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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)

New measure to help mothers return part time to the public sector

Women who take maternity leave face many difficulties when they try to return to the labour market after their child is born. Providing good quality state-run childcare facilities and a basic education system could help women deal with the challenge of simultaneous child-rearing and work by making

1 august 2010
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets

Survey reveals scale of hidden economy

A study was carried out in 2007–2008 in the framework of a project of the University of National and World Economy (Университет за национално и световно стопанство, UNWE [1]), entitled ‘Hidden economy in Bulgaria: Contemporary evaluation in the period of European integration’. The study is based on

31 Mai 2010
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Labour and social regulation

Flexibility in contract arrangements but employment activation ineffective

In a speech on 24 October 2007, the Luxembourg Minister of Labour and Employment, François Biltgen, gave the government definition of flexicurity [1] in Luxembourg. According to this definition, flexicurity must be marked by the stamp of subsidiarity [2]: the principles of flexicurity should be

23 Mai 2010
Article
Skills and training
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Social protection

Development and structure of flexible forms of employment

In recent years, the German labour market has undergone profound reforms. For example, rules on social welfare benefits and temporary agency work [1] have been reorganised (DE0409204N [2], DE0608049I [3], DE0212203N [4]). While these reforms were undertaken to stimulate job creation, among other

12 Mai 2010
Article
Employment status
Work organisation
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

New insights into gender inequalities at work

In January 2010, the most comprehensive report on gender equality [1] at establishment level in Germany was published. The report is the outcome of two years of cooperation between 16 researchers from various institutes and universities, overseen by four members of the Hans-Boeckler Foundation (Hans

8 aprill 2010
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Employment and labour markets

Gender gap in Danish labour market is narrowing

The Danish Ministry of Employment [1] (Beskæftigelsesministeriet [2]) published a recent report entitled /Women and men in the labour market 2009/ (Kvinder og mænd på arbejdsmarkedet 2009 (1.1Mb PDF) [3]). The report assesses differences between men and women in the labour market. Being a topic of

30 märts 2010
Article
Skills and training
Employment status
Gender equality
Pay and income
Employment and labour markets
Working time
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Pathways to regular employment

In the autumn of 2009, the Economic and Social Research Institute (Istituto di Ricerche Economiche e Sociali, Ires [1]) presented the results of the project ‘In regola [2]’ [According to the rules]. It was carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (Ministero del Lavoro e

30 märts 2010
Article
Employment status
Pay and income
Employment and labour markets
Health and well-being at work
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Role of temporary work in company recruitment

The Centre for Population, Poverty and Socioeconomic Policy Studies (Centre d’Études de Populations, de Pauvreté et de Politiques Socio-Économiques/International Networks for Studies in Technology, Environment, Alternatives, Development, CEPS/INSTEAD [1]) carried out a survey in 2007 on behalf of

11 märts 2010
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets

Women and part-time work

In collaboration with the Working Life Research Centre (Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt, FORBA [1]), the scientific institute L&R Social Research [2] conducted a survey on part-time employment of women on behalf of the Department of Women’s Affairs of the Austrian Federal Chancellery

7 märts 2010
Article
Employment status
Gender equality
Working time
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Spotlight on informal employment

In July 2008, the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD [1]) published a Report on informal employment in Romania [2], with contributions of researchers from the National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection (Institutul

7 märts 2010
Article
Employment status
Employment and labour markets
Social protection
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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