and demand from the state the necessary reforms to guarantee the viability of private
economic activity (including the flexibilization of labour legislation)”, unions aim to
maintain employment levels “demanding of the state not only the enforcement of
compliance with labour laws by firms but also the development of policies designed to
counteract the tendency to increase lack of job insecurity” (Hespanha 1999: 69). In
Portugal, the labour union CGTP-IN30 is particularly critical in regard to the negative
impacts of growing precarious forms of employment (e.g. jeopardizing workers’ rights,
engendering activities based on low salaries and low quality jobs; increasing the risks
of labour accidents; diminishing workers’ training and promotion opportunities)
(CGTP-IN 1999). The ongoing debates regarding the development of these forms of
employment reflect the demand for greater market flexibility and represent
new/additional costs to the social protection system, which, in this case, may be transferred
to the individual worker or the taxpayer (Sarfati 2002: 36).
3.2.2. Recent transformations in employment and unemployment
The recent history of the Portuguese labour market shows that, after the overall
good performance registered in the beginning of the XXI’ century, the employment
performance deteriorated. The first period coincided with a phase of economic
growth, which led to an increase in the employment rate and a decrease in unemployment.
In spite of the low levels of unemployment registered during this period,
some of the structural characteristics and problems of the labour market underlined
above (e.g. low levels of education and training, poor quality and low wage levels) persisted
(Cousins 2000: 106). The period initiated in 2002 coincided with the slowdown
of economic activity and with a new phase in fiscal policy whose main aim was to
comply with the Stability and Growth Pact’ (SGP) criteria (e.g. restructuring public
administration, freezing public service recruitment, non-renewal of fixed-term contracts
and possible greater mobility for civil servants), and in particular with budgetary