Labour Market Actors Research Articles

Աշխատուժի պահանջարկի կանխատեսման միջազգային փորձը / International experience in forecasting labor demand

In many countries, there is a persistent gap between the skills needed in the labor market and the skills offered by the labor force. Forecasting the demand for labor with different levels of education, qualifications, and skills is a strategic and systematic process carried out by labor market actors in order to avoid possible gaps between the demand and supply of skilled labor. It allows young students, policymakers, employers, and workers to make better choices in education and training, and through institutional mechanisms and information resources leads to more efficient use of skills and human capital. Developed countries have accumulated extensive experience in planning and forecasting the possibilities of using labor with different qualifications, based on such characteristics as the level of education, qualifications, age and gender composition of the population, occupational structure, economic activity, etc. In this context, the article discusses the best practices and tools for forecasting labor demand.

Which labour for the CE? An exploration of narratives on labour and circularity in Flanders

The circular economy (CE) and its impact on the labour market has received increasing attention in both academic and practitioner circles over the past decade. The CE aims to close material and energy loops through various transition pathways or strategies, which are often ranked in a waste hierarchy based on their contribution to the CE. Using discourse analysis, this paper examines how labour market actors in Flanders understand the role of labour in the transition to the CE. We find three distinct future-visions of labour in a CE, closely related to which circular strategies are imagined to become dominant. The findings show that specific storylines shape incremental change through engendering low-ranked strategies which do not require significant shifts in worker skills or policies. On the other hand, alternative discourses show that more radical changes require new or marginalised skills and more fundamental changes in policies and systems.

A Comprehensive Review of the Three Main Topic Modeling Algorithms and Challenges in Albanian Employability Skills

Today’s jobseekers face many obstacles while trying to find a career that aligns with their interests, employability soft skills, and professional experience. In Albania, jobseekers frequently initiate their job search by actively exploring job vacancies listed on various online job portals. The analysis of job vacancies posted online provides an added advantage to the labour market actors compared to traditional survey-based analyses. This is because it enables a faster analytical process, promotes decision-making based on accurate data, and should be carefully considered by every country when formulating their Labor Market Policies. Since the data posted online are unlabelled, it has been proven that the potential of unsupervised learning techniques, more precisely the Topic Modelling algorithms, is outstanding when applied to analysing job vacancies, mainly with regard to assessing employability soft skills. Algorithms in topic modelling are essential for uncovering hidden patterns in texts, facilitating the extraction of important data, generating document summaries, and enhancing content comprehension. This paper analyses and compares the three primary methodologies and algorithms used in topic modelling, which can be applied to analyse employability soft-skills: Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA), Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), and BERTopic. At the end of the paper, conclusions are drawn regarding superior performance and optimal algorithm applicability, challenges, and limitations through a review of studies conducted in the Albanian job market.

Labour Market in Peril: Interference of Influential Individuals in the Integration of Congolese Workers into the Labour Market

The encroachment of certain influential individuals who employ cronyism, patronage, and networking into the recruitment and hiring processes of employees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a widely discussed issue in media and public discourse. However, it remains an underexplored subject within scholarly research. This paper seeks to address this gap by providing a comprehensive overview of this phenomenon over time. Drawing upon Jamie Peck’s concepts of labour incorporation and labour allocation, while also examining the prevalence of illegality and informality, this study argues that these ‘influential individuals’ or ‘well-connected actors’ have assumed the roles and responsibilities traditionally held by labour market actors and institutions. Consequently, this has exacerbated long-standing malpractices within the Congolese labour market. The interference of these ‘influential individuals’ disrupts the normal functioning of the Congolese labour market, even as proponents of these practices offer justifications for their actions. Employing qualitative interviews and documentary research, this study traces the historical origins of such interference, dating back to the colonial era.

