Social Partner Advisory Group seminar: Evaluative Study of Part-Time and Fixed-Term Work Directives

Social Partner Advisory Group seminar: Evaluative Study of Part-Time and Fixed-Term Work Directives

12-15pm, Wednesday 19th September 2012Hôtel Metropole, place de Brouckère 31, B - 1000 Brussels

Agenda

Welcome and introductions

Aims and objectives of the evaluation

Quick overview of the methodology

Legal aspects of the study: transposition, implementation

& enforcement of the Directives

Socio-economic aspects of the study: impacts on

employees, employers, public authorities & society

Discussion of findings in terms of effectiveness, efficiency

and relevance of the Directives

Legal aspectsAgenda Socio-ec.

aspects DiscussionAims Methodology

The present study aims to assess the legal and socio-economic impacts of the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Work Directives

The overarching

objective of the study is to

assess whether the two

Directives …

…were at the time/are still pertinent to the challenges facing the EU labour market (i.e. they are relevant)

...have achieved their objectives (i.e. they are effective in reaching the goals set out)

…if they have reached these objectives, have they done so in a cost-effective way (i.e. they are efficient)



…can sustain their positive impacts in the long-term (i.e. they are sustainable)

The evaluation questions (30) are organised under the four key evaluation issues i.e., the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the impact of the Directives

Sustainability

What have been the costs and benefits of the new legislation for employers and employees?

What, if any, broader long term effects have the two instruments achieved? Which provisions (e.g., non-discrimination, opportunities to work part-time) of the instruments

contribute to the sustainability of actions?

Relevance

How well the two Directives responded to the concerns related to the increasing rate of part-time and fixed-term work and the unequal treatment of part-time/fixed-term workers?

Has the intended job protection/job security been achieved? Are employees effectively protected against abuses?

What is the overall effectiveness of the transposition, implementation and enforcement of the provisions in each MS?

Have the two Directives imposed additional administrative costs for businesses?

Effectiveness

Efficiency

Have there been any other changes and trends in working patterns and how have the two Directives responded to these challenges?



The approach to date has combined extensive desk research, stakeholder interviews, surveys, case studies and statistical analysis of panel micro-data

Case studies

Statistical analysis of longitudinal and cross-sectional data from Labour Force Survey (1983-2010) and EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (2004-2009).

3 case studies: new labour market entrants (15-29), older workers (+55), and education sector workers Methods: Interviews; desktop research; legal analysis of national and ECJ case law

Desktop research

International/EU/national sources on flexicurity, employment and labour market trends; precarious work; (gender) wage gap; EU and national case law; implementation reports and legal analyses.

147 interviews completed with: (1) National ministries (usually Ministry of Labour); (2)Cross-industry social partner organisations; (3) Sectoral social partners in the education sector; (4) Representatives of equality/anti-discrimination bodies; (5) independent experts.

National social partner survey: 92 responses, 18 countries;Employer/business survey: 252 responses, 10 countries

Interviews/email

consultation

Surveys

Statistical analysis



Overall, material changes to existing legislation have been more limited in relation to the transposition of the Part-time Work Directive than in relation to Fixed-Term Work

Moderate to major changes (8)DE, EE, GR, IE, LT, MT, RO, UK

Part-Time Work Directive

Moderate changes (7)BE, BG, DK, ES, FI, HU, SK

Minor to no changes (12)CY, CZ, FR, LU, AT, IT, LV, NL, PL, PT,

SE, SK

Fixed-Term Work Directive

Moderate to major changes (13)BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, GR, HU, IE, LT,

PL, RO, UK

Moderate changes (11)AT, BE, ES, FI, FR, LV, MT, NL, SE, SI, SK

Minor to no changes (3)IT, LU, PT

Although many countries provided for equal treatment prior to the directive (e.g., gender equality provisions), the implementation of the Directive brought about legal clarity and in some cases expanded equal treatment to benefits beyond pay.

Most countries had to introduce new provisions or amended existing national legislation in order to transpose correctly the Fixed-Term Work Directive, in particular the principle of non-discrimination (Clause 4) and measures to prevent abuse (Clause 5).



