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Autonomous precarity or precarious autonomy? Dilemmas of young workers in Hong Kong

Author

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  • Victor Wong

    (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong)

  • Tat Chor Au-Yeung

    (The University of Sheffield, UK)

Abstract

Informed by autonomist perspectives on precarious work and labour subjectivity, this article discusses the dynamics between autonomy and job precarity. Based on purposive sampling, the qualitative findings, drawn from interviews with precarious workers aged 18–29 years in Hong Kong, reveal tensions among four types of aspirations. First, the desire for achieving freedom and individual ambition in work made the respondents critical of the notion of employment-related stability. Second, a determination to break with mainstream career paths empowered young people to take alternative pathways to new modes of work and life. Third, precarious employment was seen as a stepping stone for realising plans for travel or study. Finally, tolerance of precarity was perceived as a transitional stage in their striving for future stability. However, the findings also show the structured dilemmas experienced by young workers regarding the complex relationship between autonomy and precarity in a neoliberal labour market. Some young workers pursued work–life autonomy, constrained by precarious employment relations, acknowledging and bearing the costs, while some strategically used precarity in individual negotiations with employers to realise their goals. This article analyses young workers’ subjectivity through the lenses of autonomy and age and pushes the boundary of precarity studies beyond an implicit dichotomy between determinism and voluntarism. JEL codes : I38, J38, J62

Suggested Citation

  • Victor Wong & Tat Chor Au-Yeung, 2019. "Autonomous precarity or precarious autonomy? Dilemmas of young workers in Hong Kong," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(2), pages 241-261, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:30:y:2019:i:2:p:241-261
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304619838976
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Paweł Żuk & Piotr Żuk, 2022. "The precariat pandemic: Exploitation overshadowed by COVID-19 and workers’ strategies in Poland," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(1), pages 200-223, March.
    2. Shuheng Jin & Tianzhu Nie & Ngai Pun & Duoduo Xu, 2022. "Spatial Mismatch, Different Labor Markets and Precarious Employment: The Case of Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 51-73, May.
    3. Vyacheslav VOLCHIK & Elena MASLYUKOVA & Wadim STRIELKOWSKI, 2021. "Youth Labour Market Precarization In Regional And Urban Centres," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 16(4), pages 5-19, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Autonomism; creative work; Hong Kong; labour market flexibility; labour subjectivity; neoliberalism; non-unionised work; precarious work; precarity; worker autonomy; young workers; youth labour market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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