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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.

Topic

Recent updates

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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 Septembris 2023
Corporate news
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Darba tirgus nestabilitātes ietekme uz sabiedrību

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 Augusts 2023
Publication
Research report

Eurofound expert(s)

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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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Dragoș Adăscăliței

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)

Temporary agency work in the European Union

This report examines the main trends in temporary agency work and the problems and challenges it poses for the different Member States and the EU as a whole. It puts the spotlight on the working conditions of temporary agency workers, and the specific features of such work that might help explain

26 March 2002
Publication
Research report
Employment and labour markets
Non-standard employment
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

Precarious employment and health-related outcomes in the European Union

This publication focuses on the impact of employment status on workers' health. It presents and analyses data on the 15 Member States of the European Union, collected from the Foundation's Second European Survey on Working Conditions, Eurostat, and OECD. It also offers recommendations on how to

23 March 2000
Publication
Research report
Health and well-being at work
Non-standard employment
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Precarious employment and working conditions in Europe

Precarious employment not only covers employees with fixed term and temporary contracts (and some categories of self-employed workers) but also workers with low incomes and/or short working hours. This publication describes the extent, consequences and reasons for precarious employment in order to

17 February 1999
Publication
Research report
Non-standard employment
Working time
Working poor
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Working conditions of the self-employed in the European Union (Summary)

This summary is based on an analysis of findings of the second European survey on working conditions conducted in 1996. The survey findings show that stress and musculo-skeletal disorders are the main health risks at work and highlights the need for a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to the

16 March 1998
Publication
Report summary
Health and well-being at work
Non-standard employment
Psychosocial risks
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work
Online resources results (249)

Trends in part-time work in Greece

Part-time work is an expression of the flexible organisation of working time. Although it is often quoted as a "new" form of employment, its practice has a long history in Greece. However, its legal framework has been moulded by the special provisions of the so-called Law on Development of 1990 (Law

27 Maijs 1997
Article
Non-standard employment
Working conditions and sustainable work

No dramatic rise in temporary employment expected

A frequently repeated statement in discussion on industrial relations is that temporary employment will be much more common in the future. This assumption is refuted in a recent report from the National Labour Market Board (Arbetsmarknadsstyrelsen,AMS).

27 Maijs 1997
Article
Non-standard employment
Gender equality
Employment relationship
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Youth employment: an unsolved problem

Shortages of jobs, alternating periods of employment and unemployment and lack of job security are the main features of the current employment situation for young people in Spain. For some of them this is a temporary situation, but others will find it hard to escape. However, the reform of labour

27 Aprīlis 1997
Article
Labour market participation
Non-standard employment
Skills and training
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Government and social partners discuss new part-time work legislation

New legislation proposed by the Portuguese Government on the regulation of part-time work is currently under discussion amongst the social partners. The most important points include the definition of part-time work, the requirement that part-timers should have employment contracts in writing and

27 Aprīlis 1997
Article
Non-standard employment
Labour and social regulation
Minimum wage

First collective agreement against racial discrimination at work

As part of the European Year against Racism, a collective agreement signed in the temporary work sector in Belgium has laid down a "Code of Best Practice" on the prevention of racial discrimination against foreign temporary workers. We review the agreement, signed in May 1996, and its background.

27 Aprīlis 1997
Article
Migration and mobility
Non-standard employment
Discrimination at work

1996 solidarity pact in the chemical industry proves successful

The German chemical industry enjoys a long tradition of successful consensus-based industrial relations. In spring 1996, the bargaining partners concluded a "solidarity pact" in the form of a package of regional and national collective agreements. The agreements ran for 12 months and covered 590,000

27 Aprīlis 1997
Article
Collective bargaining
Employment relationship
Pay and income
Non-standard employment
Ageing workforce
Labour market policies
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

Part-time employment: a new feature of the Spanish labour market

The 1994 labour market reform led to a spectacular increase in part-time employment contracts, which had hardly been used in Spain before that time. This feature describes this development and points out the main characteristics of the workers employed under these contracts, who are mainly women.

27 Marts 1997
Article
Non-standard employment
Gender equality
Labour law
Social partners
Labour and social regulation
Social policies

Employers and unions adopt positions on labour market reform

Employers and unions want to reduce the amount of temporary recruitment and the number of types of employment contract. They also want to increase their freedom to negotiate labour market issues through collective bargaining. These are the key issues in the current debate over a new round of labour

27 Februāris 1997
Article
Labour market policies
Collective bargaining
Social dialogue
Non-standard employment
Restructuring
Employment relationship
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Industrial relations
Working conditions and sustainable work
Industrial relations and social dialogue

Pressure mounts to protect standard employment relationship

Some Portuguese sectors have been characterised by a widespread move away from standard, regular and permanent jobs towards temporary forms of employment, including irregular and casual work, homeworking and certain forms of self-employment. These developments are the result of an interplay between

27 Februāris 1997
Article
Non-standard employment
Labour law
Employment and labour markets
Labour and social regulation
Blogs results (7)
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New forms of employment in Europe – How new is new?

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 Decembris 2020
Irene Mandl
Blog
Platform work
Non-standard employment
Working conditions
New forms of employment
Employment relationship
Teleworking
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work
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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 Aprīlis 2020
Tina Weber
Blog
COVID-19
Non-standard employment
Employment status
Labour and social regulation
Employment and labour markets
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ICT-enabled flexible working – All plain sailing?

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 Maijs 2019
Oscar Vargas Llave
Blog
Non-standard employment
Working conditions
New forms of employment
Inclusive labour markets
Digitalisation
Employment and labour markets
Anticipating and managing the impact of change
Working conditions and sustainable work
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Stamping out fraud in hiring practices across Europe

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 Jūnijs 2018
Isabella Biletta
Blog
Non-standard employment
Posted workers
Working conditions and sustainable work
Employment relationship
Fraudulent work
The many faces of self-employment In Europe

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 Oktobris 2017
Mathijn Wilkens
Blog
Inequality
Job creation
Non-standard employment
Working conditions and sustainable work
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Employment shifts in Europe during the recovery: three little noticed trends

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 Jūlijs 2017
John Hurley
Blog
Employment structure
Gender equality
Job creation
Employment and labour markets
Non-standard employment
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The rise of temporary contracts in Europe

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 Februāris 2016
Eurofound
Blog
Employment and labour markets
Non-standard employment
Pay and income
Working conditions and sustainable work
Working poor

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