Directions of labor market (de)regulation in the health sector in Portugal

Abstract

The need for further research on the labor market in the health sector is acknowledged. With the expansion of the phenomena of objective and subjective precariousness, resulting from the neoliberal agenda of commodification of the value of work and the managerial reforms in health, the “atypicality” of labor ties and the “insecurity” of health professionals’ lives have introduced segmentation and polarization logics into the labor market. The latter is no longer the stage for protected markets, but includes deregulated and “hybrid” markets. This article aims to explore the directions, with unequal implications, of the (de)regulation of the labor market in the health sector in Portugal. We begin from secondary and qualitative research supported by 32 semistructured interviews with health professionals, which attest to the phenomenon of increasing individualization and labor subcontracting. A conceptual model is proposed that captures the meanings of (de)regulation, in a continuum of social regulation and professional mobility, translating protected markets (professional and internal) and hybrid markets (outsourced and secondary) to be tested by empirical confrontation and future research.