Industriesand Occupations

The study of the distribution of part-time employment by industries ^~ which will be initially conducted in the form of a "snap~shot" of 1987- must consider three relevant aspects:

- the employment share of total employment of each industry, - the part-time employment share of each industry, and

- the proportion of part-timers to total employment in each industry.

These dirnensions are presented in Table 5a (for warnen) and Table 5b (formen).

The interpretation of these tables yields the following outstanding similarities and differences:

a) Structure of fernale employrnent

Fernale ernployrnent - both full and part-time - is concentrated in a relatively small nurnber of industries: fernale employment shares are particularly high in other services (NACE group 90) and trade/hotel and catering (NACE group 60), In the countries studied here over 50% of all working warnen are employed in these two groups. The fernale ernployment share in public adrninistration (NACE group 91) varies considerably between countries; between 4.9% (Netherlands) and 11.9%

(France) of all warnen worked there in 1987, while the significance of public adrninistration for female part-time ernployrnent also differs: in the

Netherlands only 3.7% of all female part-timers w~nk in the public administration, whereas in France the figure was 13.6%.

The distribution of time employment relative to the share of part-timers in the work force as a whole is, as expected, also very high in other services and trade/hotel and catering. Nevertheless, in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom part-timers account for more than half of all warnen workers in these sectors (in Denmark almost half), whereas in the FRG, France and Belgium considerably less than a third of warnen employees in these areas work part time.

Compared with these sectors, part-time employment plays only a subordinate role in public administration. Only in the N etherlands and Denmark do part-timers account for a large proportion (some 40%) of female employment in public administration. In the other countdes this figure is below 30%.

Three other sectors exhibit interesting characteristics: transport and communications, a category including the (usually state-run) post and telecommunications services, which, while they employ relatively few warnen, make relatively frequent use of part-time employment relations for their women workers. A similar phenomenon is to be observed in the construction industry. Banking and insurance, which in some countdes employs more warnen than public administration, exhibits consistently lower part-time employment shares than public administration or the other service sectors.

Agriculture is something of a special case; in all the countdes studied this sector accounts for only ab out 1.% of female employment. Of these more than 50% work on a part-time basis in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, more than 40% in Denmark, while in German and French agriculture part-time work does not account for an above average share of female employment.

A comparison of the country profiles of women's overall part-time

employment share reveals the following differences: in. France the part-time employment share is low in manufacturing industry and under 30% in services; in the Netherlands, by contrast, the part~time share is consistently high, even in manufacturing industry being greater than the overall figure for other countries; in Denmark, too, the figures are high and relatively evenly distributed, while in the United Kingdom the polarisation between manufacturing and services is much more pronounced; the figures for services are consistently lower in the F RG and Belgium, whereas they are relatively high in manufacturing,

The distribution of female employrnent can, finally, be summarised as follows: in all countries fernale employment as a whole is highly concentrated, while it is only in some (such as the Netherlands arid the United Kingdom) that part-time employment is significantly more heavily concentrated than full-time employment. This indicates that not only is female participation in the labour market subject to considerable horizontal segregation, butthat at least in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom part-time employment reinforces this segregation. While these segregation lines are to be observed in the other countries, too, it seems that in these countdes they are similar within part-time and full-time employment.

b) Structure of male employment

Formale workers, for whom part-time employment plays a very minor role in both absolute and relative terms, it i.s also the other services and trade/hotel and catering industries which are most important for part-time employment. Over 50% of male part-part-timers work in these two industries, which employ only 20-30% of allmale employees. Formen, too, public administration does not exhibit a particularly high part-time employment share: between 1.6% (Denmark) and 16% (France) of all male part-timers are employed in this sector. Overall part-time work as a share of male employment is low in the F RG, Belgium and France, relatively equally distributed between manufacturing and services. The

employment share is relatively high in the N ethe.rl ands (where a significant minority, 13%, of allmale workers are employed on apart-time basis), with employment shares in manufacturing of up to 9%. In Denmark, too, the number of male part-timers is rather high, although the very low Ievel of male part-time work in Danish public administration is striking. The United Kingdom occupies a median position with respect to both the overall male part-timeemployment share and the distribution between the different sectors.

