Working conditions and sustainable work
¿Un privilegio o una necesidad? Las vidas laborales de las personas pluriempleadas
Published:
22 June 2020
Policy brief
Abstract
Aunque solo un pequeño porcentaje de la mano de obra de la UE tiene más de un empleo, merece la pena comprender mejor el fenómeno, no solo porque va gradualmente en aumento, sino también por el impacto que puede tener en la salud y el bienestar de los trabajadores y por la información que ofrece sobre el mercado laboral. Si bien el pluriempleo puede tener aspectos positivos (por ejemplo, puede servir de trampolín para el desarrollo profesional), también puede tener consecuencias indeseables para la salud mental y física de los trabajadores cuando implica jornadas laborales muy largas y un deficiente equilibrio entre la vida laboral y la vida privada.
El presente documento normativo examina la prevalencia del pluriempleo en la UE, sus características principales y la calidad del empleo de los trabajadores que lo realizan. Una de las principales conclusiones es que el pluriempleo es diferente para las mujeres y los hombres, y también varía considerablemente con respecto a la edad y los ingresos.
Key findings
A relatively small proportion of the EU workforce holds down a second job: 4% in 2018. This figure nevertheless represents 9.3 million workers. In addition, the phenomenon is on the rise – numbers have increased by 3.5% since 2013.
A substantial proportion are low earners with short working hours who take up extra work to supplement their income. However, multiple job-holding is equally apparent in the higher earning brackets. In fact, a majority of multiple-job holders are in white collar, high-skilled occupations in their main job.
When the data are broken down by gender, quite a different picture emerges. The top occupation for women is cleaners and helpers; personal care workers and sales workers also rank in the top five. For men, the top occupation is metal and machinery workers – jobs like mechanic and welder – but the top five also includes business professionals and science and engineering professionals.
This gender disparity in occupation is accompanied by a striking difference in income. Most women (40%) are in the lowest income quintile, while the largest share of men (30%) is in the top quintile.
A fair share of multiple job holding is associated with decent job quality, but more so for men than for women: half of male multiple-job holders (49%) have above-average job quality in their main jobs, compared to 35% of women in this group. However, among both sexes, around one-third have poor job quality.
Table
- Table 1: Top five occupations of multiple-job holders in their main job, EU27 and the UK, 2015
Figures
- Figure 1: Female ratio of multiple-job holders (%), Member States and the UK, 2018
- Figure 2: Tertiary attainment among multiple-job holders and total working population (%), by sex, Member States and the UK, 2018
- Figure 3: Employment status of multiple-job holders in main and second jobs (%), by sex, EU27 and the UK, 2018
- Figure 4: Occupational profiles in main job of multiple-job holders, by sex, EU27 and the UK, 2018
- Figure 5: Multiple-job holders by income quintile and sex (%), EU27 and the UK, 2015
- Figure 6: Multiple-job holders by age group and income quintile (%), according to sex, EU27 and the UK, 2015
- Figure 7: Distribution of workers according to usual working hours of single-job holders and multiple-job holders (%), by sex, EU27 and the UK, 2015
- Figure 8: Average usual weekly working hours in main and second jobs and unpaid work, by sex, EU27 and the UK, 2005–2015
- Figure 9: Shares of multiple-job holders with higher-risk working time patterns (%), by income quintile and sex, EU27 and the UK, 2015
- Figure 10: Working in free time and presenteeism among multiple-job holders (%), by income quintile and sex, EU27 and the UK, 2015
- Figure 11: Job quality of multiple-job holders’ main job, by sex and income quintile, EU27 and the UK, 2015
- Figure 12: Job quality profiles of multiple-job holders’ main jobs, by sex
- Number of pages
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21
- Reference nº
-
EF20006
- ISBN
-
978-92-897-2079-3
- Catalogue nº
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TJ-AR-20-002-ES-N
- DOI
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10.2806/106422
- Permalink
Cite this publication
Eurofound (2020), ¿Un privilegio o una necesidad? Las vidas laborales de las personas pluriempleadas, serie Encuesta europea sobre las condiciones de trabajo 2015, Oficina de Publicaciones de la Unión Europea, Luxemburgo.
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