ILO · Share of Temporary Employees
Temporary employment by country
What share of employees are on temporary contracts?
Of the 89 countries compared in 2024, Tanzania had the highest reading, 72.78%, and United Arab Emirates had the lowest reading, 0.34%. In the middle country the figure was 13.45%. Among the 44 countries measured in every edition since 2007, the middle one moved from 12.46% to 10.86%.
Share
Part ofWork & Labour
Temporary employment · 2024
Context statistic
Highest of 89Tanzania
72.78%012024 · values only
The highest and the lowest
The three countries with the highest values of 89 compared, the three with the lowest, and the highest on each continent. This statistic has no better end, so no country is shown as leading.
- 1
- 2
- 3
Lowest in 2024
United Arab Emirates0.34%
Dominican Republic1.07%
Lithuania1.72%
This statistic has no better end: the two ends describe size, not success.
02Every measured country
Temporary employment on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value. This statistic has no better end, so the shades describe size, not success.
- 0.34–7.14%
- 7.21–11.22%
- 11.24–16.17%
- 16.20–29.98%
- 31.94–72.78%
- No reading in 2024 (59 measured in an earlier edition)
- Africa
25.38%
the middle country, of 18 measured · 55 members
Tanzania72.78%
Mauritius4.34%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Asia
21.52%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 52 members
Vietnam71.96%United Arab Emirates0.34%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Americas
16.20%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 48 members
Paraguay65.21%Dominican Republic1.07%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Europe
10.38%
the middle country, of 38 measured · 49 members
Kosovo55.95%Lithuania1.72%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Oceania
2 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Nauru.
Fiji18.78%
Nauru5.15%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
19 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Eastern Africa
31.94%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 19 members
Tanzania72.78%Mauritius4.34%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- South America
20.42%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 12 members
Paraguay65.21%
Argentina9.22%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Western Africa
17.54%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 16 members
Mali53.29%
Ghana5.42%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Southern Europe
14.69%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
Kosovo55.95%
Albania4.85%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Asia
13.87%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 19 members
Jordan48.23%United Arab Emirates0.34%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Western Europe
11.52%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Netherlands26.22%
Austria8.60%Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Central America
11.30%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 8 members
El Salvador33.50%
Costa Rica4.18%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Northern Europe
7.40%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Finland16.04%Lithuania1.72%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Eastern Europe
4.50%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 10 members
Poland15.19%
Romania1.79%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Caribbean
2 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Bahamas, Dominican Republic.
Bahamas19.25%Dominican Republic1.07%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Eastern Asia
2 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Mongolia, South Korea.
Mongolia29.98%
South Korea21.83%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Melanesia
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji.
Fiji18.78%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Nauru.
Nauru5.15%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Middle Africa
2 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Angola, Gabon.
Angola41.02%
Gabon39.26%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern Africa
1 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt.
Egypt13.45%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
1 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada.
Canada11.24%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- South-eastern Asia
4 of 11 measured — too few for a middle: Brunei, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam.
Vietnam71.96%
Singapore9.74%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Africa
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa.
Botswana52.45%
South Africa15.23%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Asia
3 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka52.52%
Bangladesh5.29%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
89 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 13.45%; a quarter are above 23.75%, and a quarter below 8.37%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 148 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. Neither end is better, so no position is shown. A high share can mean casual day labour or a country whose law makes fixed-term contracts the norm; a low share can mean secure jobs, or a labour market where few people are employees at all. Only employees are counted — the self-employed are outside the figure.
