A labour market segmented and a divided Europe. That’s how Eurofound describes the future of Europe and its challenges.
The labour market is polarized between high paid and low paid jobs. Even if in the first quarter of 2016 the employment rate registers a record since 2008 with 230 millions of employed workers, not all countries achieved this level. The labour market appears segmented. A decline in the work force and a lack of digital skills are the main challenges, but the solutions cannot be only more migrants flows and workers’ mobility.
The labour market situation is different in the EU member states: some countries Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Sweden and UK recovered to the pre-crisis employment level, while others are still far from that goal. This is not just a matter of Southern Europe countries but it also regards some Nordic countries like Denmark and Finland.
Today’s jobs are part-time
In Europe the part time jobs rise while the rate of temporary jobs remains unvaried. The disappearance of mid-paying jobs and a labour market polarized between low paid jobs and high salaries has been caused by the digitalization but also by the phenomenon of delocalization.
The labour market polarization is particularly present in Belgium, Spain, Greece and UK. In Italy and Hungary low paid jobs are rising up.
As known, a strong job growth is registered in the Information and Communication sector (ICT), in particular the professions of computer programming, consultancy sector and related activities. But also personal care assistants is a fast growing group.
Furthermore, it has to be considered that temporary jobs unlikely turn into permanent contracts especially in the countries where the phenomenon of short term contracts is extensive. This is the case of Poland, France, Spain and Netherlands. That’s why a large part of temporary employees risk more secure jobs and they turn into unemployment again. It has been documented that where the rate of temporary jobs is higher, those in permanent employment are more attached to the labour market, with a longer than average job tenure. The job market is constantly changing, the vast majority of workers in Europe are still in standard employment relationships, working with permanent contracts, full-time, regular hours, for one employer and at the same place of work, but all this is day by day changing. The future will be characterised by new job forms, part-time jobs, more than one employer, flexible hours, atypical careers that risk to not provide adequate social protection and social contributions.
