Part-time work in Europe

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Quality of work and employment

The previous section has shown that the working conditions associated with part-time employment may have an influence on the decision of individuals to work full or part-time. This section analyses the existing evidence of the working conditions of part-time workers.

It has already been shown that part-time work is particularly concentrated in the lower paid areas of employment (e.g. clerical and elementary manual jobs) and in certain tertiary sectors (e.g. hotel/catering, retailing or real estate). Of course, this situation impacts significantly on the working conditions of part-time workers in these areas.

The available empirical evidence shows that part-time workers (especially women) report higher levels of general satisfaction with their working conditions than full-time workers (Hakim, 1996 and Fagan and Burchell, 2002). However, this positive result is probably due to high satisfaction levels with working hours specifically, whereas part-timers are also conscious (as will be shown) of their inferior working conditions in a number of issues such as payment rates, access to training or promotion opportunities.

Table 5 Satisfaction with working conditions, by gender and full-time/part-time status

	Men			Women			All
	Full time	Part time	All	Full time	Part time	All
Very satisfied	26	31	27	28	37	32	29
Fairly satisfied	57	50	56	56	51	54	55
Not very satisfied or not at all satisfied	17	18	16	16	12	14	15
Don’t know	1	2	1	0	0	0	1
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Source: Fagan and Burchell, 2002

Satisfaction with working hours

In the EU as a whole, most people working part-time do so voluntarily as a means of combining work with other activities or commitments. However, this does not apply to all part-timers. According to the Eurostat Labour Force Survey, 14.1% of EU part-timers (data for 2002) are in this situation involuntarily due to inadequate full-time employment opportunities. The actual figures vary between men and women (19.0% and 12.8%, respectively). The Third European Survey on Working Conditions, 2000 (Paoli and Merllié, 2001) suggests that up to 22% of European part-timers would like to work more hours (which does not mean that all of them would like to work on a full-time basis). Again this is more significant for men than for women.

In these cases, part-time work becomes, following the ILO’s definition, a form of ‘underemployment’, as it affects people ‘ 'involuntarily working less than the normal duration of work determined for the activity, who [are] seeking or available for additional work' ’ (ILO, 1998). Of course, this mismatch between the usual volume of hours worked and the preferred arrangement can be considered as a negative working condition by itself. It is therefore not surprising to find that part-time workers are more likely to hold multiple jobs than full-time workers (14% of male part-time workers and 8% of female part-time workers hold more than one job, compared with 5% of male full-time workers and 4% of female full-time workers) (Fagan and Burchell, 2002).

The Eurostat data also show that the proportion of part-timers who would prefer to work full time is particularly high in Greece (44.2%), Finland (31.5%), Italy (31.1%), France (24.1%), Sweden (22.4%) and Spain (19.1%), whereas the proportions are considerably lower in Austria (9.3%), United Kingdom (8.3%), Luxembourg (7.2%) and the Netherlands (2.3%). In all the EU countries with the exception of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland and Sweden) and Portugal, the percentage of involuntary part-time work among men is higher than among women.

Table 6 Involuntary part-time work as a % of total part-time employment, by gender and Member States, 2002

	Men	Women	Total men and women
Belgium	18.7	15.2	15.8
Denmark	10.6	18.2	16.0
Germany	18.4	11.1	12.3
Greece	47.1	42.8	44.2
Spain	20.1	18.8	19.1
France	33.0	22.3	24.1
Ireland	27.9	9.5	13.7
Italy	40.9	27.5	31.1
Luxembourg	-	-	7.2
The Netherlands	3.4	1.9	2.3
Austria	12.3	8.7	9.3
Portugal	13.1	20.4	17.9
Finland	26.7	33.8	31.5
Sweden	20.5	23.2	22.4
United Kingdom	16.1	6.3	8.3
Total European Union	19.0	12.8	14.1
Source: Eurostat Labour Force Survey, 2002

Involuntary part-time employment is low (2.4%) among the young and those at the start of their career (15-24 years old). It is also low (2.6%) among those approaching retirement (50-64 years old). Both these groups contrast with the 9% figure for involuntary retirement among those in the intermediate age group (25-49 years old), according to Eurostat data. Interestingly, Finnish evidence confirms that there are large differences among sectors with regard to the presence of involuntary part-time work (Kauhanen, 2003). French evidence (Bué, 2002 and Galtier, 1999) underlines that the working conditions of part-time workers are strongly related to the fact that their decision to work part-time may be either imposed (by the employer) or freely decided. Voluntary part-timers seem to have better employment and working conditions in terms of higher degrees of autonomy at work, better salary conditions and more social working times.

