On the Precarity-Spectrum: Exploring Different Levels of Precariousness in Market-Mediated Professional Work

Employment studies point to the growth of contractual work and the decline of stable “career jobs”. Reporting on a study of freelance journalists and life science professionals working in thinly capitalized startups, this article substantiates the argument that market-mediated professional work includes undesirable and unanticipated consequences, resulting in costs being borne by the individual professional, which makes this kind of work precarious. However, precariousness is distributed and experienced differently by professional groups. This study contributes to the literature on precarious professional work by illustrating that there is a “spectrum of precarity” when it comes to market-mediated professional work, along which professional groups experience precarity to different degrees. Factors that influence the degree of precarity include marketplace bargaining power: the market demand for professional services and the supply of professional workers; the form of economic remuneration (salary vs. piece rate); and the individual’s general life situation. We conclude by discussing the possible societal ramifications accompanying the increasing precariousness of professional work.