Self-employed workers: industrial relations and working conditions

This report presents an overview of industrial relations and employment and working conditions of selfemployed workers in the 28 countries surveyed. The study was carried out jointly by the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO)and the European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO) of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). It identifies basic trends in self-employment, highlights issues concerning the definition of self-employment and offers an overview of the different national regulatory frameworks. The analysis focuses mainly on own-account workers without employees and new forms of employment. It also examines the social security provisions for this category of workers – a source of differences between employees and selfemployed workers. Finally, the report analyses the presence and regulation of ‘economically dependent work’, as well as the collective representation of self-employed workers.