Working conditions and employment security and employability : report for the European foundation of living and working conditions

A key objective of modernising the European social model is ensuring greater social protection for workers, while also increasing labour market competitiveness in light of globalisation. In the ongoing debate at European level on labour market and employment policies, the concept of ‘flexicurity’ – the balance between flexibility and security needs of employers and employees – has emerged as a central issue. Against this background, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions has, since 1990, been collecting data on developments pertaining to working conditions – a key area of life in Europe. The latest of these surveys, the fourth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), provides a comprehensive overview of working conditions across 31 countries in Europe. Among the central themes of this survey is the debate on flexicurity – a subject which forms the basis of this current report. The analysis focuses on the lessons drawn from the results of the EWCS at the worker’s individual level that could support the discussion on creating and developing flexicurity policies. The report proposes a set of four new indicators that may contribute to the debate on flexicurity: objective job insecurity, subjective job insecurity, employability and vulnerability. It also measures how these indicators are linked to each other at the individual level, as well as how they are linked to institutional factors at the country level. The most widespread reform aiming to achieve a more flexible labour market has most likely been the introduction of temporary employment contracts. This report also looks at what happens after a worker enters a temporary job. It questions whether temporary jobs are a port of entry towards permanent employment or whether the workers run the risk of being trapped repeatedly into taking up temporary jobs. Finally, the report focuses on gender issues, including differences in terms of employability and wages, with particular attention given to part-time work. The findings reveal a remarkable variability across countries in terms of the legal, institutional and political frameworks, and highlight the national differences regarding the indicators that have been taken into consideration in promoting flexicurity. As the European Union moves towards implementing the Lisbon objectives, we trust that this report will contribute to a better understanding of what is required to foster the necessary reforms that can support an adequate balance between flexibility and security needs, thus improving the employment conditions and work–life balance of Europe’s workforce