Employment Quality as a Framework to Understand Precarious Employment and Beyond in Cross-National Contexts: Conceptual, Methodological, and Practical Recommendations

Precarious employment is a growing global concern. However, what constitutes or is perceived as precarious employment varies significantly across regions, particularly between the Global North and Global South. We propose the multidimensional Employment Quality (EQ) framework as a heuristic tool to explore the variety in EQ patterns from a cross-national comparative perspective. This framework, which incorporates a typological analytical approach, enables the exploration of diverse patterns and combinations of (in)secure employment features across the workforce. By doing so the full range of employment arrangements is captured, from highly secure to precarious, while also accounting for “mixed” forms. Yet, comparing the prevalence and forms of EQ globally presents significant conceptual, methodological, and data-related considerations, given the vast differences in employment and labor market features worldwide. Additionally, we provide practical tools for addressing the various considerations, with the aim of advancing EQ research for comparative purposes across diverse contexts. A comprehensive understanding of EQ configurations emerging across different contexts and their differential impacts on specific worker groups offers critical insights for informing labor market policies and strategies aimed at promoting more secure and equitable forms of employment in both the Global North and Global South.