Labor Market Glossary

Big Data, DEI, intersectionality – the world of work is full of evolving, technical language. This glossary provides definitions aimed at helping employers, employees, industry representatives, NGOs, and government ministers unpack the complexities of the labor market.

Big Data

Big Data is defined by three attributes: volume, velocity, and variety. Volume refers to the mass amount of information collected. Velocity means the rapid speed at which data is processed and variety specifies the diverse forms of data – including text, image, figures, video, and audio.

Diversity

In the workplace, diversity refers to the variety of characteristics represented within an organization or industry. The Charter of Diversity (Charta der Vielfalt) has defined a total of seven diversity dimensions: age, ethnic origin/nationality, gender/gender identity, physical/mental ability, religion/belief, sexual orientation, and social background. Diverse organizations and industries have a broad range of representation in their structural levels.

Employee Skills

In literature, the term “skills” has various definitions and is often used synonymously with “abilities”. Those who make a distinction describe skills as an umbrella term that enable people to deal with complex and uncertain situations. For the definition of requirement profiles and transition pathways, WifOR uses the following categorization into three types of skills: technical professional skills, cross-professional skills and certificates and qualifications.

Employer Attractiveness

Employer attractiveness indicates when organizations fulfill the key factors that attract and retain talent. These factors contribute significantly to the intrinsic motivation of employees and their identification with an organization. In addition to wages, flexible working hours, healthcare, training opportunities and a positive corporate culture have become particularly important. It is also important for targeted employer branding measures to know decisive criteria in order to position an organization as attractive.

Equal Pay Day

Equal Pay Day (EPD) is an international day of action that draws attention to unequal pay between genders. Celebrated on different days in different countries, the EPD marks the day up to which women would have to work into the current year to earn what men earned in the previous year. An average unadjusted pay gap of 13% in the EU corresponds to a period of 47 calendar days per year.

Equity

In the context of DEI, equity embraces considered, fair treatment of people according to individual needs. As the basis for just treatment, equity adopts the principle that everyone has unique experiences and talents, while faces varying access to opportunities.

Inclusion

Inclusion relates to the sense of value individuals feel in an organization or industry. Factors of inclusion include open communication, meaningful connection with colleagues, and mutual trust. Inclusion does not naturally follow from diversity, rather must be purposefully designed in a workplace context.

Gender Care Gap

The Gender Care Gap is the difference in unpaid care work women perform in comparison to men – highlighting another structural gender gap. The term was developed in 2017 by the German government in their 2^nd Equality Report and include activities such as raising children, household work, and caring for relatives.

Gender Pay Gap

The Gender Pay Gap (GPG) is the average gross hourly earnings of women in relation to the gross hourly earnings of men. In Germany, the unadjusted GPG lies at 18% and adjusted at 6% (2024). For the EU-27, the average unadjusted GPG is 12.7% (2021).

Informal Work

Informal work is a form of employment that takes place outside formal economic structures and is not usually recorded in official economic statistics or national accounts. This type of work often includes unpaid activities such as household tasks, childcare, and voluntary work. These activities contribute to prosperity and quality of life without monetary remuneration. Informal work can also include paid work performed in informal sectors or informal markets, such as small repair services or tutoring, as long as these activities are not officially registered and therefore not subject to tax and social security contributions. The distinction from the shadow economy is that informal work is not primarily carried out to avoid taxes or social security contributions, but arises out of necessity or tradition.

International Women’s Day

Celebrated on March 8^th, International Women’s Day marks a call for action to accelerate progress in gender parity by raising awareness for structural inequalities and bias. The occasion highlights the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women from across the world.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality describes the unique form of discrimination an individual faces based on systematic inequalities towards overlapping characteristics. Overlapping characteristics include gender, religious beliefs, ethnicity, disability, and class. For example, a Muslim women may face discrimination not only on the basis of being female and Muslim, but may also experience a distinct form of discrimination aimed specifically towards Muslim women. This means the form of discrimination is different to that which an atheist women or Muslim man experiences. The intersection of discrimination distinguishes intersectionality from multidimensional discrimination.

Labor Shortage

In essence, a labor shortage occurs when there is an insufficient supply of qualified candidates to meet a company or industry’s demand. Many national economies are experiencing increasingly acute labor shortages at a macro level, driven by ageing populations. Strategies to address the shortage of skilled workers include training measures for existing employees and increasing the labor market integration of underrepresented groups.

Non-Market Activities; unpaid work

Non-market activities include voluntary work, undeclared work, household production and care work. See Informal Work.

Participative Management

Participative management, also known as democratic leadership, is characterized by a management style that values employee feedback and promotes collective decision-making. Emphasis is placed on the delegation of responsibility and joint problem-solving. A central element of participative management is the approach taken to address hierarchies. Traditionally, hierarchies have clear vertical structures with fixed chains of command and decision-making powers. In comparison, participative management attempts to loosen these structures and make them more horizontal. This makes it possible to blur the boundaries between different levels and create a more inclusive, open working environment in which ideas and feedback from employees at all levels are given equal consideration. Integration of such a hierarchy into a participative management approach not only increases employee satisfaction and motivation, but also promotes organizational agility and adaptability to rapidly changing market conditions.

SDGs

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set a global framework to promote sustainable development in various areas, including economic growth, social inclusion, and climate action. In the context of the labor market, the SDGs play a central role – especially SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. This goal aims to create productive employment opportunities and achieve high levels of economic growth for all that are both inclusive and sustainable.

Shadow Economy

The shadow economy refers to economic activities that are deliberately concealed from state control bodies in order to avoid taxes or because the activity itself is illegal. The shadow economy includes the provision of legal services as well as the sale of goods without registration and taxation. Illegal activities such as trafficking prohibited substances or goods also belong to the shadow economy. In contrast to informal work, which often remains unpaid and undeclared for social, cultural, or practical reasons, the shadow economy deliberately aims to evade the legal and fiscal framework of the state. The main difference is the intention: while informal work is not necessarily carried out with the intention of evading taxes, the shadow economy is characterized by a conscious effort to circumvent state regulations and levies.