(DUBLIN, IRELAND) The first report of the European Jobs Monitor finds that despite a net loss of over five million jobs between 2008 and 2010, employment continued to grow in top-paying jobs, largely in knowledge-intensive services and business services. Meanwhile, sharp losses in medium-paying jobs in construction and manufacturing led to a shrinking of employment in the middle of the wage spectrum. More jobs were lost to men than to women and employment levels of older workers grew while those of younger workers declined.

The new Shifts in the job structure in Europe during the Great Recession report describes the impact of the recession on the structure of employment in terms of occupations and sectors in the EU27, both at the aggregate and national level, during the 2008-2010 period. 

The report identified three main patterns of employment shifts at Member State level during the recession: upgrading, in which job growth was skewed to the top of the wage distribution; polarization, identified as growth in employment at the lower and upper ends of the wage spectrum, but contraction in the middle; and downgrading, in which job destruction was greater in higher-paid jobs while lower-paid employment either grew or suffered only relatively small declines. The report offers detailed comparative data on developments on the labour market at national level during the period.

Women fared better on the labour market than did men during the recession, the report found, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. During the crisis, four ‘male’ jobs were lost for every one ‘female’ job. In fact, almost all the employment growth in the top quintile in the EU27 has gone to women. This was a result of the continued expansion of professional-grade jobs in the health and education sectors. Meanwhile, net female job losses have been exclusively in middle- and low-paid jobs: employment losses for females were highest in four bottom-quintile jobs, including retail salespersons, blue-collar workers in textiles/clothing manufacture and in agriculture. Job losses were particularly concentrated in male-dominated sectors such as construction and manufacturing in the middle of the wage spectrum. 

During the recession, there was a significant increase in employment among those aged between 50 and 64 years – 1.7 million new jobs. This employment growth took place across the wage spectrum, but was skewed towards top-paying jobs. For younger workers, those aged under 30 years, jobs were lost across the wage spectrum.

There was a mixed picture in terms of employment status. There were marked losses in temporary jobs in the early phase of the recession; however, the greater part of employment growth from 2009 onwards took place in temporary jobs, though this growth has tended to be in lower-paying jobs. Part-time work has expanded across the wage spectrum, with gains more or less equally distributed between men and women.

The Shifts in the job structure in Europe during the Great Recession report is available at http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef1141.htm  

For further information, contact Måns Mårtensson, media manager, on email: mma@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone: +353-1-2043124, or mobile: +353-876-593 507.  

Notes to the editor

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) is a tripartite EU body that provides European social policymakers with comparative data, research and recommendations. 

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