Part-time work in Europe
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Profile of part-time workers
In the last decade, part-time employment as a percentage of total employment has increased in most industrialised countries (O’Reilly and Fagan, 1998). In 1992, 14.2% of the total EU working population defined themselves as part-time workers; by 2002, this figure had increased to 18.1%. This general upward trend has been constant during the 10-year period. However, there are marked differences in part-time employment rates depending on countries, sectors or occupations, as well as individual characteristics such as age or gender.
| Member States | Total | Male | Female | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 2002 | 1992 | 2002 | 1992 | 2002 | |
| Austria | 12.6 | 18.9 | 3.6 | 5.1 | 24.5 | 35.7 |
| Belgium | 12.7 | 19.4 | 2.3 | 5.9 | 28.9 | 37.7 |
| Denmark | 23.0 | 20.6 | 10.7 | 11.0 | 37.1 | 31.4 |
| Finland | 10.4 | 12.4 | 7.3 | 8.0 | 13.7 | 17.1 |
| France | 13.1 | 16.2 | 3.8 | 5.0 | 25.2 | 29.7 |
| Germany | 14.5 | 20.8 | 2.7 | 5.8 | 30.9 | 39.5 |
| Greece | 4.5 | 4.5 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Ireland | 9.1 | 16.5 | 3.8 | 6.5 | 18.7 | 30.5 |
| Italy | 5.5 | 8.6 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 11.2 | 16.7 |
| Luxembourg | 6.5 | 11.7 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 16.2 | 26.4 |
| Netherlands | 34.8 | 43.8 | 15.2 | 21.5 | 64.4 | 72.8 |
| Portugal | 7.2 | 11.3 | 4.1 | 7.1 | 11.1 | 16.4 |
| Spain | 6.0 | 8.0 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 13.8 | 17.0 |
| Sweden | 20.5 | 21.4 | 6.8 | 11.2 | 36.0 | 32.9 |
| United Kingdom | 22.9 | 25.0 | 6.3 | 9.4 | 43.8 | 44.0 |
| Total European Union | 14.2 | 18.2 | 4.2 | 6.6 | 28.8 | 33.5 |
| Initial data for Italy and Sweden refers to 1993, initial data for Austria refers to 1994. Source: Eurostat Labour Force Survey 2002. Data for 1992 provided in Employment in Europe 2003, Recent trends and prospects | ||||||
The figures illustrate the prevalence of women in part-time employment. Whereas a minority of EU men (6.6%) work on a part-time basis, this percentage is much higher in the case of women (33.5%) (data in both cases for 2002). Moreover, a time dynamic perspective shows that part-time work has increased more among EU women than for men, rising by 4.7 percentage points in the 10-year period compared with a rise of 2.4 percentage points for men.
A cross-country analysis shows important differences in the presence of part-time work. It is more widespread in the countries of northern Europe than in those of southern Europe. The highest presence of part-time workers can be observed in the Netherlands (43.8% of total employment), followed by an intermediate group comprising the United Kingdom (25.0%), Sweden (21.4%), Germany (20.8%) and Denmark (20.6%). The lowest presence of part-time employment can be found in the southern European countries: Portugal (11.3%), Italy (8.6%), Spain (8.0%) and Greece (4.5%). These national differences are caused by a combination of factors including differences in the state of the economy, the labour market, the organisation of childcare, education, and tax and social security systems (O’Reilly and Fagan, 1998). These factors are further described below.
Interestingly, and from a time dynamic perspective, part-time work has increased in all Member States for both men and women in the time period 1992-2002, with the only exceptions of Greece in the case of men and Denmark and Sweden in the case of women (where the percentage of part-time workers has fallen). The proportion of part-time working women has remained almost constant in Greece and the United Kingdom during the same time period.
The gender division in part-time employment can be observed across all the EU Member States, to varying degrees. The countries with the lowest differences between male and female part-time workers are the Nordic countries of Finland, Denmark, Sweden, as well as the Netherlands. In these countries, the rate of female part-time employment is, at most, three times the male part-time rate. As stated above, Denmark and Sweden are the only countries in the EU where the female part-time presence dropped between 1992 and 2002. Spain, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg show the largest differences between male and female part-time rates. In these countries, female part-time rates are seven or more times higher than those for men.
