Measuring precarious employment in Europe 8 years into the global crisis

The objective of this study is to describe the prevalence of precarious employment in the European Union (EU) using a multidimensional approach, 8 years into the economic crisis (2014).

We use data from the Flash Eurobarometer 398 among salaried workers (n = 7702). We calculated the proportion and its 95% confidence intervals (CI 95%) for each of the precarious employment dimensions (not having the ability to exercise rights, vulnerability, disempowerment and temporariness), the prevalence of precarious employment (presenting at least one dimension) and the proportion of workers presenting one, two, three or four dimensions.

Two out of three workers had a precarious employment. The prevalence of precariousness was higher in Eastern (72.64%; CI 95%: 61.78; 81.34) than in Nordic European countries (51.17%; CI 95%: 44.30; 58.00). The most prevalent dimension was not having the ability to exercise rights (42.39%).

Precarious employment is an important social determinant of health. Therefore, the EU policy-makers should take into consideration the new forms of employment and legislate accordingly.