Young People and Precarious Labour Markets brings together leading scholars to examine how job insecurity and changing employment conditions affect youth and young adults across Europe.

Set against the backdrop of an ongoing polycrisis – marked by economic, technological, and socio-political disruptions – this book explores how labour conditions for young people and young adults are being reshaped. The essays collected in this volume examine youth transitions to adulthood, entrepreneurship, career development, and the pressure of passion-driven industries through qualitative and quantitative research, intersectional perspectives, and cross-regional comparisons. Together, the chapters diagnose the precarization of work, showing how it varies across Europe, while contributing to discussions on social policies, trade unions, and collective action, calling for urgent structural changes to address the challenges of contemporary labour markets.

As a key text for policymakers concerned with the future of work and labour market reform in Europe, this collection will appeal to advanced students and scholars of sociology, labour studies, youth studies, industrial relations, political economy, and social policy.

Annalisa Dordoni is Coordinator of the Research Network 30 “Youth and Generation” of the European Sociological Association (2024–2026). She holds a PhD in Applied Sociology and Social Research Methodology from the University of Milano-Bicocca and is a researcher in economic and labour sociology, currently collaborating with various organizations. Her research interests include the times and rhythms of work, labour processes, and work–life balance in the service society; changes in working conditions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; job insecurity and the societal consequences of precarious work—with a focus on generational, gender, and class dimensions. She is the author of Sempre aperto. Lavorare su turni nella società dei servizi 24/7 (2019) and Incels in the Italian Manosphere: Labour Conditions, Social Exclusion and Self-Victimization (2026).

Guglielmo Meardi is Professor of Economic and Labour Sociology at Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence (Italy), and Co-Coordinator of RN17 “Work, Employment and Industrial Relations” of the European Sociological Association (2024–2026). His research covers especially comparative industrial relations, trade unions, employment policies.

Valeria Pulignano is Professor of Sociology at KU Leuven and Coordinator of RN17 “Work, Employment and Industrial Relations” of the European Sociological Association (2024–2026). She is currently Francqui Research Professor and member of Leuven.AI – KU Leuven Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Her fields of expertise include work, employment (industrial) relations, and labour markets. She is Associate Fellow at the ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work (Digit) at Leeds University, and Fellow at the Industrial Relations Research Unit (IRRU) at the University of Warwick. She serves as Editor of Work, Employment and Society, and Associate Editor of Journal of Industrial Relations. She is the co-author (with Markieta Domecka) of The Politics of Unpaid Labour (2025).