The transposition of Part-Time and Fixed-Term Work Directives shows a strong preference for minimum standards



…the minimum standards only exceeded by a few countries in relation to the right to move to part-time work (unless

significant operational reasons prohibit it) and in some countries, the right to move to full time work

…the minimum standards exceeded mainly in relation to measures enacted to prevent the abusive use of fixed-term contracts (e.g., BG, CY, DE, EE, ES, FI, HU, FR, LT,

SK, SE require objective reasons for a first fixed-term contract, not only successive fixed-term contracts)

Part-Time Work Directive

Fixed-Term Work Directive

Issues /gaps have been documented through a review of infringements, formal notices, case law and stakeholders’ viewsInfringements and formal notices

Case law at national and EU level

Transposition analysis Stakeholder / expert views

Discriminatory rules on part-time employment for those working less than 15 or 20 hours per week and the lack of a definition of comparable worker in few countries; according to most recent information gathered , in most cases, these non-conformities have now been addressed.

Payment of pensions and other benefits to certain staff in HE (ECJ Order C-273/10 (Montoya Medina, Spain);

Administrative/legal obstacles to part-time work (ECJ, 24.04.2008 Joined Cases C-55/07 and 56/07)

Consequences on annual leave and pension entitlements (ECJ 22 April 2010, C-486/08)

Abusive use of ‘rotating employment’ contracts (e.g., First Instance Court of Athens with No. 4424/2012 decision)

Absence of definition of part-time and comparable worker in legislation;

Absence of pro-rata principle in the legislation;

Interpretation of Clause 5(3) as provision of information about vacancies rather than general information about part-time working

Absence of definition of part-time and comparable worker in legislation;

Absence of pro-rata principle in the legislation

Regulation of overtime;

Unequal treatment of part-timers in the HE sector ;



Issues/gaps have been documented through a review of infringements, formal notices, case law or stakeholders’ views

Infringements and formal notices

Case law at national and EU level

Transposition analysis

Stakeholder / expert views

Discriminatory rules against those on fixed-term contracts running for less than 6 months (e.g., in the public sector);

Unjustified exclusions of certain workers;

Lack of a clear maximum total duration for successive fixed-term contracts; and lack of provisions to prevent the abuse of seasonal employment contracts and contracts with employees over the age of 67.

Lack of definition of comparable worker

Payment of seniority bonuses to fixed-term workers in the education sector (e.g.,David Montoya v Fondo de Garantía Salarial, Universidad de Alicante (C 273/10)

Promotion systems that did not take into account periods of service completed as temporary employee in the public administration (Francisco Javier Rosado Santana v Consejería de Justicia y Administración Pública de la Junta de Andalucía, Case C 177/10)

Restrictive definitions of successiveness and prohibition of contract conversion e.g.,(Konstantinos Adeneler v Ellinikos Organismos Galaktos (ELOG) Case C-212/04)

Absence of definition of fixed-term and comparable worker in legislation;


Lack of effective measures to prevent abuse arising from the use of successive fixed-term employment contracts .

Lack of clear guidance on ‘justified reasons’ for first and successive fixed-term contracts;

Absence of definition of fixed-term and comparable worker in legislation;


Lack of effective measures to prevent abuse arising from the use of successive fixed-term employment contracts.

Eligibility to unemployment benefits;



The national measures implemented to prevent the abusive use of (successive) fixed-term contracts vary significantly

The nature and breadth

of the preventive measures

vary significantly…

…Objective reasons for first time or successive fixed-term contracts: 14 countries. In the other countries, objective reasons are either not required or not stipulated in law.

…Maximum duration of fixed-term employment with the same employer range between 18 months and nine years, but are

mostly in the region of two to three years.

…Several countries have introduced limitations on the number of renewals, usually between 1-3 renewals (up to the maximum renewal period for fixed-term employment, where in place).

…the period in-between two contracts considered ‘successive’ can vary significantly among countries – from not more than 30 consecutive days to 3 years.



