Normal employment relationship

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A normal employment relationship is understood to be an employment relationship that is to be regarded as typical according to the general public opinion and which is based on full-time employment based on an open-ended employment contract .

General

There are very different, competing definitions in the specialist literature on labor policy . The term was coined in 1986 by Ulrich Mückenberger and expanded by Ulrich Walwei in 1998. Walwei named a total of five criteria for defining a normal employment relationship: a permanent employment contract , full-time working hours , wages standardized in collective bargaining agreements , compulsory social security and being dependent on instructions from the employer . The high standard of specific security guarantees and legal claims is characteristic of the normal employment relationship, which is why it is assigned a "protective function". All other employment relationships are called atypical employment relationships .

Usual characteristics of a normal employment relationship

A normal employment relationship is characterized by some of the following characteristics, depending on the definition:

  1. unlimited in time,
  2. a regular fee ,
  3. not self-employed,
  4. The employee works continuously for an employer , is subject to the authority of the employer, is integrated into the operational structures of the company ,
  5. employment subject to social insurance,
  6. Workplace and home of the employee are spatially separated from each other,
  7. no temporary work ,
  8. Full-time employment or at least more than part-time,
  9. existing representation of interests for working conditions .

In common parlance, an employment relationship that meets the first three criteria is also referred to as a permanent position .

Normal employment relationships are characterized by stability and longer duration, they are the only source of income for many employees and are therefore particularly dependent on the employer. In the case of atypical employment relationships, at least one of the characteristics of a normal employment relationship that could lead to disadvantages for the employee under labor law or social security law is missing .

This includes in particular partial retirement , fixed-term employment , freelance workers , marginal employment , home work , chain employment , temporary work , mini-job , mid- job , internship , seasonal work (if it is not customary in the industry), bogus self-employment , day wage , telework or temporary work . Atypical employment relationships ( precarious work ) emerged as part of the flexibilization of the labor market in order to reduce unemployment . There are also forms of employment that are not subject to labor law, e.g. B. the employment relationship of civil servants , soldiers and judges as well as employment on the basis of open-ended service contracts or specifically defined fee contracts . Moreover, in common parlance, there are special forms of employment, such as student job , temporary job , or domestic staff , but to which the rules of labor law apply.

On the relationship between normal work and atypical employment

The proportion of atypical employees and normal employees in all core workers in Germany. Both parts run opposite to each other. (Core workers are only employed between the ages of 15 and 64, not in education / training or in military / civil service or voluntary service.)

Basic definition of atypical employment

"Atypical employment" is measured in Germany by the deviation from one or more criteria that characterize the so-called "normal employment relationship". The scope of atypical employment therefore varies depending on its narrower or broader definition.

After a worldwide definition of the OECD , the atypical work (include English non-standard work arrangements ), all temporary employment (part-time to full-time) part time employment as well as self-employed.

The Federal Statistical Office defines an employment relationship in Germany as a normal employment relationship if it is carried out for more than 20 hours per week, subject to social security contributions and for an unlimited period, and the employee works directly in the company with which an employment contract exists.

The Federal Statistical Office counts as atypical employees with fixed-term employees, part-time employees with up to 20 hours per week, marginal employees and employees in temporary work.

historical development

Actually, the term “atypical” is misleading, the loose attachment to an employer is as old as the pre-forms of permanent employment. And even in feudal systems, migrant workers (such as day laborers or independent entertainment service providers) and commercial travelers , for example, were still below serfs , who experienced at least a certain degree of social security in this dependency.

Today's concept of normal employment has evolved from the Industrial Revolution onwards from the Fordist economic model that many industrialized countries followed until the 1970s. They are not yet the rule in many countries and have only been able to establish themselves in Europe through the involvement of trade unions. According to the definition of the OECD, a third of all employment relationships worldwide are still class atypical.

Development of atypical forms of employment compared to normal employment based on positions registered as open at the Federal Employment Agency . Normal employment is defined here as regular employment subject to social insurance contributions in a permanent full-time employment relationship (not as a temporary worker).

At the end of the 20th century, the normal employment relationship was tailored to the male breadwinner model in terms of wages and normal working hours , in which the man's wages as a family breadwinner were supposed to secure the livelihood of the family and the normal working hours were intended to ensure that the employee had a largely autonomous organization of non-working time .

For a number of years, normal employment relationships have been subject to erosion, which is reflected in the increasing number of employees in the low-wage sector , relaxed protection against dismissal and increasing areas without collective agreements, as well as an increase in atypical employment relationships in general. Economic models that were once welfare state are threatened more and more by precarization in the age of globalization . In this context, people like to speak euphemistically of deregulating the labor market . According to a study by the OECD, three quarters of the OECD area worldwide are affected by an increase between 1995 and 2010, particularly Slovakia with 50%, but also Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Another phenomenon is pseudo-self-employment , i.e. employment relationships similar to employees, in which, however, all social burdens are passed on to the working people. This abuse of legal forms of contract particularly affects academic professions.

Economic background

Since atypical forms of employment usually allow market-related fluctuations in labor demand and supply to be balanced out more quickly than normal employment relationships, particularly strong employment increases can be expected in this area in times of increased labor demand. Conversely, a fall in the demand for labor leads to a faster reduction in employment, while holders of normal employment are generally better protected against unemployment. Proponents of an increase in atypical employment relationships cite permanent positive employment effects as an argument (in analogy to the relaxation of dismissal protection regulations ).

