Shifts in the job structure in Europe during the Great Recession

This report describes the impact of the ‘great recession’ on employment and the job structure in the EU27. It finds that despite a net loss of over five million jobs between 2008–2010, 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 core-age and, in particular, younger workers declined. Part-time work expanded across the wage spectrum while levels of temporary employment began to recover quickly from 2009 onwards after having borne the brunt of the early-recession job losses.