EU: more and more unwanted fixed-term contracts

According to a study made by the European Office of Statistics Eurostat, fixed-term employment increased in the EU during the 2000-2005 period. 14.9% of male employees (+0.8 point) and 14% of female employees (+1.4 point) perform such a job. 7.5% of female employees and 6.7% of male employees had fixed-term contracts they had not asked for in 2005. (Ref. 070707)
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An important part of European employees hired under fixed-term contracts accepted them “because they could not find a permanent job – which means that they did it involuntarily, not by choice,” Eurostat pointed. The main conclusions of this study, which is mainly about employees who have an unwanted fixed-term contract, are the following:

  • The proportion of men and women employed with a fixed-term contract strongly varies within the European union. In 2005, this proportion exceeded 30% of employ
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