Employment tenure and contract conditions

Part-time workers tend, on average, to stay in their jobs for a shorter period than full-time workers, both for men and women (Fagan and Burchell, 2002). This result, also confirmed in a Finnish study (Kauhanen, 2003), is probably explained by the fact that part-timers are disproportionately employed in those sectors with the highest turnover rates (such as sales, and hotels and catering). In addition to this, part-time workers also show a higher propensity to exit the labour market or to change jobs (especially among women with young children).

Table 7 Employment tenure with company and in present job, by gender and full-time/part-time status

	Men			Women
	Full time	Part time	All	Full time	Part time	All
Short tenure	-	-	-	-	-	-
Employed in their current job for 1 year or less	18	32	19	20	28	23
Employed by the company for 1 year or less	18	32	19	20	27	22
Long tenure	-	-	-	-	-	-
Employed in their current job for 10 years	42	33	42	37	31	35
Employed by the company for 10 years	45	36	44	40	33	37
Average tenure	-	-	-	-	-	-
Average number of years in current job (median)	8	4	8	6	5	6
Average number of years with the company (median)	7	4	7	6	4	5
Source: Fagan and Burchell, 2002

This weaker employment tenure among part-timers has a clear influence on work contracts. Part-time workers are more likely to work under temporary employment contracts (fixed-term contracts, temporary agency contracts or apprentice contracts). The Third European Survey on Working Conditions, 2000 (Paoli and Merllié, 2001) suggests that 28% and 25% of European part-time workers have a fixed-term or a temporary agency contract, well above the 16% who have an indefinite contract. Meanwhile, a gender perspective shows that 16% of women part-timers and 21% of male part-timers have a fixed-term contract or are temporary agency workers compared with 11% of women and 9% of men employed full time (Fagan and Burchell, 2002).

These results are also confirmed in a Dutch study, which again shows that non-permanent contracts are more common among part-timers than among full-time employees. In the Netherlands, part-time work is particularly common among on-call workers and freelancers (Goudswaard et al, 1999). Part-time employees with a permanent contract show higher job satisfaction levels in comparison to those with a non-permanent contract (Goudswaard and Andries, 2002).

For permanent employees, the probability of working part-time decreases with the years of service within the same company. In this sense, part-time work affects, in decreasing order, employees with less than one year of service (24.8%), followed by those with between one and two years of service (18.7%), and finally those with over two years of service (14.5%) (Boisard et al, 2002). However, as was noted earlier, it should not be forgotten that, in the latest stages of people’s working lives, the probability of working part-time increases.

Wage conditions

One of the key areas where part-timers suffer from relatively worse working conditions vis-à-vis their full-time counterparts relates to their remuneration levels. Part-timers are more present than full-time workers in the lowest earning groups (in monthly terms) (Fagan and Burchell, 2002). Once again, it is women who are most at risk of low pay (47% of women part-time workers fall into the lowest earnings band, compared with 32% of male part-timers).

Table 8 Earnings distribution of employed workers and wage structures of employees, by gender and full-time/part-time status

Net monthly earnings scale	Men			Women			All
	Full time	Part time	All	Full time	Part time	All
Net monthly earnings scale (%)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lowest	8	32	10	15	47	28	18
Low-medium	20	14	19	30	14	24	21
Medium-high	23	11	22	20	8	15	19
Highest	22	16	21	12	7	10	16
Don’t know/refused	27	27	28	23	24	23	26
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Wage structure of employees (%)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fixed salary or wage	93	85	92	95	90	93	92
Piece rate or individual bonuses	9	8	9	4	3	4	6
Sunday work premiums	9	8	9	8	8	8	9
Payments for bad working conditions	5	2	5	2	1	2	3
‘Other’ individual payments	16	8	15	11	8	10	13
Company profit sharing scheme	6	5	6	4	2	3	5
Group performance bonus	3	2	3	2	1	1	2
Income from shares in the company	2	1	2	1	1	1	1
Other pay additions	7	4	5	5	4	5	5
Source: Fagan and Burchell, 2002

Several reasons can be suggested for explaining part-time workers’ lower hourly payment levels in comparison with full-time workers (ILO, 1997):

• Part-time workers tend to work in sectors, and indeed in branches of sectors, where the payment rates are lower in comparison with the national average, such as retailing, sales, hotels and catering, etc.
• Part-time workers also tend to be employed in some of the lowest paid jobs in the economy (mainly clerical work or menial tasks), and they are usually excluded from supervisory posts.
• Women and 15-25 year-olds make up a disproportionate percentage of part-time workers; both groups are characterised by lower payment levels (the former as a result of discriminatory practices, the latter because of their recent arrival into the labour market).

The available empirical evidence also shows that part-time workers are less likely to receive a fixed salary or wage, and are more likely to be excluded from supplementary payments such as bonuses or premiums (Sunday work premiums, payments for poor working conditions, profit sharing and performance bonus, etc), especially women part-timers (Fagan and Burchell, 2002). Of course, the fact that part-time workers are more present in certain sectors and occupations may also explain this result.

