ABSTRACT
Much of this book is concerned with the impact of job insecurity and work intensification on the health and well-being of workers and their families. But in this chapter our attention will focus on the causes, rather than the effects, of stress and insecurity. In the product markets, we look at the competitive demands imposed on firms by technological innovations, trade globalisation and the commercialisation of the public sector.1 In the capital markets, we witness the pressures exerted by dominant stakeholders, anxious for a quick and profitable return on their investments. We watch these pressures being passed on to the labour force through the demand for increased ‘flexibility’ and the acceleration of the pace and flow of work. We observe how the supply of labour continues to outstrip the availability of jobs, long after the economy has recovered from the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s. We chart the erosion of some of the laws and institutions which had traditionally protected workers from the insecurities of the market; and we note, in particular, the declining power of trade unions, the weakening of employment laws and the reduction in unemployment benefits.
