Precarious employment in Europe

Conference on qulaity of employment, 28. and 29. February 2008

Janine Leschke

European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education and Health and Safety (ETUI-REHS)

Forms of (potentially) precarious employment

Part-time employment Marginal employment (<15 hours) Fixed-term employment Temporary agency work (TWA) (Own-account) self-employment

These employment forms are often termed atypical employment or non-standard employment

Standard employment = indefinite (at one employer), full-time, dependent

Other sources of precariousness (going beyond the contract form): low wage employment asocial working time (shift work; Saturday work; Sunday work; night

work; evening work) excessive working hours flexible working hours (without control)

Dimensions of potential precariousness(focus on non-standard employment)

Danger of...

…lower wages (working-poor) especially relevant for part-time and marginal employment

…lacking job security especially relevant for fixed-term and TWA work (by definition lower

employment protection legislation) but also for marginal workers

…lower access to social security potentially all groups (depending on the country and the social security

system)

… lower access to employability measures (firm-based training, life-long learning)

potentially all groups

…possible effects on health and safety at work potentially all groups

…lack of collective interest representation potentially all groups, directly (self-employed) or indirectly (part-time

workers as women)

Non-standard forms of employment:

extent, developments and country differences

5

Employment rate, share of part-time and temporary workers and unemployment rate, EU-27 yearly averages

60.764.4

15.9

18.1

14.3

11.4

8.9

10.1

8.1

9.8

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 20060

5

10

15

20

Lisbon empl. ratetarget

employment rate(EU27)

share of part-timeworkers (EU27)

share of temporarycontracts (EU27)

share of self-employed

unemployment rate*

*Unemployment rates refer to EU15 for 1997, to EU25 for 1998-1999 and to EU27 for 2000-2006.Self-employment refers to EU15 for 1997-1999 and to EU27 for 2000-2006.

right-hand scale

left-hand scale

Part-time employment in 2000 and 2007(% of total employment 15-64)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

BG SK HU CZ GR CY LV EE LT PL RO SI PT MT ES FI IT FR IE EU27 LU EU15 AT BE DK SE UK DE NL

2000 2007

Data source: Eurostat (2007, 2nd quarter).

Part-time employment by gender, 2007

(% of total employment of a given sex 15-64)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

BG SK HU LV CZ RO LT EE CY GR SI PL PT FI ES MT IT FR EU27 IE EU25 DK EU15 LU SE AT BE UK DE NL

Men Women

Data source: Eurostat (2007, 2nd quarter).

Part-time employment of women by reason, 2005

(% of total, 15-64)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

NL UK SI LU AT BE DE DK EE CZ SK HU SE FR FI LV CY ES PL PT IT RO LT GR BG MT

Could not find a full-time job Did not want a full-time jobFamiliar or personal responsabilities In education or trainingOwn illness or disability no or other reason/missing

Data source: Eurostat (2007). Not data for Ireland.

Temporary employment in 2000 and 2007(% of employment 15-64)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

RO EE LT LV SK UK BG MT LU HU CZ BE AT DK IE GR CY IT FR DE EU27

EU15

FI SE NL SI PT PL ES

2000 2007

Data source: Eurostat (2007, 2nd quarter).

Temporary employment by age group, 2007 (% total number employees in age group)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

RO EE BG LT MT UK LV SK CZ HU IE DK CY GR BE AT LU EU27

EU15

IT NL FI PT FR DE SE ES PL SI

15-24 25-49 50-64

Data source: Eurostat (2007, 2nd quarter).

Temporary employment by reason, 2006

(% of total, 15-64)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

AT DE IE UK NL LU DK SI FR SE HU IT FI BG CZ LV SK LT PL RO PT BE GR ES CY

Could not find permanent job Did not want a permanent job

In education or training Probationary period

Data source: Eurostat (2007), no data for EE and MT.

Self-employment 2000 and 2007

(% of all employees 15-64)

0

5

10

15

20

25

LU DK DE EE FR LV SE HU AT SI BG FI NL BE MT EU15

SK IE UK EU27

LT ES CY CZ PT PL IT RO GR

2000 2007

Data source: Eurostat (2006, 2nd quarter).

In how far are these employment forms precarious?

Working poor – full-time and part-time workers

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

BE NL DK MT CZ DE SE FR EU15

CY AT SI EU25

IE FI ES LU UK IT HU SK EE PL GR LV LT PT

Working full-time Working part-time

Data source: Eurostat (2007). 18 years and over.

In-work at risk of poverty 2005 by full-time/part-time work (cut-off point: 60% of median equivalised income after social transfers)

Working poor – permanent and and temporary workers

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

MT NL UK CZ BE SK AT FR PT DE ES FI HU SI EU15 EU25 PL EE IE LU GR IT LV CY SE LT

Permanent work contract Temporary work contract

Data source: Eurostat (2007). 18 years and over. DK is missing.

In-work at risk of poverty 2006 by permanent/temporary work (cut-off point: 60% of median equivalised income after social transfers)

Job Security: Increasing differences between permanent and temporary workers

Source: OECD Employment Outlook 2004.

