Original Dualisms Labor Law and Casual Work in Portugal and Romania (1920s–1960s)

ABSTRACT This article argues that any historical explanation of the emergence of dualism in the labor market should take labor law seriously for two intertwined reasons: first, because before there could be a dualism of insiders and outsiders in the market, there was an original dualism inscribed in statutory legislation covering employment contracts; and second because before there could be a neat distinction between a primary and a secondary sector, there was a prevailing legal hierarchy that rewarded the stability of the most stable employees while concomitantly rescinding protection from casual workers. The article asks how these original dualisms were overcome during the better half of the twentieth century, and what mechanisms might explain the eventual collapse of the legal distinctions between various types of employees and the differential distribution of rights that came with it. Empirically, the article draws comparatively on the social and legal history of Portugal and Romania from the 1920s to the 1960s to propose a historically rich and conceptually fresh interpretation of the emergence of “standard employment” on the two peripheries of Europe.