As an introduction to the overall symposium, this presentation will describe the
precarity that characterizes contemporary society and the workplace and describe the
challenges for workers and young people who hope to access decent work and lives of
fulfillment. The presentation will discuss how the psychology of working framework
can guide research and practice that seeks to prepare young people and the unemployed
workers to meet these challenges. The three research presentations constituting this
symposium enhance understanding of decent work, decent education, and the school-towork
transition, with implications for person level and systemic intervention for
enhancing access to decent work in an age of precarity.