Country

Overall strictness of protection against

dismissals on permanent contracts

Overall strictness of regulation on

temporary contracts

1990 2003 1990 2003

Austria 2.9 2.4 1.5 1.5 Belgium 1.7 1.7 4.6 2.6 Czech Republic .. 3.3 .. 0.5 Denmark 1.5 1.5 3.1 1.4 Finland 2.8 2.2 1.9 1.9 France 2.3 2.5 3.1 3.6 Germany 2.6 2.7 3.8 1.8 Greece 2.5 2.4 4.8 3.3 Hungary .. 1.9 .. 1.1 Ireland 1.6 1.6 0.3 0.6 Italy 1.8 1.8 5.4 2.1 Netherlands 3.1 3.1 2.4 1.2 Poland .. 2.2 .. 1.3 Portugal 4.8 4.2 3.4 2.8 Slovak Republic .. 3.5 .. 0.4

Spain 3.9 2.6 3.8 3.5 Sweden 2.9 2.9 4.1 1.6 United Kingdom 0.9 1.1 0.3 0.4

Disadvantages in social security systems (illustrated by unemployment benefits): part-time workers

98

91

72

63

33

24

58

28

19

32

47

34

78

1614

36

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

full-time part-time full-time part-time full-time part-time full-time part-time

Denmark Germany Spain United Kingdom

Un

em

plo

ym

en

t b

en

efi

t re

ceip

t as s

hare

of

reg

iste

red

un

em

plo

yed

/ a

ll w

ith

no

jo

b lo

okin

g f

or

a

job

registered no job, looking for a job

Source: Own calculation based on pooled and weighted ECHP data. The retrospective survey information on part-time employment is used.

Unemployment benefit receipt of former full-time and part-time workers (comparison of registered unemployed and all unemployed looking for a job)

Disadvantages in social security systems (illustrated by unemployment benefits): temporary workers

Source: Own calculation based on pooled and weighted ECHP data. The retrospective survey information on part-time employment is used.

Unemployment benefit receipt of former permanent and temporary workers (comparison of registered unemployed and all unemployed looking for a job)

8184

47

62

72

89

80

52

42

33

43

35

9696

46

66

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

permanent temporary permanent temporary permanent temporary permanent temporary

Denmark Germany Spain United KingdomUn

empl

oym

ent

ben

eift

rec

eip

t as

shar

e o

f reg

iste

red

u

nem

plo

yed

/ all

wit

h no

job

loo

king

for

a jo

b

registered no job, looking for a job

Full-time Part-time Permanent Temporary

Denmark 90.1 82.4 93.0 78.7

Netherlands 67.5 35.1 68.6 21.6

Belgium 79.8 71.5 86.7 67.8

Luxembourg 83.9 82.2 86.4 61.2

France 84.1 62.3 89.0 44.4

Ireland 82.6 75.2 84.5 66.9

Italy 71.6 74.9 82.9 59.4

Greece 75.8 71.8 89.4 63.2

Spain 74.8 43.0 77.3 55.2

Portugal 72.8 45.8 75.6 64.5

Austria 83.3 71.6 85.3 59.4

Finland 86.4 70.5 92.2 67.0

UK 87.3 79.1 85.9 78.7

Employability measures (firm-based training, life-long learning)

Vocational course paid for or organised by employer?

Source: own calculation based on pooled and weighted ECHP data; age: 25-64 years

Health and safety

Source: Benavides et al. (2000). Data: Second European Survey of Working Conditions, coverage EU15.

Distribution of self reported health indicators by employment, 2000 (EU-15 average as percentage)

Types of employment

absenteeism stress fatigue backache muscular pains

Permanent 25.2 29.5 17.7 28.7 16.9

Temporary 22.8 22.4 21.3 30.5 20.1

Full-time 25.6 29.5 18.0 29.1 17.2

Part-time 23.3 27.2 16.3 27.0 15.6

Trade union density (2004) Collective agreement coverage

Austria 32% 91-100%

Belgium 49% 91-100%

France 8% 91-100%

Slovenia 44% 91-100%

Sweden 77% 91-100%

Denmark 80% 81-90%

Finland 74% 81-90%

Italy 34% 81-90%

Netherlands 25% 81-90%

Spain 16% 81-90%

Luxembourg 46% 71-80%

Portugal 17% 71-80%

Cyprus 53% 61-70%

Germany 20% 61-70%

Greece 20% 61-70%

Ireland 36% 51-60%

Malta 55% 51-60%

Collective interest representation

Sources: Industrial Relations in Europe (2006); Keune 2006.

Trade union density (2004) Collective agreement coverage

Poland 17% 41-50%

Slovakia 31% 41-50%

Hungary 17% 31-40%

United Kingdom 29% 31-40%

Czech Republic 22% 21-30%

Estonia 12% 21-30%

Latvia 16% 11-20%

Lithuania 13% 11-20%

Collective interest representation - suite

Sources: Industrial Relations in Europe (2006); Keune 2006.

Non-standard employment and precarity

Regular part-time

Marginal employment (<15 hours)

Fixed-term Temporary work agency employment

(Bogus) self-employment

Wages Formally proportional (in reality often lower)

Low (sometimes by definition)

Usually lower than standard employment

lower Often lower than for standard employment*

Job security Same as for standard

Often lower Low by definition

Lower than for standard employment

Low

Social security Formally proportional but in fact often lower access

Minimal (or via a working partner/ another job)

Dependent on continuity

Same as for standard (with exceptions)

Depending on country often lower and/or very expensive; exclusion from some systems (unemployment)

Employability Lower Very low lower Lower Not clear Health and safety

Not clear (lacking comparative research)

Collective interest representation

Not clear but probably lower (lacking research)

Source: adapted from Keller/Seifert (2006).

Conclusions

Forms of non-standard employment have been growing over the last decade

Specific labour market groups are over-represented, namely women, young workers, low qualified and migrant workers

Non-standard jobs do not necessarily have to be precarious but often are in at least some dimensions

Importance of regulations

Stepping stones or dead-end jobs?

There is a lack of comparative data and studies on precariousness especially on issues of health and safety and collective interest representation but also on social security