Almost 40% of the surveyed 20-30 year olds did not have a direct employment contract with the airline they were flying for. This is a very concerning trend and must be kept in mind when you decide whether to go for a career as a pilot.
Atypical employment means “indirect” and/or “temporary” jobs. Sometimes these contractual schemes include a third party intermediary, agency or broker that acts as an employer for the pilot and as a labour provider for the airline. The legal forms of atypical employment and the attached rules differ from one European country to another (otherwise we would speak about illegal work). In first place these schemes were deemed to respond to specific demands of flexibility, as much from the employer as from the employee. Today, they are often used by the employers mainly to reduce labour costs.
Such atypical employment often means pilots need to take care of social security and pension contributions themselves. It means also no holiday pay, no sick pay and no maternity or parental leave. Lack of job security is a challenge that lies ahead for the majority of young pilots today.
These are the most used forms of atypical employment in aviation: