Constrained flexibility: Involuntary non-standard employment in the European Union
Published: 27 May 2026
This paper analyses the incidence, trends and micro-drivers of involuntary non-standard employment (INE) across EU Member States between 2006 and 2024, using a composite indicator capturing workers employed involuntarily under temporary contracts, in part-time work or both. Drawing on EU Labour Force Survey microdata, the analysis shows that the INE rate peaked at 12.7 % in 2015 before declining to 8.8 % in 2024, driven initially by the expansion of involuntary part-time employment during the Great Recession and subsequently by a contraction in temporary employment and a reduction in its involuntary share, along with a strong decline in the involuntary nature of part-time work. Despite this improvement, approximately half of all temporary workers still hold such contracts involuntarily. Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions separate the gap between earlier and current INE rates into two components: a compositional component, capturing changes in the characteristics of the workforce, and a structural component, capturing changes in how those characteristics translate into INE risk. The structural component dominates throughout, accounting for up to 89 % of the gap in 2014, indicating that the decline in INE reflects genuine improvements in labour market conditions rather than shifts in workforce composition alone. Regression models estimated separately for 2014 and 2024 identify the mechanisms behind this structural change: the occupational penalty for low- and medium-skilled workers has narrowed substantially as labour market tightening improved conditions at the lower end of the occupational distribution, while sectoral differentiation has sharpened, with service sectors increasingly driving involuntary temporariness alongside involuntary part-time work.
This section provides information on the data contained in this publication.
List of tables
Table 1: Overall results of the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition of the INE rate in the EU
Table 2: Composition component by factor (pp)
Table 3: Structural component by factor (pp)
Table 4: INE rates and their components, Member States, 2024 (%)
Table 5: INE and main factors of risk, Member States, 2024
Table 6: Change in INE rates (%) and main components driving their changes, 2006–2024
Table A1: Rates of INE and its components, Member States, 2024 (%)
Table A2: INE rates (%) and main components driving their changes, Member States (2006–2024)
Table A3: Composition of INE in the EU, by selected characteristics, 2024 (%)
Table A4: Regression results of associations between INE, involuntary temporary and involuntary part-time employment in 2014 and 2024
List of graphs
Figure 1: Situations leading to INE
Figure 2: Involuntary non-standard employment, temporary and part-time employment rates in the EU, 2006–2024 (%)
Figure 3: Proportion of involuntary temporary and part-time employment, EU (%)
Figure 4: Components of the INE rates in the EU, 2006–2024 (%)
Figure 5: Temporary employment rate and share of involuntary temporary employment, 2024 (%)
Figure 6: Part-time employment rate and share of involuntary part-time employment, 2024 (%)
Figure 7: INE rates across Member States, 2006-2015-2024 (%)
Figure 8: INE rates decomposed into their two main contributing factors, 2006–2024 (%)
Figure 9: Distribution of INE by country (2024)
Figure 10: AME marginal effects on the probability of INE, 2014 and 2024 (%)
Figure 11. AME on the probability of involuntary temporary employment, 2014 and 2024 (%)
Figure 12: AMEs on the probability of involuntary part-time employment, 2014 and 2024 (%)
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2026), Constrained flexibility: Involuntary non-standard employment in the European Union, Eurofound research paper, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
