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Why Europeans work part-time? A cross-country panel analysis

In: Work, Earnings and Other Aspects of the Employment Relation

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  • Hielke Buddelmeyer
  • Gilles Mourre
  • Melanie Ward

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the relative contribution of the business cycle and structural factors to the development of part-time employment in the 15 Member States of the European Union before the 2004 enlargement (EU-15) over the 1980s and 1990s. To do so, it exploits both cross-sectional and time series variations in available data over the past two decades. Key results include the business cycle that is found to exert a short-term negative effect on part-time employment developments, although this effect fades away over the two-decade period considered. This finding is consistent with firms utilising part-time employment as a means of adjusting their labour force to economic conditions. Correspondingly, involuntary part-time employment is found to be counter-cyclical, being higher in troughs of economic activity. Splitting our sample reveals a very significant effect of the business cycle on the rate of part-time work for young and male prime-age workers. Conversely, the effect is very weak for women and insignificant for older workers. Institutions and other structural factors are also found to be significant, longer run determinants of the rate of part-time employment. Changes in legislation affecting part-time employment are found to have a strong and positive impact on part-time employment developments. Moreover, employment protection legislation is positively correlated with the part-time employment rate (PTR), which is consistent with the use of part-time work as a tool for enhancing flexibility in the presence of rigid labour markets. Less robust evidence suggests the presence of unemployment traps for some potential part-time workers. Cross-country evidence also indicates that the lower labour costs borne by firms when employing part-time workers have a large and positive influence on the PTR. Overall, a contribution analysis shows that the main structural and institutional variables generally explain the development in the part-time rate in the EU countries fairly well, while this is obviously not the case in the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Hielke Buddelmeyer & Gilles Mourre & Melanie Ward, 2008. "Why Europeans work part-time? A cross-country panel analysis," Research in Labor Economics, in: Work, Earnings and Other Aspects of the Employment Relation, pages 81-139, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:rleczz:s0147-9121(08)28004-0
    DOI: 10.1016/S0147-9121(08)28004-0
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    Cited by:

    1. Bosch, Nicole & Deelen, Anja & Euwals, Rob, 2008. "Is Part-time Employment Here To Stay? Evidence from the Dutch Labour Force Survey 1992–2005," IZA Discussion Papers 3367, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. O’Sullivan Maeve & Cross Christine & Lavelle Jonathan, 2020. "The forgotten labour force: Characteristics and trends for older female part-time workers in Ireland," The Irish Journal of Management, Sciendo, vol. 39(1), pages 47-60, August.
    3. Annemarie Künn-Nelen & Andries de Grip & Didier Fouarge, 2013. "Is Part-Time Employment Beneficial for Firm Productivity?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(5), pages 1172-1191, October.
    4. International Labour Office., 2013. "Global employment trends for youth 2013 : a generation at risk," Global Employment Trends Reports 994816973402676, International Labour Office, Economic and Labour Market Analysis Department.
    5. Gilles Mourre, 2009. "What explains the differences in income and labour utilisation and drives labour and economic growth in Europe? A GDP accounting perspective," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 354, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    6. Abu Elnasr Sobaih & Philip Coleman & Caroline Ritchie & Eleri Jones, 2010. "Part-time restaurant employee perceptions of management practices: An empirical investigation," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(11), pages 1749-1768, January.
    7. European Commission, 2011. "Tax Reforms in EU Member States 2011: tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability," Taxation Papers 28, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    8. Nicole Bosch & Anja Deelen & Rob Euwals, 2008. "Is part-time employment here to stay? Evidence from the Dutch Labour Force Survey 1992-2005," CPB Discussion Paper 100.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    9. Jeroen Horemans, 2016. "The part-time poverty gap across Europe: How institutions affect the way part-time and full-time workers avoid poverty differently," Working Papers 1603, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    10. Bárcena-Martín, Elena & Medina-Claros, Samuel & Pérez-Moreno, Salvador, 2020. "Gendered Effects of Employment Protection on Earnings Mobility," GLO Discussion Paper Series 547, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Frédéric SALLADARRÉ & Stéphane HLAIMI, 2014. "Women and part-time work in Europe," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(2), pages 293-310, June.
    12. Fialová Kamila, 2017. "Part-time Employment and Business Cycle in Central and Eastern Europe," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 17(2), pages 179-203, June.
    13. Miežienė Rasa & Krutulienė Sandra & Gruževskis Boguslavas, 2021. "Identifying the Main Determinants of Part-Time Employment in EU Countries," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 21(2), pages 151-171, June.
    14. Nicole Bosch & Anja Deelen & Rob Euwals, 2010. "Is Part‐time Employment Here to Stay? Working Hours of Dutch Women over Successive Generations," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 24(1), pages 35-54, March.
    15. Michail Veliziotis & Manos Matsaganis & Alexandros Karakitsios, 2015. "Involuntary part-time employment: perspectives from two European labour markets," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/02, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    16. Dag Ingvar Jacobsen & Elin M. Fjeldbraaten, 2020. "Exploring the Links Between Part-Time Employment and Absenteeism: the Mediating Roles of Organizational Commitment and Work-Family Conflict," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 129-143, March.
    17. Valeria Insarauto, 2021. "Women’s Vulnerability to the Economic Crisis through the Lens of Part-time Work in Spain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(4), pages 621-639, August.
    18. Bei Liu & Hong Chen & Xinru Huang, 2018. "Map Changes and Theme Evolution in Work Hours: A Co-Word Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-15, May.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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