"A multidimensional phenomenon encompassing income inadequacy, employment insecurity and lack of workplace rights," is how Eurofound defines employment vulnerability for living and working conditions.
In its latest report, the tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies, found that 18.8% of jobs across the EU, close to one in five, fell below the bar on at least one of those definitional dimensions in 2021, the most recent year with comparable income data.
However, the direction of the trend is encouraging.
Vulnerability climbed from 21.4% in 2009 to 23.8% in 2014 in the wake of the financial crisis, driven by a surge in involuntary temporary and part-time work, before declining steadily from 2016 onwards to below its pre-crisis level.
That chimes with the agency's overview of its 2024 working conditions survey, published in April, which reported gradually improving job quality in Europe alongside persistent divides.
