W2A-019 Part-time working-0.txt
PART-TIME WORKING IN IRELAND IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT

EILEEN P. DREW

Department of Statistics, Trinity College, Dublin
(Read before the Society, 25 October 1990)
1. INTRODUCTION

The subject of part-time work is one which has become increasingly important in industrialized economies, most notably Norway, Sweden, United States, Canada, Denmark and the United Kingdom, where it accounts for a substantial and growing proportion of total employment. It has been noted that resort to part-time workers was generally a response to a shortage of available labour, particularly when it coincided with periods of economic boom. However the view that part-timers would be engaged at times of economic upturn and be among the first categories of workers to be let go at periods of recession has not been upheld during the last decade. It is now recognised that part-time working is no temporary practice. Rather it represents a growth segment of an otherwise static to falling labour force in many developed economies.

The selection of Ireland as the location for study is particularly relevant since unlike some other EC countries where part-time working is extensive and well-established, Ireland has been slow to adjust to this pattern of work, despite high levels of unemployment. In most countries where part-time working is common it is associated with women workers. This association in the minds of employers and trade unionists may be important in formulating attitudes towards part-time working which could have affected the prospects of Irish women in obtaining part-time opportunities and a place in the labour force.

Some recent labour market theorists have related part-time working to the preoccupation of many employers with their search to reduce labour and other costs. Increasingly it is argued that 'flexibility' is required to meet market needs. The 'flexibility' model extends to a number of growing labour practices including 'Numerical Flexibility' (which includes the use of part-time labour as one of a number of means of meeting changes in levels of output)(Institute of Manpower Studies, 1986).

Associated with these developments there has been a significant change in the relative importance of service industries compared with the diminishing share of employment in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors in most develop economies. Service sector employment accounts for a large and growing proportion of the labour force and is expected to continue to grow in coming decades especially in the information-related industries which include professional and financial services. Indeed the size and rate of growth of services has come to be a hallmark of developed economies. By its very nature, the service sector does not lend itself comfortably to a manufacturing type production schedule based on one or more 8 hour shifts. Consumer-based services are increasingly demanded by the public on an extended hours basis, which has been the trend in the United States and Western Europe in retailing, banking and fast-food catering. There are no indications that this trend will be reversed and it seems more likely that the existing trend will continue. Where extended services are made available there are inevitable scheduling problems which make it more attractive for employers to engage part-time staff.

Part-time work represents an already well established alternative to full-time working and a possible future 'model' of working which appeals to certain categories of workers and aspiring re-entrants to the labour market. This paper explores the phenomenon of part-time working in Ireland, relative to its development in other European Community countries.

Having evaluated variations in the relative importance of part-time employment within the Community, unpublished Irish data are analysed to arrive at hypotheses concerning current patterns and the apparent reluctance of Irish employers to employ part-time labour.

Part-time is defined as "voluntary work, performed on a regular basis, in respect of which an employer and employee agree to shorter working hours than normal hours of work"." This definition, which is used by the Commission of the European Communities, emphasizes the voluntary and regular nature of part-time work; the fact that it is performed in a formal employment context and that there are no restrictions on the house or patterns of hours worked.

2. ANALYSIS OF PART-TIME WORKING IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

This analysis is confined to the countries (9) which have been members of the European Community (EC) since 1975 or earlier. Although the information which is published by Eurostat on part-time employment, obtained from national Labour Force Sample surveys, is limited compared with census data from some countries, it has the main advantage of being standardized, in terms of definition (e.g. of activity rates and (un) employment), timing (in a reference week between March and May) and survey procedures, throughout member states. This allows more reliable cross-country comparisons to be made than if individual country based data were used. The Labour Force Survey is also a particularly useful source of national data on countries, such as Ireland, which do not collect such data in the national Census of Population.

2.1 Location of Part-time Workers in the EC

In 1987, there were over 15 million part-time workers in the 9 member states (excluding Greece, Spain and Portugal), compared with almost 11 million in 1975. The greatest concentrations of part-time workers were in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy. Together, these countries accounted to 82 per cent of part-time workers in the European Community in 1987. All countries experienced increases in the overall level of part-time working between 1975 and 1987. In Ireland there was an increase of 11 per cent in part-time working, followed by Belgium, France, Denmark and the UK (Table 1). For women, the level of part-time employment increased in every member state. Allied to the rising level of female participation in the European Community, the increase in part-time working represents a shift in the standard pattern of working.

