In most EU Member States, the proportion of young people in employment who are working in temporary jobs is very high, especially among those under 25 years of age, where 40% are in this position (Table 2). However, this overall figure for the EU masks a large cross-country heterogeneity as the share of temporary employment among workers in the 15 to 24 age group ranges from more than 50% in Germany, Spain, France, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia to less than 20% in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and United Kingdom. According to an OECD (2008) report these shares have increased in the past decade.
Chart 10 and Chart 11 plot the time trend of the incidence of temporary work for young workers (i.e. 15 to 39 years of age). Figures are higher than for the total working age population, showing that temporary contracts are more frequently used among young workers (i.e. age 15 to 24) and prime-age workers in the 25-39 age bracket than for the total working age population (15-64). Compared to Chart 8, Chart 10 suggests that, in countries which have introduced two-tier EPL reforms, the trend increase in the share of temporary work has been more pronounced for younger workers than for total employment. Conversely, no trend increase in the use of temporary contracts was detected in Denmark, Ireland and United Kingdom (see Chart 11).