ABSTRACT
There is no generally accepted definition in Germany of ‘precarious employment’. The term (prekäre Beschäftigung) is not used often (Bäcker 2007; Buntenbach 2007). ‘Atypical employment’ is more common, though definitions of this term vary as well. Generally speaking, part-time work (including the peculiarly German ‘mini-jobs’ with monthly gross earnings of up to €400), temporary agency work and fixed-term contracts are regarded as atypical employment forms, since they differ from the norm of standard (full-time) employment1 in various aspects. Sometimes, particular forms of self-employment (especially in low-skill and low-paid areas) are also considered as atypical work. We leave them out here because the distinction between precarious and other forms of selfemployment is particularly difficult to draw.
