Part-time Work in Europe

By Antonio Corral and Iņigo Isusi

One of the most important changes in Europe's employment structure over the last 10 years concerns the increasing diversification of working-time schedules.

The most evident indicator of this is the rise in the rate of part-time work relative to full-time employment The intensification of international competition, new production methods and forms of organisation, increased unemployment, rising female participation rates and more diverse working-time demands from the workforce all contribute to this increase.

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 (thereby reducing unemployment). For employers, a part-time option can permit greater flexibility in responding to market requirements (e.g. by increasing capacity or extending opening hours). Working part-time may offer the chance of a better balance between working life and other activities (such as family responsibilities, training, leisure or civic activities), as well as making it easier to enter the labour market or retire from employment. For policymakers confronting the problem of high unemployment, the growth of part-time work may reduce the number of job-seekers or, at least, the number of people registered as such. Indeed, the EU employment guidelines and recommendations explicitly encourage the social partners and public authorities to foster the development of part-time work and other flexible working arrangements as a means of modernising the organisation of work.

According to the European Framework Agreement on part-time work , concluded in 1997 among the European social partners, the term 'part-time worker' refers to ' 'an employee whose normal hours of work, calculated on a weekly basis or on average over a period of employment of up to one year, are less than the normal hours of work

of a comparable full-time worker' '. This definition is very similar to the ILO's, whose Convention No. 175 defines the term 'part-time worker' as ' 'any employed person whose normal hours of work are less than those of comparable full-time workers' '. The reason both cases mention the concept of a 'comparable' worker is due to the fact that ' 'the number of hours per week or per month that are regarded as being normal for full-time employees vary considerably according to the profession or activity concerned'. Both definitions serve to identify the 'part-time workers' category on a legal basis, so these workers can be covered by the legislation governing part-time work. It is also worth underlining that part-time work may cover different forms of employment, such as job-sharing, combining work with training (e.g. apprenticeships), and semi-retirement.