Expansion of temporality and erosion of the Standard Employment Relationship in Spain: The emergence of a new paradigm of employment relationship?

Abstract

Since the 80s the Spanish labour market has been characterized by the persistence of very high rates of temporality to become this a chronic problem of Spanish society, which does not has -in terms of magnitude- comparison in the other EU countries. The different forms of temporary employment created and encouraged by regulatory means in a process of “permanent labour reform” have become, in conjunction with other factors among which the business use of temporary contracts, in an effective way to labour segmentation. The change in the regulatory framework thus becomes a fundamental vector of the erosion of the “standard employment relationship” pushing down labour standards and emptying the contents of the “permanent contract”. The joint analysis of the evolution of the labour legislation and the labour market in Spain offers a glimpse of whether there is a new paradigm regarding the dominant employment relationship in this phase of capitalism, and if our country is at the forefront or advance of this transformation.