Types of employment
While standard employment relationships (SER), characterised as open-ended, full-time employment, remain by far the most common form of employment in the EU in the period 2008–2018 (with only a small decline from 60% to 59% of employment), there have been differing trends across the Member States. Sharper falls in SER occurred in countries such as Estonia and Slovakia, whereas this share increased markedly in Romania and Portugal (Eurofound, 2020).
Part-time work
Within non-standard employment, the increase was most significant in relation to part-time work. In 2018, part-time work accounted for 20% of employment, compared with 18% in 2008. Most of the increase occurred over 2008–2014, with a subsequent small decline, showing that part-time employment is anti-cyclical. Women continue to represent the majority of part-time workers, but the gender gap has narrowed over the last decade. The rise in part-time work was particularly notable among younger workers (up to 34 years). Central European Member States tend to have more part-time employees. Specifically, the part-time employment rate amounted to 46.9% in the Netherlands in 2013. However, the biggest proportional increases in part-time employment during the economic crisis occurred in the most affected European economies (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland) (source: Eurostat). Despite the gradual recovery of EU labour markets, part-time employment has risen. This holds particularly true for involuntary part-time employment in the Member States most affected by crisis (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Spain), whereas involuntary part-time employment decreased to pre-crisis levels in the continental and Baltic countries (source: Eurostat).
Another significant trend in relation to part-time work was the increase in short-hours part-time work (work of 20 hours or less), which can impact the adequacy of overall household income. In all, 4% of EU workers were working 10 or fewer hours per week in 2018 and 12% were working 20 or fewer hours per week. Overall the low-hours gender employment gap was 11 percentage points (17% of female workers work on this basis compared to 6% of male workers) in 2018 but had contracted by 2 percentage points since 2008. The rise of low-hours part-time work has been most observed amongst male workers. Low-hours part-time work is characteristic of service sectors such as household activities, arts and entertainment, accommodation and food services, and administrative and support services.
In 2018, 25% of part-time workers indicated that they would prefer more or full-time hours. In terms of the desired length of working hours, a large share of women (50.1%) seems to prefer an increase in working time, and a transition from short part-time (20 hours or less) to long part-time (21 to 34 hours) and from long part-time to standard hours. Men, however, seem to favour a transition from long hours to standard hours (Eurofound, 2017e).
Multiple-job holding
Holding more than one job is becoming more common in EU labour markets. The share of multiple-job holders increased somewhat to 4% of the EU27 and UK total workforce 2018. The largest shares could be found in advanced labour markets of central European Member States (8.2% in the Netherlands) and the Nordic countries (including 9% in Sweden and 7% in Denmark). On the other hand, eastern European countries such as Bulgaria (0.4%) and Slovakia (1.2%) along with Croatia (1.2%), Italy (1.4%) and Romania (1.5%) had the lowest share of multiple-job holders (source: Eurostat). Multiple-job holders are more likely to have a higher education and to work in public services or knowledge-intensive services. A large majority of multiple-job holders (71%) work 10 hours or less per week in their second job.
Casual work
Another trend is the increasing proliferation of casual work contracts. Casual work is defined as work that is not stable and continuous, where the employer is not obliged to provide the worker with work on a regular basis. Eurofound (2015; 2018a; 2019) distinguishes between intermittent work and on-call work. Intermittent work involves an employer approaching workers on a regular or irregular basis to conduct a specific task. Such work tends to be either seasonal or project-based and is limited to a fixed-term period. Accordingly, it can be considered a special form of temporary employment. On-call work involves a continuous employment relationship. However, the employer does not provide the employee with work on an ongoing basis, but rather has the option to call the employee in as and when needed. Some of these employment contracts indicate a maximum or minimum number of hours but can also refrain from doing so, in which case they are usually termed zero-hours or no-guaranteed-hours contracts, with no obligation at all for the employer to provide workers with any work. The development of casual work is difficult to measure as there is no common definition at Member State level. However, where data are available, these point to a trend increase in these precarious forms of work (Eurofound, 2019).
Temporary work
Although the share of temporary employment was the same in 2008 and 2018 (14%), there is significant variation across countries, and there has been a particular expansion in the use of such contracts for new entrants to the labour market (especially younger workers). The highest share of temporary workers can be found in Spain (27%) and the lowest share in the Baltic countries and Romania (less than 3%). Temporary employment is cyclical, declining during periods of economic downturn and subsequently rising again.
