non-standard_employment.jpg

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

ef23011_card_cover.png

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 September 2023
Corporate news
ef23011_card_cover.png

Societal implications of labour market instability

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)

caros-vacas-2023.png

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
dragos-adascalitei-2023.png

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)

Financial incentives seek to stimulate open-ended recruitment

A government Order adopted in Portugal in March 2002 aims to encourage permanent employment by means of financial subsidies for companies that convert a fixed-term contract, on expiry, into an open-ended contract. The new legislation is seen as necessary because fixed-term employment is continuing

27 May 2002
Article
Labour and social regulation
Non-standard employment
Working conditions and sustainable work
Employment and labour markets

Unions highlight unstable employment in Catalonia

In 2001-2, trade unions in the Catalonia region of Spain have taken a number of initiatives aimed at examining and criticising the level of unstable employment. CC.OO's Catalan organisation has drawn up a 'blacklist' of the 200 most unstable companies in the region, using a 'barometer of employment

29 April 2002
Article
Social partners
Labour market policies
Non-standard employment
Labour law
Labour and social regulation

Commission proposes Directive on temporary agency workers

The European Commission issued on 20 March 2002 a proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on working conditions for temporary agency workers [1]. This is the third subject to be regulated within the framework of the Commission's September 1995 social partner consultation on the

22 April 2002
Article
Non-standard employment
Social partners
Industrial relations
Industrial relations and social dialogue

Temporary employment increases in public sector

Spain has a very high level of temporary employment, especially among women. However, in recent years the temporary employment rate has been falling slightly in the private sector, while increasing in the public sector, which previously had a relatively low level of such non-permanent employment

27 February 2002
Article
Non-standard employment
Employment and labour markets

Government initiatives spark major confrontation with trade unions

Between November and December 2001, the Italian government launched three important reform initiatives in the fields of labour market institutions, the pension system and the tax system. The Cgil, Cisl and Uil trade union confederations sharply criticised the government's action, both because of the

25 February 2002
Article
Employment and labour markets
Non-standard employment
Labour and social regulation
Living conditions and quality of life

Part-time work Directive finally implemented

TheProtection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 [1] took effect in late December 2001. It seeks to implements the December 1997EU Directive (97/81/EC) on part-time work [2], which was based on a framework agreement negotiated by the European-level social partners in 1997 (EU9706131F [3]) under

24 February 2002
Article
Non-standard employment
Labour and social regulation

Non-permanent employment and fear of economic downturn cast shadow on work

The Finnish Ministry of Labour published its yearly 'working life barometer' in December 2001. The results indicate that employees on fixed-term and temporary contracts are discriminated against more than other groups at the workplace. Employees' general attitude to changes in working life has also

6 January 2002
Article
Job quality
Non-standard employment
Social partners
Working conditions
Working conditions and sustainable work

New government challenges trade union movement

A general election took place in Denmark on 20 November 2001. The result was a comfortable victory for the coalition of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and Conservative People's Party (Konservative Folkeparti), which shortly afterwards formed a government under the leadership of Anders Fogh Rasmussen of

6 January 2002
Article
Social partners
Employment and labour markets
Social protection
Skills and training
Non-standard employment

Report examines relationship between young people and work

A survey carried out in November 2001 by Iref, a research centre linked to the Christian Association of Italian Workers (Acli), examines the aspirations of young Italians towards work. The majority of them seek an independent and flexible employment relationship, which is able to offer the same

3 January 2002
Article
Non-standard employment
Working time
Working conditions
Employment and labour markets
Working conditions and sustainable work

Involuntary part-time work declines

Over the past 20 years, part-time work has been growing at a rapid pace in France, promoted by the government as a potential tool for stemming unemployment while affording the flexibility sought by the employers. Often imposed by employers, part-time work has thus been experienced by many employees

2 December 2001
Article
Non-standard employment
Working time
Employment and labour markets
Blogs results (7)
ef20086.png

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 December 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
image_blog_lmc_precarious_workers_21042020.png

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 April 2020
Tina Weber
Blog
COVID-19
Non-standard employment
Employment status
Labour and social regulation
Employment and labour markets
image_1_blog_flexibility_14052019.png

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 May 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
fraudulent_contracting.jpg

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 June 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 October 2017
Mathijn Wilkens
Blog
Inequality
Job creation
Non-standard employment
Working conditions and sustainable work
employment_shifts.jpg

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 July 2017
John Hurley
Blog
Employment structure
Gender equality
Job creation
Employment and labour markets
Non-standard employment
o4yzhdrf75li5gesnnsq.png

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

Disclaimer

When freely submitting your request, you are consenting Eurofound in handling your personal data to reply to you. Your request will be handled in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data. More information, please read the Data Protection Notice.