Hoppa till huvudinnehåll
shutterstock_self-employed_photographer.jpg

Employment status

Employment status refers to the contractual aspect of employment in terms of duration and number of working hours, incorporating economic risk, the autonomy and the authority which workers have in their jobs. The main categories are employee and self-employed. Employees are defined as someone who gets a salary from an employer or a temporary employment agency, with a distinction between employees with an unlimited or fixed-term contract. Self-employed persons can have employees. Across all workers a distinction can be made between those who work full-time and those who work part-time, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Topic

Recent updates

eurofound-placeholder

Presentation made at the 'Informal meeting of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers (EPSCO)' by Ivailo Kalfin, Executive Director, Eurofound and Prof. dr. Paul Schoukens, Full Professor, KU Leuven. Belgian Presidency...

Presentation
ef23011_card_cover.png

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

Eurofound expert(s)

John Hurley

John Hurley is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He took up the role of research manager in February 2012. He is responsible for the European...

Senior research manager,
Employment research unit
caros-vacas-2023.png

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
martina-bisello-2023.png

​Martina Bisello is a research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. Her research interests include gender gaps in the labour market, occupational change and the impact of...

Research manager,
Employment research unit
Publications results (26)

Ensuring greater social protection for self-employed people has been the subject of much policy debate in recent years. In 2019, the Council of the European Union adopted a recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. Sudden reductions in income during the COVID-1

30 January 2024

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 arrangements, and job insecurity, for workers’ well-being, social exclusion, trust, perception of fairness

29 August 2023

Disclaimer: Please note that this report was updated with revised data (specifically for Bulgaria) on 23 March 2021.Syftet med denna rapport är att bedöma covid-19-krisens inledande effekter på sysselsättningen i Europa (fram till andra kvartalet 2020), inklusive dess konsekvenser för olika

11 March 2021

What have been the major trends and policy developments regarding the flexibilisation of employment in recent years? Eurofound’s work programme for 2017–2020 set out to document and capture these changes in the world of work. This flagship publication provides an overview of developments in Europe

16 April 2020

Platform work emerged onto European labour markets about a decade ago. While still small in scale, it is growing and evolving into a variety of forms. Different types of platform work have significantly different effects on the employment and working conditions of the affiliated workers.

23 September 2019

Two-thirds of the EU labour force are in permanent, full-time employment; the remaining one-third has a non-standard employment status, meaning temporary or part-time employment or self-employment. Given the variety of employment statuses, it is worth asking whether working conditions differ across

22 November 2018

Annual review of working life 2017 is part of a series of annual reviews published by Eurofound and provides an overview of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the EU and Norway. The annual review collates information based on reports from Eurofound’s

22 October 2018

Feelings of insecurity in several dimensions of life are widespread in the EU population, even among those who are materially well-off. Policymakers need to take these insecurities into account to better understand the concerns and dissatisfactions of citizens.

09 October 2018

Despite years of gender equality legislation, men outnumber women in management positions by two to one. While structural barriers continue to impede women’s career advancement, women themselves may be deterred from becoming managers if they perceive that it would have a negative impact on their

02 October 2018

Employment relations remain defined vis-à-vis the standard employment relationship (permanent, full-time, direct). Fixed-term contracts are therefore understood as non-standard employment contracts by which an employer hires an employee for a fixed duration. The main difference between permanent and

27 July 2017

Online resources results (152)

Gender equality in non-governmental organisations

The findings of a policy paper on equal opportunities for women and men (in Polish) [1] published by Poland’s Institute of Policy Affairs (ISP [2]) highlight the role of women in non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The paper is based on data gathered from surveys conducted in 2010 and 2011 by the

How benefits affect willingness to work

Researchers at Praxis Centre for Policy Studies [1] have looked at how Estonia’s benefits system affects the willingness of people to work. The study (in Estonian, 4Mb PDF) [2] on the impact of social benefits on work incentives analysed how the payment of different social benefits encouraged and

Tackling the issue of vulnerable workers

An EU-funded study in Malta has looked at the issue of vulnerable workers, focusing on three sectors – tourism, cleaning and language schools. The work was commissioned by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE [1]) and was part of a broader research project called Unlocking the

Workers less inclined to put up with illegal working conditions

The Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS [1]) started a population survey in 2008 as part of the European Social Fund [2] project called ‘Practical application of labour relations and work safety normative acts in branches and enterprises’. Its goal was to gauge public opinion about

Retail workers’ erratic hours and pay highlighted by union report

A random survey of 500 members of the Mandate Trade Union [1], which represents workers in the retail and service sectors, was carried out in March and April 2012, and its results were presented by the union in a report, Decent Work? The impact of the recession on low paid workers [2]. The survey

Employers feel impact of stricter labour market controls

The 2011 Comparative Assessment of Business Environment in Latvia: Administrative and Regulatory Cost Survey (in Latvian) [1] was conducted by SKDS [2], a leading independent marketing and public opinion research centre in Latvia. [1] http://www.em.gov.lv/em/2nd/?cat=30111 [2] http://skds.lv/

Employment situation of disabled workers

The survey (in French, 155Kb PDF) [1], /Handicap et santé auprès des ménages/ (HSM) [Disability and health in households], carried out by the Ministry of Employment’s Office for Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares [2]) in 2008 investigated the employment situation of people with an official

Support for disabled persons in the workplace

The survey ‘Employment of disabled peoples’ was conducted by the National Institute of Statistics (INS [1]) in the second quarter of 2011 as a complementary module to the ‘Household labour force survey’ (/Ancheta asupra forţei de muncă în gospodării,/ AMIGO) [1] http://www.insse.ro/

Impact of the informal economy on the labour market

The report, Informal economy and its impact on the labour market (in Romanian, 7.56Mb PDF) [1], was published by the National Trade Union Bloc (BNS [2]), a national trade union confederation. The report uses data collected for selective research in Romanian households as part of a project known as

Prevalence of temporary contracts among young people

The report, Youth of 2011 (in Polish, 21.16Mb PDF) [1], written by strategy advisors to the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, gave rise to much discussion in the media, partly because it was published in the middle of the election campaign. Although the report examines many different subjects


Blogs results (3)
ef21067.png

While 2020 may come to be seen as the year platform work gathered pace and started to go mainstream – thanks in large part to COVID-19 containment measures sparking an increase in food and grocery delivery – 2021 could be the year that regulation of platform work is set in motion. The well-known

24 februari 2021
image_blog_udw_11052020.png

A debate has started in Italy about the support that the state should provide to undeclared workers operating in the informal economy during the COVID-19 crisis. Nunzia Catalfo, Italy’s Minister of Labour in April stated that ‘undeclared work should not exist’ but went on to acknowledge ‘it is a

11 maj 2020
image_blog_lmc_precarious_workers_21042020.png

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

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.