Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- PART I
- PART II
- 4 France: part-time work – no longer an employment policy tool
- 5 Germany: part-time work – a bone of contention
- 6 Italy: adaptable employment and private autonomy in the Italian reform of part-time work
- 7 The Netherlands: from atypicality to typicality
- 8 Spain: the difficulty of marrying flexibility with security
- 9 Sweden: part-time work – welfare or unfair?
- 10 The United Kingdom: how is EU governance transformative?
- Index
4 - France: part-time work – no longer an employment policy tool
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- PART I
- PART II
- 4 France: part-time work – no longer an employment policy tool
- 5 Germany: part-time work – a bone of contention
- 6 Italy: adaptable employment and private autonomy in the Italian reform of part-time work
- 7 The Netherlands: from atypicality to typicality
- 8 Spain: the difficulty of marrying flexibility with security
- 9 Sweden: part-time work – welfare or unfair?
- 10 The United Kingdom: how is EU governance transformative?
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Some facts and figures
From the end of the 1970s onwards the number of people in part-time work expanded rapidly in France, rising from 6 per cent of the working population to 17.2 per cent by January 1999 and placing the country in an average position among the EC Member States as regards its use. This increase was not continuous: an initial surge in the number of part-time workers from the start of the 1980s until 1986, when the first general regulation of part-time work was established, was followed by a period of stabilisation between 1987 and 1991 and then a phase of renewed growth starting in 1992 in parallel with the introduction of specific measures to encourage part-time work. Since 1999, marking a departure from that rising trend, there has been a slight decrease in the proportion of part-time workers, who represented 16.9 per cent of the working population in March 2000, 16.4 per cent in March 2001 and 16.2 per cent in March 2002.
The tertiary sector (more specifically education, health, social services, personal services and commerce) is still the main source of part-time jobs, with more than 87 per cent of all part-time workers concentrated within this sector. However, industry – and particularly the agri-foodstuffs industry – although lagging far behind, has witnessed a certain increase in the volume of part-time workers.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Employment Policy and the Regulation of Part-time Work in the European UnionA Comparative Analysis, pp. 85 - 120Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004