This paper aims at shedding some light on the blurry subject of atypical employment and the respective protection provided by labour law and social security schemes. Atypical employment is understood as part-time work, marginal employment, temporary employment, and own-account workers.
In a first step, we set out to describe the nature and the dimension of atypical employment over time and across six countries (namely Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, and Poland). We find that over the last years, atypical employment contracts in general are becoming increasingly widespread. Atypical employment is oftentimes part of unstable careers and associated with an increased risk of unemployment. In a second step, we assess whether and how national labour and social security legislation is tackling with the issue of atypical employment, and to what extent the respective regulations allow for the specific risks involved.