An employment record book is an official personal document recording the employment status of its owner over time. Some European countries issue such documents, others did earlier. The first employment record books are said to have been issued in

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

in 1892 in the mining industry.

Brazil

The Carteira de Trabalho e Previdência Social ("Work and Social Security Booklet", CTPS in the Portuguese acronym) was created by the decree 21.175 on 21 March in 1932 and regulated by the decree 22.035 later in the same year. It ensures access to some of the main labor rights and social security network. In 1934 it was made mandatory for every employer to log in the worker's CTPS. It is considered to be an personal identification document, and also contains the registry of every employer, time of employment and wage. Since 2018 it has a digital version that can be access in smartphones.

People's Republic of China

France

Similar to an

internal passport An internal passport or a domestic passport is an identity document. Uses for internal passports have included restricting citizens of a subdivided state to employment in their own area (preventing their migration to richer cities or regions), cle ...

, French apprentices and labourers who travelled were required to show a ticket of leave from their employer, to avoid accusations of

vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

. This requirement was introduced in 1749 and turned into a booklet in August 1781, the so-called ''livret d'ouvrier'' (labour booklet). The requirement was abolished during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, only to be reintroduced on 12 April 1803. It was used during the reign of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, but the use declined gradually from 1860 under

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

to 1890, when the requirement was abolished. The books were kept by the employer while the labourer was not travelling, but from 1854 it was left to the worker.

Germany

german: link=no, Arbeitsbuch, literally "labour book".
The regulation for ''Arbeitsbuchs'' was issued on 24 June 1892 for the mining industry. The obligatory identification data required by the regulation included: *The full name of the owner *Date and location of his birth *Name and the last place of the owner's father or guardian *Owner's signature All this data should be registered with a local police office, thus turning an ''Arbeitsbuch'' into a sort of internal passport identity document. File:Arbeitsbuch (1935).jpg, Common Arbeitsbuch.

, 1935–1945. File:Arbeitsbuch für Ausländer.jpg, Arbeitsbuch for the foreigners.

, 1938–1945.

Denmark

da, Skudsmålsbog, literally "character book" (or "conduct book").
The regulation for ''skudsmålsbøger'' was issued on 5 September 1832 for

domestic worker A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

s. The book was generally issued at

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

. When a domestic worker moved to a new town or parish, the local police or parish priest would sign the book, and when leaving a position, the master would attest the employment dates and wage (until 1867, he could also write a note about the quality of work). If the domestic worker lost the book, he or she would be fined. The final rests of the skudsmålsbog system were abolished in 1921. File:Skudsmålsbog 1907.jpg, ''Skudsmålsbog'' from 1907. File:Brede Værk - udstillede skudsmålsbøger.jpg, ''Skudsmålsbøger'', exhibited at

Brede Works The National Museum of Denmark's new museum, Brede Works, lies in the countryside just north of Copenhagen in Denmark's largest, protected industrial plants. At the museum of Industrial culture, the visitors can be guided around by its own virtua ...

Italy

it, libretto di lavoro, literally "labour booklet". The first comprehensive legislative act was adopted in Italy on 10 January 1935 ( it, Istituzione del libretto del lavoro, legge n. 112). Soon after that Italy, whose citizens worked in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

, transferred this organizational experience to that African country as well. In recent times a ''libretto del lavoro'' was issued by commune authorities in Italy; it was superseded by SIL (Sistema Informativa Lavoro) records, ''libretto del lavoro'' were abolished in accordance with a law n. 196/1997.

Soviet Union and Russia

russian: link=no, Трудовая книжка (''Trudovaya knizhka''),

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

''трудовы́е кни́жки'', literally "labour booklet".
On 10 July 1918 the 5-th All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted the Constitution of Russia which declared the right and duty to work for all citizen. Pursuant to this the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTzIK) approved the Labour Code (abbr. "''KZoT''") and the "Regulations on employment record books" as an Appendix to the Article 80 of this Code. Containing: *Name, surname and date of birth of the labourer *Name and address of the trade union which the labourer belonged to *Waging category and level assigned to a labourer by a wage-rate commission this "trudovaya knizhka" also supposed trailing benefits received by a labourer thereby also replacing a paybook (russian: link=no, расчётная книжка), widely used in industry before the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

of 1917. In addition, a special decree was issued on 25 June 1919. Although its title mentioned only Moscow and

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, its text extended the requirements to all the citizen of Russia. The presence of passport was a due prerequisite for receiving the "trudovaya knizhka" which was issued in exchange of it (art. 3). Thus becoming the main

identity document An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any documentation, document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID c ...

for its owner (although photo was not obligatory; art. 12), this "trudovaya knizhka" reserved pages for recording minor children. It also served as a paybook (art. 5); as place for labeling stamps for social insurance contributions (art. 8) and as a register for

