Gender-specific Structures

From these observations it is possible to formulate hypotheses regarding the importance of part-time employment for gender-specific labour market integration:

- irrespective of the relative Ievel of part-time employment as a whole, as a segment ofthefemale labour market, part-time work has risen sharply in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, and somewhat in West Germany and the United Kingdom. Only in Denmark did this share decline. Nevertheless, the Ievel of female part-time employment varies so greatly (from 23% to 57% of total female employment) that it is difficult to make out a single consistent pattern of trends in female employment across all the countdes studied.

- The trends in male part-time employment - which have changed only in those countdes with a relatively high parttime employment share -suggests that an expansion of part-t1me working or its stabilisation at a high level Ieads to the integration of male workers into the part-time sector.

In order to facilitate a more precise analysis of the significance of part-time employment .as a mode of integration of female workers into the labour market, Table 3 illustrates the changes in the composition of the female labour force over time. The trend since 1975 serves to .confirm the obs.ervation made above. In France and the Netherlands female full-time employment barely increased at all - in Belgium it actually feil - while

part-time employment rose rapidly. In West Germany and the United Kingdom the same basic trend is to be observed, although in a milder form, while in Denmark the growth of full-time employment actually exceeded that of part-time working.

In view of the considerable importance which part-time employment has as a specific form of female employment, it is tempting to assume a close relationship between changes in female participation rates and part-time employment trends. This relation is depicted in Chart 1 for the period 1975 to 1988. Here at least four different patterns can be ascertained:

- a rapid increase in female participation rates (from different starting points) with a parallel expansion of part-time employment (in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom);

- an increase in part-time employment coupled with an almost constant participation rate (in France and Belgium)

- an increase in the participation rate tagether with a fall in part-time employment in Denmark and;

- a slow growth in both participation rates and part-time employment in West Germany.

It must be concluded, on the basis of these disparate trends, that the relationship between labour market participation and part-time employment is clearly not mono-causal, but rather that a series of other factors exerts an influence on changes in the two trends. Chart 2 shows for one year ( 1984) the differences which prevailed between the level of female employment in general and that of full-time and part-time employment by age group. An analysis conducted by the OECD of changes in participation rates by age category between 1967 and 1987 ( cf. Chart 3) indicates that while the pattern of female labour market participation differs between countries, there is a degree of convergence between national trends.

Table 4 presents a summary of the part-time employment shares for men and warnen in broad age categories for the years 1983 and 1987. The

overall picture ernerging from Charts 2 and 3 and Tab.le 4 regarding the relationship between participation rates, full-time and part-time employment of women can be summarized as follows:

in Belgium the share of female part-timers is almost constant in all age groups, participation rates decrease in the higher age groups and labour-market re-entry via full-time or part-time employment is very much the exception.

- in the Netherlands3 the marked fall in participation rates in the middle age groups (Chart 3) coexists with a high part-time employment share (almost 63% of all female workers between 25 and 49 years work part-time).

- West Germany exhibits a slight fall in participation rates in the middle age groups, followed by an upturn with constant part-time employment shares;

- in Francethereis scarcely any fall of participation rates and a relatively constant relation between full and part-time employment;

- in the United Kingdom an initialfall is followed by a sharp increase in participation rates reflecting growth of part-time and an increase in full-time employment;

- in Denmark rising participation rates occured along with a fall in full-time employment and a consistently high share for part-full-time employment.

Thus the importance of part-time employment for the labour market position of women varies from country to country. In Denmark, for example, women have high participation rates during the child-raising period with the help of part-time work. In West Germany and the United Kingdom on the other hand, it would appear more common for women to withdraw from the labour market for a limited period, re-entering the labour market in part-time employment. In France, by contrast, the compatibility of family and work seems to have no effect on the relation between full and part-time employment, while in the Netherlands and

3 Chart 2 excludes the Netherlands because f or 1984 no data were available from Eurostat.

Belgium participation ratesfall consistently with age, a. trend which in the N etherlands has as yet hardly been affected by the increase in part-time employment4.

These results indicate two things

1. The degree of integration of women in national labour markets, in both full and part-time employment, does not follow a uniform pattern, being dependent on factors affecting both the initial decision whether or not to enter paid employment and the subsequent choice of full- or part-time work. In terms of age this would seem to be linked to the phase in women's biographies associated with birth and child-care.

2. It is against this background that the differences in the importance of part-timework for warnen in different countdes must be seen: in some countries it is a means of re-entry into the labour market, in others a means of bridging the child-care phase5 .

The age-specific analysis sheds more light on the relation between participation rates and full- and part-time employment:

- a shift from an declining to a more continously high female labour market participation within different age groups (from an M-shaped to an inverted U -shaped curve) is associated with one of two patterns: the

4 The unusually low level of female participation rates in the Netherlands compared to other countdes cannot be adequately explained using such "objective" factors. The "Dutch case" is thus usually considered with reference to historical tradition and the traditional norms of Dutch society f or which the transition to a modern industrialised society has not been accompanied by an increase in female participation rates. The strength and significance of social norms concerning male and female societal roles, of what is considered acceptable cannot be quantified although they clearly affect the social and individual view of paid employment. The degree of segregation of the labour market into

"male" and"female" sectorsalso seems to have an influence on the structure and form of participation ( cf. Maier 1990).

5 A more detailed analysis of such flows on nationallabout markets would be possible only with data on the flows to and from non-participation and full and part-time employment.

