Transcript LABOUR MARKET FLEXIBITY

ATYPICAL EMPLOYMENT
IN POLANDOPPORTUNITIES AND
BARRIERS TO ITS USE
Iwona Kukulak-Dolata
University of Lodz. Poland
Flexibility is defined as
employers and employees’ ease
in adapting to changes in
external conditions.
LABOUR MARKET
FLEXIBITY
is represented by the labour market
adaptability to the varying market
conditions and technologies.
TYPES OF LABOUR MARKET FLEXIBIITY:
FLEXIBILITY OF EMPLOYMENT
is the ability to adapt the number of workers to the
changing economic circumstances, particularly
those affecting production, wages, productivity
and profitability. A higher flexibility of
employment means that numbers of workers in
enterprises are more sensitive to variations in
factors determining the demand for labour.
TYPES OF LABOUR MARKET FLEXIBIITY:
FLEXIBILITY OF WORKING TIME
is expressed in the departure from regular,
standard working time solutions defined by fulltime employment, even distribution of the
working time and inadmissibility of work in
„asocial” hours.
TYPES OF LABOUR MARKET FLEXIBIITY:
FLEXIBILITY OF WAGES
indicates their responsiveness to changes in wage
determinants, and particularly to the labour
market conditions, profitability of enterprises
and productivity of labour.
TYPES OF LABOUR MARKET FLEXIBIITY:
FLEXIBILITY OF LABOUR SUPPLY
is represented by the labour force mobility, i.e. its
adaptability to determinants of the labour
demand. Several types of mobility can be
distinguished, such as occupational mobility,
mobility of qualifications, spatial mobility and
inter-enterprise mobility.
TYPES OF LABOUR MARKET FLEXIBIITY:
ATYPICAL EMPLOYMENT is one that is
different from traditional employment, the latter
being defined as offered for an unfixed term,
with eight hour working day and fixed working
day start and end time.
ATYPICAL FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT
 Part-time work
 Fixed-term contracts
 Temporary work
 On-call jobs
 Working from home and telecommuting
 Self-employment
ATYPICAL FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT
PART-TIME WORK
where the working time is shorter than that
worked by a comparable full-time worker. In
addition, special forms of part-time
employment, such as job sharing, weekend
work, etc., are included here.
ATYPICAL FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT
FIXED-TERM CONTRACTS, subdivided into
three types: trial period contracts, contracts
for a period needed to complete a job or a task
and apprenticeship contracts. In Poland a trial
period contract may not run for longer than
three months and a fixed term contract is only
allowed to be renewed twice in successive
periods. Apprenticeship contracts are
frequently tied up with obligatory school
education.
ATYPICAL FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT
TEMPORARY WORK is rendered by workers in
enterprises (or other workplaces) they have been
referred to by a temporary employment agency.
The legal basis for this type of employment is a
subcontract signed among the intended employer,
the employee and the agency. As regards its
duration, the work is fixed-term, i.e. after the
“lending period” a worker is back on standby.
ATYPICAL FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT
ON-CALL JOBS – in this case an employer may
demand a worker to do a job at any time. The
underlying contract may specify the terms of
employment or describe the minimum and
maximum inputs and responsibilities resting on
the worker and employer being parties to it.
Workers holding the contracts have to be available
to their employers (e.g. to be on standby at home)
and do a job when called.
ATYPICAL FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT
WORKING FROM HOME and TELECOMMUTING
are forms of work rendered not on the enterprises’
premises, but in a place named by the worker who
does the requested piece of work and is accountable
for his or her performance to the employer, while
staying outside the latter’s supervision.
Telecommuting is the most recent form of distance
working that utilises computers and telephone lines,
i.e. modern information and telecommunication
technologies. It may take place at any distance from
where it is subject to traditional assessment.
ATYPICAL FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT
SELF-EMPLOYMENT of workers instead of paid
employment. Under the approach persons working on their
own account can do either simple or very specialised jobs
that do not need supervision. In this system some jobs in
enterprises (e.g. cleaning, simple repairs and similar jobs
that do not require high skills, but also designing or
consulting services that involve high qualifications) are set
apart to be done by workers who work on their own
account (and who frequently have the same responsibilities
under their regular contracts of employment).
Consequently, such workers continue to do the same jobs
for the same employer.
Chart 1. Share of part-timers in the total number of
workers in Poland, years 1992-2004
16
14
12,9
12,8
10,7
10,7
8,9
8,9
12,9
13,3
14,5
14,2
13,8
13,1
13
10,1
10,4
10,5
7,9
8,1
12,7
13,7
13,2
13,2
10,8
10,7
10,8 11,1
8,8
8,6
8,4
12
10
8
10,1
7,8
10,5
10,7
8,2
8,1
8,5
11,2
8,7
8,4
6
4
2
0
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Total
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Man
Woman
Note: November data for years 1992-1999, 4th quarter data for years 2000-2001.
Source: GUS (Central Statistical Office) 2004, author’s calculation
Chart 2. Workers by type of employment contract in
Poland, years 1992-2004
25
20,9 21,3
20
16,8
15
12,7
10
5
2,9
4,3
5,4
5,4
5,1
5,6
5,8
5,7
6,1
0
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Note: years 1992-2000 – jobs taken for periods up to 12 months (occasional jobs),
Years 2001-2003 – fixed-term jobs.
Source: GUS 2002, GUS 2003 GUS 2004.
Chart 3. Share of employers and own-account workers
other than farm operators in the population of “civilian”
employees in Poland, years 1990-2004
14
12,3
12
11,5
10,5
10
8
12,8
9,4
7,9
9,1
9,6
9,9
9,8
10,4
9,3
9,7
10,3
8,5
6
4
2
0
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Source: GUS Statistical Yearbooks GUS, issues for respective years, author’s calculations.
THE SCOPE OF APPLICATION OF ATYPICAL
FORMS OF EMPLOYMENT IN POLAND
FIXED-TERM CONTRACT-was operated by 78,4% of the
enterprises;
PART-TIME WORK –was operated by 66,3% of the enterprises;
ON-CALL JOBS were found in 11,4% of the enterprises:
WORKING FROM HOME was used in 3,0% of the enterprises;
TELECOMMUTING was applied by 2,3% of the enterprises.
ADVANTAGES OF ATYPICAL EMPLOYMENT

A tool for adjusting labour supply and demand to the
labour market developments;

A tool for restoring the labour market equilibrium,
especially in the case of structural unemployment and
unemployment arising from the business cycle;

A measure allowing occupational activation of persons
that for various reasons might have problems with taking
steady, full-time and unfixed-term jobs;
 Atypical employment enables workers to perform their
family and occupational roles.
MAJOR BARRIERS TO ATYPICAL FORMS
OF EMPLOYMENT

Workers’ reluctance to take such jobs;

Workers associate atypical forms of employment with
the secondary, inferior labour market;

Workers covered by atypical forms of employment are
less willing to identify themselves with the enterprise;

High employment costs discourage employers to offer
part-time jobs;
 Inability to exercise direct supervision of the working
processes and technological barriers in the case of
teleworking.
CONCLUSIONS:


Forms of atypical employment in Poland are still weakly
developed;
They are drawing an increasing employers’ interest;
 Their limited practical use arises from employers’ insufficient
knowledge of their nature and types;

In the future atypical forms of employment should be
promoted by emphasising their advantages compared with
traditional employment;
 Incentives should be created for employers to use atypical
employment more broadly;
 It is necessary to protect the interests of workers taking jobs
under atypical employment. First and foremost, their
employment conditions should be protected to the same degree
as in the case of workers in the traditional system.