Short‐term fix or remedy for market failure? Immigration policy as a distinct source of skills

AbstractThis article analyses the role of immigration policy as a distinct source of skills supply in liberal market economies. It draws upon interviews with representatives of employer associations and trade unions in the Australian construction and hospitality industries to identify how labour market actors make sense of the function of immigration policy. Rather than ‘complementing’ or ‘undermining’ training and other domestic labour market institutions, as is often assumed, immigration policy can serve to remedy the systemic failures of these institutions to supply skills in the short term. However, overreliance on immigration can disincentivise reform of the labour market institutions necessary to generate adequate skills supply in the long term. The findings suggest the need to reconceptualise the function of immigration policy in terms of its distinct rather than equivalent functions to labour market institutions.

“Can You Complete Your Delivery?” Comparing Canadian and European Union Legal Statuses of Platform Workers

In December 2021, the European Commission proposed a directive creating five criteria for the presumed classification of platform economy workers as salaried employees. The issue is timely, of course, as the digital organisation of work continues to grow rapidly. Our article contrasts the merits and limitations of this initiative to the Canadian experience concerning so-called independent contractors in the platform economy. In fact, Canadian labour law has long recognised a third status of workers—dependent contractors. It permits collective bargaining, while platform workers remain autonomous, notably for tax purposes. Immediately, the striking similarities between the European Union’s five criteria and judicial tests applied by Canadian labour tribunals seem to indicate that both entities are moving in the same direction. However, the federal structure of labour law in Canada and the single market’s social dimension also pose important challenges regarding the uniform implementation of new protections. Based on recent fieldwork in Toronto, and as the European Union directive moves into the approval and implementation stages, our article addresses the research question of how basic labour rights in the platform economy progress similarly (or differently), and which actors are driving the change on each side of the Atlantic. We argue that this policy field provides labour market actors with opportunities for “institutional experimentation” navigating the openings and limitations of federalism.

Creative human capital and assessment of its manifestation in organizational behavior in the context of digitalization higher education

Problem and aim. In the context of the digitalization organization management human creativity and its properties and evaluation have become the leading topic of modern research in the field of organizational behaviour and organizational development. This problem is multi-vector, it is considered in different branches of knowledge. Human capital (HC) is the most valuable resource of the digital society, and the creativity of HC is the driving force of scientific progress. This is especially relevant for the higher education system, since it is here that the foundations of professional competencies and personal characteristics of future labour market actors are laid. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of creative human capital and to consider the possibilities of assessing its manifestation in organizational behaviour in the context of digitalization of higher education. Research methods. It was used the methods of monographic and statistical analysis, as well as the author's methodology based on a modified system of indicators (R&D potential; innovation potential; creative potential). The methodology uses dynamic and equity coefficients in order to universalize the method and the possibility of evaluating creative HC for different objects and different conditions. The authors’ methodology uses a modified system of indicators, which are presented in national statistical systems and which group dynamic and share coefficients according to their functional purpose. Results. The study is both theoretical and applied, as it contributes equally to the theory and practice of organizational behavior. In the theoretical part, the authors considered four key issues: 1) human capital and creativity; 2) the concept of creative HC in the digital economy; 3) key trends in the development of higher education in the global economy; 4) increasing role of creative HC in organizational behavior in the context of digitalization higher education and methods for its assessment. In the practical part, the authors set and realized the goal of developing a universal methodology for assessing creative HC. The calculations of creative HC use the example of the higher education sector in Russia and Belarus. Conclusion. The authors have developed a methodology that can be used can be used for different subjects (countries, supranational entities, regions, organizations) and in different conditions (for example, digitalization higher education). Based on the analysis of scientific works on modern forms of HC reproduction, the authors propose main directions for smart scenarios of the HC development, especially relevant for the higher education system.

