Dynamique commerciale et recomposition de l’emploi

On this paper the retail labour market main trends are studied in the framework of the recent transformations of the activity and its management because our hypothesis says that job characteristics should be related with the activity’s organisation and its transformation.

The sector main changes deal with concentration and internationalisation of firms, retailing diversification, new relationships between retail organisations and geographical space, besides the new meaning of commerce in the consumer’s society.

Job trends point to stabilisation of the total employment but increasing presence of female and young employees. At the same time we find significant traces of segmentation of the labour market with simultaneously disqualification and upskilling of jobs, increasing part time work and outsourcing contracts.

While three main types of management strategies were identified in portuguese retail system, about half of the owners don’t have any strategy for their business, thus we can say their strategy is merely passivity.