Mara Yerkes & Jelle Visser
4. Germany and the UK
A high level of part-time work is not solely a Dutch phenomenon (O’Reilly and Fagan, 1998). While
the Netherlands exerts extreme levels of part-time work, part-time work is also high in Germany
and the United Kingdom in comparison to other EU countries (Fagan and Rubery, 1997; Killmann
and Klein, 1997; OECD, 2004; Pfau-Effinger, 1998). Furthermore, part-time employment as a
proportion of total employment continues to increase in Germany. Part-time employment remained
relatively stable in the UK over the last few years, although as a proportion of total employment,
current levels reflect a growth of nearly seven percent in part-time work over the last three
decades in both countries.
Germany presents an interesting research case because of the division between East and West.
Despite unification in 1990, many differences still exist between East and West when considering
levels of part-time work. In unified Germany, part-time work levels are currently 19.6 per cent
(OECD, 2004). This reflects a steady increase of half a percent per year since 1990 (OECD, 2004).
The United Kingdom also has a tradition of high levels of part-time work. The current level of part-
time work is 23.3 per cent, which is the second highest in the EU (after the Netherlands) and
relatively stable since the early 1990s (OECD, 2004).
Part-time work remains a gendered phenomenon in Europe (Drew et al., 1998; O’Reilly and Fagan,
1998; Tijdens, 2002). Despite increases in male part-time working, women work decidedly more in
part-time positions, and this is reflected in women’s share in part-time employment, as well as the
proportion of part-time employment in women’s employment. Again, both Germany and the UK
have lower levels of part-time work among women than in the Netherlands, but still higher than the
EU-15 average of 30.1 per cent. Part-time levels among women are 36.3 per cent and 40.1 per cent
in Germany and the UK in 2003 (OECD, 2004). Since 1990, these levels of part-time work among
women have been constant in the UK and rising slightly in Germany. In both countries, the incidence
of part-time work among males is increasing, albeit from very low levels. Male part-time work is
most frequent in the Netherlands (14.8 per cent), followed by Denmark (10.5) and the UK (9.6 per
cent), whereas it is below the EU-15 average (of 6.3 per cent) in Germany (5.9 per cent) (OECD,
2004). The share of women in part-time work is very high but slowly falling in both countries.
4.1 Germany
Taking a closer look at the development of part-time work in Germany, we see that part-time work
evolved as more of a West German phenomenon. This is not surprising given the communist past of
East Germany, where full employment, and hence full-time employment for both men and women
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