An international comparison of the development of part-time employment : causes, labour market effects and consequences

Abstract

"In most of the OECD countries part-time employment has increased to a greater or lesser degree in the past few decades. With the aid of data from the European and individual national employment samples the study analyses the development of part-time employment, the causes of its growth, as well as its effects on employment and unemployment. The international comparison covers 13 countries of the European Union (including Sweden) as well as the United States. The analysis of the determining reasons for the growth of part-time employment is based upon shift-share analyses. They show that part-time employment has developed to a large degree independently of sectoral structural change and changes in the gender-specific composition of employment. Even without these structural changes, i.e. assuming unchanged employment structures, part-time employment would have grown to almost the same extent. What is responsible for this are the shifts in preferences regarding working hours in certain sectors of the economy (particularly in the service sector) and among certain groups of the labour force (particularly among women). Agrowth of part-time employment can ensure that, with a given growth, more jobs are created. The study therefore also deals in detail with the role of part-time employment in connection with the employment intensity of the growth. As different rates of part-time employment influence the employment intensities - calculated according to the number of people -, the work volume intensities were also determined. A growth of part-time employment need not automatically lead to an analogous increase in employment. Its increased use can also raise the individual and general economic productivity. This could contribute to the safeguarding of existing jobs. More employment due to a boom in part-time work will not necessarily lead to an equally large reduction in unemployment. The comparison of general economic rates of part-time employment and unemployment in the countries of the study reveals no clear interdependence. A certain connection can however be seen between the proportion of women in part-time employment and the unemployment rate for women. More than any other form of employment, the spread of part-time employment leads to a mobilisation of the labour reserve. The active promotion of part-time employment comes up against limiting factors. Although the growth trend of part-time employment can be reinforced by regulations in labour and social security legislation, childcare facilities, possibilities of part-time childcare leave and financial incentives, these can not be regarded as the cause of the development. What is more decisive for the dynamics of part-time employment is the balance of interest between the labour market parties and with that the 'flexibility in the heads' of the immediate employment contract parties as well as those of the associations representing them." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Walwei, U. & Werner, H. (1995): Entwicklung der Teilzeitbeschäftigung im internationalen Vergleich. Ursachen, Arbeitsmarkteffekte und Konsequenzen. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 28, No. 3, p. 365-382.