Communiqué, issue 1, 2004
Articles
- Similar perceptions of quality of life across Europe
- Higher collective bargaining levels in EU than Japan and USA
- Migration levels likely to be small, survey reveals
- Sharpening Europe's competitive edge
- Spotlight on working conditions in two sectors
- A road map for conflict resolution
- Working conditions: an international comparison
- Europe's small economies worst hit by industrial restructuring cases
- Part-time workers still experience adverse working conditions
Previous issues of Communiqué
Part-time workers are less likely to report job-related health problems and are more likely to achieve a positive work-life balance. However, part-time workers also experience fewer opportunities for training and career progression, less job tenure, lower salary levels and reduced access to supplementary payments and social protection benefits, according to the first topic report on the new European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO).
One of the most important changes in Europe’s employment structure over the past 10 years concerns the increasing diversification of working-time schedules. The most evident of this is the rise in the rate of part-time work relative to full-time employment. Part-time work has expanded in the EU, currently affecting around 18.1% of the total EU working population.
‘Part-time employment has been publicly praised as a tool for promoting market flexibility and reorganising working time, for family policy and for redistributing existing employment - and therefore for reducing unemployment,’ says Agnès Parent-Thirion, research coordinator for the working conditions team. ‘For employers, part-time work can permit greater flexibility in responding to market requirements, for example by increasing capacity utilisation or extending opening hours.’