Comparing the sectors and their part-time employment sharesformen and women it is clearly trade/hotel and catering and other services which are the two sectors in which part-time employment is significant for both sexes.

In Chart 4 the industries are grouped according to the share of fernale part-timers to total (male and female) employment. The Chart presents a striking picture: in 1987 over 30% ( and currently over 40%) of all employees in other services in the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdomare women working part time.

The traditional industrial sectors have in ail countdes considered a part-time employment share of less than 5%. In the FRG, France and Belgium female part-timers account for less than 10% of employment in the most sectors. Employment shares are more evenly distributed in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Denmark.

Referring this picture back to the hypotheses forrnulated in the Introducdon the industry-mix observed here provides an illustration of the structural differences between the countries. The common feature is the importance of part-time employrnent in other services and trade/hotel and catering, although the extent to which they rely on part-time employment varies. These two branches employ both women and men on a part-time basis. This indicates that workload fluctuations in these sectors are particularly advantageaus for part-time employment. Except in Denmark and France, public administration with its wide variety of occupations and

activities is shown not to be particularly part-time orien~ed.

Further study of these sector-specific differences is needed (for example the sharp differences in part-time shares in banking and insurance) in order to pursue further the hypothesis that skill Ievel and external and internal training requirements are decisive factors for the attractiveness of part-time employment from a management point of view. This, however, would be to go beyond the limits of this analysis. Nevertheless, it does seem plausible that the high part-time employment shares in trade/hotel and catering and other serviceß can be explained to a considerable extent by the fact that in these sectors jobs can be designed in a way that they have low skill and high flexibility requirements. In terms of remuneration these jobs are attractive only for women workers ( or young persons in education earning additional income). In traditional male sectors, on the other. hand, neither low skill requirements nor high flexibility requirements result in significant part-time sharesformale workers.

Table 6 summarizes the distribution of part-time workers by activity and occupation. The results need tobe interpreted with great care because the definitions used vary extensively between countries. Leaving aside, for a momen.t, the differences between men and warnen, a common feature - the concentration of part-time employment in the trade and service occupations - is immediately apparent. Due to inconsistencies in national definitions, the nature of the remaining differences between countries is difficult to interpret in a precise manner. More significant are the differences between men and wornen. In all the countries under study more male part-tirners are working in production related and in administrative and agricultural occupations than female part-tirners. In the FRG, France and the Netherlands more male than female part~timers

also ascribe themselves to the professional and technical occupations, a heterogeneaus mix of scientists, teachers, journalists and doctors. The majority of part-time working women are to be found in the group containing sales personnel, service and administrative workers. The difference is particularly striking in administrative and rnanagerial positions: although in absolute terrns the nurober of part-tirners in this

group is very low, the percentage share of male workers 1s here consistently high er than that of women.

These national distributions may conceal important vertical lines of segregation: it was, however, not possible to pursue these further on the data set available as we did not have detailed figures for the occupational distribution of employees as a whole6. It is weil known that male and female employment is characterised by strict vertical segregation ( cf.

Maier 1990), and that women are more likely than men to be employed in low-status occupations. On the basis of the available data it is not possible to ascertain the degree to which part-time employment reinforces such occupational segregation. Several empirical studies confirm the concentration of part-time employment in low-skill occupations. It is known that employees searching a part-time employment relation often have to accept employment in positions with a lower occupational status than they formerly had. An internationally comparative study, considering the occupational status of part-time employees in France, the United Kingdom and the USA found the qualification level of part-time jobs being lowest in the United Kingdom, whereas in France and the USA part-time employees were more likely to work in high-skilled occupations ( cf.

Dex/Walters 1989). But only in Sweden is the occupational distribution of part-time jobs nearly equal to that of full-time positions. This is due to the fact that all full-time employees have the legal right to reduce their individual working time for reasons of child-care and further training ( cf.

Maier 1991). ·

6 Eurostat collects data on occupations but do not publish them because of significant differences in the definitions used by the member states.