Occupational changes that transform the middle class
Enrique Fernández‐Macías | 28 April 2025Occupational change in itself cannot explain the decline of the European middle class. But it could be a threat to its sociopolitical foundations
▶Enrique Fernández‐Macías
Website: Eurofound Website
Enrique Fernández‐Macías is a Research Manager in Eurofound, Dublin. He has a PhD in Economic
Sociology by the University of Salamanca, and his main research interests are job quality, occupational
change and the division of labor. He has participated and coordinated several large‐scale European
projects on job quality and structural change, such as the European Working Conditions Survey and the
European Jobs Monitor. Before joining Eurofound, he worked as researcher and lecturer in the
Departments of Applied Economics and Sociology of the University of Salamanca. Some of his recent
publications are “The Transformation of the Employment Structure in the EU and USA” (Palgrave),
“Measuring more than Money: the Social Economics of Job Quality” (Elgar), “Job Polarization in Europe?
Changes in the Employment Structure and Job Quality, 1995‐2007” (Work and Occupations) and “E
pluribus unum? A critical survey of job quality indicators” (Socio‐Economic Review).