Enforcement and sanctioning generally follow the procedures used for other labour law provisions…

Enforcement procedures …

...rely on affected employees making a complaint, either to the labour inspectorate, company employee representative body, or

the labour courts

…it is otherwise difficult or too costly for labour inspectorates to monitor and control the equal treatment of part-

time and fixed-term workers

…In only a handful of countries e.g., BG, CZ,LT, RO, the labour inspectorates actively monitor compliance through

workplace inspections without advanced notice

…can comprise conversion to permanent contract/full-time contract, financial compensation and penal sanctions.

Contract conversion is limitedly applied in the public sector.Sanctions…

…are largely considered to be proportionate and sufficiently dissuasive.



Self-reported levels of awareness about the legal provisions are generally very high

Provisions on part-time work

81% of surveyed national social partners were aware of the fixed-term

legislation, with only 5% unaware of this legislation. The remaining 12%

were partially aware.

Provisions on fixed-term work



85% of surveyed national social partners were aware of the legal

provisions related to part-time work, and 12% were only partially aware . Only 2 NSPs (2%) were unaware of

the relevant legal provisions.

75% of the surveyed employers were aware of the stated legal provisions regarding part-time work; 21% of enterprises were

partially aware of the legal provision. Only 3% were unaware of the legal provision regarding part-time work.

79% of the surveyed employers were aware of the legal provisions

regarding fixed-term work; 17% were partially aware of the legal provisions.

Only 3% were not aware of the legislation.

The Directives constitute one factor from a complex range of socio-economic and legal factors influencing part-time and fixed-term work in the EU



Business cycles

Other determinants

Household factors

Individual factors

Part-time and Fixed-Term Work Directives

So far, the statistical results are inconclusive i.e., show that part-time employment did not

change significantly as a result of the national transposing legislation. The only exception is

a weakly significant effect of at least “moderate” changes in legislation on male

part-time work, increasing the natural growth of the overall part-time employment rate of

men by 0.13 p.p. each year (at a significance level of 10%). Business cycle has proved to have a significantly more important impact.

Different econometric models have been used building upon Buddelmeyer s’ model (2008). The models were populated with data from between 1992 and 2011 for 21 EU Member States and 2 EEA countries (Iceland, Norway).

Structural changes

Despite the inconclusive statistical results, the following issues/trends related to part-time work have been identified on ‘the ground’...

Since the transposition of the two Directives, most implementing countries (besides Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Iceland) have experienced an overall increase in the rate of part-time employment.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

NL NO DK SE DE UK AT BE IS IE FR LU IT FI ES MT SI RO EE PT LV CY PL LT GR HU CZ SK BG

2000 2007 2010 EU Average (2010)

Other important issues/trends related to part-time work have been identified on the ground...

Part-time employees

...involuntary part-time is on the rise and it remains remarkably high in Latvia (72%), Greece (54%), Spain (37%), Bulgaria (43%), Slovakia (41%) and Lithuania (41%).

...pro rata wage gap between part-time and full-time workers seems to be higher amongst those on temporary contracts (17%) than permanent contracts (4.7%) (EC 2011). The literature reveals mixed results i.e, no evidence of a part-time wage gap (that cannot be explained by the inherent characteristics of the worker and job (Manning&Petrongolo 2008;RWI, 2011). In addition, the majority of NSPs did not think that there was a gap between part-time and full-time salaries in their sector prior to the Directive (65%).

…gender wage gap has remained resilient across the EU (17.2% amongst full-timers and 35.6% amongst part-timers)



...part-time has become more prevalent amongst i.e., elementary occupations (32%) and service sales workers (28%). This holds true particularly for women. Similarly, the rate of part-time work has increased amongst those with only primary education (21%) compared to those with tertiary education (15%).

Other important issues/trends related to part-time work have been identified on the ground...