Regional labour market of the Republic of Tyva: trends and challenges

The paper discusses the main parameters of the labour market of the Republic of Tyva, that are the system-forming factors of the region's economy. The analysed data were obtained from the results of two empirical studies conducted in the Republic of Tyva (2019 and 2021) by the Center for the Study of Social Structure and Social Stratification of the Institute of Sociology of the FCTAS RAS under the guidance of prof. Z.T. Golenkova, PhD. These research projects were carried out in various time phases of the functioning of the Republican labour market: the pre-crisis period (2019) and the crisis period of the COVID-19 epidemic (2021). It can be said that the 2021 study was the first record of the reaction of the regional labour market to the transformation of the economic system caused by the pandemic. The pandemic most of all affected the physical condition of the population - a fifth of the respondents had been ill with COVID-19. The study did not reveal signs of large-scale social conflicts in the labour sphere. Those who lost their jobs or liquidated their business amount to no more than 6%. Neither mass layoffs of employees nor a large-scale reduction in the number of entrepreneurs took place in the region during the period of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the level of registered unemployment increased in 2021 compared to 2019 by almost 10%. One of the main reasons for the growth of this indicator, as the authors believe, is the significantly increased volume of social transfers for officially registered unemployed during this period. The article also provides quantitative indicators of the labour market and compares the key indicators of the labour market model in dynamics - the level of economic activity, employment and unemployment (official and unregistered). Particular attention is paid to assessing the prevalence of various types of informal employment. It is shown that the entrepreneurial initiative of the population is a kind of guarantor of the desired level of material income, orientation towards anti-paternalistic attitudes. The authors also made an attempt to calculate the total pool of the most active labour market actors and their adaptation strategies. The authors come to the conclusion that the market model has demonstrated sustainability and stability in response to the external impacts of the crisis.

The potential of archival methods in industrial relations, sociology of work, management and HRM research: a case study of the relationship between temporary employment agencies and the state in the UK during the 1980s

ABSTRACT This paper highlights the contribution of archival data and historical methods to impactful research in industrial relations, the sociology of work, management studies and Human Resource Management. Whilst archival methods are widely used in some of these fields of research, there has also been considerable debate in these fields over the challenges of conducting impactful research using archival data. The paper draws on archival records from the National Archives in the UK to explore the evolving relationship between private temporary employment agencies and the state over the 1980s. The paper highlights how the actions of specific labour market actors, particularly lobbying activities by private agencies, and the changing economic and political climate over the 1980s, impacted on perceptions and attitudes within government towards temporary employment agencies. In doing so, the paper sheds new light on the early evolution of what are now recognised as important dynamics shaping the contemporary employment agency industry.

Global Labor Market Intermediaries: The Power of Leading Staffing Firms

Abstract Since the 1970s, labor markets have been neoliberalized worldwide. In this context, labor market intermediation has been increasingly privatized and the temporary staffing industry (tsi) has undertaken a process of internationalization and diversification. This article seeks to discuss how and to what extent leading staffing firms have become powerful global labor market actors while diversifying their staffing services internationally. Building on the literature on the internationalization/globalization of the tsi in the 2000s, the article outlines a theoretical perspective for understanding current leading staffing firms as global labor market intermediaries (glmi) and discusses the key empirical results of two case studies conducted during 2020 on the international diversification of the two main glmi s: Randstad and the Adecco Group. The article suggests that glmi s have developed this strategy to expand and, consequently, secure their “classification power” in order to increase labor market flexibilization and the consequent informalization and precarization of work.

‘The Biggest Problem We Are Facing Is the Running Away Problem’: Recruitment and the Paradox of Facilitating the Mobility of Immobile Workers

Fee-charging recruitment industries in Asia have become gatekeepers to temporary employment in low-wage occupations for millions of migrant workers. One of these jobs is live-in domestic work in private households. Increasingly, workers’ recruiters are depicted as contributing to their precarious, sometimes exploitative, working conditions. However, these narratives misunderstand the systemic and regulatory functions of agencies as transnational labour market actors. This article analyses the relationship between domestic work placement agencies in Jordan and Lebanon and their clients (the employers) as they negotiate the recruitment of women from Bangladesh. Drawing on data from 146 qualitative interviews, it addresses the mechanisms of how exploitative, controlling practices are constructed and normalised by agencies in their everyday interactions with their clients as well as with workers. The article argues that placement agencies play a paradoxical role; whilst facilitating global mobility they also broker worker immobility.

