Overview of New Forms of Employment - 2018 Update

Across Europe, new forms of employment are emerging that differ significantly from traditional employment. Some of these forms of employment transform the relationship between employer and employee while others change work organisation and work patterns. They often involve locations other than the usual employer’s premises, and or extensive use of information and communications technology. This report identifies nine forms of employment that are either new or have become increasingly important in Europe since the year 2000. All of the nine forms discussed are aimed at increasing flexibility for employers and/or employees. Some may benefit employers and employees equally, but in a few cases there are concerns regarding their impact on working conditions and the labour market. The report highlights the need for awareness of potential problems and of safety nets for workers

New Forms of Employment

Societal and economic developments, such as the need for increased flexibility by both employers and workers, have resulted in the emergence of new forms of employment across Europe. These have transformed the traditional one-to-one relationship between employer and employee. They are also characterised by unconventional work patterns and places of work, or by the irregular provision of work. However, little is known about these ‘new forms of employment’, their distinctive features and the implications they have for working conditions and the labour market. To fill this knowledge gap, Eurofound conducted a Europe-wide mapping exercise to identify the emerging trends. This resulted in the categorisation of nine broad types of new employment forms. On the basis of this, the available literature and data were analysed; 66 case studies were also conducted and analysed to illustrate how these new employment forms operate in Member States and their effects on working conditions and the labour market

Equity, power games and legitimacy : dilemmas of participatory learning processes

Participatory approaches are nowadays widely used, but their designers are facing dilemmas, especially in heterogeneous social contexts. On the one hand, some of them stand accused of being naively manipulated by the most powerful local stakeholders; while on the other hand, others are accused of intervening on social systems to empower some particular stakeholders without having the legitimacy to do so. This article examines the testing of a critical companion approach which recognizes the necessity to take into account local power asymmetries to avoid the risk of increasing initial inequities. The paper draws on the experimentation and reflexive analysis of a companion modelling process conducted with such a critical approach in the highlands of Northern Thailand. The process aimed at facilitating dialogue between a national park being established and two surrounding Mien communities whose livelihoods depended on land and forest resources located inside the park. We show that local power asymmetries express themselves in participatory processes and that some of them might be obstacles to the emergence of an equitable concerted process. We also demonstrate that, through his methodological choices, the designer of a participatory process is able to overcome some of these obstacles, but to a certain extent only. Far from being neutral, the designer adopting a critical posture should attempt to make explicit all his underlying assumptions so that stakeholders can choose to accept them as legitimate or to reject them. However, this attempt faces limits in several situations, in particular with stakeholders who refuse to participate. (Résumé d'auteur

De-commoditizing Ethiopian coffees after the establishment of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange : an empirical investigation of smallholder coffee producers in Ethiopia

The repercussions of reforming an agricultural market are mainly observed at the most vulnerable segment of the value chain, namely, the producers. In the current commodity market created with trade through the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), coffee is less traceable to its producers. Only cooperatives that sell certified coffee through the unions they belong to, are allowed to bypass the more commodified ECX market. This study aims to investigate if small-scale coffee producers in southwestern Ethiopia that sell coffee through the certified cooperative are better off. It is assumed that the coffee sales through, and membership of, a cooperative, allows farmers to improve their coffee production as well as to improve other aspects of their livelihood. A sustainable livelihood approach was used as the inspiration for the welfare indicators that needed to be considered, data collected amongst members and non-members of certified cooperatives, and a propensity score model to investigate the impact of cooperative membership on the livelihood indicators. Results suggest that members of certified cooperatives indeed receive, on average, better prices. Yet, no evidence was found that indicates that the higher price is translated into better household income. Furthermore, coffee plantation productivity of those members who were interviewed was lower than that of the non-members. This finding could explain the failure to find an overall effect. Since the majority of the producers' income emanate from coffee, a sustainable way of enhancing the productivity of the coffee could revitalize the welfare of the coffee producers