Part-time work in the overall economy as well as from the perspective of employees and employers in the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract

"More flexible and shorter working hours have helped relieve the labour market by increasing employment prospects since 1960 and even more noticeably since the employment crisis of the mid-70s. The advantages of creating part-time work for employees and for firms are now undisputed. Hence, the number of wage and salary earners increased from 1960 to 1994 by about 5,5 million persons. 4 million persons alone, or almost three-fourths, resulted from the expansion of part-time employment. The rate of part-time work in the overall economy increased in the same period from 3% (1960) to almost 18% in 1994. Because even today part-time work is still the domain of women (about 90%), their corresponding rate of part-time work climbed in the same time period from 6% to almost 37%. The share of the part-time hours worked in the total number of hours worked (employees) increased by much less than the rate of part-time work from 1960 (1.6%) to 1994 (12.7%). From this fact alone can be seen that the number of hours worked in the overall economy is increasingly being distributed amongst more persons and hence more employees who are availing themselves of part-time work.Although the increase in the rate of part-time work applies to all branches of industry, the strongest development and the highest level of part-time work is found in the service sector. Of the total increase of 15 percentage points in the rate of part-time work from 1960 to 1994, 11 percentage points are derived from the general tendency to more part-time work and 4% from the intra-sectoral structural change to more services. In the new Federal states part-time employment is much less wide-spread. The results of the micro-census from 1994 showed that it lay at 10,7% (West Germany 17,1%). However, accelerated adaptation is being seen. Although, internationally speaking, the level of the overall rate of part-time work in Germany (16,0%), lay somewhat above the average for Europe (14,7%) in 1992, it was much lower than the rate of the leading nation, the Netherlands (34,2%). In assessing part-time work, the quality of the part-time jobs must also be taken into consideration. Hence, part-time jobs for skilled workers and those in management positions are still underrepresented. The share of low-paid employment (often unprotected by social legislation) is also still too high. Large firms in manufacturing industry, in particular, have a 'lot to catch up on' in the way of part-time jobs. In this situation it would be desirable for additional part-time jobs to be set up in the first place or to break down full-time jobs into two or more part-time jobs. Up to now, the majority of firms have transformed one full-time job into one part-time job. If these factors were also to be taken into greater consideration in the future, along with the generally positive attitude of firms and employees towards setting up and filling new part-time jobs, a further (accelerated) increase in the number of part-time jobs could be reckoned with in the next few years. Further assuming an accommodating attitude in respect to the location and the length of part-time work as well as a willingness to accept correspondingly lower earnings, all the present studies now predict that there is currently a high potential of the least 2 million persons seeking part-time jobs in the Federal Republic of Germany. The part-time job offensive which has been started could lead to increasingly more part-time work being realized from the perspective of employees as well as employers in the next few years." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Kohler, H. & Spitznagel, E. (1995): Teilzeitarbeit in der Gesamtwirtschaft und aus der Sicht von Arbeitnehmern und Betrieben in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 28, No. 3, p. 339-364.