Precarious employment in social enterprises: determinants and challenges through the lens of historical institutionalism

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show how critical moments in recent world history – the Covid-19 pandemic, the fourth industrial revolution, and migration crises – have affected employment in social enterprises and, more broadly, in the third sector. Design/methodology/approach: Analyses of international reports of global agencies, analysis of international studies on labour markets, analyses of situation of social enterprises from Poland in the perspective of historical institutionalism. Findings: Precariousness in the labour market will be one of the most critical challenges of modern times. Informal jobs will grow at the same rate as formal employment as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Although recent estimates suggest a return to informal employment for both women and men, the most severe effects of the pandemic will play out along pre-existing lines of inequality and marginality, causing the most severe consequences for those who were already most vulnerable to them. Social implications: In the biggest risk of job insecurity are the social groups of less developed economies, where the economic downturn resulting from the pandemic is forcing a shift in corporate strategies toward cost-cutting and the search for labor savings. The global challenges of today's world mean that further research on the impact of exogenous shocks on job insecurity should be conducted. Originality/value: Analysis of modern exogenous shocks in perspective of historical institutionalism (important for scientific theory with applied aspects for social and economic practice).