Showing 25 of 148 countries
Values for 2024. The change column compares 2024 with 2023 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052007–2024 · 18 reference years
Over time
Each point is one year of a labour force survey. Countries survey on different schedules, so a line can have gaps, and a “Break in series” flag in the data marks a change of survey that can move the level by itself.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 44 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 89 | 13.45% | 8.37% – 23.75% | 10.86% |
| 2023 | 93 | 13.15% | 9.24% – 20.17% | 11.06% |
| 2022 | 89 | 12.99% | 8.73% – 26.26% | 10.84% |
| 2021 | 83 | 15.33% | 9.52% – 27.80% | 10.77% |
| 2020 | 77 | 14.78% | 8.28% – 24.86% | 10.77% |
| 2019 | 93 | 16.56% | 9.61% – 32.41% | 11.22% |
| 2018 | 85 | 13.61% | 9.01% – 26.28% | 10.96% |
| 2017 | 87 | 13.94% | 9.35% – 28.99% | 12.29% |
| 2016 | 74 | 13.93% | 8.89% – 27.80% | 12.68% |
| 2015 | 72 | 13.91% | 8.59% – 25.60% | 12.28% |
| 2014 | 78 | 15.04% | 9.02% – 26.60% | 12.50% |
| 2013 | 74 | 14.08% | 8.94% – 27.49% | 12.29% |
| 2012 | 78 | 13.73% | 9.32% – 24.46% | 12.43% |
| 2011 | 77 | 14.15% | 8.96% – 25.56% | 12.21% |
| 2010 | 71 | 13.46% | 8.90% – 23.02% | 12.15% |
| 2009 | 69 | 13.79% | 8.97% – 26.12% | 11.72% |
| 2008 | 60 | 13.57% | 8.38% – 20.84% | 11.93% |
| 2007 | 62 | 13.30% | 8.75% – 25.61% | 12.46% |
062023 → 2024
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Rose most
before → after80 countries were measured in both 2023 and 2024. The field changed from 93 to 89 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Temporary employment in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
92.74%
Employees on temporary contracts (% of employees)
Lowest reading on record
0.34%
Employees on temporary contracts (% of employees)
Biggest rise between editions
+49.79
11.19% → 60.98%
Biggest fall between editions
−60.63
72.98% → 12.35%
Biggest change since first measured
+32.28
14.55% → 46.83%
Highest most often
6 of 18
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08By sex
Inside the number
International Labour Organization (ILO) also publishes separate female and male readings. The gap between them, where both exist.
Of the 89 countries with both readings, the women reading is higher in 42, the men reading in 47. The widest gaps each way:
09The measure
About temporary employment
This is the share of employees on temporary contracts — fixed-term, casual, seasonal or otherwise time-limited — out of all employees. It describes how much paid employment comes with an end date built in.
What the number is: Employees on temporary contracts (% of employees).
10Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Work & Labour, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where temporary employment is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Crude Birth RateUN DESA Population Division · 89 countries in commonρ 0.47
- Total Fertility RateUN DESA Population Division · 89 countries in commonρ 0.46
- Population Under Age 15UN DESA Population Division · 89 countries in commonρ 0.45
Moves against
Where temporary employment is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Actual Individual Consumption per Capita (PPP)World Bank Group · 86 countries in commonρ −0.47
- Median Age of the PopulationUN DESA Population Division · 89 countries in commonρ −0.44
- ND-GAIN Country IndexNotre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN), University of Notre Dame · 87 countries in commonρ −0.43
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 237 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
11Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The countries at either end
12Questions
Temporary employment: questions and answers
Which country has the highest temporary employment?
Tanzania, at 72.78%, among the 89 countries compared in 2024.
Which country has the lowest temporary employment?
United Arab Emirates, at 0.34%, among the 89 countries compared in 2024.
How many countries does the Share of Temporary Employees cover?
89 in 2024, and 148 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 60 to 93 between editions.
What is the world average temporary employment?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 89 compared in 2024, the figure was 13.45%.
Is this International Labour Organization (ILO)’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. International Labour Organization (ILO) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Share of Temporary Employees published?
This site holds 18 reference years, 2007–2024, all recalculated in International Labour Organization (ILO)’s 2026 report on one method — not 18 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From International Labour Organization (ILO), under CC BY 4.0. Read from ILOSTAT directly, from national labour force surveys; a few rows are figures the ILO takes from the OECD and from Eurostat. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
13Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Share of Temporary Employees — International Labour Organization (ILO)
Read from ILOSTAT directly, from national labour force surveys; a few rows are figures the ILO takes from the OECD and from Eurostat.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year 2024
Cite the source as: International Labour Organization. ILOSTAT. Geneva: ILO.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: International Labour Organization (ILO) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- This statistic has no better end, so the page describes higher and lower values and never calls a country a leader.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Temporary employment by country: Share of Temporary Employees, data from International Labour Organization (ILO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/temporary-employees