Part-time employees

…there is a growing number of workers in mini-jobs (i.e., short-hours jobs) in the EU. Mini-jobs are more common amongst low-paying sectors and amongst women. A significantly higher proportion of women take-up mini-jobs with less than 15 hours a week compared to men (6.4% versus 0.9%) (Smith 2010). Factors: The German experience following the introduction of the Hartz reform in 2003 shows that rising the upper threshold of exempted earnings (i.e., 400 Euros per month) and applying differential social security schemes on first and second jobs can significantly increase the number of mini-jobs



…however, part-time workers are more likely to get paid for their over-time, although the difference between part-timers and full-timers is minor (i.e., 1p.p in 2007; and 2p.p. in 2010).

…the gap between part-time and full-time workers in access to non-cash benefits (e.g., meal vouchers, reimbursement or payment of transport or housing-related expenses) has worsened for men and stagnated for women. Interesting gendered patterns have been identified.

…year-to-year transitions from part-time to full-time work and vice-versa remain modest . For ex., in 2008/2009, 97% of full-timers and 81% of part-timers preserved their employment status in the subsequent year. In addition, the probability of changing from part-time to full-time employment (19 per cent) is much higher than the probability of changing from full-time to part-time employment (3 per cent). Lowest rates in SK, MT, CZ and BG; highest in DK, SE, IS and NL.

Evidence also shows a very small gap in the access to training between full-time and part-time workers...

Part-time employees

...Both Eurofound research and our statistical analysis of LFS data show small difference (i.e., 2-5 p.p.) in access to training between full-time and part-time workers. Widest gap is found in Slovenia (6 p.p.) and Finland (4 p.p.).

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

AT BE CY DE EE ES FI FR GR HU IE IS IT LT LU LV NL PL PT SI SK UK

Full-time

Part-time

Source: ICF GHK 2012. Employed persons attending to taught learning activities in the last 4 weeks; excludes CZ, NO, RO and SE in both years; BG and DK in 2010

...between 2007 and 2010, some mixed trends have been noted. In FR, SK, the level of training received by part-timers has decreased by 2 p.p.;in other countries LU, FI, this has increased by 6 p.p. and 3 p.p. respectively



Part-time workers are less likely to hold positive views about their career prospects...however, full-time workers are more likely to seek a new job for better working conditions

Part-time employees

The lower the numbers of hours worked per week, the less likely workers are to say that ‘their job offers good prospects for career advancement’ (Eurofound 2011 reports a 10% gap in career prospects between full-time and part-time workers).

Our statistical analysis shows that a higher proportion of part-time workers than full-timers are seeking a new job because their current jobs were considered ‘transitional’ (19% versus 10%) (LFS 2010)

However, full-time workers are more likely than part-timers to seek another job for better working conditions (44% versus 22%) (LFS 2010)



Overall, part-timers are generally better able to juggle their paid work and their other family and social responsibilities…



Part-time employees

... 46% of those working 11-20 hours a week report that they could balance work and family/social life ‘very well’, only 10% of those working 51-60 hours a week share the same positive view (Eurofound 2011)

... 46% of part-time workers (men and women) and 34% full-time workers are generally able to organise their working time in order to take time off for family reasons. In addition, 40% of full-time workers and 32% of part-time workers have no such opportunity to work flexibility in order to take time off for family reasons (ICF GHK analysis of LFS 2005 module) .

...36% of the surveyed social partners found that the provisions of the Directive on Part-Time Work had improved work and family life balance for workers; 23% thought that work-life balance for workers had improved, but not as a result of the directive (20 NSPs); 19% did not think that the directive had improved work-life balance.

Part-time workers are more likely to hold a second job...

Second jobs...

... The proportion of people with second jobs has remained fairly constant in Europe, with around 3% to 4% of FT workers having a second job and between 7% and 8% of part time workers having a second job

...There are age differences. Workers with a full time job in the middle of their working life are most likely to have a second job, with fewer younger and older workers having a secondary job. This pattern is less pronounced for part-time workers.

... Males are more likely to have a second job, although this is a relatively small difference (9% of male part-time workers had a second job in 2010, compared to 7% of female part-time workers; 3% of both male and female full time workers had second jobs.