Gendered Labor Market (dis)advantages in Nordic Welfare States. Introduction to the Theme of the Special Issue

Gender equality has been named as one of the normative foundations of Nordic wel- fare states. This is reflected in how, year after year, Nordic states rank among the most gender egalitarian countries in the world (see, e.g., World Economic Forum 2020). In Nordic countries, the state has been, and continues to be, a central actor in shaping women’s citizenship, labor market opportunities, and caring roles. Especially publicly funded welfare services and policies that facilitate the reconciliation of work and care have played a major part in advancing women’s labor market participation (see, e.g., Bergquist et al. 1999; Borchorst & Siim 2002; Ellingsæter & Leira 2006; Siim & Stoltz 2015). The institutional framework of Nordic welfare state policies has been central to what has been called the ‘social democratic public service route’ (Walby 2004).One of the important building blocks of gender equality has been the aim of making policies in Nordic countries ‘women-friendly’. More than 30 years ago, Helga Hernes (1987) identified the Nordic countries as ‘potentially women-friendly societies’. She char- acterized women-friendly societies as those that ‘would not force harder choices on women than on men’ (ibid., 15), particularly in relation to work and care. Hernes also envisaged that woman-friendliness should be achieved without increasing other forms of inequality, such as class or ethnicity-based inequalities among different groups of women.However, achieving gender equality in working life and the sort of womenfriendliness that Hernes envisaged at the societal level has in many ways also proved to be challenging, as the ties between the state and gender equality goals are more complex than what they might seem at first glance. Gender disparities have proven persistent also within the Nordic context. When we issued a call for this special issue, we were inter- ested in various forms of gendered labor market (dis)advantage in Nordic countries. Furthermore, we asked how gender segregation, welfare state policies, labor market policies, and various labor market actors interact to produce, maintain, challenge, or change gender equality in the labor market in the Nordic countries and beyond. The five articles presented in this special issue address the issue of gendered labor market (dis)advantages in Nordic countries from several vantage points, focusing on both on ‘traditional’ questions, such as corporate power and sustainable employment, and ‘emerging’ questions such as intersectionality, gender culture, and aesthetic work.

How Perceptions Matter: Organizational Vulnerability and Practices of Resilience in the Field of Migration

This article presents a qualitative analysis of the practices of civil society organizations (CSOs) to integrate migrants into the Swiss labor market. Civil society organizations as a means of overcoming vulnerability figure prominently in the current research. However, less attention has been given to examining how organizational perceptions influence their behavior in the face of threats. Our findings illustrate that political and economic changes in the migration field result in various forms of organizational vulnerability, manifesting as internal challenges to organizations' sense-making, identification of beneficiaries and the type of services they provide. We show that CSOs negotiate diverse roles in the labor integration of migrants embedded in a dynamic system of interdependence with state institutions and labor market actors. Hence, CSOs constantly adapt and respond to challenges in the field, showing a range of resilience practices ensuring their role as key driver of migrants’ labor integration.

Exploring the Model of Legal Consciousness Formation Among Foreigners Working in Poland. Preliminary Insights

The article focuses on the formation of legal consciousness among economic migrants from third countries to Poland as an important factor that contributes to their integration in the host country. First, the concept of legal consciousness is discussed, and a migration-adjusted model of how it is formed is proposed. As special emphasis is put on legal knowledge, an overview of the legal provisions of migration employment law is presented. Finally, based on articles and reports on economic migration to Poland, we ascertain how migrants acquire legal knowledge, what the flow of information is, where interferences are and how they impact migrants’legal consciousness. Based on articles and reports, we identify possible breakdowns in the information flow between key labour market actors (e.g. employers, public offices that manage the formal side of the employment process, and intermediaries, such as temporary employment agencies) and migrants. The complexity of regulations often leaves employers and foreign workers dependent on intermediaries. Without knowing the applicable legal provisions, much less understanding them, migrants tend to lack all types of legal knowledge. Thus, they may develop attitudes and legal consciousness based on false premises, further impacting their legal status in the host country. Even if they acquire knowledge, its quality can be questioned due to the fraud and deception that are often reported. Particularly troublesome is the limited contact between public offices and migrants, depriving them of reliable legal information.

