An increase in part-time employment over the past decade
At the EU level, the share of part-time work in total employment has increased over the past decade, from 17.6% in 2008 to 19.3% in 2018. This growth was the most pronounced in the first years following the outbreak of the financial and economic crisis. After 2013 the growth in the number of part-time jobs continued, but with the resumed overall growth in employment there has been a small decline in the share of part-time work in total employment. EU countries display a huge variation in part-time employment rates and the recent growth did little to change this (Figure 2.17). The Netherlands continued to outpace other countries, with a part-time rate of 50.4% in 2018Q2 (27.6% among men and 76% among women). Over the past decade, the share of part-time jobs increased by 3.7 pp (mainly among men), further widening the distance from other Member States. In central and eastern European countries part-time work continued to represent a minor share of total employment, ranging from 1.9% in Bulgaria to 11.1% in Estonia. Nevertheless, many countries in the region, including Slovakia, Czechia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovenia, experienced an increase in the part-time employment rate between 2008 and 2018. Sweden, Poland and Croatia are the only countries where we observed a steady trend of declining part-time employment over the past decade.
more information in Benchmarking Working Europe 2019 - Chapter 2 Labour market and social developments