Despite the inconclusive statistical results, the following issues/trends related to fixed-term work have been identified on ‘the ground’...

The trend in the fixed-term work in the EU has been fairly flat, displaying only a minor increase of less than a percentage point between 2000 and 2010. It should, however, be noted that at least six countries witnessed an increase in fixed-term employment between 2000 and 2007, only to see a significant decline by 2010, largely as a result of the recession

Other important issues/trends related to fixed-term work have been identified on the ground...

Fixed-term employees

... the proportion of involuntary fixed-term employment (i.e., comprising those who could not find a permanent job) remains very high in the EU - 60% in 2010

... the pro rata wage gap between fixed-term and permanent workers are estimated between 14% and 17% (EC 2010, 2011). However, the majority of the surveyed national social partners (67%) do not think that there was a gap between fixed-term and permanent salaries in their sector to be addressed by the Directive on Fixed-Term Work. Only 9% think that the directive has reduced or eliminated this gap. An almost equally small proportion (6%) report that the non-discrimination provisions have not eliminated the gap.

…fixed-term workers are less likely to receive non cash benefits when compared to permanent employees, with 19% of fixed-term employees receiving benefits compared to 32% of permanent employees.

…transition rates to permanent employment remain modest, although they can differ substantially depending on the unit of time used. On a yearly basis, only between 20% and 25% of fixed-term workers on average became permanent workers. When a longer period of 3 years is taken into account (2007-2009), the average transition rates increase to 60% (although there are significant differences between countries). Data and methodology can also pose serious problems...



... Fixed-term work is most prevalent amongst elementary occupations (21%) (compared with 10% of professionals); and amongst those low skilled (15%) as compared to 10% of workers with tertiary education.

Evidence also shows a very small gap in the access to training between permanent and fixed-term workers...


...Our statistical analysis of LFS data show small average difference (0.5%) in access to training between fixed-term and permanent workers. Widest gap is found in Netherlands (4 p.p.) and Estonia (4p.p.).

Source: ICF GHK 2012. Employed persons attending to taught learning activities (outside regular education system) in the last 4 weeks. It excludes persons for employed by temporary labour agencies, excludes BG, CZ, DK, NO, RO, SE and SE.

...between 2007 and 2010, some mixed trends have been noted. Whilst in some countries like FR and NL, the level of training received by fixed-term workers has decreased by 2 p.p. and 1 p.p respectively, in other countries such as LU and FI this has increased by 4 p.p. and 2 p.p. respectively.



Fixed-term workers are less likely to hold positive views about their career prospects... However, permanent workers are more likely to seek a new job for better working conditions


Fixed-term workers are generally less satisfied with their jobs compared with workers on open-ended contracts (Eurofound 2010 based on EWCS 2005; Kahn 2007).

Our statistical analysis shows that a significantly higher proportion of fixed-term workers (30%) were looking for a new job due to the risk or certainty of termination of their current jobs (not surprising!); this is compared with 11% of permanent workers in the same situation (LFS 2010). There are no differences by gender or age.

However, permanent workers are more likely than fixed-term workers to seek another job for better working conditions (42% versus 31%) (LFS 2010)



Overall, fixed-term workers have less access to flexible working time than permanent colleagues…




... 30% of the permanent workers and 27% of the fixed-term workers are generally able to organise their working time in order to take time off for family reasons. In addition, a higher proportion of fixed-term workers (49%) than permanent workers (43%) have no such access to flexible working time ( ICF GHK analysis of LFS 2005 module)

Impacts on employers

Only 30% of enterprises stated the legal provisions on part-time work had brought about additional financial and/ or administrative costs (76 enterprises). The administrative costs comprise the revision of employment contracts (53 responses), followed by changes in HR processes and procedures (50 responses) and internal staff (38 responses). Other costs: hiring replacement staff, communication & awareness

Ensuring equal treatment between part-time and full-time workers

Providing information about available vacancies

Facilitating access to training

Providing information about part-time work to representative bodies Lega

l pro

visi

ons

that

hav

e ra

ised

adm

inis

trativ

e co

sts

Facilitating transition of workers from full-time to part-time work and vice versa, at all levels



The vast majority of the surveyed enterprises reported that they did not have to take on new staff in order to deal with the additional administrative activities associated with the part-time regulations

Time taken to complete the additional administrative activities in your company in annual full-time

equivalent (FTE)

Of those enterprises which said that they had incurred additional costs, 65% estimated that the additional administrative burden was equivalent to less than 1 FTE.

