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Employment status

Employment status refers to the contractual aspect of employment in terms of duration and number of working hours, incorporating economic risk, the autonomy and the authority which workers have in their jobs. The main categories are employee and self-employed. Employees are defined as someone who gets a salary from an employer or a temporary employment agency, with a distinction between employees with an unlimited or fixed-term contract. Self-employed persons can have employees. Across all workers a distinction can be made between those who work full-time and those who work part-time, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

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Recent updates

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Social protection and SURE

Presentation made at the 'Informal meeting of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers (EPSCO)' by Ivailo Kalfin, Executive Director, Eurofound and Prof. dr. Paul Schoukens, Full Professor, KU Leuven. Belgian Presidency...

Presentation
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Job insecurity undermines democracy

Workers on non-permanent contracts and workers with no formal contract are less satisfied with the functioning of democracy in their country, as are workers experiencing job insecurity. They are less...

1 september 2023
Corporate news

Eurofound expert(s)

John Hurley

John Hurley

John Hurley is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He took up the role of research manager in February 2012. He is responsible for the European...

Senior research manager,
Employment research unit
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Carlos Vacas‑Soriano

Carlos Vacas Soriano is a research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He works on topics related to wage and income inequalities, minimum wages, low pay, job quality...

Research manager,
Employment research unit
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Martina Bisello

​Martina Bisello is a research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. Her research interests include gender gaps in the labour market, occupational change and the impact of...

Research manager,
Employment research unit
Publications results (26)

Estimating labour market slack in the European Union

Labour market slack is the shortfall between the volume of work desired by workers and the actual volume of work available. The most important indicator of labour slack is the unemployment rate, but an exclusive focus on this fails to take account of the four-fifths of the jobless population who are

18 July 2017
Publication
Research report
Social protection
Unemployment
Inclusive labour markets
Employment status
Labour market policies
Job creation
Employment and labour markets

Aspects of non-standard employment in Europe

This report examines developments in non-standard employment over the last decade. It looks at trends in the main categories of non-standard employment – temporary, temporary agency and part-time work and self-employment – based mainly on data from the European Union Labour Force Survey.

13 July 2017
Publication
Customised report
Employment status
Fraudulent work
New forms of employment
Social protection

New forms of employment: Developing the potential of strategic employee sharing

Although standard employment is still dominant in European labour markets, an increasing range of new employment forms is emerging that differ in their implications for working conditions. This study explores strategic employee sharing, an employment form for companies that have specific HR needs

21 November 2016
Publication
Research report
Non-standard employment
Working conditions
New forms of employment
Inclusive labour markets
Employment status
Employment relationship
Labour market policies
Labour market participation
Job quality
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Exploring the fraudulent contracting of work in the European Union

The fraudulent contracting of work is an important issue in many European countries today. EU and national policymakers have turned their attention to violations of the basic protection provided by employment law and collective bargaining that are linked to the fraudulent use of certain employment

21 November 2016
Publication
Research report
Undeclared work
Skills and training
Social partners
Social dialogue
Non-standard employment
Posted workers
Fraudulent work
Employment status
Collective bargaining
Industrial relations
Inequality
Labour and social regulation
Labour law
Industrial relations and social dialogue

Digitalisation and working life: lessons from the Uber cases around Europe

Smartphone car service Uber, a successful company example of the sharing economy, has spread to many EU Member States in recent years. However, many employers and unions are concerned about its challenge to fair competition for other businesses in the sector and about the erosion of working

25 January 2016
Publication
Research report
Employment and labour markets
Non-standard employment
Digitalisation
Employment status
Labour and social regulation
Labour law
Industrial action
Employment relationship
Working conditions
Anticipating and managing the impact of change
Working conditions and sustainable work

Upgrading or polarisation? Long-term and global shifts in the employment structure: European Jobs Monitor 2015

Europe has begun to emerge from the prolonged slump caused by the global financial crisis in 2008 and exacerbated by the euro zone single-currency crisis in 2010–2011. In the last year, aggregate employment levels have risen faster than at any time since 2008. This, the fourth annual European Jobs

09 July 2015
Publication
Research report
Employment status
Employment structure
Gender equality
Job creation
Employment and labour markets
Labour market policies
Anticipating and managing the impact of change

European workers want more job certainty: Working time - Q4 2014 (EurWORK topical update)

An increasing number of European workers have part-time jobs or non-standard types of work, such as the zero-hours employment contracts that have become common in the UK. Yet most European workers with temporary contracts would like permanent jobs, and one third of people working part time would

14 April 2015
Publication
Research report
Working time
Employment status
Non-standard employment
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Employment opportunities for people with chronic diseases

This report examines employment opportunities for people with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and mental health problems in the EU28 Member States and Norway. People with a chronic disease may have a

14 November 2014
Publication
Research report
Disability and chronic disease
Discrimination at work
Employment relationship
Employment status
Labour market participation
Social policies
Work organisation
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Employment polarisation and job quality in the crisis: European Jobs Monitor 2013

This report describes recent structural shifts in employment in European labour markets before, during and after the 2008–2009 recession. It finds that employment destruction across Europe in the recession was strongly polarising in terms of the wage structure, while there was less polarisation in

