EMCC European Monitoring Centre on Change

The last decade has seen much public and policy debate on the future of work, and the therewith related ‘new forms of employment’. In a 2013-2014 mapping across the EU and Norway, Eurofound identified nine new trends that differ from more traditional employment either as regards the formal relationship between employer and employee (or client and self-employed) and/or in the field of work organisation (notably in terms of time and place of work, including digitally-enabled flexibility). An update of this mapping in mid-2020 not only showed that these trends continue to be relevant, but that they are still considered ‘new’. However, they have become more prevalent these past few years, resulting in increased employment diversity in European labour markets. In particular, casual work, platform work and ICT-based mobile work have gained importance in many Member States. Policy is advised to take advantage of the opportunities inherent to the new forms of employment while safeguarding labour standards. For such, targeted and tailor-made solutions are deemed more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach.

• Publication: New forms of employment
• Publication: New forms of employment: 2020 update
• Blog: New forms of employment in Europe – How new is new?
• Publication series: New forms of employment