The Vulnerability of the Modern Worker: A Multidimensional Analysis in the Context of Neoliberal Flexibility The vulnerability of the modern worker is a systemic property stemming from fundamental shifts in labor organization, the welfare state, and the psychological contract between the worker and the employer. It is not just the risk of losing a job, but a comprehensive state of insecurity affecting economic, legal, psychological, and social dimensions. Its manifestations are structural in nature and are exacerbated in the era of digitalization and globalization. Economic Vulnerability: Precarization and the Syndrome of "Permanent Instability" The spread of non-standard employment. The share of workers on temporary, fixed-term, part-time contracts, outsourcing, and self-employment is steadily increasing. For example, in the EU, about 14% of workers have temporary contracts, and in the age group of 15-24, this figure reaches 40%. Such a worker lives in a state of permanent search for the next contract, without guarantees for the future. The vicious cycle of low incomes and high living costs. In many sectors (especially in the gig economy, retail, services), wages have stagnated at a level not corresponding to the growth in housing, education, and healthcare costs. This creates the phenomenon of the "working poor" — a person who is formally employed but unable to save or ensure social mobility. Even in developed countries, as shown by the OECD study, the growth in labor productivity since the 1990s has significantly outpaced the growth in wages for the average worker. Lack of savings and pension uncertainty. Unstable incomes and a high proportion of expenses for current needs prevent the formation of a "financial cushion." At the same time, there is a shift from solidarity pension systems to individual ones, which transfers the risks of investment and longevity from the state and the company to the worker, whose contributions may be interrupted due to periods of une ... Read more