Precarious employment in Swedish retail 1990–2019: An intersectional analysis of patterns and consequences

This article analyses the patterns in the increase in precarious employment in Swedish retail during the period 1990–2019. As expected, class, gender, age and migrant background are decisive for unequal working conditions. However, the study also finds a polarisation of work contracts, displaying class differences and an increase in non-standard contracts among blue-collar workers, and that conditions have become more difficult for younger workers. Although female workers still have lower incomes and more insecure conditions than other groups, the findings show a masculinisation trend among precarious workers. The increases in inequality are due not primarily to lower hourly wages, but to larger numbers of precarious contracts. During the last decade of the period, there was a sharp increase in the percentage of people on sick leave due to stress and mental disorders. Although this increase is general, precarious workers have more diagnoses of mental disorders, in both the short and long term.