shutterstock_self-employed_photographer.jpg

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.

Topic

Recent updates

eurofound-placeholder

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
ef23011_card_cover.png

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
caros-vacas-2023.png

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
martina-bisello-2023.png

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)

Shifts in the job structure in Europe during the Great Recession: Technical background paper

The report describes the impact of the ‘great recession’ on employment and the job structure in the EU27. Quintile charts are used to give a simple, graphical representation of the extent of employment change in a given period as well as an indication of how that change has been distributed across

10 October 2011
Publication
Research report
Employment status
Job creation
Employment structure
Structural change
Employment and labour markets

Patterns of recent employment growth in the EU: implications for gender equality - Background paper

Despite progress during the last generation, gender gaps in the labour market are closing only gradually, if at all. At EU level the gap remains at over 17% and has not declined in recent years. Variations in national gender pay gaps around this average figure do not reveal any obvious pattern in

18 May 2009
Publication
Customised report
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets

Temporary agency work in the European Union (report)

Overall dissatisfaction with their working conditions and job situation among temporary agency workers would seem to indicate the existence of poor working conditions among this group. However, specific health and quality of work indicators paint a more ambiguous picture. They reveal that the main

30 August 2004
Publication
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Employment status and working conditions: summary

This working paper uses data from the third European Survey on Working Conditions to look at changes in employment relations between 1996 and 2000. It analyses the relationship between employment status and working conditions. The concept of employment status is two-dimensional. The research

13 August 2002
Publication
Report summary
Employment status
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Self-employment: Choice or necessity?

During the summer of 1998 more than 30,000 persons aged between 16 to 64 years from 16 European countries were interviewed about their current employment status, their working conditions and their preferences. This leaflet summarises the main findings of the survey in relation to self-employment and

22 June 2000
Publication
Report summary
Employment status
Non-standard employment
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Employment status and health (Summary)

A summary of the results of research on the relationship between employment status and health. A bibliographic review was undertaken and data from the 1996 Second European Survey on Working Conditions complemented by Eurostat data was also analysed.

03 August 1999
Publication
Report summary
Health and well-being at work
Working conditions
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work
Online resources results (152)

Self-employed satisfied overall with working conditions

The percentage of self-employed people in the Czech Republic (17.9%) is relatively high compared to the EU average of 15.5%. Beyond these Eurostat [1] figures, however, information on this category of workers is limited. [1] http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/about_eurostat

28 aprill 2014
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets

Positive views of current job and past career changes

An online survey in 2013 gathered information in the Czech Republic on professional career paths, aspirations and ‘career restarts’. The survey was carried out by marketing agency STEM/MARK [1]. The 500 questionnaires collected produced a research sample of 324 people all in employment, both

16 aprill 2014
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets

How trade unions help to protect workers’ rights

The work environment in Latvia has been examined in a survey, Work practices and people’s understanding of job security in Latvia (in Latvian, 1.62 MB PDF) [1], commissioned by the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS [2]). It was carried out by leading independent sociological research

10 aprill 2014
Article
Employment status
Job quality
Labour and social regulation
Employment and labour markets

Health matters in hiring and retaining personnel

In common with the rest of Europe, the workforce in the Netherlands is ageing. The formal retirement age in the Netherlands recently increased from 65 to 67. Surveys based on the earlier retirement age showed that an increasing percentage of employees were willing to work until the official

19 veebruar 2014
Article
Health and well-being at work
Employment status
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Self-employed women shown to be less affected by crisis

In April 2013, the Spanish Self-Employed Federation (ATA [1]) published a report on the Spanish labour market focusing on the effects of the economic crisis on self-employment from a gender perspective. It compared the proportions of men and women registered as self-employed. [1] http://www.ata.es/

5 detsember 2013
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets

Trend of exit from labour market due to sense of despair

Spain’s General Workers’ Union (UGT [1]) has published a short report, The aggravation of the discouragement effect in the economy and society [2] (in Spanish, 596KB PDF), that shows there has been a reduction in the proportion of the population recorded as economically active in official statistics

5 detsember 2013
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets

Job security and stability are key factors sought by unemployed

The State Employment Agency (NVA [1]) in Latvia has released the results of its study Flexicurity in the Labour Market and The State Employment Agency’s Role in Implementing the Concept of Flexicurity in Latvia’s Labour Market (1.38MB PDF, in Latvian) [2]. [1] http://www.nva.gov.lv/ [2] http://www

17 november 2013
Article
Employment status
Working time
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Precarious work and young people

A new report, /Young people in precarious transitions: Work, everyday life and future/ examines the problems young people face when they move into the labour market in Portugal. One of its chapters, ‘Occupational structure, labour relations and precariousness’, analyses the difficulties experienced

13 oktoober 2013
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Work organisation
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Dynamics of unemployment and low-wage jobs – a longitudinal perspective

A longitudinal study, The structure and dynamics of unemployment, atypical employment and low-wage jobs’ (in German, 2.49 KB PDF) [1], was carried out by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO [2]). It is based on the statistical analysis of social security data (provided by the Main

5 september 2013
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Pay and income
Employment and labour markets

A fifth of employees satisfied with job and pay

In January 2011, market research company Spinter Tyrimai [1] carried out a public opinion survey in Lithuania. It was commissioned by online news portal Delfi [2] to examine job and pay satisfaction among Lithuanian people. The survey covered those in employment aged between 18 and 75. Using a

28 juuli 2013
Article
Employment status
Pay and income
Employment and labour markets
Blogs results (3)
ef21067.png

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
image_blog_udw_11052020.png

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
image_blog_lmc_precarious_workers_21042020.png

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

Disclaimer

When freely submitting your request, you are consenting Eurofound in handling your personal data to reply to you. Your request will be handled in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data. More information, please read the Data Protection Notice.