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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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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
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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 August 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)

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

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

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

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

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

Online resources results (249)

Spain: Recent growth in entrepreneurial activity

Experts acknowledge the success of Spanish measures to encourage self-employment, but argue that many unemployed people have decided to set up their own businesses only because they cannot find a job, and that necessity-driven new businesses have lower survival rates. They say entrepreneurship

Government consults on regulating ‘zero hours’ contracts

So-called ‘zero hours’ employment contracts in the United Kingdom (*UK1308029I* [1]) allow employers to take workers on without guaranteeing any specific amount of work, [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/industrial-relations-undefined-working-conditions/zero-hours

Debate continues over use of locum doctors

For over a decade, there has been a shortage of doctors throughout Sweden, particularly in the north of the country. According to a Swedish Medical Association survey of staffing needs in primary care (in Swedish, 958KB PDF) [1], an increase of 30% in the current number of doctors, or an extra 1,400

New rules on hiring casual labour

/In Norway, new rules to protect hired labourers have been introduced. Both trade unions and the Labour Inspection Authority have been given greater powers to ensure that the hiring of labour complies with the law. Employer organisations are highly critical of the changes made to the legal framework

Trade unions in tussle over agency work directive

The Trades Union Congress (TUC [1]) has lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the UK government has failed to properly implement Directive 2008/104/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 2008 on temporary agency work (64KB PDF) [2]. The TUC presented

Improved rights for part-time workers

The Norwegian Parliament has strengthened the rights of employees who involuntarily work part time because they cannot find a full-time job. The legislation, which makes it easier for part-time workers to increase their working hours, will come into force on 1 January 2014.


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 December 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 April 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 May 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 June 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 October 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 July 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 February 2016

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