Living in Limbo: Exploring the Lived Experience of University Post-Graduates with Precarious Jobs in Iran and Effects on Their Well-Being

Abstract

A big population in Iran, an oil-rich country in the Global South with a huge young population, struggles with precarious employment. This is also common among those with post-graduate degrees (master’s or doctorate degrees). In this article, the researchers explore how this population experiences insecure and temporary employment with an emphasis on their well-being and social life. The researchers conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 20 post-graduate degree holders in Tehran, Iran. The interviews indicated that precarious work negatively affects individuals’ well-being in many domains, including the mental health, occupational, financial, family, and social. A feeling of job insecurity, damaged professional identity, constant fear, a lack of control over one’s working life, financial difficulties, social isolation, and strained relations with families are some examples of its adverse effects on the interviewees. Women, participants from the Humanities and Social Sciences field, and those with PhD degrees reported the most damaging consequences of precarious work. To overcome these adverse outcomes, not only are individual-level strategies critical, but the government must also develop practical strategies to create more job opportunities through increased domestic production. Developing a collective agency among post-graduates with precarious work is also necessary for empowering individuals.