The Gender Dimensions of Job Insecurity in a Local Labour Market

Increasing job insecurity has been associated with the proliferation of nonstandard forms of employment. In order to explore this association, in-depth interviews with 55 women and 56 men were carried out in three different organizations in a local labour market in South Wales. The organizations were in manufacturing, retail and the public sector. The manufacturing organization was characterized by male, full-time employment while the others were female-dominated with various forms of non-standard employment. Levels of insecurity were highest in manufacturing and lowest in retail. Respondents distinguished three types of job insecurity: post, employer and labour market insecurity. There were gender differences in experiences and perceptions of job insecurity, with women feeling less insecure than men. This related to the availability of jobs for women and younger people in the local labour market, women's willingness to take `any' job and the continuing strength of male breadwinner ideology. At an individual level job insecurity is regarded as equally serious for women and men. Our findings question the association of job insecurity with non-standard forms of employment and suggest that the way job insecurity is experienced cannot be fully understood unless it is seen in the context of home as well as work.