Underemployed: Understanding the Rise of Involuntary Part-Time Employment (2026-2030)
Across Europe, labour markets are changing in ways that unemployment figures no longer capture. The rise of zero-hours contracts, gig work, and on-demand labour means that having a job no longer guarantees having enough paid hours. Underemployment affects a growing number of workers – many of them women and migrants – and is largely invisible in current policy debates.
UNDEREMPLOYED is a cross-sectoral qualitative study of this phenomenon in three European countries. It combines time-use diaries with in-depth interviews to bridge the gap between what statistics show and what workers actually experience. Comparing the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK – the three countries with the highest share of part-time work – the project aims to:
- Generate foundational knowledge on involuntary part-time employment in the sectors cleaning, retail, care work, and education
- Identify norms, practices and policies in labour, migration, gender, and welfare regimes that foster or constrain its emergence
- Develop policy recommendations to reduce involuntary part-time employment and improve the situation of affected workers
Team
Publications
Barfuss, Reta & Schwiter, Karin (2026) Underemployed but Overworked: Reframing the Paradox of Underemployment through the Lens of Racial Capitalism, in: Geoforum 175, 104759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2026.104759
Schwiter, Karin & Barfuss, Reta (2026) Unfreiwillig in Teilzeit [Involuntary part-time work], in: Soziale Sicherheit CHSS [Social Security], issue of 30 March, available at: https://sozialesicherheit.ch/de/unfreiwillig-in-teilzeit/ [in German and in French]
More publications will be added here as the project progresses.
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Past newsletters
19.06.2025 UZH news announces the award of an ERC Advanced Grant to Karin Schwiter for the project “Underemployed”
Get in touch
For questions about the project, feel free to contact:
Prof. Dr. Karin Schwiter karin.schwiter@geo.uzh.ch
Department of Geography · University of Zurich · Winterthurerstrasse 190 · CH-8057 Zürich
Labour Geography Group
UNDEREMPLOYED is funded by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), based on an awarded ERC Advanced Grant 2024.
