scholarly journals Working time flexibility in the EU countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 338-351
Author(s):  
Eva Grmanová ◽  
Eva Ivanová
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Weighted Sum ◽  
Large Share ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Eu

The study aims to identify the EU’s trends in the use of flexible forms of working time and to determine the specifics of individual EU countries. The study monitors the flexibility of working time based on the following indicators: persons employed part-time (as a percentage of the total employment); involuntary part-time employment as % of total part-time employment; the share of employed persons by the flexibility to decide on working time by a country; the share of employed persons who can easily take one or two days off at a short notice by working at home. The paper uses descriptive statistics, analysis of the development of time series using the growth rate, sigma convergence, and weighted sum approach. All analyzed indicators were taken into account to express one value, based on which it is possible to compare countries. Thus, the study expressed the overall benefit using the weighted sum method. The maximum value of the total benefit expressed using all the indicators among the EU countries was reached by the Netherlands. One of the reasons may be the short period of parental leave and the large share of women working part-time for a long time. The second reason is the large share of young people working part-time. On the contrary, Bulgaria, where women spend a relatively long time with their children after birth and then start full-time employment, ranked the last. This should be justified by the fact that flexible forms of work are mainly used by women and their prevalence is largely dependent on the length of maternity and parental leave. AcknowledgmentThis paper is created within the project funded by the Scientific Agency of Slovak Ministry of Education VEGA reg. no. 1/0689/20 “Digital economy and changes in the education system to reflect labour market demands”.

scholarly journals ZATRUDNIENIE W NIEPEŁNYM WYMIARZE CZASU PRACY

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Barbara Surdykowska
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Labor Market Flexibility ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Eu

Time-part Employment – Chances and ThreatsSummaryOver the last twenty years, an increasing share of employment across the EU countries has been made up of part time jobs. That is why the growth in part-time employment stands out as a prominent feature of modern labor markets. However, there are still remarkable differences in the relative volumes of the part-time employment share in different countries within the European Union.In recent years, the issue of labor market flexibility has become prominent in the debate over the labor market policy in Europe. The lack of dynamism in the flexibility of the labor markets within the EU countries, often characterized by a height share of long- term unemployment and stringent employment protection legislation, has frequently been blamed for the poor employment performance of the 80s and 90s.An increase in the rate of part-time work has been generally perceived as a positive development as it enables the employers to adjust work hours to the cyclical conditions more easily, facilitates an adjustment of production and labor costs as well as attracts people, who were previously unwilling or unable to work, towards the labor market. But one has to notice that some studies have found that part-time workers earn less than their full time colleagues, my be less likely to receive some benefits and face reduced chances for promotion.

scholarly journals Opportunities, constraints and constrained opportunities - A study on mothers' working time patterns in 22 European countries

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milla Salin
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Working Time ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Time Pattern ◽  
Childless Women ◽  
Actual Working ◽  
Time Patterns ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time

The aim of this study was to analyze mothers’ working time patters across 22 European countries. The focu was on three questions: how much mothers prefer to work, how much they actually work, and to what degree their preferred and actual working times are (in)consistent with each other. The focus was on cross-national differences in mothers’ working time patterns, comparison of mothers’ working times to that of childless women and fathers, as well as on individual- and country-level factors that explain the variation between them.In the theoretical background, the departure point was an integrative theoretical approach where the assumption is that there are various kinds of explanations for the differences in mothers’ working time patterns – namely structural, cultural and institutional – , and that these factors are laid in two levels: individual- and country-levels. Data were extracted from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2010 / 2011.The results showed that mothers’ working time patterns, both preferred and actual working times, varied across European countries. Four clusters were formed to illustrate the differences. In the full-time pattern, full-time work was the most important form of work, leaving all other working time forms marginal. The full-time pattern was perceived in terms of preferred working times in Bulgaria and Portugal. In polarised pattern countries, full-time work was also important, but it was accompanied by a large share of mothers not working at all. In the case of preferred working times, many Eastern and Southern European countries followed it whereas in terms of actual working times it included all Eastern and Southern European countries as well as Finland. The combination pattern was characterised by the importance of long part-time hours and full-time work. It was the preferred working time pattern in the Nordic countries, France, Slovenia, and Spain, but Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, and Sweden followed it in terms of actual working times. The fourth cluster that described mothers’ working times was called the part-time pattern, and it was illustrated by the prevalence of short and long part-time work. In the case of preferred working times, it was followed in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Besides Belgium, the part-time pattern was followed in the same countries in terms of actual working times. The consistency between preferred and actual working times was rather strong in a majority of countries. However, six countries fell under different working time patterns when preferred and actual working times were compared.Comparison of working mothers’, childless women’s, and fathers’ working times showed that differences between these groups were surprisingly small. It was only in part-time pattern countries that working mothers worked significantly shorter hours than working childless women and fathers. Results therefore revealed that when mothers’ working times are under study, an important question regarding the population examined is whether it consists of all mothers or only working mothers.Results moreover supported the use of the integrative theoretical approach when studying mothers’ working time patterns. Results indicate that mothers’ working time patterns in all countries are shaped by various opportunities and constraints, which are comprised of structural, cultural, institutional, and individual-level factors.Keywords: mother, working time pattern; preferred working time, actual working time, integrative theoretical approach, comparative research

