Older workers and ontological precarity: between precarious employment, precarious welfare and precarious households

This chapter develops a theoretical model for understanding ‘ontological precarity’ among older workers. Ontological precarity is caused by individuals feeling ‘trapped’ between precariousness in different domains of their lives. Individuals worry about the long-term sustainability of their ‘precarious employment’. This anxiety is enhanced by financial pressures to work longer in the context of diminishing financial support from a ‘precarious welfare state’ and from ‘precarious households’. The chapter presents case studies of three older hospitality workers, in order to illustrate how these different forms of precarity interact. It concludes by discussing policy implications and provides suggestions for how the framework could be used in future research.