Self-employment in Europe: labour market and social protection

The joint event ‘Self-employment in Europe: labour market and  social protection’ took place on Friday 9 February 2018 in the Conseil Central de l’Economie, Brussels, Belgium.

The half-day event was an opportunity to explore recent Eurofound and European Social Observatory (OSE) research on issues surrounding self-employment and social protection. In particular, it was an opportunity to share expertise in the context of the European Commission’s initiative on ‘Social protection for all’.

The European Social Pillar outlined as a strategic priority that all workers should have access to social protection regardless of employment status. The event brought together representatives of the social partners, EU institutions, national representatives, practitioners and academics to debate issues including, among others, the diversity of the self-employed; social protection and representation of self-employed; the place of self-employment in a future labour market; and the impact of digital economy on self-employment.

Programme: Self-employment in Europe: labour market and social protection (updated 08/02/2018)

European Commission report: Access to Social protection for people working on non-standard contracts and as self-employed in Europe - A study of national policies (2017)

Eurofound report: Exploring self-employment in the European Union (2017)

Presentations:

• Exploring self-employment in the European Union - Mathijn Wilkens (Eurofound)

• Access to social protection for the self-employed in Europe - Dalila Ghailani & Slavina Spasova (European Social Observatory)