IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v160y2022i1d10.1007_s11205-021-02798-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Independent or Dependent? European Labour Statistics and Their (In)ability to Identify Forms of Dependency in Self-employment

Author

Listed:
  • Rossella Bozzon

    (University of Milan)

  • Annalisa Murgia

    (University of Milan)

Abstract

In the studies on labour market change and transformation of employment relations, the growth of new forms of self-employment, including platform work, has raised a broad debate about how to define, classify, and analyse the wide range of positions within the heterogeneous category of self-employed workers. This article analyses the emergent methodologies used in European comparative labour statistics to identify forms of dependency in self-employment. Using the 6th wave of the 2015 European Working Condition Survey and the 2017 ad hoc module on self-employment from the European Labour Force Survey, this article discusses how the representation of dependent self-employment changes by adopting a different operationalization of economic and operational dependency. Findings show how different indicators of dependency change the representation of self-employment in different economic sectors, affecting our understanding of the transformation of working arrangements within self-employment and the boundaries between employment and self-employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Rossella Bozzon & Annalisa Murgia, 2022. "Independent or Dependent? European Labour Statistics and Their (In)ability to Identify Forms of Dependency in Self-employment," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 199-226, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:160:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-021-02798-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-021-02798-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-021-02798-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-021-02798-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay, 2008. "From Casual Work to Economic Security; The Paradoxical Case of Self-Employment," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 115-130, August.
    2. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2014. "Explaining Job Polarization: Routine-Biased Technological Change and Offshoring," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2509-2526, August.
    3. Alain SUPIOT, 1999. "The transformation of work and the future of labour law in Europe: A multidisciplinary perspective," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 138(1), pages 31-46, March.
    4. Ulrike Muehlberger & Silvia Pasqua, 2009. "Workers on the Border between Employment and Self-employment," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 67(2), pages 201-228.
    5. Christina Behrendt & Quynh Anh Nguyen & Uma Rani, 2019. "Social protection systems and the future of work: Ensuring social security for digital platform workers," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(3), pages 17-41, July.
    6. Assar Lindbeck & Dennis J. Snower, 2001. "Insiders versus Outsiders," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 165-188, Winter.
    7. Karen Aerden & Guy Moors & Katia Levecque & Christophe Vanroelen, 2014. "Measuring Employment Arrangements in the European Labour Force: A Typological Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 771-791, May.
    8. Colin C. Williams & Ioana Alexandra Horodnic, 2018. "Evaluating the prevalence and distribution of dependent self†employment: some lessons from the European Working Conditions Survey," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 109-127, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zachary Parolin, 2019. "Automation and Occupational Wage Trends: What Role for Unions and Collective Bargaining?," LIS Working papers 767, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Alexander Lammers & Felix Lukowski & Kathrin Weis, 2023. "The relationship between works councils and firms’ further training provision in times of technological change," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(2), pages 392-424, June.
    3. Yeosun Yoon & Heejung Chung, 2016. "New Forms of Dualization? Labour Market Segmentation Patterns in the UK from the Late 90s Until the Post-crisis in the Late 2000s," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 609-631, September.
    4. Tommaso AGASISTI & Geraint JOHNES & Marco PACCAGNELLA, 2021. "Tasks, occupations and wages in OECD countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(1), pages 85-112, March.
    5. Baird, Matthew D. & Engberg, John & Gutierrez, Italo A., 2022. "RCT evidence on differential impact of US job training programmes by pre-training employment status," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Andrey SHEVCHUK & Denis STREBKOV, 2023. "Digital platforms and the changing freelance workforce in the Russian Federation: A ten‐year perspective," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(1), pages 1-22, March.
    7. Werner Eichhorst & Ulf Rinne, 2017. "Digital Challenges for the Welfare State," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 18(04), pages 03-08, December.
    8. Keller, Wolfgang & Utar, Hale, 2023. "International trade and job polarization: Evidence at the worker level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    9. Colin C. Williams, 2023. "A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18668.
    10. Rabensteiner, Thomas & Guschanski, Alexander, 2022. "Autonomy and wage divergence: evidence from European survey data," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 37925, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    11. Jacob Rubæk Holm & Christian Richter Østergaard, 2018. "The high importance of de-industrialization and job polarization for regional diversification," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1821, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised May 2018.
    12. Michele Cantarella & Chiara Strozzi, 2021. "Workers in the crowd: the labor market impact of the online platform economy [An evaluation of instrumental variable strategies for estimating the effects of catholic schooling]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(6), pages 1429-1458.
    13. Aleksandra Parteka & Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz, 2020. "Wage response to global production links: evidence for workers from 28 European countries (2005–2014)," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(4), pages 769-801, November.
    14. Battisti, Michele & Gatto, Massimo Del & Parmeter, Christopher F., 2022. "Skill-biased technical change and labor market inefficiency," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    15. Antje Mertens & Laura Romeu-Gordo, 2023. "Retirement in Western Germany – How Workplace Tasks Influence Its Timing," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(2), pages 467-485, April.
    16. de la Vega, Pablo & Porto, Natalia & Cerimelo, Manuela, 2024. "Going green: estimating the potential of green jobs in Argentina," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 58, pages 1-1.
    17. Brown, Alessio & Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis, 2015. "An Incentive Theory Of Matching," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 643-668, April.
    18. Lütkenhorst, Wilfried, 2018. "Creating wealth without labour? Emerging contours of a new techno-economic landscape," IDOS Discussion Papers 11/2018, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    19. Parolin, Zachary & Schmitt, Rafael Pintro & Esping-Andersen, Gøsta & Fallesen, Peter, 2023. "The Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty in High-Income Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 16194, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Kevin Pineda‐Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2022. "How collective bargaining shapes poverty: New evidence for developed countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(4), pages 895-928, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:160:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-021-02798-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.