Labor Market Duality and Leisure Industries in Spain: Quality of Life Versus Standard of Living |
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| Authors: | Juan L Paramio José L Zofío |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Physical Education, Sports Sciences and Recreation Management at Loughborough University in Great Britain;2. At the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid;3. Juan L. Paramio received his Ph.D. from the Department of Physical Education, Sports Sciences and Recreation Management at Loughborough University in Great Britain. His recent research analyzes the use of leisure projects and sports events as mechanisms of city growth and urban regeneration in Western European cities. He is a Senior Lecturer of Sports Management and Leisure Studies at the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He has published several articles and book chapters on sports events, stadiums, and postmodern cities, as well as on the role and meaning of leisure in contemporary societies. E‐mail: . Jose L. Zofio's interests relate to labor market studies, particularly the links between productivity, wages, and working time trends, and their effect on the welfare of individuals. He also focuses on cultural and institutional economics, where he studies different socioeconomic aspects related to the culture and leisure industries. The research program that he has undertaken in recent years is summarized in the article “The Economic Dimension of the Culture and Leisure Industry in Spain: National, Sectoral and Regional Analysis” (Journal of Cultural Economics, 2003) and the book The Culture and the Leisure Industry in Spain: Its Contribution to the GDP (1993–1997) (Madrid: Fundación Autor, 2001). At present he is Associate Professor of Economics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid;4. e‐mail: . The authors are grateful to María Gil‐Izquierdo and one anonymous referee for their helpful comments and suggestions that have improved the final quality of this contribution. |
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| Abstract: | Abstract . We discuss the effects that the emergence of the new postindustrial form of flexible capitalist organization has on the Spanish labor market and, by extension, on the working life of two representative groups of employees characterized by their casual and stable working conditions. This brings a growing duality in the labor market, where individuals who cannot escape casual employment coexist with those enjoying long‐term contracts. This concern includes how these changes affect the nature and the ways in which these particular groups understand quality of life and standard of living, which in turn serves to call into question the “end of work” and the expected “leisure society.” In addition, we highlight several circumstances that illustrate a decay in job quality and working conditions, particularly the increase in working hours. Parallel to this process we identify a work‐and‐spend behavior, resulting in overspent families that exhibit financial fragility and give up quality of life, associated with more free time, for higher living standards, which demand an increasing job commitment. Free time from work has become a scarce resource in Spain, and for those individuals belonging to what is known as the “new leisure class,” it is associated with high‐spending leisure activities, which has increased the economic importance of leisure industries. |
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