Research network: Employment hybridization in Europe

How are the structure and extent of hybrid employment developing in Europe, what should the flanking measures be in terms of labour, social and collective law? The project examines these questions by comparing seven EU countries.

European labour markets have become more flexible over the past two to three decades – but to varying degrees in different countries. The relatively recent labour market developments include the so-called “renaissance of self-employment”, an increase in the gig economy and the emergence of “clickworking”. These developments are accompanied by “multiple”, “plural” or “hybrid” forms of employment, which refer either to the working of several dependent jobs at the same time or to a combination of dependent employment and self-employment at the same time. In many countries there is a clear trend towards a hybridisation of employment such as this, but little is known about the determinants and development dynamics. The focus of the project is the analysis of the structure and development of hybrid employment in a country comparison, the necessary labour, social and collective support of this development as well as the question of the organisation and interest representation of the employed persons concerned. The project consists of three coherent priorities:

1.    In the subproject “Employment Hybridisation - Structure and Dynamics”, the development and structure of hybrid forms of employment and their importance over time will be analysed using longitudinal and panel data (e.g. SOEP, BHPS, Labour Supply Panel). The subproject will provide a country comparison using broad empirical data to provide a multifaceted picture of the structure and dynamics of hybrid employment and, thereby, show the erosion of standard employment resulting from it.

2.    A further question is how hybrid employment and the self-employed are organized and represented. First, a literature report will document the existing research on the representation of interests of atypical workers (especially hybrid and self-employed workers working in the platform economy). Against this background, a guideline for expert interviews on the subject will be developed. The interviews will be conducted with legal experts and representatives of interest groups in the countries participating in the research network.

3.    Another part of the project is joint research by researchers from seven EU member states on questions of labour, social and collective protection in atypical and hybrid employment. Topics include a) precariousness risks of atypical and hybrid employees in a country comparison (gaps in cover and needs for adjustment), b) strategies for expanding term “employee” and the growing importance of an “intermediate category” between dependent and self-employed work in a country comparison and c) remuneration and minimum remuneration – fee structure and collective agreements for self-employed and hybrid employees in a country comparison.
Within the framework of the project, the development of the structure of the labour market for hybrid employees and the self-employed, based on the comparison of parameters for different welfare states, will be described in a comparative European perspective.

Head of research network: PD Dr. Karin Schulze Buschoff

Members of the research network:
Jacqueline O’Reilly from the University of Sussex (UK), Florian Burger from the AK Vienna Federal Chamber of Labour (Austria), Agnieszka Piasna from the European Trade Union Institute (Belgium), Marcello Pedaci from the University of Teramo,  Dario Raspanti and Luigi Burroni, University of  Firence (Italy), Mikkel Mailand and Trine Larsen from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Gijsbert Vonk from the University of Groningen, Prof. Dr. Paul de Beer and Dr. Wieteke Conen, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Jan Czarzasty from the University of Warsaw (Poland)

Advisory board members:
Hans Pongratz from the University of Munich (Germany), Gunter Haake from Ver.di (Germany), Jos Sanders from the HAN University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands), Pim Paulusma and Irene van Hest from the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions [FNV] (the Netherlands)