Atypical employment grows among highly-qualified

In Denmark, a growing group of academically-qualified people who are not in a permanent employment relationship often have to work for free in order to avoid unemployment, while others are working in an insecure job market as poorly-paid freelancers. However, another large group of highly-qualified people in atypical employment are doing well as consultants and free agents. These are the results of the first major study which focuses on flexible employment relationships among academically-qualified people, published in March 2000 by a trade union-linked institute.

Many highly-educated people have to take "atypical" underpaid jobs in order not to lose their attachment to the labour market. They belong to a growing group of academically-qualified people who are working on a freelance basis, unable to find a regular job because many enterprises need their knowledge only occasionally or because the enterprises take undue advantage of the keen competition for jobs among academically-qualified people and the fact that there is a group of such people who are unemployed and have to accept the jobs they are able to find - and at the terms and conditions fixed by the employers.

These are among the findings of a comprehensive study (Akademikere i atypiske beskæftigelsesrelationer) of atypical employment relationships among highly-educated persons carried out by the Department for Occupational Analysis of the Technological Institute (Teknologisk Institut) established by five member associations of the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikernes Centralorganisation, AC): the Danish Association of Masters and PhDs (Dansk Magisterforening, DM); the Danish Lawyers' and Economists' Association (Danmarks Jurist- og Økonomforbund, DJØF); the Union of Danish Engineers (Ingeniørforeningen i Danmark, IDA); the Union of Salaried Architects (Ansatte Arkitekters Råd, AAR); and the Danish Association of Business Language (Erhvervssprogligt Forbund, EsF).

According to the study, published in March 2000, there are different types of loose attachment to the labour market among academically-qualified people. At one end of spectrum are the so-called "free agents" who work as consultants for different enterprises, and are well-paid and have assignments on a full-time basis. They may either have their own firm or be recruited to work as consultants for shorter or longer periods of time. At the other end of the scale are freelancers who make a living from part-time jobs remunerated on a task basis and from supplementary unemployment benefits. One out of five freelancers has, at some point, worked without remuneration in the hope of obtaining paid employment subsequently. In the middle of the spectrum is a group of people with permanent jobs, which they supplement with various side-lines. The common characteristic of the financially secure groups is that they prefer independence in self-employment rather than permanent employment.

A questionnaire survey indicates that 18.5% of those members of the five associations who are in atypical employment are so either because they have had no permanent employment during the year or because they combine a permanent job with either types of employment, such as their own firm.

There are considerable differences in the share of atypical workers among the five associations. AAR and DM have the highest proportion of atypical workers in membership, at about 25% according to the questionnaire survey. About 20% of DJØ members are in atypical employment, with the lowest figures - about 11%-12% - found in EsF and IDA.

Growing number of people in atypical employment

A register-based study focusing on income, conducted as part of the research, shows that 32% of all people with a higher educational background have income from an atypical employment relationship. Most atypical relationships are found among architects and masters of arts with, respectively, 36% and 31% having some form of atypical employment relationship. The study points to a number of factors which indicate that this form of work will increase in the coming years. The three most important factors are:

• academically-qualified people who give up a permanent job in preference for a looser form of employment. The persons in this group accord a high priority to a varied working life. They will not find it difficult to sell their labour and they will be able to maintain or even increase their personal income;

• the keener competition for jobs among academically-qualified people will generate a group of persons in casual employment who are not able to find a permanent job. They will have to accept jobs for which they are overqualified. They have to work as freelancers and may sometimes risk having to work without remuneration in order to stay in their profession and not lose their skills through unemployment; and

• Danish enterprises are making increasing use of atypical labour, hiring academically-qualified people to carry out projects or axing permanent jobs to turn them into freelance work. The need for new knowledge also makes it more attractive for enterprises to bring in occasional labour rather than training their permanent employees or recruiting new employees.

Exposed groups

The analysis concludes that there are groups which are clearly "exposed", in the sense used in labour market terminology. These groups are characterised by being partially unemployed. They have to obtain their income from different sources, including unemployment benefits, and they are without a proper foothold in the labour market. According to the estimates in the analysis, 36% cent of the academically-qualified atypical workers considered are exposed in this sense of the term. This is a surprisingly high figure and no previous analyses have dealt with this matter. The highest numbers of such atypical workers - or exposed persons - are found among architects and masters of arts.

Non-exposed group

This group includes about two-thirds of all academically-qualified people in flexible work. They have a much higher degree of control over their working life. They comprise self-employed persons (for instance, architects), consultants with a number of secure assignments each year (engineers) or persons in permanent jobs with sidelines (for instance masters of art who give lectures, etc).

Commentary

The key point in the conclusion of the Technological Institute study is that academically-qualified people are in atypical employment either because they want to be or because they have to be. The decisive factor is the degree of security in these workers' labour market attachment. The trade unions have turned out to be of little help to these groups in connection with negotiations over collective agreements. People in atypical employment have to maintain a high value on the labour market. This factor determines whether they end up as free agents or as casual labour. This is also why the Technological Institute recommends that the five associations put development of competences on the top of the agenda. Academically-qualified people have only their knowledge to sell and an erosion of their competences will be a catastrophe for them, says the Institute.

The study leaves no doubt that academically-qualified people form a much more diverse group than they are normally considered to be by the AC-affiliated associations. Many members will not be covered at all if the associations continue to concentrate on general pay and working conditions. The study clearly shows that a minority of atypical workers have ended up as an "academic proletariat" on the flexible labour market. (Carsten Jørgensen, FAOS)