The First Part-TIME Economy in the World
Does it Work?
In both surveys male and female adults, single and living together, with and without
partners who worked, were asked to indicate working time preferences before and after a
discussion with the partner. In both years the preference for a substantial part-time job (a
three or four days working week) was intensified after discussion, among women but
especially among women. The question remains why so few men act on the preferences (of
their partners). The Labour Force Sample Survey of 1996 found that full-time working men
wanted to work shorter hours but did not ask their employers since they believed that it
would be misunderstood as a sign that they lacked ambition (Boelens 1997).
There is nothing that indicates that part-time employment is a contingent phenomenon
among women, except in the very youngest (student) age group. In 1994 51% of the active
female population in the 15-19 and 34% in the 20-24 age group worked part-time. However,
this proportion rises to 70% and more in the 35+ age group. This clearly indicates that for
women part-time work ‘is not a temporary phenomenon’ but rather a common method ‘of
combining paid and unpaid work’ (Plantenga 1996: 101). As is shown by virtually all
surveys in this area, most married women in the Netherlands want to work part-time (around
half-time or longer). Since the late 1980s there has been a consistent finding in survey
research showing that the number of women wanting longer hours tends to be smaller than
those wanting shorter hours (OSA 1998; Plantenga 1995; SCP 1998; Visser and Hemerijck
1997). A survey in 1993, when unemployment was on the rise, showed that 15% of all part-
time workers were unable to find full-time jobs, but a similar proportion of full-time
workers, hence a much larger number of people, preferred a four-day working week (OSA
1993). The 1996 labour force sample survey showed that ten percent of all employees with a
job of twelve hours per week or more wanted to work less, and seven or eight percent more
hours. The preference for shorter hours is strongest among older workers and among women
who work full-time; the preference for longer hours is found among young people and
among women who work less than two days. Most content are women who work between
17 and 25 hours per week.
5.2 Trade unions
With regard to part-time employment, Dutch trade unions initially shared the sceptical view
of other European unions (Casey, 1983; Conrad, 1982; Delsen 1995; Hakim 1997). In 1981,
the main union federation (FNV) published a position paper in which the inferiority of
employment rights, wages, fringe benefits, and career prospects in part-time jobs and the
lack of union membership among part-timers is highlighted (FNV 1981). The federation did
not want to help create a secondary job market and wanted first an improvement in statutory
protection for part-time workers. At this time, the FNV fully subscribed to the strategy of
the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to seek a 10% collective reduction of the
working week.
This position was given up in later years under influence of women. This is remarkable,
considering the fact that the number of women members in Dutch trade unions is rather
small. In the 1960s women made up no more than six or seven per cent of total membership.
Women’s share has gradually increased to twenty per cent in the mid 1980s, thanks to the
expansion of the welfare state and the growth of occupations (teaching and nursing) in
which women were disproportionally present (Klandermans and Visser 1995). Today,
women represent almost 30 per cent of total union membership, but this is still rather low
compared to many other countries in Europe (Visser 1991).
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