Gendered Labor Market (dis)advantages in Nordic Welfare States. Introduction to the Theme of the Special Issue

Gender equality has been named as one of the normative foundations of Nordic wel- fare states. This is reflected in how, year after year, Nordic states rank among the most gender egalitarian countries in the world (see, e.g., World Economic Forum 2020). In Nordic countries, the state has been, and continues to be, a central actor in shaping women’s citizenship, labor market opportunities, and caring roles. Especially publicly funded welfare services and policies that facilitate the reconciliation of work and care have played a major part in advancing women’s labor market participation (see, e.g., Bergquist et al. 1999; Borchorst & Siim 2002; Ellingsæter & Leira 2006; Siim & Stoltz 2015). The institutional framework of Nordic welfare state policies has been central to what has been called the ‘social democratic public service route’ (Walby 2004).One of the important building blocks of gender equality has been the aim of making policies in Nordic countries ‘women-friendly’. More than 30 years ago, Helga Hernes (1987) identified the Nordic countries as ‘potentially women-friendly societies’. She characterized women-friendly societies as those that ‘would not force harder choices on women than on men’ (ibid., 15), particularly in relation to work and care. Hernes also envisaged that woman-friendliness should be achieved without increasing other forms of inequality, such as class or ethnicity-based inequalities among different groups of women.However, achieving gender equality in working life and the sort of women- friendliness that Hernes envisaged at the societal level has in many ways also proved to be challenging, as the ties between the state and gender equality goals are more complex than what they might seem at first glance. Gender disparities have proven persistent also within the Nordic context. When we issued a call for this special issue, we were interested in various forms of gendered labor market (dis)advantage in Nordic countries. Furthermore, we asked how gender segregation, welfare state policies, labor marketpolicies, and various labor market actors interact to produce, maintain, challenge, or change gender equality in the labor market in the Nordic countries and beyond. The five articles presented in this special issue address the issue of gendered labor market (dis)advantages in Nordic countries from several vantage points, focusing on both on ‘traditional’ questions, such as corporate power and sustainable employment, and ‘emerging’ questions such as intersectionality, gender culture, and aesthetic work.

INFORMATION SUPPORT OF THE LABOR MARKET OF UKRAINE AND EASTERN EUROPE: INNOVATION ASPECTS

Introduction. The processes of informatization of society, reform of state institutions and transformation of the economic system of Ukraine identify new problems and set new challenges for regulating the labor market and employment on the basis of public-private partnership, including by bringing to all labor market actors relevant information from verified sources. Given the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union, Ukraine should take into account the experience of Eastern European countries that have been in similar transition conditions and have shown significant progress, in particular in overcoming the problems and threats in the labor markets that they have encountered in the process of European integration. Purpose and objectives. There is a necessity to justify the expediency of integration of information of subjects in the labor market of Ukraine for the purpose of formation of uniform information support of the labor market that will promote legal productive employment of citizens. Methodology. The article is based on international legal acts, laws and bylaws of Ukraine in the field of employment and regulation of labor market processes in the context of the functioning of a single information environment, formed on the basis of public-private partnership. Both general and special methods were used for the research: methods of analysis and synthesis, descriptive method, methods of induction and deduction. Results. The article analyzes the regulation of the European labor market by integrating the capabilities of national public employment services, the implementation of equal opportunities in free labor mobility for European workers. The data and experience of the countries of Eastern Europe are given. The institutional and legislative aspects of the functioning of private mediation in the domestic labor market are considered and it is proved that in Ukraine there is currently no regulatory influence of the state on the activities of private mediation in this market, and regulatory support in this area is imperfect. It is studied that information flows of private intermediaries, including job search and recruiting websites, operate independently of state intermediaries, and the public does not fully have up-to-date information on the state and needs of the domestic labor market. The article highlights the role of the government and the State Employment Service in the formation of information support of the labor market, compares the published data, provides relevant recommendations of the International Labor Organization and foreign experience. Conclusions. The information published in Ukraine by private labor market intermediaries needs full attention, as its connection with informal employment is not excluded. Given the impact of globalization challenges on the functioning and development of the domestic labor market, it is proposed to standardize the activities of private labor market intermediaries, including job search and recruiting websites, by including their data on labor supply and demand in the domestic labor market. For Ukraine, the experience of the European countries in cooperation between public and private intermediaries in the labor market, based on the creation of single information support of the labor market, including through joining the EURES system, is relevant.

