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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)

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)

Gender equality in non-governmental organisations

The findings of a policy paper on equal opportunities for women and men (in Polish) [1] published by Poland’s Institute of Policy Affairs (ISP [2]) highlight the role of women in non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The paper is based on data gathered from surveys conducted in 2010 and 2011 by the

15 november 2012
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets

How benefits affect willingness to work

Researchers at Praxis Centre for Policy Studies [1] have looked at how Estonia’s benefits system affects the willingness of people to work. The study (in Estonian, 4Mb PDF) [2] on the impact of social benefits on work incentives analysed how the payment of different social benefits encouraged and

28 oktoober 2012
Article
Employment status
Social protection
Employment and labour markets

Tackling the issue of vulnerable workers

An EU-funded study in Malta has looked at the issue of vulnerable workers, focusing on three sectors – tourism, cleaning and language schools. The work was commissioned by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE [1]) and was part of a broader research project called Unlocking the

28 oktoober 2012
Article
Employment status
Labour and social regulation
Working poor
Employment and labour markets

Workers less inclined to put up with illegal working conditions

The Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS [1]) started a population survey in 2008 as part of the European Social Fund [2] project called ‘Practical application of labour relations and work safety normative acts in branches and enterprises’. Its goal was to gauge public opinion about

6 september 2012
Article
Employment status
Labour and social regulation
Health and well-being at work
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Retail workers’ erratic hours and pay highlighted by union report

A random survey of 500 members of the Mandate Trade Union [1], which represents workers in the retail and service sectors, was carried out in March and April 2012, and its results were presented by the union in a report, Decent Work? The impact of the recession on low paid workers [2]. The survey

29 august 2012
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Working time
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Employers feel impact of stricter labour market controls

The 2011 Comparative Assessment of Business Environment in Latvia: Administrative and Regulatory Cost Survey (in Latvian) [1] was conducted by SKDS [2], a leading independent marketing and public opinion research centre in Latvia. [1] http://www.em.gov.lv/em/2nd/?cat=30111 [2] http://skds.lv/

15 august 2012
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets

Employment situation of disabled workers

The survey (in French, 155Kb PDF) [1], /Handicap et santé auprès des ménages/ (HSM) [Disability and health in households], carried out by the Ministry of Employment’s Office for Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares [2]) in 2008 investigated the employment situation of people with an official

16 Mai 2012
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets

Support for disabled persons in the workplace

The survey ‘Employment of disabled peoples’ was conducted by the National Institute of Statistics (INS [1]) in the second quarter of 2011 as a complementary module to the ‘Household labour force survey’ (/Ancheta asupra forţei de muncă în gospodării,/ AMIGO) [1] http://www.insse.ro/

16 Mai 2012
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Work organisation
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Impact of the informal economy on the labour market

The report, Informal economy and its impact on the labour market (in Romanian, 7.56Mb PDF) [1], was published by the National Trade Union Bloc (BNS [2]), a national trade union confederation. The report uses data collected for selective research in Romanian households as part of a project known as

2 Mai 2012
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets
Social protection

Prevalence of temporary contracts among young people

The report, Youth of 2011 (in Polish, 21.16Mb PDF) [1], written by strategy advisors to the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, gave rise to much discussion in the media, partly because it was published in the middle of the election campaign. Although the report examines many different subjects

29 jaanuar 2012
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
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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