Mara Yerkes & Jelle Visser
5. Conclusion
This paper attempts to explain the growth and high levels of part-time work in Germany and the
United Kingdom by looking at which factors account for the phenomenal growth of part-time work
and the existence of the one-and-a-half earner model in the Netherlands. We show that while the
growth in Dutch part-time work is attributable to women’s preferences for ‘soft’ labour markets,
policies of the government and the social partners followed, rather than preceded this development.
However, the effect of such supportive policies was much stronger in the Netherlands than in the
other two countries.
A number of similarities in the growth of part-time work are evident among the Netherlands,
Germany and the UK. Firstly, all three were strong breadwinner states, yet the effect of this on
women’s working times was differentiated within these countries. In Germany, there is a divergence
between East and West, with marked differences in labour market participation and part-time work
levels both before and after reunification. The male breadwinner model present in West Germany
discouraged the active participation of mothers of young children, making part-time work a more
attractive solution. In contrast, until reunification in 1990, full-time work was the norm for women
in East Germany, and the growth of part-time work under East German women often remains
involuntary. The presence of a strong breadwinner state also affected the growth of female part-
time work in the UK, but here the effects of this model on working times differentiate themselves
along ethnic lines. Part-time work developed as a norm for white women, whereas ethnic minority
women are more likely to work full-time. In the Netherlands, it seems as if levels of part-time work
are homogenous across all groups of women. Given the difference in size between the Netherlands
and countries like Germany and the UK, this lack of variation in part-time work might be expected.
However, despite the seemingly homogeneous nature of part-time work in the Netherlands, further
research is needed to determine whether part-time working differences might exist along ethnic
lines.
Within the Netherlands, but also in Germany and the UK, part-time work developed as a “second
best” option for many women, particularly working mothers. Part-time work was preferred to
staying out of the labour market, or being unemployed (with little rights or benefits) but not to a
full-time job, with full rights, earnings and benefits. Therefore, a danger of marginalisation was
present in all three countries, certainly in the initial stages of the growth of part-time work. We
show that in the Netherlands this risk was reduced by an early and relatively effective strategy of
“normalisation” of part-time work, narrowing the differences in rights, benefits and earnings with
full-time work, a strategy in which both unions, employers and governments played a role. The
successful diffusion of part-time work through all sectors and occupations suggests some success of
this development, although the heavily gendered nature of part-time work, and the lower training
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