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Non-standard employment

Non-standard employment is an umbrella term for different employment arrangements that deviate from standard employment. They include temporary employment; part-time and on-call work; temporary agency work and other multiparty employment relationships; as well as disguised employment and dependent self-employment. The most relevant of possible future developments of non-standard work, whatever their contractual form, are related to digitalisation.

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Recent updates

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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 Meán Fómhair 2023
Corporate news
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This report investigates the social groups whose attachment to the labour market may be unstable and who are most likely to have non-standard working arrangements, and the implications of such...

29 Lúnasa 2023
Publication
Research report

Eurofound expert(s)

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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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Dragoș Adăscăliței is a research officer in the Employment unit at Eurofound. His current research focuses on topics related to the future of work, including the impact of...

Research officer,
Employment research unit
Publications results (55)

Ensuring greater social protection for self-employed people has been the subject of much policy debate in recent years. In 2019, the Council of the European Union adopted a recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. Sudden reductions in income during the COVID-1

30 January 2024

This report investigates the social groups whose attachment to the labour market may be unstable and who are most likely to have non-standard working arrangements, and the implications of such arrangements, and job insecurity, for workers’ well-being, social exclusion, trust, perception of fairness

29 August 2023

Disclaimer - Please note that this report was updated with revised data (specifically for Bulgaria) on 23 March 2021.This report sets out to assess the initial impact of the COVID-19 crisis on employment in Europe (up to Q2 2020), including its effects across sectors and on different categories of

11 March 2021

Although standard employment (generally full-time and permanent) remains the dominant employment type across the EU, European labour markets are increasingly characterised by a variety of different forms. These new forms of employment involve new formal employment relationships or work patterns

15 December 2020

Megatrends, such as digitalisation, globalisation, demographic change and climate change, are transforming the world of work, with knock-on effects for working conditions and job quality. Against this background, this report examines working conditions and job quality from a sectoral perspective

05 November 2020

What have been the major trends and policy developments regarding the flexibilisation of employment in recent years? Eurofound’s work programme for 2017–2020 set out to document and capture these changes in the world of work. This flagship publication provides an overview of developments in Europe

16 April 2020

Casual work, both intermittent and on-call, contributes to labour market flexibility and is therefore increasingly used across Europe. In some countries, practices go beyond the use of casual employment contracts to include other types of contracts and forms of self-employment.

20 December 2019

This report sets out to describe what labour market segmentation is and why it is problematic for the labour market and society, as well as disadvantaged groups. It takes a broad view of the term to examine the situation that arises when the divergence in working conditions between different groups

02 December 2019

Annual review of working life 2017 is part of a series of annual reviews published by Eurofound and provides an overview of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the EU and Norway. The annual review collates information based on reports from Eurofound’s

22 October 2018

Platform work is a form of employment that uses an online platform to match the supply of and demand for paid labour. In Europe, platform work is still small in scale but is rapidly developing. The types of work offered through platforms are ever-increasing, as are the challenges for existing

24 September 2018

Online resources results (249)

France: Developments in working life – Q1 2016

Government plans to combat high levels of unemployment, controversial revisions to the Labour Code, negotiations about unemployment insurance schemes and the impact of digitalisation on working life are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest

Poland: Developments in working life – Q1 2016

The re-emergence of conflict in the coal-mining sector, noticeable pay pressure, significant changes to labour law and the new child benefit are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in Poland in the first quarter of 2016.

Germany: Developments in working life – Q1 2016

Trade union membership growth, the draft bill on temporary agency work and elections in three federal states are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in Germany in the first quarter of 2016.

Spain: Developments in working life – Q1 2016

The discussions and deals between political parties after the general election of December 2015, the slow recovery of the labour market and trade union membership losses are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in Spain

Italy: Developments in working life – Q1 2016

Consultation on the renewal of industrial relations regulations, a proposal for a Charter of Universal Labour Rights, new rules on self-employment and 'smart working', and negotiations for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement in the metalworking sector are the main topics of interest

Finland: Job quality in temporary and part-time work

​A Finnish study on job quality finds that people working in part-time jobs and on temporary contracts experience poorer job quality – in many important respects – than their counterparts in permanent, full-time jobs. They have fewer opportunities for skills development and less discretion in their

Slovenia: Growth of precarious work in the media sector

The media sector in Slovenia is characterised by high rate of precarious work, especially among young people. The management of the largest national media company RTV Slovenia has already been warned by the Labour Inspectorate against violating labour legislation.

Greece: Tripartite social dialogue to combat undeclared work

Although official statistics show that undeclared work in Greece is falling, social partners and the Labour Inspectorate fear that the full extent of illegal work is not being accurately measured. They feel this is a threat to the sustainability of the social security system and are calling for the


Blogs results (7)
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Standard employment is not simply being replaced by non-standard work; employment is becoming more diverse, and policy must accordingly become more tailored. The last decade has seen much public and policy debate on the future of work. Standard employment – permanent, full-time and subject to labour

15 Nollaig 2020
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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 Aibreán 2020
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Imagine you’re at work and something happens: you have to leave to visit a client, you have to go home to let in the plumber, or you have to collect the kids from school as the football training has just been cancelled. If you’re lucky, your employer gives you the flexibility to do this. If you’re

14 Bealtaine 2019
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Research Manager Isabella Biletta looks at fraudulent practices in the contracting of work. Such practices involve the abuse of legitimate employment relationships with the aim of sidestepping labour and social regulations and with the effect of undermining workers’ rights and fair competition in

1 Meitheamh 2018
The many faces of self-employment In Europe

While the Europe 2020 strategy actively promotes entrepreneurial self-employment as a means to create good jobs, policy makers at national and EU level are actively looking at better social protection for self-employed workers. Understanding this paradox requires looking beyond the ‘self-employed’

26 Deireadh Fómhair 2017
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The EU has finally recovered all the net employment losses sustained since the global financial crisis. It has been a long and painful process. But there is at last growing evidence of positive momentum in EU labour markets, if not quite ‘animal spirits’. Many of those member states most affected by

26 Iúil 2017
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More than one in 10 employees in the EU are employed on temporary contracts, but a majority of them would prefer a permanent contract. Temporary contracts help employers to manage their labour demand, but there are downsides for employees, such as job insecurity and lower pay.

19 Feabhra 2016

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