Maternity Leave And Women's Mental Health

1995 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Shibley Hyde ◽  
Marjorie H. Klein ◽  
Marilyn J. Essex ◽  
Roseanne Clark
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Work Status ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Part Time

The Wisconsin Maternity Leave and Health Study addresses an important policy issue, parental leave, by investigating the work status, maternity leave, and mental health of 570 women. In the longitudinal design, the women, all of whom were living with a husband or partner, were interviewed during the fifth month of pregnancy, 1 month postpartum, and 4 months postpartum. At 4 months postpartum, full-time workers, part-time workers, and homemakers did not differ in depression or anger, but full-time workers showed elevated anxiety compared with the other two groups. In multiple regression analyses, length of leave interacted significantly with marital concerns when predicting depression; women who took a short leave (6 weeks or less) and were high on marital concerns had the highest depression scores. Short maternity leave can be conceptualized as a risk factor that, when combined with other risk factors such as marital concerns, places women at greater risk for depression.

scholarly journals When Does Expanded Eligibility Translate into Increased Take-Up? An Examination of Parental Leave Policy in Luxembourg

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-363
Author(s):  
Merve Uzunalioglu ◽  
Marie Valentova ◽  
Margaret O'Brien ◽  
Anne-Sophie Genevois
Keyword(s):  
Working Mothers ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Working Parents ◽  
Foreign National ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Marginal Part ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Part Time ◽  
First Time

This article aims to explore the role of eligibility for parental leave as a determinant of access and as an enabler of leave take-up. To analyse the link between eligibility and take-up, we study a unique policy change in Luxembourg’s parental leave scheme. The country’s 2016 parental leave reform relaxed the eligibility criteria to enable marginal part-time working parents to access the parental leave scheme for the first time. We focus on this change and examine to what extent relaxing the eligibility criteria translated into increased take-up by the marginal part-time working parents who became eligible. To quantify this transition, we analyse trends in and patterns of eligibility for the scheme in Luxembourg between 2009 and 2018 among first-time parents working full-time, part-time, or marginal part-time hours. We use a subsample of Luxembourg-resident, cohabiting, first-time parents (N = 6,254) drawn from the social security data. Our analysis shows that as eligibility is dependent on individual factors, it has similarities among mothers and fathers, whereas take-up is notably greater for mothers. After the reform, we observe that marginal part-time working mothers started taking parental leave, but up to 2018, the reform’s outreach to marginal part-time working fathers remained limited. We also find that foreign national parents are less likely to be eligible for parental leave and have lower take-up rates. Despite the gendered parental leave take-up behaviours in parallel with international evidence, marginal part-time working mothers’ positive response to the reform indicates progress towards strengthening women’s labour market attachment in Luxembourg.

scholarly journals Flexibilidad del tiempo de trabajo en España:

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
Julián Moral Carcedo ◽  
Fernando García Belenguer-Campos ◽  
Valentín Bote Álvarez-Carrasco
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Spanish Economy ◽  
Hours Worked ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Part Time

In this paper we study how the part time employment and its determinants have evolved after the great recession started in 2008. As a consequence of the deepness of the recession, the Spanish economy has destroyed more than two million full time jobs. At the same time, the number of part-time jobs has slightly risen, but this evolution has not had a significant impact on the distribution of hours worked, which shows the lack of flexibility of our economy to deal with demand shortfalls by redistributing working time.

scholarly journals How can we become more equal? Public policies and parents’ work–family preferences in Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872110357
Author(s):  
Mareike Bünning ◽  
Lena Hipp
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Working Parents ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Time Position ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Employed Parents ◽  
The Right ◽  
Policy Setting

This study examines how public policies affect parents’ preferences for a more egalitarian division of paid and unpaid work. Based on the assumption that individuals develop their preferences within a specific policy context, we examine how changes in three policies affect mothers’ and fathers’ work–family preferences: the availability of high-quality, affordable childcare; the right to return to a full-time job after having reduced hours to part-time and an increase in the number of ‘partner months’ in parental leave schemes. Analysing a unique probability sample of parents with young children in Germany from 2015 ( N = 1756), we find that fathers would want to work slightly fewer hours if they had the right to return to a full-time position after working part-time, and mothers would want to work slightly more hours if childcare opportunities were improved. Full-time working parents, moreover, are found to prefer fewer hours independent of the policy setting, while non-employed parents would like to work at least some hours. Last but not least, our analyses show that increasing the number of partner months in the parental leave scheme considerably increases fathers’ preferences for longer and mothers’ preferences for shorter leave. Increasing the number of partner months in parental schemes hence has the greatest potential to increase gender equality.