Of the enterprises which answered that they did not hire additional staff (63 in total), 90% stated that the responsibilities were undertaken by staff as part of their existing duties, possibly preventing them from

completing other duties

For those employers who

hired extra staff...



The most important benefit of part-time work for employers was greater employee retention, with 66% of enterprises seeing this between ‘slightly important’ to a ‘very important’ benefit

Source: ICF GHK, 2012. Enterprise survey (based on 252 responses)



Similarly, most surveyed employers (71%) agree that the legal provisions on fixed-term work arising from the Directive resulted in no additional financial or administrative costs

Complying ‘ with restrictions to the number of renewals of fixed -term employment contracts

Providing objective reasons for the renewal of such contracts

Providing information about fixed-term work to representative bodies

Informing fixed-term workers of available vacancies for permanent positions

Lega

l pro

visi

ons

that

hav

e ra

ised

adm

inis

trativ

e co

sts

Complying with restrictions on the max. duration of successive fixed-term contracts

For those who incurred additional administrative costs (on average equivalent to 1 FTE), the following legal provisions raised administrative costs...



Employers hold mixed views about the benefits of fixed-term work, with around 40% of employers ascribing some degree of importance to the benefits such as ‘greater productivity’, ‘lower absenteeism’ and ‘greater employee retention’

Source: ICF GHK, 2012. Enterprise survey (based on 252 responses)



Impact on public authorities

Other reasons: part-time and fixed-term employment has been common even before the formal transposition of the legislation in many Member States. In addition, there are no additional mechanisms specially set up for the monitoring and enforcement of the rules on part-time and fixed-term contracts in the EU countries

...a lack of comprehensive information on the impacts of the two Directives on public authorities’ budgets. Not surprising given that the two pieces of legislation are part of a wider body of labour legislation in force in each Member State.

Potential impacts for public authorities could relate to administrative costs and other operational costs. Equally important are potential savings resulting from, inter alia, increased female labour force participation and lower benefit payments.

The evidence gathered in a handful of countries Denmark, Estonia, France, Poland and Slovenia suggests that the Directives did not bring, generally, any additional administrative costs for public authorities (cost and administrative burden per person are deemed to be the same regardless of the type of contract).



Differential impacts on worker groups: ‘new labour market entrants’

Part-time working amongst young people has become increasingly prevalent between 2000 and 2010 (having grown from 11.6% of the 15 – 29 workforce in 2000, to 16.0% in 2010. It is much prevalent amongst female young labour market entrants than amongst their male counterparts. In 2010, 22.8% of employed females under the age of 29 were in part-time work compared with 5.0% of employed males.



Differential impacts on worker groups: ‘new labour market entrants’

Fixed-term employment amongst younger workers in Europe has risen from 20.0% in 2000 to 22.8% in 2010. In 2007, it was at its highest with 28.0% of younger workers in fixed-term contracts. .



20.0%

28.0%

22.8%21.1%

29.0%

24.4%

19.1%

27.0%

21.4%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

2000 2007 2010

Total Female Male

Differential impacts on worker groups: ’new labour market entrants’

There are significant differences between the EU countries in relation to rates of fixed-term working amongst new labour market entrants...

