ABSTRACT
Structural change in demand for labour in developed economies has radically altered available job opportunities for individuals seeking employment. It is these changes in the patterns of employment opportunities that are generating much of the current interest in the impact of labour market restructuring and employment policy. The concerns are not only with the level of employment generated by the new and expanding sectors and with whether these new jobs will be sufficient to offset the declines in traditional sectors (Anxo and Storrie 2001). Of equal concern is whether the new jobs will offer as high a quality of employment as in the past (OECD 2001) and will be able to absorb all demographic groups in search of work. These additional concerns come about as the process of employment restructuring is involving not only a sectoral and skill dimension but also changes to the contractual nature of jobs and to the sources of mobilised labour supplies. New jobs are being largely generated in services, but these can involve a disproportionate share of non-standard jobs and may also involve new sources of labour supply. However, the extent to which the service sector creates non-standard jobs can vary across countries. The shift towards service activities has often been placed at the forefront of creating new forms of employment (Bruegel and Hegewisch 1994; Townsend 1995), but it is important to explore the different use of nonstandard work within different parts of the service sector as well as differences between countries. The growth in services may not always mean growth in non-standard work, and, even where it does, differences in nonstandard work occur across countries.
