Outsourcing and Precarity: The Case of Road Freight Transport

This chapter seeks to establish the consequences of outsourcing for workers and, more specifically, for workers’ precarity. A number of econometric studies have shown that there are differentials in working and employment conditions between employees of principals (firms that outsource) and employees of subcontractors. Other studies emphasize the precarity of self-employed workers. Taking the example of a sector that employs workers under four different kinds of status, we examine the links between outsourcing and precarity, emphasizing the notion of economic dependence. To do so, we draw upon a number of field studies to measure the level of dependence between firms and to characterize the nature of the outsourcing relations. We then turn our attention to the effects of outsourcing on two types of precarity, employment precarity and work precarity. These two types of precarity vary from one transport sub-sector to another. In long-distance transport, workers are more likely to be salaried, and less vulnerable to precarity. In the parcel delivery sector, inter-firm dependence is higher, resulting in an increase in work and employment precarities. As for platform workers, they are the most precarious deliverers, combining various protection deficiencies. Through these examples, we hope to show that the link between outsourcing and precarity is not uniform.