In recent times, a significant amount of contributions crowded around the topic concerning precarious employment conditions. We propose this topic again in order to take a stock, through a multidisciplinary and specialized approach, of some crucial nodes: the issue of historical comparison among the differing typologies of unemployment in the past, the role of political decisions which paved the way for deregulation of the job market, the convergence between the precarious employment in Northern countries of the world and the informal employment in Southern ones, the investment-based economic system, the transition from a Fordist to a post-Fordist production structure, the financial austerity policies, the dismantling of the welfare state and the increase of unemployment, economic and financial drivers of growth which led to enlarged inequalities. Analysing these nodes, the Authors of the essays included in this collection concur to define the phenomenon of precarious employment conditions and its origin, causes and its effect on people.
