ABSTRACT
Historically, little protection has been provided for non-permanent employees in the UK through national legislation. The employment rate of all people in the UK aged between 16 years and retirement age has remained steady between 74 per cent and 75 per cent in the years 2001 to 2004. Unemployment rates in the UK have generally been declining since peaks in the early 1980s and 1990s of over 10 per cent. This chapter reviews the growing body of research in the UK on temporary and fixed-term contract working. Research in the UK has generally found a positive relationship between nonpermanent employment and job insecurity. There has been a steadily accumulating body of research in the UK about both employment contracts and psychological contracts. This includes a mix of national surveys and more detailed studies of specific samples. A number of them have examined the relationship between the employment contracts and psychological contracts.
