Working time flexibility in the EU countries
-
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.19(4).2021.27
-
Article InfoVolume 19 2021, Issue #4, pp. 338-351
- Cited by
- 414 Views
-
165 Downloads
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
The study aims to identify the EU’s trends in the use of flexible forms of working time and to determine the specifics of individual EU countries. The study monitors the flexibility of working time based on the following indicators: persons employed part-time (as a percentage of the total employment); involuntary part-time employment as % of total part-time employment; the share of employed persons by the flexibility to decide on working time by a country; the share of employed persons who can easily take one or two days off at a short notice by working at home. The paper uses descriptive statistics, analysis of the development of time series using the growth rate, sigma convergence, and weighted sum approach. All analyzed indicators were taken into account to express one value, based on which it is possible to compare countries. Thus, the study expressed the overall benefit using the weighted sum method. The maximum value of the total benefit expressed using all the indicators among the EU countries was reached by the Netherlands. One of the reasons may be the short period of parental leave and the large share of women working part-time for a long time. The second reason is the large share of young people working part-time. On the contrary, Bulgaria, where women spend a relatively long time with their children after birth and then start full-time employment, ranked the last. This should be justified by the fact that flexible forms of work are mainly used by women and their prevalence is largely dependent on the length of maternity and parental leave.
Acknowledgment
This paper is created within the project funded by the Scientific Agency of Slovak Ministry of Education VEGA reg. no. 1/0689/20 “Digital economy and changes in the education system to reflect labour market demands”.
- Keywords
-
JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)F66, J21, J41, J81
-
References28
-
Tables4
-
Figures5
-
- Figure 1. Persons employed part-time in EU countries
- Figure 2. Involuntary part-time employment as % of total part-time employment
- Figure 3. Employed persons by the flexibility to decide on working time by a country – persons can fully decide as % of employed persons
- Figure 4. Employed persons who can usually easily take one or two days off at a short notice by working at home, by countries in %
- Figure 5. Total benefit
-
- Table 1. Descriptive statistics on the indicator “persons employed part-time”
- Table 2. Sigma-convergence of indicator log
- Table 3. Descriptive statistics on the indicator “employed persons by the flexibility to decide on working time by a country”
- Table 4. Descriptive statistics on the indicator “employed persons who can easily take one or two days off at a short notice by working at home”, by counties
-
- Barbieri, P., Cutuli, G., Guetto, R., & Scherer, S. (2019). Part-Time Employment as A Way to Increase Women’S Employment: (Where) Does It Work? International Comparative Sociology, 60(4), 249-268.
- Beckmann, F. (2020). Perceived Job Quality in German Minijobs. A Multidimensional Analysis of Work in Marginal Part-Time Employment Relationships. Management Revue. Socio-Economic Studies, 31(2), 116-144.
- Buddelmeyer, H., Mourre, G., & Ward, M. (2004). Recent Developments in Part-Time Work in Eu-15 Countries: Trends and Policy (Discussion Paper No. 1415). Germany.
- Ciminelli, G., Schwellnus, C., & Stadler, B. (2021). Sticky Floors or Glass Ceilings? The Role of Human Capital, Working Time Flexibility and Discrimination in The Gender Wage Gap (OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 1668).
- European Commission (EC). (2021). Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion.
- Eurostat. (1998). Flexibility of Working Time in Europe.
- Eurostat. (2021a). Persons employed part-time – Total.
- Eurostat. (2021b). Involuntary part-time employment as percentage of the total part-time employment, by sex and age (%).
- Eurostat. (2021c). Persons in employment by working time flexibility, educational attainment level and professional status.
- Eurostat. (2021d). Unemployment by sex and age – annual data.
- Eurostat. (2021e). Temporary employees by sex, age and main reason.
- Eurostat. (2021f). Persons in employment by level of difficulty to take one or two days of leave at short notice, household composition and working from home.
- Fullerton, A., Dixon, J. C., & Mccollum, D. B. (2020). The Institutionalization of Part-Time Work: Cross-National Differences in the Relationship Between Part-Time Work and Perceived Insecurity. Social Science Research, 87, 102402.
- Hamplová, D., & Šalamounová, P. (2020). Preferred Length of Parental Leave: Comparison with Eight European Countries. Bulletin of The Institute for Research on Work and Family, 1(2). (In Slovak).
- Hinterseer, T. (2013). Part-Time Work: Atypical? Precarious? Normal? European Journal of Futures Research, 1(1), 1-18.
- Horemans, J., Marx, I., & Nolan, B. (2016). Hanging in, but only just: part-time employment and in-work poverty throughout the crisis. Journal of European Labor Studies, 5(5), 1-19.
- International Labour Office and European Commission. (2005). Convergence and Diversity.
- Jablonský, J., & Dlouhý, M. (2004). Models for evaluating the efficiency of production units. Praha, Czech Republic: Professional Publishing.
- Leiva, S. (2000). Part-Time Work in Chile. Is it precarious employment? Reflections from a gender perspective. United Nations.
- Masárová, T. (2020). Factors of digitalisation of the economy and their impact on employment. Revue Sociálno-Ekonomického Rozvoja, 6(1), 87-93. (In Slovak).
- Minařík, B., Borůvková, J., & Vystrčil, M. (2013). Analysis in regional development. Praha, Czech Republic: Professional Publishing.
- Moortel, D. D., Dragano, N., & Wahrendorf, M. (2020). Involuntary full-and part-time work: employees’ mental health and the role of family – and work-related resources. Societies, 10(4), 81.
- Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC). (2021). Missoc Database. Comparative Tables.
- Nicolaisen, H. (2011). Increasingly equalized? A study of part-time work in “old” and “new” part-time work regimes. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 1(1), 95-115.
- Nicolaisen, H., Kavli, H., C. & Jensen, H. N. (2019). Dualisation of part-time work: the development of labour market insiders and outsiders. Bristol: Policy Press.
- Patton, W., & Smith, E. (2010). Part-time work of school students: impact on employability, employment outcomes and career development. Australian Journal of Career Development, 19(1), 1-13.
- The Global Voice of Business. (2014). Position paper of the international organisation of employers.
- Zeytinoglu, I. U., Lillevik, W., Seaton, B., & Moruz, J. (2004). Part-time and casual work in retail trade. Stress and other factors affecting the workplace. Industrial Relations, 59(3), 516-544.