Project info
Work package
- Work
Sustainability threat
- Feedback Cycles
Challenge
- Reconciling stakeholder interests
Study info
Description of Study
There is a growing consensus that work across Europe has become more precarious since the 1970s. However, existing conclusions often rely on a fragmented literature with a specific focus on flexibilisation, thus lacking a multidimensional perspective. Theories Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) and Welfare State Regimes (WSR) suggest that national institutional diversity should lead to divergent precarisation patterns, but others argue that globalisation and marketisation drive convergence across Europe. To investigate these dynamics, we compile a dataset capturing six dimensions of precarious employment and interpret their trajectories using insights from VoC/WSR frameworks. Our results highlight the necessity of a longitudinal multidimensional approach: workers across Europe experience common trends, including the rise of non-standard employment, growing worker disempowerment, and weakening employment protection. Parental leave rights have improved universally, and the incidence of low-pay has tended to move closer together across Europe. Although some cross-national differences persist, convergence patterns suggest that traditional institutional divides are diminishing under shared global pressures.
Study research question
How did the different dimensions of precarious employment develop over time across European countries? Can we observe diverging patterns of precarisation in different national contexts or signs convergence towards a universal pattern of precarisation of employment in Europe?
Collection provenance
- External data
Collection methods
- Questionaire
- Register data
Personal data
Yes
External Source
Source description
Union density rate and collective bargaining coverage 1960-2019
Incidence of low pay 1970-2020, Temporary employment rate 1983-2021, Precarious employment 2008-2022, Temporary employment agency workers 2007-2022, Persons in involuntary part-time employment 1983-2022
Items: "How are your working times set?" and "Do changes to your working time arrangements occur regularly? If yes, How long before are you informed about these changes?" 2005-2015
Item: "During the last twelve months, have you taken any course or attended any lecture or conference to improve your knowledge or skills for work?" 2002-2020
Indicators: Strictness of employment protection legislation for individual and collective dismissals for regular employees and Strictness of employment protection Temporary contracts 1985-2019
Indicators: Total weeks of leave (maternal, paternal and dual) post-delivery in the first year and Gross replacement rate (weekly) 1950-2022
File formats
Data types
- Structured
Languages
- English
Coverage start
Coverage end
01/01/1950
01/01/2021
Spatial coverage
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK
Collection period start
—
Collection period end
—
Variables
Unit
Unit description
Sample size
Sampling method
Countries
Countries in Europe
26
—
Hypothesis
Theory
Variable type
Variable name
Variable description
Other
Union density rate
Standard measure of Union density rate. Proportion of employees who are member of a trade union among all employees
Other
Collective bargaining coverage
Standard measure of Collective bargaining coverage. Proportion of employees covered by collective (wage) agreements in force among employees with the right to bargain based on combined administrative and/or survey data sources.
Other
Incidence of low pay
Standard measure of Incidence of low pay. The share of full-time workers earning less than two-thirds of gross median earnings of all full-time workers.
Other
Incidence of temporary employment
Standard measure of the share of employees that are in temporary employment.
Other
Three month contracts
This indicator is called "precarious employment" in the EU-LFS datacollection. It represents the share of employees with contract of up to 3 months.
Other
Temporary agency workers
Standard measure of the share of employees contracted at a temporary employment agency.
Other
Involuntary part-time workers
Standard measure for the share of involuntary part-time employees as % of part-time employment.
Other
Control over working times
Not a standard measure. We created the variable by taking the mean country score for employees on the question: How are your working times set? (by company, adapt within limits, choice of schedules, can choose self).
Other
Unpredictability of working times.
Not a standard measure. We created the variable by taking the mean country score for employees on the question: Do changes to your working time arrangements occur regularly? If yes, How long before are you informed about these changes?
Other
Lack of training opportunities
Not a standard measure. We created the variable by taking the percentage of employees that answered yes to: During the last twelve months, have you taken any course or attended any lecture or conference to improve your knowledge or skills for work?
Other
Employment protection legislation for regular employees
Standard measure from the OECD. Strictness of employment protection legislation for individual and collective dismissals for regular employees.
Other
Employment Protection for temporary employees
Standard measure from the OECD. Strictness of employment protection legislation for temporary employees.
Other
Parental leave weeks
Total weeks of leave (maternal, paternal and dual) post-delivery in the first year.
Other
Parental leave replacement rate
Gross replacement rate (weekly).
Discipline-specific operationalizations
Conflict of interest
Data packages
Publications
Documents
Filename
Description
Date
Ethics
Ethical assessment
No
Ethical committee