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From Precarious Work to Precarious Lives: Managing and Navigating Uncertainty at the Intersections of Employment, Households and the State

Author

Listed:
  • Eva Herman

    (University of Manchester, UK)

  • Gail Hebson

    (University of Manchester, UK)

  • Jill Rubery

    (University of Manchester, UK)

Abstract

This article investigates the intersection between precarious work and precarious lives through interviews with workers in the care, hospitality and art sectors. These revealed that workers experienced precarity as a double-edged sword of time and income uncertainty shaped by the context in which they were embedded – namely their employment, their household and their relations with state welfare and care systems. These three domains shaped both the constraints they faced and the buffers and resources available to them as they managed these time and income uncertainties. A dynamic work–life articulation framework is developed that embeds the strategies workers deploy to mitigate uncertainty within these three domains and their intersections. These strategies may still only result in the least bad and often far from sustainable outcome due to changing contexts and trade-offs between time and income uncertainty.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Herman & Gail Hebson & Jill Rubery, 2026. "From Precarious Work to Precarious Lives: Managing and Navigating Uncertainty at the Intersections of Employment, Households and the State," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 40(1), pages 45-66, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:40:y:2026:i:1:p:45-66
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170251359125
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Sissons & Anne E Green & Neil Lee, 2018. "Linking the Sectoral Employment Structure and Household Poverty in the United Kingdom," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(6), pages 1078-1098, December.
    2. Valeria Pulignano & Glenn Morgan, 2023. "The ‘Grey Zone’ at the Interface of Work and Home: Theorizing Adaptations Required by Precarious Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(1), pages 257-273, February.
    3. Ulrike Ehrlich, 2023. "The Association between Family Care and Paid Work among Women in Germany: Does the Household Economic Context Matter?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(1), pages 117-136, February.
    4. Jason Heyes & Sian Moore & Kirsty Newsome & Mark Tomlinson, 2018. "Living with uncertain work," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5-6), pages 420-437, November.
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