Labour market segmentation in Spain: recent trends in non-standard employment and worker turnover

This paper tackles the employment growth between 2005 and 2018 in the Spanish economy using the theoretical framework of the Theory of Labour Market Segmentation. Firstly, atypical employment is quantified at 50% of total affiliation. During the economic recovery, there is a strong boom of non-standard employment, especially among young people, despite the transitory fall caused essentially by the economic crisis. Secondly, the instability of temporary contracts has increased, given the fall in average duration of contracts, which seems to be associated with the increase in very short-term contracts (7 days or less). These changes are essentially explained by the fact that four professional subgroups, characteristic of the secondary segment, have a greater weight in the recruitment structure. This can be attributed to higher turnover as a result of the labour "flexibilization" policies introduced in the last decade.