Precarious employment and working conditions in Europe

Eurofound — European Foundation For The Improvement Of Living And Working Conditions

Description

Working conditions

Sujets

• Job security
• Temporary work
• Occupational safety and health
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: EUROFOUND-EUROPEAN-FOUNDATION-FOR-THE-IMPROVEMENT-OF-LIVING-AND-WORKING-CONDITIO
• Nombre de lectures: 35
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Precarious Employment
and Working Conditions
in Europe
• •
EUROPEAN FOUNDATION
Φ -k^^f* f°r the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
*•* Precarious Employment
and Working Conditions
in Europe The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions is an
autonomous body of the European Union, created to assist the formulation of future policy
on social and work-related matters. Precarious Employment
and Working Conditions
in Europe
Véronique Letourneux
^ European Foundation
* *>j^ * for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
* %SEÆ * Wyattville Road, Lough linstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland
* * Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] 4209
* E-mail: [e-mail]. The paper used in this publication is chlorine free and comes from managed forests in
Northern Europe. For every tree felled, at least one new tree is planted.
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1998
ISBN 92-828-3044-6
© European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 1998
For rights of translation or reproduction, applications should be made to the Director,
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Wyattville
Road, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Printed in Ireland Getting a clear picture of working conditions in Europe is a prerequisite to the definition of
policies aimed at improving occupational health. The Foundation contributes to this task by
carrying out surveys on working conditions throughout the E.U. The last survey, in 1996,
highlights some major issues, such as the intensification of work, the extent of repetitive work,
and the increased reporting of violence in the workforce.
It also shows the extent of precarious employment. Such 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. These forms of employment are on the
increase and seem to become a necessary step when first entering the labour market. Moreover
they are frequently associated with poor working conditions.
In view of the problems created by these poor working conditions, as well as in view of the job
creation debate (is any job better than no job?) and the flexibility debate (Green Paper of the
Commission on "New Partnerships in Work Organisation"), the Foundation decided to carry out
a specific analysis of the precarious employment issue. The present document aims at describing
its extent, its consequences, and its reasons so as to provide policy makers with the quantified
information they need.
Clive Purkiss Eric Verborgh
Director Deputy Director Contents
Introduction - Methods 1
Chapter One - Structural analysis of the different types of employment status 9
1.1 Employment status and structural characteristics 10
1.1.1 Description by country
1.1.2n by sector 13
1.1.3 Description by size of enterprise5
1.1.4n by occupation
1.2 Employment status and individual characteristics6
1.2.1 Description by sex
1.2.2n by age group8
1.2.3 Description by age at end of education 19
1.2.4n by nationality 20
Chapter Two - Employment status and working conditions1
2.1 Analysis of internal flexibility
2.1.1 Quantitative internal flexibility 2
Type of pay 2
Working time3
2.1.2 Qualitative internal4
Night work
Sunday work5
Saturday work6
Shift work 27
Multi-skilling9 vii Precarious Employment and Working Conditions in Europe
Home-working 30
I n -house training1
2.2 Analysis of the intensification of work
2.2.1 Factors of physical discomfort2
Organisation of work
Working environment4
2.2.2 Employees under pressure 36
Pace of work
Organisation of production, product quality8
2.3 Analysis of quality of life at work 42
2.3.1 Sociability
2.3.2 Discrimination, intimidation3
2.3.3 Job enrichment4
Over-qualification
Use of computers5
2.3.4 Health and safety6
Chapter Three - Effect of structure or effect of status? 5
3.1 EU analysis 53
3.1.1 Structure predominates, but there is still a clear link
between employment status and working conditions
3.1.2 Precarious employment and health5
3.2 Analysis by country
Chapter Four - Conclusions9
ANNEXES
1 Comparison of legislation on working time in the EU 63
2 Analysis of the structure of the European labour market 71
3 Structural distribution of foreign workers in the EU
4 Working hours in Europe 75
5 Regression on the variable "employees" (permanent/non-permanent) 8
6n on thee "heath affected by your work" (yes/no)7
Bibliography 9
Vili