An age perspective shows an uneven distribution of working time over the life course of individuals. The highest presence of part-timers shows at the beginning and at the end of people’s working lives, especially for men, whereas full-time employment is concentrated in the middle years (data obtained from the Eurostat Labour Force Survey, also supported by Lilja and Hämäläinen, 2001). These results suggest that part-time work may facilitate, at least in a number of countries, the gradual entry of young persons into the labour market as well as the gradual withdrawal from wage employment for older workers (CES, 1997).
Part-time work is to be found mainly in certain sectors and occupations. It is particularly common in the health, education and services sectors, where up to 22.6% work on a part-time basis. This figure contrasts with 16.9% in agriculture and 6.9% in industry. The hotel/catering and retailing sectors show the largest presence of part-time employment (28% and 23.1% of total sector employment, respectively). (Figures from Eurostat Labour Force Survey 2002.) Occupational status is also significant in the sense that part-timers, and specially part-time women, are more likely to be in certain jobs such as ‘white-collar professional and clerical’ or ‘blue-collar operating and labouring manual’. Part-time employment is particularly rare in managerial positions, regardless of gender considerations.
| Occupational status group | Men | Women | All | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full time | Part time | All | Full time | Part time | All | ||
| White-collar managerial jobs | 59 | 5 | 64 | 30 | 6 | 36 | 100 |
| White-collar professional jobs | 44 | 7 | 51 | 29 | 20 | 49 | 100 |
| White-collar clerical and service jobs | 28 | 4 | 32 | 39 | 29 | 68 | 100 |
| Blue-collar craft and related manual jobs | 79 | 5 | 84 | 12 | 4 | 16 | 100 |
| Blue-collar operative/labour manual jobs | 57 | 8 | 65 | 18 | 17 | 35 | 100 |
| All | 50 | 6 | 56 | 26 | 18 | 44 | 100 |
| Source: Fagan and Burchell, 2002 | |||||||
It is important to bear in mind that part-time work varies substantially within its own definition. It encompasses working times close to the full-time standard and others that are much lower, so the range of average working times within and between the countries is also much greater than in the case of full-time work. Some recent studies (e.g. Bielenski, Bosch and Wagner, 2002) have tried to take account of this heterogeneity, distinguishing the part-time category into marginal (up to 19 hours per week) and substantial (20 to 34 hours per week) part-time work.
| Member States | Men | Women | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FT | SPT | MPT | FT | SPT | MPT | |
| Austria | 95 | 3 | 1 | 70 | 24 | 8 |
| Belgium | 91 | 8 | 2 | 61 | 28 | 13 |
| Denmark | 89 | 6 | 5 | 65 | 27 | 9 |
| Finland | 96 | 4 | 1 | 86 | 9 | 6 |
| France | 91 | 8 | 1 | 66 | 25 | 9 |
| Germany | 92 | 4 | 6 | 59 | 25 | 18 |
| Greece | 90 | 6 | 3 | 68 | 23 | 9 |
| Ireland | 88 | 9 | 3 | 65 | 24 | 10 |
| Italy | 88 | 9 | 3 | 70 | 23 | 8 |
| Luxembourg | 94 | 7 | 1 | 61 | 37 | 4 |
| Netherlands | 82 | 10 | 9 | 36 | 31 | 35 |
| Portugal | 93 | 4 | 1 | 81 | 13 | 6 |
| Spain | 91 | 9 | 0 | 75 | 21 | 6 |
| Sweden | 90 | 7 | 3 | 63 | 31 | 6 |
| United Kingdom | 89 | 7 | 4 | 54 | 27 | 21 |
| Norway | 91 | 7 | 3 | 59 | 26 | 16 |
| EU15 NOR | 91 | 6 | 3 | 60 | 25 | 14 |
| Source: Bielenski, Bosch and Wagner, 2002 | ||||||
According to these data, substantial part-time work predominates over marginal part-time work in all the countries, with the exception of the Netherlands (for women) and Germany (for men), though the difference is low for Danish and Dutch men. Marginal part-time work (less than 20 hours per week) is widespread among Dutch male (9%) and female dependent employees (35%), as well as among women in the UK and in Germany (21% and 18% respectively). By way of contrast, in countries such as Sweden, Luxembourg and Denmark, the majority of female part-timers are in substantial part-time jobs, many of which involve working times very close to the full-time norm. This result is also confirmed by other studies (e.g. O’Reilly and Fagan, 1998).
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