Unfortunately such disaggregated data arenot available, and our analysis of these trends necessarily remains incomplete.

Danish model of compatibility between family and. paid employment through part-time work (although the patt-time employment share is now declining, as more warnen are seeking and finding full-time employment); or the French pattern of a slight expansion of part-time employment for the 25 to 40 age bracket and the growth of full-time employment from age 40 on. There is also a. considerable difference in the overall level of participation rates between the two countries (Denmark

=

78.3%, France

=

55.3%, figures for 1988);

- a participation age-structure with the basic form of an Mbshaped curve, indicating that parts of the labour force withdraw from the labour market (as in the United Kingdom and West Germany) is also associated with two patterns. Common to both countries is an overall decline in participation rates and full-time employment from age 25 onwards. However, in West Germany re-entry into the labour market is accompanied by an increase in part-time employment, whereas in the United Kingdom full-time employment also increases. The expansion of part-time employment in recent years seems to have had a positive influence on participation rates of the over-40s (which is reflected in a sharper gradient on the right-hand side of the M-shaped curve ). The overall level of participation in these two countries are separated by about 9 percentage points (United Kingdom = 63.5%, FRG = 54.4%, 1988);

- participation rates taking the basicform of a single peak in the young age cohorts, as in the N etherlands and Belgium, indicate that in both countrieswarnen of child-bearing age withdraw from the labour market without returning in higher age-groups. Those that remain exhibit a differentiated working-time regime: a low part-time employment share in Belgium, a high share in the Netherlands. The two countries have a similar overall participation rates (Belgium = 51.4%, Netherlands =

51.6%, 1988). However, this aggregate figure conceals the rapid growth of part-time employment in the middle age groups in the Netherlands, which previously tended to withdraw completely from the labour market. The trend in the Netherlands towards an M-shaped participation pattern may well be linked to the increase in part-time employment among warnen re-entering the labour market.

One trend visible in all the national charts is the hi~h level of labour market participation of women under 25, the only difference being that the year of labour market entry varies from country to country according to specific features of the national education system. As can be seen from Table 4, an additional trendisthat in Denmark and the Netherlands (and increasingly in France) labour market entry for young persons of both sexes is often via a part-time job, while in West Germany full-time work remains the norm for both men and women, and in Belgium and the United Kingdom part-time employment as a means of entering the labour market for the first time is important only for young women. In the core age groups, the 25 to 49 year olds, 90-99% of men work full-time whereas this is true for 33p 79% of women. The part-time employment shares of older men (50=64 years) are somewhat higher in all countries. In other words, part=time work is of only marginal importance for male employment as a whole, playing a significant role at most in the initial and final stages of male employment biographies, easing entry to and exit from the labour market. The level and form of male participation in the labour market are thus clearly determined by different factors than those for women.

As has already been shown the relationship between the level and the age-specific distribution of female participation rates is not as clear-cut as is usually assumed. A number of other factors appear to influence both values. A series of other studies both indicate that the absolute level of female participation and its age-specific distribution are influenced by a whole range of social and institutional norms and forms of regulation, factors affecting both the demand and supply side of the labour market.

They create incentives or disincentives for workers and enterprises to adopt part~time employment and influence the specific structure of such work ( e.g. the volume of hours ). In this context the following factors are particularly important:

= the way in which the income of (married) men and women who live tagether is treated for tax purposes and social security. This influences married women's decision whether or not to take up paid employment and whether to opt for full or part··time employment (without affecting

the career decisions of married men!). A number o~ empirical studies discusses the impact of tax-regulations on part-time employment on the supply-side (cf. Gustaffson 1988, OECD 1990, Dex/Walters 1989). The tax position of full and part-timers does not play a significant role on the de.mand side.

- institutional regulations facilitating or hindering the reconciliation of family and career, such as parentalleave and the availability of child-care facilities. This is particularly important for the employment decisions of mothers with children under the age of 16. Empirical studies have shown that the availability and quality of child-care facilities, the financial support for and costs of raising children, the financial and time dimensions of parentalleave vary greatly within the EC member states and affect the structure and Ievel of labour market participation ( cf., for example, Schettkat 1987 a/b, Moss 1988, OECD 1988, OECD 1990). For employers, too, such institutional forms can provide incentives or act as deterrents to employing women at all or to considering their recruitment under different conditions (wage levels, working time) than male workers.

- legal provisions, especially those of social security and labour law, also exert an influence on the Ievel and, in particular, the structure of participation: some legal systems view part-time employment as a socially protected form of · labour market participation, others as a marginalised means of generating extra income. Depending on the nature of these legal provisions part-time employment may be more or less attractive (higher or lower relative net wages and costs for employees and employers respectively) compared with full-time employment relations.

- state interventiort in the form of social, education or labour market policies and programmes affect not only the overalllevel of part-time employment in a country but also the relative share of men and warnen in the part-time sector, and the status of part-time work as a temj:>Orary or permanent form of employment relation ( e.g. as a "bridge" for labour market entry).

- of decisive importance on the demand side are of course the economic

structure of the national economy, the relative i:p1portance of the manufacturing and service sectors, the relative share of branches subject to fluctuating demand and output levels tagether with the scope for flexible adjustment to changes in labour-input requirements,

Im Dokument Beschäftigung Research Area Labour Market and Employment (Seite 19-26)