WP 36 - Women's Preferences or Delineated Policies? The development or part-time work in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom

Mara Yerkes & Jelle Visser

Figure 2: Female Labour Force Participation Rates by Age Groups: 2003

Source: OECD, 2004.

*Age group 15-24 refers to 16-24.

Higher levels of labour market participation in the Netherlands and the UK among the young reflect
the (increasing) cost of higher education. School enrolment rates are not very different, but students
in the Netherlands and the UK are more likely to take part-time jobs to subsidize their study. The
cost of higher education is lower in Germany, making it often unnecessary for students to have a job
on the side. The lower rates of participation for women over age 55 in all three countries are
relatively common (also for men), given early retirement tendencies across Western Europe, though
this is more pronounced in the Netherlands and Germany than in Britain. Lower participation rates
among women in older age cohorts also reflect lower participation rates in the past in both the
Netherlands and Germany.

We should “correct” these patterns and trends with data on working hours and the division
between full-time and part-time employment. All three countries exhibit high levels of part-time
work, with the Netherlands in a record position (see Figure 3). 59.6 per cent of all jobs held by
women in the Netherlands are part-time jobs. The UK follows with 40.1 per cent, and Germany
with 36.3 per cent, the highest in the EU15 (compared to 23.6 per cent for Italy, 22.8 per cent for
France, 21. 9 per cent for Denmark, 20.6 per cent for Sweden and 16.5 per cent in Spain) (OECD,
2004).³ Although the incidence of part-time work is (slowly) rising among (younger and older) men,
in combination with study and flexible retirement, part-time employment remains highly feminised.
Three out of four part-time jobs are held by women in the UK and the Netherlands, in Germany
women’s share in part-time employment is even 83.3 per cent (OECD, 2004). Labour markets are
far from gender neutral (See Beechey, 1988; Daly, 2000; Lewis, 1992; O’Reilly and Fagan, 1998; Pfau-
Effinger, 1998; Tijdens, van Doorne-Huiskes and Willemsen, 1997; Tijdens, 1998; Tijdens, 2002). The
Netherlands is an interesting case study, as it exhibits the highest level of part-time work among
these three countries, as well as a seemingly strong female preference for this work form, shaped

³ We define part-time jobs as those below 30 hours per week. See Lemaitre, Marianna and Van Bastelaer, 1997_________________________

13                                                                                       AIAS - UvA

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