ABSTRACT
Permanent insecurity and social deprotection have become structural in the labour market. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed and aggravated these processes, which are at the origin of the accumulation of multiple socio-economic, relational and existential vulnerabilities. The lockdown period led to situations of labour stagnation. Inequalities and vulnerabilities, still arising from the Great Recession, were aggravated through the social dichotomy between those workers considered as either essential or non-essential. The article analyses the recent dynamics of this phenomenon from the life trajectories of workers in Portugal. Based on their experiences, collected from 53 in-depth interviews and a follow-up of 14 cases during the pandemic, it is aimed at reflecting on the multidimensional effects that emerge from these trajectories of participation in the labour market. © 2022 Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra. All rights reserved.