Do politics matter? Women in Swedish local elected assemblies 1970–2010 and gender equality in outcomes

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Wängnerud ◽  
Anders Sundell
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
National Level ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Equal Distribution ◽  
Input Side ◽  
Part Time ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Elected Representatives

A substantial number of studies support the notion that having a high number of women in elected office helps strengthen the position of women in society. However, some of the most cited studies rely on questionnaires asking elected representatives about their attitudes and priorities, thus focusing on the input side of the political system. The closer one gets to outcomes in citizens’ everyday lives, the fewer empirical findings there are to report. In this study, we attempt to explain contemporary variations in gender equality at the sub-national level in Sweden. We use six indicators to capture a broad spectrum of everyday life situations. The overall finding is that having a high number of women elected does affect conditions for women citizens, making them more equal to men in terms of factors such as income levels, full-time vs. part-time employment, and distribution of parental leave between mothers and fathers, even when controlling for party ideology and modernization at the municipal level. No effect was found, however, on factors such as unemployment, poor health, and poverty among women. Thus, the politics of presence theory (Phillips, 1995), which emphasizes the importance of having a high number of women elected, does exert an effect, but the effect needs to be specified. For some dimensions of gender equality, the driving forces of change have more to do with general transformations of society than the equal distribution of women and men in elected assemblies. We thoroughly discuss measurement challenges since there is no accepted or straightforward way of testing the politics of presence theory. We challenge the conventional wisdom of using indexes to capture the network of circumstances that determines the relationship between women and men in society; aggregating several factors undermines the possibility of building fine-tuned understandings of the operative mechanisms.

scholarly journals The changing face of youth employment in Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Lewis ◽  
Jason Heyes
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Youth Employment ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Labour Market Regulation ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Contract Type ◽  
And Training ◽  
The Eu

This article examines trends in youth employment across the EU-15 countries during 2002–2006 and 2007–2011. Drawing upon microdata from the EU Labour Force Survey it examines changes in contract type, hours worked and occupation by level of education. Although the financial crisis creates a discontinuity in numbers employed, and despite certain country specificities, the authors observe common structural changes across the two periods. They find an increasing shift from permanent full-time to temporary part-time contracts, the ‘hollowing out’ of traditional mid-skill level occupations and evidence of ‘occupational filtering down’ whereby the higher-educated are substituted for the lower-educated in low-skilled occupations. The authors observe some growth in ‘professionals’ following the crisis, but little evidence of the rise of a new knowledge economy. This raises questions concerning the most appropriate policy approaches to education and training and labour market regulation if European nations are to provide high-quality employment opportunities for their young people.

scholarly journals Medicine Shortages in Serbia: Pharmacists’ Standpoint and Potential Solutions for a Non-EU Country

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 448
Author(s):  
Nataša Jovanović Lješković ◽  
Aleksandra Jovanović Galović ◽  
Svetlana Stojkov ◽  
Nikola Jojić ◽  
Slobodan Gigov
Keyword(s):  
Good Practice ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Drug Shortages ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Survey Questions ◽  
Short Survey ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Eu

Medicine shortages in Serbia have evidently been present for several decades, but literature data are scarce. The aim of our study was to get an insight on the present situation in Serbia, review the EU actions when managing shortages, and discern a set of potential measures. A short survey was conducted among 500 pharmacists in public pharmacies, in 23 cities in Serbia. The survey questions addressed frequency of drug shortages, professional actions in the event of shortages, main consequences to patients and pharmacies, putative causes, and pivotal measures for the prevention/mitigation of drug shortages under current conditions. Moreover, a Panel of Experts was organized, whose suggestions and opinions were used to analyze the present situation and to form a set of potential solutions and effective measures to mitigate shortages of medicines. In-depth analysis of current Serbian legislation was conducted, with emphasis on specific steps to be made within the actual legal framework. Examples of good practice in the EU, applicable to a country such as Serbia, were examined. Our research showed that although Serbia is, in some aspects, behind EU countries regarding the approaches to overcome medicine shortages, progress can be made within short period of time, by specific well-targeted actions. Both patients and pharmacists would benefit from it.

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