jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pIt has become widely assumed that the standard employment relationship (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SER</jats:styled-content>) is in irreversible decline in industrialized societies. However, non‐standard and precarious work relationships often complement the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SER</jats:styled-content> via labour market transitions, and are not displacing it as the focal point of labour market regulation. The co‐ordination and risk management functions of the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SER</jats:styled-content> continue to be relevant in market economies, and the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SER</jats:styled-content> is adjusting to new conditions. The <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SER</jats:styled-content> has a complex and evolving relationship to gender and to social stratification. In the European context where the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SER</jats:styled-content> originated and achieved its clearest legal expression, institutional solutions to precariousness and inequality are being developed, the most innovative of which avoid simple deregulation in favour of integrated policy responses involving a range of complementary regulatory mechanisms.</jats:p>