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KILM 5. Part-time workers
Introduction
The indicator on part-time workers focuses on individuals whose working hours total less than “full time”, as a proportion of total employment. Because there is no agreed international definition as to the minimum number of hours in a week that constitute full-time work, the dividing line is determined either on an economy-by-economy basis or through the use of special estimations. Two measures are calculated for this indicator: total part-time employment as a proportion of total employment, sometimes referred to as the “part-time employment rate”; and the percentage of the part-time workforce comprised of women. The first of these measures is available for both men and women. Table 5 contains information for 51 economies.
Trends
Figure 5a. Part-time employment rates, selected economies (actual hours, all jobs covered), 1990-2001
Figure 5b. Part-time employment rates, selected economies (usual hours, all jobs covered), 1990-2001
Time trends of part-time employment rates show little change per country since 1990, either in terms of actual hours (figure 5a) or usual hours (figure 5b). The most dramatic upswings in part-time employment are seen in the Central American countries of Honduras and Panama (6.6 and 5.4 percentage points, respectively). Japan reports an increase of 5.7 percentage points between 1990 and 2001, and the Oceania countries of Australia and New Zealand show an increasing trend as well (4.6 and 3.1 points). The European countries of Iceland and Norway show slightly declining rates of part-time employment over the time period, as do Turkey and the United States.
Figure 5c. Female share of part-time employment, regional averages, 1995 and 1999-2001
In almost all economies, a larger proportion of women than men work part time, and women thus account for well over half of all part-time workers in the majority of economies for which data are available. There are, however, regional variations. The difference between female and male shares of part-time work continues to be highest in the developed (industrialized) economies and lowest in the Caribbean and Central American regions. The female share of part-time employment hovers around 50 per cent in the Caribbean and Central American economies, while women in the developed economies make up three-quarters of the total of persons working part time.
Figure 5d. Part-time employment and time-related underemployment as proportions of total employment, developed (industrialized) economies, 2000
The positive relationship shown in figure 5d between part-time employment and time-related underemployment (the latter taken from table 12), both expressed as proportions of total employment, confirms that part-time employment is not always a choice and that a substantial number of part-time workers would prefer to be working full time.
