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Labor Market Segmentation and Political Participation

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LABOREP (Labor Market Segmentation and Political Participation)

Okres sprawozdawczy: 2018-09-01 do 2020-08-31

LABOREP examined the consequences of labor market inequalities for political mobilization. Labor market segmentation is a defining feature of advanced industrial democracies. Workers experience different levels of labor risks and protections, with those in secure employment enjoying statutory entitlements and social benefits while the low-paid, insecurely employed, underemployed and long-term unemployed do not. During the recent economic recession, the process of labor market segmentation has hastened, reaching unprecedented levels of differentiated labor risks. The project has examined the important but neglected implications of labor market segmentation for political inclusion and representation.

The overall objectives of LABOREP have been to conduct a set of empirical studies to understand the consequences of labor market segmentation for political participation; and to build a novel, interdisciplinary model of political participation by (a) integrating insights from extra representational forms of participation and the sociology of labor markets and (b) accounting for contextual differences in economic performance and in the presence of alternative civic and political organizations as moderating forces.
"First, LABOREP developed a novel methodological approach to account for labor market risk differentials within the same categories of work across countries and over time. Such differentials have hindered effective cross-national research on segmentation. The approach relies on estimates of working poverty risk for separate categories of nonstandard employment. The approach is useful in examining a number of the outcomes of interest in the labour market segmentation literature, including preferences for redistribution, voting behaviour and political participation, while simultaneously accounting for differences in the economic risks faced by workers across labour markets. It therefore makes a contribution to the study of labor segmentation across the disciplines of economics, sociology and political science.

The methodological approach has been published in a relevant journal while an application of this approach (on voting and economic evaluations) is under review:

1. Marinova, DM. 2020. “Working Poverty, Nonstandard Employment and Political Inclusion.” West European Politics. Published online 4/11/2020.
2. Hellwig, TH., and Marinova, DM. ""Evaluating the Unequal Economy: Poverty Risk, Economic Indicators, and the Perception Gap."" Submitted for publication 26/08/2020.


Second, LABOREP helps explain labor market policy that contributed to segmentation. More specifically, it traced how electoral institutions and voting behavior shape governments' policymaking. A journal manuscript has been published in a relevant journal:

3. Marinova, DM. 2020. ""Electoral accountability, clarity of responsibility and labor market policy."" Electoral Studies. Published online 23/10/2020.

Third, LABOREP examines how labor groups that are at high economic respond to economic recessions and welfare cuts. This has produced a pair of manuscripts. First, the project examined how the unemployed -- a particularly vulnerable labour market group -- handle economic information during the recent economic crisis. This work has resulted in a publication with the host (Eva Anduiza) in a relevant journal. Second, the project also examined the preferences of new social risk groups (workers in nonstandard employment as wel as women and immigrants) for pension reform and their electoral response to pension reform. This work has resulted in a journal manuscript that will be submitted for review within three months.

4. Marinova, DM., and Anduiza, E. 2020. “When Bad News is Good News: Information Acquisition in Times of Economic Crisis.” Political Behavior. Vol. 42, Issue 2.
5. Marinova, DM. ""Holding Governments Accountable for Pension Reform? How New Social Risk Groups Respond to Pension Reform."" Unpublished journal manuscript.

Finally, the Action accounted for contextual differences in the presence of alternative civic and political organizations as moderating factors on the relationship between nonstandard work and political mobilization. To do so, LABOREP has exploited variation in the impact of the economic recession across over 70 Barcelona neighborhoods and over the course of the economic recession in Spain using an original suvey collected by the host. This final objective has produced a journal manuscript that will be submitted for review within three months.

6. Marinova, DM. ""Can politically vibrant neighborhoods mobilize poor workers? Evidence from Barcelona."" Unpublished journal manuscript.


The research findings have been disseminated through conference participation, university lectures, and teaching courses within the host's Master's degree in Political Science. The ER has also delivered two presentations to local labor unions and has written a newspaper op-ed on labour market reforms in Spain. In the future, the results will be further disseminated through research and policy blogs."
"LABOREP has produced 3 journal manuscripts published in leading academic outlets, 1 journal manuscript that is currently under review, and 2 journal manuscripts that will be submitted for publication within three months. These empirical studies have gone beyond the state of the art in the study of labor market segmentation by considering the effects of working poverty and their manyfold implications for political behaviors. In addition, the results have been disseminated through academic conferences, university lectures, courses taught, a newspaper op-ed, and oral presentations to local labor unions. Further dissemination of the results will take place with new research outputs.

1. Marinova, DM. 2020. “Working Poverty, Nonstandard Employment and Political Inclusion.” West European Politics. Published online 4/11/2020.
2. Hellwig, TH., and Marinova, DM. ""Evaluating the Unequal Economy: Poverty Risk, Economic Indicators, and the Perception Gap."" Submitted for publication 26/08/2020.
3. Marinova, DM. 2020. ""Electoral accountability, clarity of responsibility and labor market policy."" Electoral Studies. Published online 23/10/2020.
4. Marinova, DM., and Anduiza, E. 2020. “When Bad News is Good News: Information Acquisition in Times of Economic Crisis.” Political Behavior. Vol. 42, Issue 2.
5. Marinova, DM. ""Holding Governments Accountable for Pension Reform? How New Social Risk Groups Respond to Pension Reform."" Unpublished journal manuscript.
6. Marinova, DM. ""Can politically vibrant neighborhoods mobilize poor workers? Evidence from Barcelona."" Unpublished journal manuscript."
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