Meaning & use
contingent employment
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Meaning
noununcountablebusinessformal
Work that lasts only as long as a company needs it, such as temporary, freelance, or agency work without a permanent contract.
Grammar: No article and no plural: say 'contingent employment is increasing', not 'a contingent employment'.
Patterns
- contingent employment is increasing
- workers in contingent employment
- a rise in contingent employment
- contingent employment arrangements
The report shows that contingent employment has grown faster than permanent hiring.
Many graduates start in contingent employment before finding a full-time role.
Companies use contingent employment to handle short projects without adding permanent staff.
Common combinations
- a rise in contingent employment
- The survey found a sharp rise in contingent employment after the recession.
- workers in contingent employment
- Workers in contingent employment often have fewer benefits.
- contingent employment arrangements
- The law covers various contingent employment arrangements.
- contingent employment contract
- She signed a contingent employment contract for six months.
Synonyms and how they differ
- temporary work
- A more everyday term for jobs that are not permanent; contingent employment is the formal term used in business and research.
- casual work
- Work with no fixed hours or regular schedule; contingent employment is broader and includes agency and contract work.
- gig work
- Informal short jobs arranged through apps or one-off tasks; contingent employment is the formal, wider category.
Opposites
Word family
- contingent worker noun
- A person employed in contingent employment.
- contingent adjective
- Depending on something else; in business, used for work that depends on demand.
Commonly confused: contingent employment or continuous employment?
contingent employment vs continuous employment
Continuous employment means working without a break in service; contingent employment means work that is not permanent. The words look similar but describe different ideas.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'contingent employment' correctly.
Choose one answer.
Option C is correct because 'contingent employment' is uncountable and takes a singular verb, and the sentence describes a typical feature. Option An is wrong because you cannot say 'a contingent employment'. Option B is wrong because the verb should be 'is', not 'are'. Option D is wrong because twenty years with one company suggests permanent, not contingent, work.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “contingent employment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.