Profesionales independientes en la era digital: ¿el futuro del precariado?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare the working conditions of Independent Professional workers (I-Pross) in Spain and Italy. This research is developed through the comparative analysis of official statistical sources in both countries, the use of a questionnaire sent to these professionals and case studies focused on the organizations that represent these professionals. The growth of the I-Pros (qualified self-employed workers, but with precarious working conditions, and great uncertainty about income, workload and their social protection) highlights the tendency towards a relative impoverishment of an important segment of the middle classes. In this sense, the decentralization, subcontracting and entrepreneurship incentive policies seem to predict a depletion or reduction of the middle classes: a tendency to the loss of their real professional independence and their subordination to uncertainty and to the recommodification of work, understanding it as progressively more common scenario within the precariat. 232 Anuario IET. Presente y futuro del trabajo Vol. 5 | pp. 231-256 https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/aiet.75 233 Profesionales independientes en la era digital: ¿el futuro del precariado?