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

ES PT SI PL SE FR IT FI CZ NL BE LU DE GR NO HU IS SK AT BG CY EE LV UK DK RO LT IE

2000 2007 2010 EU average (2010)

Proxy for new entrants: labour market status 1 year ago was "Pupil, student, further training, unpaid work experience"; and is between 15 and 29 years, It excludes persons undergoing a period of training (apprenticeship etc.) and persons employed by temporary work agencies;excluding MT; IE 2010, BG, DE, SI 2007, and AT, BG, DE, IE, LT, LV, NL, PL, SK 2010

Lower transition rates for new labour market entrants

Fixed-term work to permanent work

Lower access to non-cash benefits for new labour market entrants New labour market entrants are less likely to have access to non-cash benefits compared to the rest of workers. This holds true for younger workers on either permanent or fixed-term contracts as shown in figure below. The gap between younger workers and the rest is slightly wider amongst permanent workers than amongst fixed-term workers.

Differential impacts on worker groups: ‘older workers’

The overall proportion of older people (55-74) in part-time work has not changed significantly between 2000 and 2010 (staying at just under 25%). This holds true for both men and women.



Differential impacts on worker groups: ‘older workers’

There has been a slight decrease in the proportion of older workers (55-74) in fixed-term employment between 2000 (8.1%) and 2010 (7.7%). The decrease is more pronounced amongst men (1.1% change) than amongst women (0.1% change).



8.1% 8.0% 7.7%

9.1%8.3% 8.0%

7.5% 7.8%7.4%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.0%

9.0%

10.0%

2000 2007 2010

Total Female Male

Lower access to non-cash benefits for older workers Older workers – whether on fixed-term or permanent contracts - are less likely to have access to non-cash benefits compared to the rest of workers. The gap between older workers and the rest is wider amongst permanent workers than amongst fixed-term workers. In 2010, 32% of all workers on permanent contracts had access to non-cash benefits; only 20% of older workers had such access to benefits. The gap between older workers and the rest has increased since 2007, irrespective of the type of contract.

Workers in the education sector

Short-term contracts, often successive ones, remain a concern especially for newly qualified teachers, substitute teachers / tutors and particular groups of young and part-time lecturers. According to the latest Eurostat data, one in seven education sector workers have jobs of limited duration (14.2%).

This hinders efforts to attract best graduates to this increasingly ‘ageing’ sector.

Regarding part-time work, nearly a quarter (24.2 %) of the labour force in the education sector in Europe is employed on a part-time basis, with 14.5 % of men and 28.0% of women working part-time.

It is based on primary and secondary research, including both interviews

and data collection, carried out in 10 EU countries. These include Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland Portugal, Spain and the

UK

Countries have approached the specificities of the sector in different ways...

▪ Countries where there are no additional or different laws or collective agreements governing fixed-term or part-time work in the education sector. Instead the generic laws and agreements that have transposed the two directives into national legislation apply to the education sector [e.g. Finland, Ireland and Poland]

▪ Countries where the education sector is governed by additional legislation or (sectoral) collective agreements [e.g. Austria, Germany and Portugal]; and

▪ Countries where the legislation on fixed-term and/or part-time work excludes

certain categories of workers, including some workers from the education sector [e.g. Denmark and Italy].

EU countries can be divided into three groups in the way in which they the EU directives / agreements on fixed-term and part-time work have been transposed

Reflection on how these findings impact on the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the two instruments



Effectiveness: From a legal perspective, the answer could be ‘yes’ i.e., all Member States have fully implemented the provisions into national law and the national responsible authorities apply and enforce the European rules on part-time and fixed-term work. However, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms could become more effective. In addition, such complex problems cannot be addressed by legislation alone.

Efficiency: There is a shared understanding that the two Directives did not result in any significant additional burden or administrative costs for employers and public authorities. This is primarily the case in countries where (almost) equivalent provisions were already in place prior to the introduction of the Directive

Relevance: Given the widespread use of part-time and successive fixed-term contracts (in many countries), the relatively high level of involuntary part-time and fixed-term employment, evidence of unequal access to training, resulting impact on career prospects and more limited access to benefits for part-time and fixed-term workers - the regulation of Part-Time Work and Fixed-Term Employment to ensure equal treatment of such workers is now as important and relevant as ever.

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Documents

Social Partner Advisory Group seminar: Evaluative Study of Part-Time and Fixed-Term Work Directives