СОЦІАЛЬНО-ТРУДОВА РЕАЛЬНІСТЬ – XXI: ФІЛОСОФІЯ СТАНОВЛЕННЯ, МОЖЛИВОСТЕЙ ТА ВИКЛИКІВ

Аргументацією актуальності теми статті є відсутність системних, міждисциплінарних досліджень сучасних трансформацій складного світу праці та зайнятості, які формують нову соціальну-трудову реальність. Квінтесенція статті – наукове пояснення філософії становлення соціально-трудової реальності – ХХІ, ядром якої є інститут “Праця 4.0” як відповідь на виклики технологічного укладу «Індустрія 4.0».Досліджено нові грані праці та зайнятості перших десятиліть ХХІ ст., розкрито прирощення знань у цій сфері шляхом з’ясування сутності породжених коронакризою змін та їх наслідків для соціально-трудової платформи “Праця 4.0”. Виявлено й обґрунтовано детермінанти становлення соціально-трудової реальності – ХХІ. Доведено необхідність переосмислення перспектив соціально-трудового розвитку в контексті демографічних зрушень, аргументовано зиски і втрати за настання “кінця праці” в класичному її розумінні, виокремлено зміни в соціально-трудовій сфері за становлення нового феномену – постглобальної економіки.Розкрито змістові компоненти моделі «Праця 4.0». Зроблено акцент на необхідності імплементації змішаних (нестандартних) регламентів трудової діяльності в умовах обмежень, пов’язаних з пандемією COVID-19, що дозволить посилити соціоекономічну безпеку на всіх рівнях і гармонізувати відносини між усіма суб’єктами ринку праці. Досліджено взаємозв’язок і взаємообумовленість двох інститутів, що формуються під час коронавірусної кризи. Окреслено пріоритетні напрями подальшого розвитку науки про працю. Дослідження сфокусоване на розумінні філософії соціально-трудового поступу та формуванні сучасного на соціально-трудовому «полі» – “Праця 4.0” і економіка нестандартної зайнятості (гіг-економіка). Обґрунтовано необхідність зміни теоретичного, філософського розуміння демоекономічної, техніко-технологічної, епідеміологічної та соціально-трудової дійсності. Доведено нагальність зміни векторів соціально-економічної політики за настання світогляду, економічної та соціальної культури нової – цифрової – постіндустріальної доби.Наведена наукова аргументація філософії сучасних трансформацій соціально-трудової сфери слугуватиме науковим базисом для подальшої розробки «дорожньої карти» її розвитку на засадах людиноцентричності.

