Evidence from the PRECSTUDE project (precarious work amongst students in Europe), 2012

1. PRECSTUDE:
The Student Labour Market
Nick Clark, Working Lives Research Institute

2. Tertiary
students ,
2010

3. Tertiary
students ,
2010

4. 437
1879
Tertiary
students ,
2010
2245
1980
113
2149
2479

5. Proportion of students
working
Country
% students working (year)
Comments
Cz
4% (2001 census)
70% plus (Eurostudent)
16.5%-85% (2005)
15 hours /week (Eurostudent)
Fr
Estimates, various sources
75%+ (2007)
It
Lv
Pl
Sp
39%, up to 75%
20% (Eurostudent 2009)
45% during term, 66% during holidays
(2009)
40.8% (2011)
52% (2009)
53% (2008-11) – Eurostudent
Regional variation
Eurostudent
Av. 19 hours per week for
undergrad, 25 for MA (Eurostat
2011)
Including term time and vacation
work
25% (2009) – INE
UK
43.2% (2011)
53.8% (2009)
42-78% , depending on university (2005)
LFS, Eurostudent, CHERI

6. Significance



Reasonable to estimate that 45% of tertiary students in
Europe engage in paid work during their studies. That
would equate to 8.93 million in 2010.
Also in 2010 there were 3.53 million FTE temporary
agency workers in the EEA (EuroCIETT).
Allowing for largely part-time nature of student work,
student workforce is at least equivalent of the temporary
agency workforce

(to some extent is included in that workforce)

7. Work/study balance

Work patterns:
 Term-time,
regular
 Term time, casual/occasional
 Vacation time
 Year-long

Study patterns:
 full
time or part-time
 undergraduate/postgraduate

worker student/student worker

8. Student working: accommodated,
encouraged or opposed?
Italy: part-time study options, class timing to
accommodate work
 Poland: regarded as positive for employability,
facilitated by university services
 France: national employment service on
campus, some timetable/exam flexibility
possible
 UK: class distinction – discouraged by “top”
universities, facilitated by “post-92” universities


10. Finding work
 students
rely overwhelmingly on personal
contacts or direct approaches to
employers, or in some cases web
searches.
 If an agency is to be used, it is most likely
to be the student employment service.

11. Special status for student
workers?
recognition for exams (leave, shift
arrangements), right to education – 150 hrs
(Italy)
 employer exemption form social security
contributions (Poland)
 specific contracts for professional training at
work as part of studies (France, UK)


12. Type of employer

13. By sector
Sector
% responses
Range
Education
16.8
8.1% (It) - 21.3% (Sp)
Hospitality
14.4
6.6% (Pl) - 31% (It)
Retail/wholesale
10.6
4.8% (Cz) - 16.0% (UK)
Other business services
8.4
2.1% (Fr) - 17.1% (Pl)
Public administration
6.4
2.6% (Pl) – 9.6% (Lv)
Total for top sectors
56.6

14. By occupation
Occupational group
% responses
Range
Sales & customer
service
23.0
9.3% (Cz) – 44.7% (UK)
Professional
16.5
5.9% (Fr) – 42.2% (Lv)
Administrative &
secretarial
15.2
6.8% (UK) – 32.9% (Cz)
Elementary
12.2
2.2% (Pl) – 20.3% (Sp)
Total for top groups
66.9

15. Type of work
1200
1000
800
Number of
replies
600
400
200
0

16. Type of work

Part-time, but not necessarily temporary or
unstable:
 50%
had only one job over past 12 months, further
28% had two

Arrangement of hours:
 weekends,
 Half
evenings
in jobs associated with studies
 “flexibility”

17. Summary
permanent & significant feature of labour market
 only partially recognised
 customer facing and professional occupations
 unsocial or atypical hours
 particularly important supply of labour in some
sectors, both commercial and public
 but is it precarious?
