Social Agenda Issue 53 - EN

Sectoral segregation: women are underrepresented in better paid sectors such as information and communication and electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply. SPECIAL FEATURE Tackling outcome inequalities The development of non-standard forms of employment requires EU countries to address labour market inequalities © Belga Image The 2018 Employment and Social Developments in Europe review explores the impact of technological change on equality of opportunities (see page 16). It also analyses the potential impact of changes in the world of work on equality of outcomes , i.e. professional possibilities, income, working conditions, well- being and gender equality. Labour earnings In the chapter devoted to outcomes, the 2018 review checks whether labour earnings are still the primary source of income and what role hourly wages and hours worked play, at a time when forms of employment are changing. It finds that labour earnings, as a proportion of gross income, have stayed almost unchanged over the 2008-2016 period. However, the contribution of labour earnings to income inequality has increased slightly, while self-employment income, which made up less than 8% of gross income in 2016, accounted for around 12% of inequality that year. One of the reasons why labour earnings are getting a bit more unequal could be the way working hours are distributed among employees. Hours of work have steadily declined over the last three decades. This is due in part to the slump in demand during the crisis and to the increase of part-time work, together with greater flexibility in the labour market. Non-standard forms of employment may fail to compensate for low earnings. Non-monetary poverty However, income is not the only component of well-being. The review also looks into non-monetary poverty - deprivation of basic items such as food, heating etc. - across different contract types. It takes a multidimensional view of well-being by assessing the impact of income poverty, material deprivation and wealth distribution on workers with non-standard contracts, including part-time workers. It compares them with workers on full-time permanent contracts. The review shows high levels of material deprivation for temporary and part-time workers. As far as the self-employed are concerned, material deprivation is almost non-existent for those with employees. However, it is relatively high for those that are solo employed, some of whom may be bogus self-employed. By and large, though, material deprivation has decreased steadily across all forms of employment, among temporary workers in 1 8 / SOC I A L AG E NDA / NOV E MB E R 2 0 1 8