Overall, the length of temporary contracts is declining, making employment and career trajectories less predictable, particularly where transition rates into open-ended employment remain limited. In Spain, for example, fewer than one in six temporary contract workers moved to a permanent contract between 2015 and 2016. The share of involuntary temporary employment is high at 60%.
Self-employment
European labour markets are not only composed of employees; self-employment also needs to be considered when discussing the general labour market situation. According to the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), 14% of the EU27 and UK total workforce was self-employed in 2018, and this share has been rather stable over time. Greece (29%) had the highest share of self-employed, while Denmark (8%), Germany, Estonia, Luxembourg and Sweden (all 9%) had the lowest shares. There has been a significant shift in the composition of self-employment, with a significant decline in agriculture and an increase in higher- and lower-skilled service sectors (for example, consultants and professionals, on the one hand, and household service providers, on the other).
In addition, the share of self-employed without employees has risen, with a corresponding decline in self-employed with employees. Some workers work as self-employed in a second job. According to data from the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) 2015, 7% of the self-employed with employees and 9% of the self-employed without employees had another job (Eurofound, 2017a). Most of the workers with a second job (58%) had an occasional job rather than a permanent one. The EWCS 2015 does not state clearly whether this activity was carried out as a self-employed worker or as an employee (Eurofound, 2017a).
These developments hint towards substantial heterogeneity among self-employed workers in Europe. Eurofound found five ‘clusters’ of self-employed, with considerable differences as regards their motivations, security and sustainability of activity, level of dependency and precariousness, and similar. Based on these data, it can be concluded that 25% of the self-employed can be considered precarious workers (Eurofound, 2017a). Similarly, self-employed workers are more likely to face in-work poverty than employed workers (Eurofound, 2017b).
Compound non-standard employment
Although the change between SER and atypical contractual forms has been relatively marginal over the last decade, there was an increase on what Eurofound terms ‘compound non-standard employment’ (such as combinations of different atypical forms) (Eurofound, 2020). These forms of employment are arguably more precarious. According to Olsthoorn (2014), there are three elements of precarious employment: insecure employment (for example, fixed-term contracts and temporary agency work); unsupportive rights (that is, few rights to income support when unemployed); and vulnerable employees. Eurofound (2018b) defines precarious work as ‘the intersection of these three characteristics, leading to vulnerable employees who have an insecure job and few entitlements to income support’.
This is important because individuals on non-standard contracts and the self-employed are less likely to have access to employment rights, social protection and representation. Important wage gaps remain between standard and non-standard employment, and there are also differences in terms of access to training. The risk-of-poverty rate is consequently higher among atypical workers. The most recent developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic also hint towards non-standard workers being more affected than those on standard contracts (European Commission, 2020).
Increasing diversity of employment
Overall, there is an increasing variety of contractual types and forms of employment in the EU labour markets. Some of these forms of employment modify the relationship between employer and employee (or client and worker), while others change work organisation and work patterns (for example, as regards the place or time or work, task assignment or cooperation). They often involve locations other than the usual employer’s site and offer extensive use of information and communications technology (Eurofound, 2015b; 2018a).
Platform work is one of the new types that are increasingly gaining importance. This is mainly to be attributed to the technological advancements, the rise of self-employment, an increasing need or wish for flexibility of employers and employees, as well as some societal trends (for example, higher demand for household services due to demographic trends or for convenience services like personal transport or food delivery). It is estimated that 1.4% of the workforce (in 16 selected Member States) do platform work as their main job, while another 10% do it at various levels of intensity and frequency next to another job (Pesole et al, 2019). Motivations to enter into platform work include the wish for flexibility and autonomy but also a lack of employment alternatives.
The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have diverging impacts on platform workers. While some platform workers have experienced a drop in work and hence income – notably those conducting tasks involving physical proximity to clients, like person transport or home maintenance – others have seen increased demand (for example, food delivery) (Ustek-Spilda et al, 2020).
The project applied a foresight methodology to derive possible future scenarios. As part of this, at least two realistic and mutually exclusive hypotheses were drafted for each of the key drivers to depict their potential future development.