What Has the EU Done for Me? Vulnerable Employment in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

EU governance within the area of social and employment policy is often criticized for almost exclusively concerning the protection of workers, as oppose to all citizens. This criticism can be further extended to argue that over the last 15 years, the EU’s involvement in the field of employment has predominantly focused on increasing overall employment across the Union. Within this the focus has been on increasing flexibility within the workforce and EU policy has targeted individuals who have normally been at the margins of the labour market, as oppose to those who are already employed. But what does the EU do for those individuals who are employed? The term ‘worker’ is a complex categorization that captures a broad range of individuals, such as those working on different contracts. Importantly, research by Klaveren et al (2013) highlights that worker experiences across the EU demonstrate significant variation between national and multinational companies. This paper analyses the working conditions and the experiences of employees in small and medium sized enterprises vis-à-vis national and multinational companies. It utilizes data on employment conditions from the WageIndicator Survey and European Union Labour Force Survey datasets for 12 EU member states. Compared to workers in national and multinational companies it finds that employees in small and medium sized companies are some of the most ‘vulnerable’ in terms of employment conditions. This is accounted for by the EU’s acquis communautaire in the area of employment which is mainly focused on workers in national and multinational corporations.