Measuring employment vulnerability in Europe

Abstract

Two of the most notable trends in labour markets in Europe are the rise in the number of atypical job contracts (e.g. fixed-term contracts and temporary work) and the increase in job turnover. The concept of “employment vulnerability” can be used to describe these trends, which weaken the employer–employee relationship. In this article, the authors measure this employment vulnerability, for individual European countries, by creating two indices – an “employer-related vulnerability index” and a “job-related vulnerability index” – which are then aggregated to form an overall employment vulnerability index.