Abstract:
Atypical employment is usually defined in negative terms in contrast to so-called standard employment. It is a category that includes relatively heterogeneous forms of employment, and these need to be explicitly differentiated in a detailed empirical analysis. Since the early 1990s all forms of atypical employment have been on the increase, albet at differing rates and starting from different levels. In the early 1990s the figure was only 20%. Full employment as the norm is waning, and atypical forms are an increasingly common exception. The expansion of total employment between 2005 and 2008 was largely due to an increase in atypical forms, in particular the spread of marginal employment (mini-jobs) and agency work. An explicit differentiation has to be made between mini-jobs as an individual‘s exclusive work and mini-jobs as a sideline in addition to non-marginal employment. As the employment landscape continues to change, we can expect – whatever the stage in the economic cycle and the overall employment trends – a further increase in atypical forms of employment, even though this does not mean that standard employment will become obsolete. In that regard, German does not constitute an exception. Whatever the type of welfare state involved (especially social democratic, conservative, or liberal) an increase in atypical forms of employment can be observed in the EU.