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The literature on flexibilization documents the decline of the standard employment relationships, resulting in greater job insecurity. Consequently, the stability of career trajectories is expected to have decreased. However, existing studies in many countries pose a significant challenge: the available evidence shows no clear downward trend and possibly even an increase in job stability since the 1970s, as measured by trends in job tenure duration or job separations. This article highlights important limitations of such studies and provides novel evidence on the transformation of career trajectories. It is the first to provide evidence of a decrease in average job tenure duration for men in Canada and a decrease in five-year and 10-year retention rates over the four decades between 1976 and 2015, adjusting for sociodemographic shifts unrelated to flexibilization. We also find that average job tenure has increased for women, while their long-term job retention rates declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activities performed by Canadian workers in some occupations may increase the risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as COVID-19. This research note explores how occupational exposure risks vary by labor force characteristics using publicly available Canadian data in combination with a data set providing information on the level of physical proximity and frequency of exposure to infections or diseases faced by workers in different occupations. The results show important sociodemographic differences. First, women work in occupations associated with significantly higher average risks of exposure to COVID-19 than men. This is driven by their overrepresentation in high-risk broad occupational categories such as health occupations. Second, older workers (65 years or more), a group vulnerable to COVID-19, appear to work in occupations requiring performing activities characterized by a lower level of physical proximity them their younger colleagues, with minimal differences in the frequency of exposure to diseases or infections. Finally, workers in low-income occupations are employed in occupations that put them at greater risk of exposure to COVID-19 than other workers. This is especially the case for women, immigrants, and members of visible minority groups in low-income occupations. More broadly, this research note provides insights into the health-related dimension of the literature on occupational tasks and labor market stratification. Les taches effectuees par les travailleurs canadiens dans certaines professions peuvent augmenter le risque d'exposition a des maladies infectieuses tel que la COVID-19. Cette note de recherche explore la variation dans les risques d'exposition a la COVID-19 selon les caracteristiques des travailleurs en se basant sur des donnees publiques canadiennes combinees a une base de donnees fournissant de l'information sur le niveau de proximite physique et la frequence d'exposition a des infections ou maladie auxquels font face les personnes occupant differentes professions. Les resultats demontrent d'importantes differences entre categories sociodemographiques. Premierement, les femmes travaillent dans des professions associees a des niveaux moyens de risques d'exposition a la COVID-19 significativement plus eleves que les hommes, qui s'explique en partie par leur surrepresentation dans des grandes categories professionnelles a haut niveau de risque tel que les professions du secteur de la sante. Deuxiemement, les travailleurs ages (65 ans et plus), un groupe vulnerable a la COVID-19, semblent travailler dans des professions demandant d'effectuer des taches menant a un niveau plus faible de proximite physique que leurs plus jeunes collegues, alors que les differences d'exposition a des maladies ou infections sont limitees. Finalement, les personnes travaillant dans des professions a faible revenu tendent egalement a travailler dans des professions plus a risque d'exposition a la COVID-19 que les autres travailleurs, ce qui est particulierement le cas pour les femmes, les immigrants et les personnes membres minorites visibles travaillant dans des professions a faible revenu. De maniere plus generale, cette note de recherche explore les implications en matiere de sante de la litterature sur les taches professionnelles et la stratification du marche du travail., A NUMBER OF INEQUALITIES have become visible among workers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most notably, public-facing sectors such as accommodation, food services, retail trade, tourism, and recreation [...]

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GUY STANDING, The Precariat. The New Dangcrous Class. London: Bloomsbury, 2011, 198 p. Guy Standing builds-up on some of his earlier work (Standing 1999) and political economy analytical framework to [...]