Figure 1 shows the relationship between part-time and full-time employment in each of the member states. In terms of relative importance to the labour force, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom were the countries in which part-timers accounted for at least one-fifth of all workers in 1987. Even though there were considerable numbers of part-time workers in France, Germany and Italy, they formed less than 13 per cent of persons with an occupation in those countries. In 1987 the countries in which part-time working was less common were: Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium. On average, part-time workers accounted for 14 per cent of all workers in the European Community in that year, compared with 11 per cent of workers in 1975.

2.2 Women and Part-time Employment in the EC

The increase in female labour force participation throughout the European Community has meant that women are slowly but perceptibly comprising a larger segment of the labour force. Whereas in 1975 women accounted for 35 per cent of all workers, by 1987 this had risen to 39 per cent. The OECD has stated that the importance of the rise in the number and percentage of women workers "could be overestimated if the considerable part-time element of female labour force participation were ignored" (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1983).

The likelihood that women workers will be employed on a part-time rather than a full-time basis varies widely between different member states. By 1987, 45 per cent of women workers in the United Kingdom worked part-time and in Denmark the figure was 42 per cent. In Germany, 30 per cent of women worked part-time and more than one-fifth of French and Belgian women worked other than full-time schedules. Italy and Ireland had the lowest proportion of women workers engaged in part-time employment (Eurostat, 1989).

If the data for married women workers are examined, the pattern across different countries emerges as more consistent and the importance of part-time working for married women becomes quite stark. With the exception of Italy, at lease least one quarter of married women workers were engaged part-time in 1987 (Eurostat, 1989). In Denmark and the United Kingdom half of employed married women were working part-time. In Ireland the level was 26 per cent, a similar level to that in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

2.3 Part-time Working Across Industrial Sectors in the EC

Sectoral data, available since 1983, indicate clearly that part-time working is closely associated with the service sector. However, Italy and Ireland contrast strongly with the other member states. Whereas all other countries had at least 70 per cent of part-time workers in the service sector in 1983, the comparable figures for Italy and Ireland were 46 per cent and 63 per cent respectively. Not only does part-time working account for a much smaller portion of total employment in these two countries, but where part-timers do exist, they are more likely to be spread over the three industrial sectors. Thirty-five per cent of Italian part-time workers were engaged in agriculture in 1983, and the comparable figure for Ireland was 24 per cent of part-time workers. Outside of Italy and Ireland the range of part-time workers engaged in agriculture was from 2 per cent in the United Kingdom to a maximum of 14 per cent in France (Table 2).
In 1983, part-time workers in manufacturing were more common in Germany, Italy and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. By 1987, some countries registered an increase in part-time manufacturing jobs most notably the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Denmark. Ireland and Germany experienced a decrease in part-time manufacturing employment (Table 2).
All countries experienced a further concentration of part-time working in the service sector. Within the Community the level rose form 76 to 79 per cent between 1983 and 1987. In Ireland there was a notable increase from 63 per cent in 1983 to 74 per cent in 1987. In Italy the shift towards more part-time working in services was less pronounced. These data indicate that countries like the United Kingdom and Denmark which have a high concentration of jobs in services generally, also tend to have the greatest number of part-time service jobs. Germany has a more highly developed manufacturing sector which continues to employ a higher than average percentage of the labour force, 40 per cent in 1987 compared with an EC (9) average of 34 per cent. Therefore it would be expected that relatively fewer part-time service jobs would be created in Germany. Italy and Ireland have a less well developed service sector employing less than the EC (9) average of 60 per cent. They also employ a larger proportion of the labour force in agriculture than other member states (Eurostat, 1989).

Part-time women workers are more heavily concentrated in the service sector than their male counterparts. In 1987 the service sector accounted for 79 per cent of all part-timers and 82 per cent of female part-time workers in the Community (9). In all countries, women were less likely than men to work part-time in agriculture and manufacturing and hence were more likely to be engaged in the service sector (Eurostat, 1989).

Certain conclusions can be drawn from the foregoing analysis of part-time working. First, it tends to be associated with women workers and higher levels of female participation in the labour force. Where men work part-time it is more likely that they are engaged in agriculture and manufacturing than in the case for women. The link between part-time working and women's participation is even stronger for married than single women workers. Clearly the part-time option, where available, is predominantly sought by married women to enable them to participate in the labour force whilst having and rearing their children.

A second major conclusion is that there is no overall predominant pattern to explain part-time working across the member states. All of the data point to considerable differences, often between neighbouring countries. High levels of part-time working occur in the Netherlands, Denmark and United Kingdom. Part-time working is lowest in Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium.

The third major conclusion is that part-time working occurs mainly the in the service sector. It is only in Italy and Ireland that it supports a significant number of workers in the agricultural sector. Overall the trend is towards increased concentration of part-time working in the service industries.