Public-private partnership as a financial mechanism for the development of professional education

Research background: The processes of globalization in the world economy lead to international competition of professional education. Providing the labor market with qualified specialists is based on a flexible system of financing additional education. The article analyzes of public-private partnership in the field of additional professional education. Special attention is paid to the interaction of business, universities, the state and public organizations in the framework of public-private partnership in the implementation of programs of additional professional education. Purpose of the article: The main goal of the study is to consider options for public-private partnership in the system of additional professional education based on pooling resources and distribution of income and risks between the state and private sector. Methods: The research uses methods of analysis of statistical data of various forms of public-private partnership in the education system, the method of comparative analysis of corporate reports of additional professional education. Findings & Value added: The forms of public-private partnership should be used differentially in accordance with the effectiveness of projects.The processes of globalization require expanding the forms of professional adult education based on interaction with labor market actors, legislative authorities, representatives of regional business, and public organizations, which will not only provide funding for adult education, but also meet the requirements of the innovative economy.

ОЦЕНКА ФАКТОРОВ УГРОЗЫ СТАБИЛЬНОСТИ ТРУДОВЫХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ В УСЛОВИЯХ ЦИФРОВОЙ ЭКОНОМИКИ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ СРОЧНЫХ ТРУДОВЫХ ДОГОВОРОВ В РОССИИ И ЗА РУБЕЖОМ

Temporary employment is defined in the scientific literature as atypical for the sphere of wage labour and even as an element of precarious employment. Today, fixed-term labour contracts are seen as a mechanism for labour market actors to respond to any shocks in the economy, a way of flexibly regulating the number of employees and reducing "dead" costs for employers. Russian labour law prohibits the conclusion of fixed-term employment contracts for the purpose of avoiding the rights and guarantees provided for workers with whom an indefinite-term employment contract is concluded. But extensive court practice in challenging dismissal due to the expiry of the term of the employment contract shows that a significant proportion of employers conclude fixed-term employment contracts in violation of the requirements of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation, in order to avoid providing labour rights and guarantees to employees. These vio-lations mainly include repeated conclusion of fixed-term contracts for a short period to per-form the same work function, "imposition" of a condition on the fixed-term nature of the con-tract in the absence of the employee's will, in situations where the law requires an agreement of the parties to the employment contract for the conclusion of a fixed-term contract. In the modern economic environment, a form of short-term employment called casual work has developed, which is most often recognised in the literature as informal, precarious employment. Despite this, casual work has become widespread in developed countries, and particularly in jobs related to the on-demand economy, with the use of digital platforms. The negative aspect of the wide use of fixed-term employment contracts in the EU is reflected in the persistent entrenchment of temporary workers in the labour market, whose growth can be restrained only with the assistance of the state. Thus, the analysis of the practice of flexible forms of employment in foreign countries shows that short-term contracts are now widely integrated into the global labour market, which is confirmed by the statistical data on the growth of fixed-term contracts in most coun-tries. This process can hardly be stopped, but, based on the experience of EU countries, it seems possible at least to find a way to adapt to this situation by balancing the rights and interests of workers, employers and the state in such relations and preventing the transfor-mation of fixed-term employment relations into precarious ones.

Embedded Fixers, Pragmatic Experimenters, Dedicated Activists: Evaluating Third‐Party Labour Market Actors’ Initiatives for Skilled Project‐Based Workers in the Gig Economy

AbstractNon‐standard career paths — in which workers jump from one employment arrangement to another according to the projects they work on — have become more frequent in modern labour markets. The traditional solutions for organizing and managing work relationships and job transitions have become less effective for such workers regarding the risks of precariousness and economic dependence they may experience. Envisioning ways forward requires an appreciation of what was achieved over the past century and an understanding of what is needed to replace and adapt these achievements. Emerging solutions for managing work relationships are provided by a growing range of third‐party labour market actors, but the evaluation of their contributions in the literature remains limited. In this article, we build an original theoretical framework to evaluate such contributions according to the kind of services they provide and their respective engagement in institutional innovation. We give examples of solutions developed for skilled workers in two institutional contexts: the Netherlands and Belgium and show how our framework can help distinguish at least three groups of actors that contribute to labour market development in different ways.