In addition to these remuneration conditions, part-time workers also suffer discrimination regarding access to social benefits. In a number of Member States, a minimum number of hours of work are required to qualify for certain social benefits and entitlements. Thus, part-timers are often excluded or benefit less from certain pension and social protection entitlements (for a further discussion on this issue, see Vielle and Walthery, 2003).

In recognition of this problem, the EU Directive (97/81/EC) on part-time work urges Member States to set up a legal framework for the equal treatment of part-time workers by the employment and social protection systems. As a consequence of this, Member States have designed several legislative reforms modifying the unemployment benefit systems, providing more flexible and part-time retirement measures, promoting part-time work through collective agreements or extending entitlements to work part-time as a means of reconciling work and family life. (For a further discussion on the existing national legislation transposing Directive 97/81/EC, see European Commission, 2003.) The most concerted attempt to develop equal treatment of part-time workers has taken place in the Netherlands.

The Dutch Equal Treatment Act

The Equal Treatment (Working Hours) Act (Wet verbod op onderscheid naar arbeidsduur, WOA) became law in the Netherlands in 1996. This Act prohibits an employer from discriminating between full-time and part-time employees, unless there is an objective justification for doing so. The underlying principle of the Act is that part-time work is equivalent to full-time work. Permanent and other employees should not face uncertainty about their legal status or experience discrimination on the basis of their working hours. It is also unlawful to discriminate between part-timers who work more or fewer hours. A part-time worker is proportionally entitled to the same pay, the same bonuses and the same number of days’ holiday. This also applies to pension rights. In February 2000, the Part-time Employment Act (Deeltijdwet) was passed, giving employees the right to reduce or increase their working hours, with employers able to deny employee requests for such changes only on the grounds of specific conflicting business interests. The Part-time Employment Act is part of the framework Work and Care Act (Kaderwet Arbeid en Zorg), which brings together numerous existing and new leave provisions (such as time off to care for family members) aimed at helping reconcile employment and family care responsibilities. This legislation responds to a trend that was already set in a considerable number of collective agreements. In 1999, two thirds of the collective agreements in the Netherlands contained provisions on the adjustment of working hours for individuals.Source: Portegijs et al, 2002

Job content and career development

The available empirical evidence on working conditions shows that part-time workers also experience poorer job content, as well as lower promotion opportunities and reduced access to training possibilities.

Part-time workers are less likely to have planning and supervisory responsibilities (Fagan and Burchell, 2002). Male and female part-timers with supervisory roles account for 12% and 8% of the total, respectively, whereas these shares are doubled in the case of full-time workers (25% and 17% among men and women, respectively). Part-time workers’ jobs are also characterised by higher levels of monotony and lower levels of task complexity and problem-solving aspects. Interestingly, part-timers are most likely to say their skills are under-used. On the other hand, no significant differences in task rotation between part-time and full-time workers can be discerned.

Table 9 Characteristics of job content and % of workers receiving training, by gender and full-time/part-time status

	Men			Women
	Full time	Part time	All	Full time	Part time	All
1. Problem-solving	-	-	-	-	-	-
No problem-solving or learning	9	11	9	11	15	12
Some problem-solving or learning	24	33	26	26	31	29
Both problem-solving and learning	67	56	65	63	54	59
2. Task complexity	-	-	-	-	-	-
Monotonous tasks, no complex tasks	16	25	17	18	25	21
Both monotonous and complex tasks	25	18	24	23	14	19
Neither monotonous nor complex tasks	21	30	22	26	35	30
Complex tasks, no monotonous tasks	38	27	37	33	26	30
3. Planning responsibilities	-	-	-	-	-	-
No planning responsibilities	57	59	57	66	77	70
Some planning responsibilities	16	19	17	15	13	14
More extensive planning responsibilities	27	22	26	19	10	16
4. Matching of skills with job demands	-	-	-	-	-	-
The demands of my job match my skills	9	5	85	9	5	85
The demands of my job are too high for my skills	85	81	8	84	85	8
The demands of my job are too low for my skills	6	14	7	6	10	8
% who have supervisory responsibilities	25	12	24	17	8	13
% who received no training from their employer in the last 12 months	69	74	69	66	72	69
Source: Fagan and Burchell, 2002

Working part-time makes it more difficult to build a career. Nearly half (47%) of EU full-time workers believe that switching to part-time would damage their career prospects (Gasparini et al, 2000). This result is also confirmed by Finnish evidence (Kauhanen, 2003), which shows that part-timers perceive less career development opportunities in comparison with full-time workers.

