In an environment of economic slowdown, temporary workers are the most exposed to the risk of being dismissed. According to ILO (2016) for example, during the 2008-2009 recession in the United States, despite constituting less than 2% of the total labor force, temporary workers accounted for 10.6% of net employment losses. Likewise, in Spain, temporary employment fell from 29% in 2008 to 22% in 2013 as a result of the economic crisis.

In this same vein, the temporary reduction of the number of working hours is another way of adapting to the macroeconomic context. Firms, instead of firing workers, try to reorganize their workforce internally by reducing working hours, thus maintaining a greater proportion of part-time labor. For instance, in Argentina, the level of employment is inelastic compared to cyclical shocks on GDP, while it is the number of working hours that is the variable that acts as an adjustment (Apella, 2016). In this sense, companies find it more efficient to adjust the number of work hours during economic cycles instead of reorganizing the combination of productive factors.

Likewise, the economic volatility, which generates uncertainty in the medium term, could encourage companies to increase the participation of non-standard employment. Worry about economic conditions after a recession can make companies more cautious about hiring, which generates temporary forms of recruitment.

Finally, the process of technological change, especially the development of digital communications, is a key factor in justifying new forms of non-standard employment. The expansion of services and global supply chains is inextricably linked to technological advances. The new information technologies, the higher quality and the lower cost of infrastructure and the logistical and transport improvements, allow companies to compare, organize and manage production in a more diversified way in territorial terms. At the same time, new communication technologies have allowed the generation of new forms of work, such as work on internet platforms or work on demand through digital applications.

In this sense, technological developments allow companies to assemble teams of workers who develop activities in any part of the world through a virtual network (Brews and Tucci, 2004). The most recent development of online recruitment services, such as "eLance" and "oDesk" enables the search for workers who can be subcontracted, performing their activities in virtual mode.

# 3. Sources of information

This work includes a descriptive analysis that allows us to identify how the prevalence of nonstandard employment (NSE) has evolved in the last two decades in different regions of the planet, as well as the evolution of the profile of workers in those roles, in terms of their educational level, salary per hour, and type of tasks performed.

This analysis was based mainly on periodic surveys of households that included information regarding the employment and educational situation of individuals. Although the denomination of this type of surveys varies from country to country, in all the cases analyzed there is usually a survey of annual or higher frequency that includes information required to identify the labor status of the individuals as well as to analyze the salary profile and education of the employed.

However, it should be noted that the identification of the type of work relationship (standard or nonstandard) is frequently limited in these data sources. Indeed, it is only possible to identify part-time employment and temporary employment (not in all cases) within the non-standard forms of employment mentioned in the previous section.

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