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

coupons (art. 10). Trudovaya knizhka 1918

On 9 July 1922 a new ''KZoT'', and on 20 June 1923 the decree "On Identity Cards" were adopted. In 1924 "trudovaya knizhka" was replaced with russian: link=no, Трудовая карта , translit=trudovaya karta , translation=Employment Card), register of data exclusively related to employment. On 21 September 1926 the USSR Sovnarkom (SNK) required employers to maintain ''employment lists'' (russian: link=no, Трудовой список , translit=trudovoy spisok). Instead of employment cards employees were now to claim for excerpts (russian: link=no, справка , translit= spravka) from the employment lists at a place of their work. By the Regulation of ''SNK'' as of 20 December 1938 "On Introduction of Employment Record Books" (russian: link=no, О введении трудовых книжек) the latter returned into use from 15 January 1939. The new design of "trudovaya knizhka" was unified for all branches of industry, governmental and public bodies. From then on they again became the primary source for the calculations of: * accumulated period of work (russian: link=no, стаж, "seniority", an index used as a base for the calculations of current social benefits, like for temporary disability etc.) during the period of active labor * amounts of the pensions, set upon reaching retirement age and in other cases The last section of was "trudovaya knizhka" was reserved for records about material and moral encouragement, gratitudes, honorary titles, orders and medals etc. Penalties were not allowed to be recorded in these books. Trudovaya knizhka USSR (1974) AT-VII

The ''Trudovaya knizhka'' of 1974 series was issued in 15 different series, for each of the 15 republics. The issue for Russia (series AT) had 40 pages. Issues for the other republics had twice more, where page 41 in the middle was a duplicate title page written in the language of the relevant republic. Localized names of the document were: uk, Трудова́ кни́жка, lv, Darba grāmatiņa, et, Tööhõive ajalugu etc. In 1992 the issuing of employment record book was abolished and was re-introduced in 2002 with the new format carries

double-headed eagle In heraldry and vexillology, the double-headed eagle (or double-eagle) is a charge (heraldry), charge associated with the concept of Empire. Most modern uses of the symbol are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the late Byzantin ...

symbol on it. Since 2020, Russian citizens can choose between electronic or paper form.

Slovenia

sl, delovna knjižica, dual ''delovni knjižici'',

''delovne knjižice'', literally "labour booklet" Delovna knjižica Slovenija

The laws (Zakon 4.a "Pravilnik o delovni knjižici" of 5 August 1990, 6. člen; The Labour Relations Act of 1 January 2003 (''ZDR'', " Zakon o delovnih razmerjih Republike Slovenije", 225. člen) required the following obligatory identification data to be supplied with the application for "''delovna knjižica''": *Surname and name *Day, month and year of birth *Name of the birth location (including the name of administrative unit and state) *Type of residency in the Republic of Slovenia (permanent or temporary) *Citizenship *information on education, professional development and training * EMŠO, ID (serial and registration number) of passport or other identity document, date and place of its issue; for foreigners – same data from a foreign travel document or identity card. Applicants shall provide a blank "''delovna knjižica''" together with a duly filled application form. The employee must provide employers his "''delovna knjižica''" at the conclusion of the employment contract, this requirement is obligatory prerequisite, and employer must confirm taking a booklet from applicant with a written acknowledgment of receipt. The employer must keep "''delovne knjižice''" of his employees in custody during the whole period of their labour relationships. Employer also must return "''delovna knjižica''" back to the employee at his express request, against a written acknowledgment of receipt from his employee. The ''ZDR'' Act (224. člen, odstavka 3) requires the employer to log the required data into "''delovna knjižica''". At the termination of the labour contract the employee must immediately receive his employment record book. In the case employer is unable to serve "''delovna knjižica''" within 30 days after the labour contract termination, it should be reported to the competent authority in a place of residence of the employee. Databases from employment record books can be used by the authorized officials of the Ministry of Labour, the Labour Inspectorate and administrative units, when it comes to enforcement of statutory duties and sues. At the end of 2008 it was announced that from 1 January 2009 "''delovna knjižica''" as the primary source of personal data for the social security issues shall cease its functions to ''ZPIZ'' ( sl, Zavod za pokojninsko in invalidsko zavarovanje Slovenije, Pension and Disability Insurance Fund of Slovenia) database.

Ukraine

Ukrainian working book has a format of a paper book with blue or grey cover with next information about employee: * name and surname * date and place of birth * full passport data * full history of previous working places (including dates of employment and reasons of termination) * education (Universities, high and middle schools etc.) * working awards Working book is stored at the company's office and must be returned to the worker upon termination.