Reforms of labor law can partially offset disadvantages of atypical employment relationships compared to normal employment relationships. If this succeeds, atypical employment relationships can on the one hand become more attractive for employees; on the other hand, the possibly expected positive employment effects of an increase in atypical employment relationships can be achieved. This double effect is, for example, the aim of a number of directives in the field of EU social policy .

Disadvantages of atypical employment relationships

Atypical employment relationships are often associated with the following disadvantages:

  • often no living wage
  • often no or difficult access to further training
  • often no or fewer career advancement opportunities
  • often disadvantages under labor law
  • often lower company social benefits
  • often little or no social security, in particular due to discontinuous employment history
  • frequently changing job
  • no (permanent) social contacts at work
  • Competitive disadvantages in the labor market

Countermeasures of social disadvantage for atypical employees

In view of the social changes and the risk of a severe erosion of social security, it is emphasized that a social discussion about the implications of different social models is necessary. It is argued, among other things, for an alternative economic policy with a more flexible working time standard, which socially safeguards working hours between long part-time and almost full-time. Conversely, it should also be possible to extend working hours within narrow limits. In the case of socially accepted circumstances such as bringing up children, caring for relatives, further training or civic engagement, social support for social security is appropriate, for example through compensation payments , whereas other interruptions or reductions in employment, for example for sabbaticals , with little or no Promotion could take place.

See also

literature

(chronologically)

  • Rainer Dombois: The difficult farewell to normal employment. In: From politics and contemporary history 37/1999, pp. 13–20.
  • Ulrich Walwei: Normal employment relationship in motion. In: Codetermination No. 11, 1999.
  • Richard Sennett : Der flexible Mensch , Btb bei Goldmann 2000, ISBN 3-442-75576-X .
  • Evelyn Schröer: The influence of regulation on the spread of temporary employment and its importance in terms of labor market policy. Diss. Univ. Cologne, 2001.
  • Nicole Mayer-Ahuja: Learning to serve again? From West German "normal employment" to precarious employment since 1973 , Edition Sigma, Berlin 2003.
  • Andreas Diekmann , Ben Jann: Erosion of normal work and social inequality. 2004 ( PDF file , 145 kB; ethz.ch).
  • H. Pfarr: REGAM study: Atypical employment in companies - used to circumvent protection against dismissal? In: Betriebsberater , issue 11/2004, pp. 602–604.
  • R. Neubäumer, D. Tretter: More atypical employment from a theoretical point of view. In: Industrial Relations , Issue 3/2008, pp. 256–278.
  • Berndt Keller, Hartmut Seifert: Atypical occupation between precariousness and normality. Overview of development, structures and determinants . Research from the Hans Böckler Foundation , Vol. 158. 2013.
  • Gerhard Bosch: normal employment. In: Hirsch-Kreinsen, Hartmut; Minssen, Heiner (Hrsg.): Lexicon of the work and industrial sociology. Baden-Baden 2017: Nomos, edition sigma, pp. 246–250

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrich Mückenberger, On the role of normal employment relationships in the welfare state redistribution of risks , in: Prokla, 1986, pp. 31–45
  2. ↑ Edeltraut Hoffmann / Ulrich Walwei, Normal Employment Relationships: A Discontinued Model? in: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, 1998, p. 410
  3. ↑ Ulrich Mückenberger, The change in the normal employment relationship under conditions of a "Crisis of Normality", in: trade union monthly books, edition 4/1989, p. 213
  4. ↑ Figures on the subject of the “discontinued normal employment relationship?” Accessed on March 1, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Sylvana Schulze-Pfefferkorn, The employment relationship in insolvency , 2011, p. 17
  6. ↑ Federal Government: Answer of the Federal Government to Small Inquiry - Printed matter 19/13748 . Ed .: German Bundestag. Berlin May 24, 2017 ( bundestag.de [PDF]).
  7. ↑ Hirsch-Kreinsen: Lexicon of the work and industrial sociology . Ed .: Minsen. 2017, p. 422 .
  8. ↑ a b c OECD: All On Board. Making Inclusive Growth Happen. 2014. Section Non-standard employment is widespread. , P. 33 ( pdf , oecd.org, accessed February 27, 2015; there p. 37);
    Definition: “ Non-standard work arrangements, including temporary employment (part-time and full-time), part-time jobs on a permanent contract and self-employment. ”
  9. ↑ a b normal employment relationships are increasing in importance. Federal Statistical Office, August 21, 2015, accessed on October 4, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Federal Government: Answer of the Federal Government to Small Inquiry - Printed matter 19/4046 . Ed .: German Bundestag. Berlin August 27, 2018, p. 26 ( bundestag.de [PDF] table for question 7: Number of registered jobs according to selected characteristics).
  11. ^ Report on the job and income situation of women and men, on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth. (PDF; 1.5 MB) July 2001, accessed on March 12, 2008 .
  12. ↑ Alexandra Wagner: On the necessity of the discussion about social models. Plea for a new normal employment relationship. (PDF; 97 kB) Alternative Economic Policy Working Group, University of Bremen, accessed on November 7, 2009 . P. 21 ff