysis of the data makes it possible to characterise the two dimensions of precariousness, explain the relationship between them, and examine how axes of inequality intersect in the labour market as experienced by individuals.

The findings reveal different alignments and misalignments between the two dimensions, showing that workers who are objectively more precarious are not those who feel the most insecure in their employment. The article’s main contribution lies in characterising these relationships between the objective and the subjective through a typology of profiles that reveals a continuum of labour experiences: security, threat, normalisation, and vulnerability.