Working Life > Modes of Working > Marginal Work

Marginal Work

Definition, Explanation

One speaks of marginal work, if it fulfils one of the following criteria:

• The income from the main job does not secure one's livelihood or it is a low wage
• The social net for the employees like continued pay when sick, national insurance, right of co determination, protection against dismissal, regular working hours, paid leave are limited or lapse
• The integration into social networks is missing due to temporary contracts of employment or due to lower workplace security in contrast to "normal" employment relationships with permanent employment within the scope of national insurance
• A social positioning via the workplace is withheld by lacking planning of working life and career
• The consequences of marginal work can be a permanent loss of tenor or even am abnormal over-identification with work

The first criteria are indisputable. Examples for marginal employment relationships are:

• Pseudo self-employment
• The working poor, who are to be supported by the introduction of low wages
• Cappuccino workers, who pursue a side job as the income is sufficient
• Job hoppers, who voluntarily – like change – or involuntarily due to fixed-term contracts of employment and temporary work, often change jobs and places of work
• One-euro jobbers, who receive an allowance in addition to social security
• Part-time workers, above all women, who are not able to work more due to their family situation
• Illicit workers, migrants without valid papers count among these
• Trainees
• Mini-jobbers

Last update: 12/16/2009