13 March 2013
Publication
Research report
Skills and training
Employment status
Labour market policies
Job creation
Employment and labour markets

Shifts in the job structure in Europe during the Great Recession

This report describes the impact of the ‘great recession’ on employment and the job structure in the EU27. It finds that despite a net loss of over five million jobs between 2008–2010, employment continued to grow in top-paying jobs, largely in knowledge-intensive services and business services

16 January 2012
Publication
Research report
Structural change
Employment structure
Employment status
Job creation
Employment and labour markets
Online resources results (152)

Health and safety of workers on fixed-term and temporary contracts

On 22 July 2011, the European Commission issued a staff working paper (235Kb PDF) [1] examining the implementation of Council Directive 91/383/EEC [2] of 25 June 1991 on measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of workers with fixed term or temporary contracts. The working

4 detsember 2011
Article
Employment status
Health and well-being at work
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Sharp increase in flexible forms of labour

The Labour Inspectorate (SEPE) is the main investigative branch of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (YPAKP [1]) and is charged with controlling the implementation of labour legislation in Greece. Its primary objective is to safeguard labour rights and the health and safety [2] of workers

29 september 2011
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets

Poor rewards for self-employed knowledge professionals

In April 2011, the trade-union related Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES [1]), published a report on the quality of work of workers in knowledge professions (in Italian, 1.66Mb PDF) [2]. The report presents the findings of a survey of knowledge professionals carried out on behalf of

23 august 2011
Article
Skills and training
Employment status
Pay and income
Employment and labour markets
Social protection

Survey reveals increased precariousness of female employment

In April 2011 the Agency for Social Surveys and Analyses (ASSA-M [1]) presented the results of a survey, Women working in precarious working conditions (in Bulgarian) [2], which was carried out in October 2010. The survey, which was representative of the population of Bulgaria aged 18–60 years

17 august 2011
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets

Impact of subcontracting on working conditions

The study (in French, 164Kb PDF) [1] published by the French agency for Studies, Research and Statistics (DARES [2], part of the Ministry of Work, Employment and Health [3]) assesses the impact of subcontracting on working conditions. Drawing on data from the 2006–2007 Organisational Change and

4 august 2011
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Job quality
Work organisation
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

No improvement in stress rate of self-employed

The Flemish workability monitor was instigated by the Social and Economic Council of Flanders (SERV [1]) in 2003, in order to follow up the policy agreements made in the Vilvoorde Pact (in Dutch, 1.13Mb PDF) [2] on improving quality of work. The Innovation & Work Foundation at SERV was commissioned

27 juuli 2011
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets

Ethnic minorities’ jobs hardest hit by crisis

In February and September 2010 the sociological team of the Sofia-based Open Society Institute (OSI [1]) and experts from the World Bank [2] carried out a Bulgaria Crisis Monitoring Survey to study the economic situation of Bulgarian households in times of crisis. The results (in Bulgarian) [3] have

10 juuli 2011
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets
Discrimination at work

Sick immigrant workers more likely to go to work

The Institute for Work, Environment and Health (ISTAS [1]), an independent body founded by Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO [2]), has recently published a report (215Kb PDF) [3] on sickness presenteeism among immigrant workers. The term ‘presenteeism’ is understood as ‘going

10 juuli 2011
Article
Health and well-being at work
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Social protection
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Employment conditions of homeworkers

A survey carried out in Bulgaria between 1 January and 30 April 2010 aimed to map the employment conditions of homeworkers and to present a more complete and comprehensive view of the homeworking [1] sector, which includes more than 500,000 people. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories

19 aprill 2011
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets
Working poor

Survey reveals employees’ apathy to their rights at work

The results of the fourth annual population survey (in Latvian, 1.4Mb MS PowerPoint) [1] carried out by the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS [2]) on issues relating to working conditions [3] was published in March 2010. The survey is one of the measures of the European Social Fund [4]

17 aprill 2011
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Health and well-being at work
Blogs results (3)
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Charting a positive path for platform workers

While 2020 may come to be seen as the year platform work gathered pace and started to go mainstream – thanks in large part to COVID-19 containment measures sparking an increase in food and grocery delivery – 2021 could be the year that regulation of platform work is set in motion. The well-known

24 veebruar 2021
Irene Mandl
Blog
Anticipating and managing the impact of change
Digitalisation
Employment status
New forms of employment
Platform work
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All aboard: Hauling undeclared workers onto the pandemic rescue boats

A debate has started in Italy about the support that the state should provide to undeclared workers operating in the informal economy during the COVID-19 crisis. Nunzia Catalfo, Italy’s Minister of Labour in April stated that ‘undeclared work should not exist’ but went on to acknowledge ‘it is a

11 Mai 2020
Isabella Biletta
Blog
Social protection
Undeclared work
Employment status
COVID-19
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Economic downturns expose the vulnerability of a growing number of precarious workers

Up to the start of 2020, recent EU economic and labour market trends were often discussed in terms of the periods before and after the Great Recession. It now appears likely that, in the short- to medium-term, the repercussions of that economic crisis will be dwarfed by the unfolding impact of the

21 aprill 2020
Tina Weber
Blog
COVID-19
Non-standard employment
Employment status
Labour and social regulation
Employment and labour markets

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