Regarding access to training, empirical evidence also shows that part-timers are less likely to receive training than full-time workers (OECD, 2001). Moreover, part-timers with a non-permanent contract are less likely to benefit from training compared with part-timers with a permanent contract (Goudswaard and Andries, 2002). The Third European Survey on Working Conditions shows that the less typical the employment contracts, the worse the working conditions and training opportunities (Paoli and Merllié, 2001). A Dutch study shows that access to training is more limited the lower the number of working hours (Goudswaard et al, 2000). Several characteristics of part-time workers can explain this result, such as short-term employment relations, lower academic qualifications or lower task-complex jobs, making the incentive for an employer to train a part-time employee smaller than for their full-time counterparts (Gómez et al, 2002).

Exposure to hazards and working time determinants

Contrary to the profile of poorer working conditions described above, research on the exposure to risks among part-time workers shows that, generally speaking, these workers enjoy a better situation in comparison to their full-time counterparts (Fagan and Burchell, 2002). Part-time workers are less exposed to a number of hazards (loud noise, vibrations, handling/breathing dangerous substances, high/low temperatures, radiation), both in the sense of fewer hours of exposure and lower risks of exposure. In addition, part-time workers are less exposed to poor ergonomic conditions than full-time workers (repetitive hand/arm movements, painful/tiring positions, carrying/moving heavy loads). Similar results are also obtained in a Dutch report (Houtman and De Vroome, 2002). The clerical occupations and service sectors where part-timers most often work may explain these outcomes.

As far as working time determinants and their effect on working conditions are concerned, the available empirical evidence (Fagan and Burchell, 2002), based on the results of the Third European Survey on Working Conditions, seems to support the view that:

• Part-time work does not necessarily protect workers from being involved in schedules that fall out of the ‘standard’ of daytime, weekday hours. Indeed, part-time workers have higher rates of involvement in evening, night-work and weekend work than full-time workers. Moreover, part-timers are also more likely to work a variable number of days and hours per day. This evidence is supported by a Dutch study, which shows that full-time workers have more regular working hours than part-time workers. Working only at weekends, evenings or at night is most common among part-timers, especially among those who work less than 16 hours per week (Goudswaard and Tijdens, 2000).
• The incidence of shift-work is similar for full-time and part-time workers. Women shift-workers are more likely to work nights on either a permanent or rotating basis if they are employed part-time; 58% of female part-time shift-workers include night-work as part of their shift compared with 40% of female full-time shift-workers and 53% of male shift-workers.
• Generally speaking, part-timers are less at risk of high levels of work intensity (although it should be noted that an opposite result was obtained in the Second European Survey on Working Conditions, 1995). This reduced risk means that part-time workers are slightly more likely to be in jobs where they never have to work at very high speed. In addition to this, they are much less likely to be in jobs where they have to work to tight deadlines or have insufficient time to do their job. These results, also confirmed by Danish empirical evidence (Arbejdsmiljøinstituttet, 2001), explain why part-time workers report less need to work overtime than their full-time counterparts.
• Part-time workers have slightly more influence over their working hours than full-time workers. Part-timers are also less likely to have their pace of work set by external factors (i.e. demand of customers, work done by colleagues, machine speeds, managers/supervisors’ control). Unforeseen interruptions at work are more prevalent for full-time than part-time workers.
• Part-time workers report that their work lives are more compatible with other commitments, probably due to their decreased working times and higher influence over working hours.

Bearing in mind the generally lower exposure to hazards, it is not surprising that part-time workers, particularly women, are less likely to report that their paid job impacts on their health or exposes them to health and safety risks. Part-time workers report slightly fewer health problems than full-time workers. Dutch evidence also confirms that part-time employees have a lower level of ‘emotional exhaustion’ due to working conditions than full-time employees (Goudswaard et al, 1999). This positive situation probably explains why the problem of absenteeism is less significant among part-time workers in comparison with their full-time counterparts.

Table 10 Perceptions of the health impacts of employment and absenteeism rates, by gender and full-time/part-time status

	Men			Women
	Full time	Part time	All	Full time	Part time	All
Job affects their health in some way	62	55	61	61	53	58
Health or safety is at risk because of their job	32	25	31	24	19	22
Absenteeism in the last 12 months:	-	-	-	-	-	-
- At least one day due to an accident at work	10	6	9	6	5	6
- At least one day due to health problems caused by work	10	7	10	12	9	10
- At least one day due to other health problems	34	29	33	40	34	36
Compatibility of working hours with family and other commitments (% of respondents that answer very or fairly well)	78	81	78	80	91	84
Source: Fagan and Burchell, 2002

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• ID: TN0403TR01
• Author: Iñigo Isusi & Antonio Corral
• Country: EU Countries
• Language: EN
• Publication date: 15-03-2004
• Subject: Quality of work indicators, Working time