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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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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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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 rujna 2023
Corporate news

Eurofound expert(s)

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 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 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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Online resources results (152)

Effects of economic crisis on labour market

In its monthly journal Enimerossi [1], the Labour Institute of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (Ινστιτούτο Εργασίας ΓΣΕΕ, INE/GSEE [2]) presented in two parts a study on the impact of the economic crisis on employment. The study analyses and elaborates data from the Labour Force Survey

Factors preventing young people from continuing in education

The Research Institute for Vocational Training and Adult Education (Institut für Berufs- und Erwachsenenbildungsforschung, IBE [1]) at the Johannes Kepler University in the north-central city of Linz conducted a quantitative survey to identify the main risk factors that contribute to young people

Impact of parenthood on careers of young men and women

The third wave of the ‘Generation 98’ survey (in French) [1], conducted by the Centre for Studies and Research on Qualifications (Centre d’Études et de Recherches sur les Qualifications, CEREQ [2]) in the autumn of 2005, focuses on the career path of a sample of 16,000 young people who finished

Women workers make up majority of ‘700-euro generation’

A survey entitled ‘Work and trade unions’, carried out by the company V-Project Research Consulting (VPRC [1]), gives a profile of workers whose net pay is less than €750. It is a quantitative survey commissioned by the Greek General Confederation of Labour (Γενική Συνομοσπονδία Εργατών Ελλάδας

International operations of companies and impact on workers

The international operations of Austrian enterprises, especially in central and eastern European countries, are usually seen as evidence of the fact that Austria is among the beneficiaries of globalisation – a development many people can benefit from. It should be considered, however, whether a

Working conditions and quality of life in Spanish workplaces

The Sixth National Survey on Working Conditions reveals that almost one quarter of workers consider that their work is affecting their health, and almost three quarters suffer from musculoskeletal disorders. In addition, 71% consider that they are exposed to some kind of risk in the workplace. In

Global crisis could reverse decline in hidden economy

On 27 February 2009, the Centre for the Study of Democracy (Център за изследване на демокрацията, CSD [1]), in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation [2], organised a seminar entitled ‘The informal economy in Bulgaria in a crisis [3]’. At the seminar, the latest findings of the ‘hidden

Significant increase in labour market participation of older workers

The report [1] on the labour market participation of people aged 55–64 years and their career paths (in Spanish) [2] was published in May 2009 by the research institute Fundación 1º de Mayo [3]. The latter was established by the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’Commissions (Comisiones Obreras

Atypical employment forms on the rise in Austria

The increase in new – so-called atypical – forms of employment has proved a common phenomenon in many European countries over the past decade. These new forms of employment are characterised by reduced social protection, compared with the dominant model of dependent employment providing for full

Impact of economic crisis on unemployed people

In February 2009, the human resources company Adecco [1] published a press release (in Spanish, 38Kb PDF) [2] on the job profiles currently being accepted by unemployed people in Spain. The information is based on official statistics and Adecco’s own business data; the main findings of the research


Blogs results (3)
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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 veljače 2021
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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 svibnja 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 travnja 2020

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