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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.

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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
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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

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
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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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​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)

Labour market slack is the shortfall between the volume of work desired by workers and the actual volume of work available. The most important indicator of labour slack is the unemployment rate, but an exclusive focus on this fails to take account of the four-fifths of the jobless population who are

18 July 2017

This report examines developments in non-standard employment over the last decade. It looks at trends in the main categories of non-standard employment – temporary, temporary agency and part-time work and self-employment – based mainly on data from the European Union Labour Force Survey.

13 July 2017

Although standard employment is still dominant in European labour markets, an increasing range of new employment forms is emerging that differ in their implications for working conditions. This study explores strategic employee sharing, an employment form for companies that have specific HR needs

21 November 2016

The fraudulent contracting of work is an important issue in many European countries today. EU and national policymakers have turned their attention to violations of the basic protection provided by employment law and collective bargaining that are linked to the fraudulent use of certain employment

21 November 2016

Smartphone car service Uber, a successful company example of the sharing economy, has spread to many EU Member States in recent years. However, many employers and unions are concerned about its challenge to fair competition for other businesses in the sector and about the erosion of working

25 January 2016

Europe has begun to emerge from the prolonged slump caused by the global financial crisis in 2008 and exacerbated by the euro zone single-currency crisis in 2010–2011. In the last year, aggregate employment levels have risen faster than at any time since 2008. This, the fourth annual European Jobs

09 July 2015

An increasing number of European workers have part-time jobs or non-standard types of work, such as the zero-hours employment contracts that have become common in the UK. Yet most European workers with temporary contracts would like permanent jobs, and one third of people working part time would

14 April 2015

This report examines employment opportunities for people with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and mental health problems in the EU28 Member States and Norway. People with a chronic disease may have a

14 November 2014

This report describes recent structural shifts in employment in European labour markets before, during and after the 2008–2009 recession. It finds that employment destruction across Europe in the recession was strongly polarising in terms of the wage structure, while there was less polarisation in

13 March 2013

This report describes the impact of the ‘great recession’ on employment and the job structure in the EU27. It finds that despite a net loss of over five million jobs between 2008–2010, employment continued to grow in top-paying jobs, largely in knowledge-intensive services and business services

16 January 2012

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)
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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
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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
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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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