Thesis
Reference
Flexible time arrangements: relevance and impact of part-time work in Switzerland
KRONE-GERMANN, Irenka
Abstract
In recent labour market history, one of the most striking features has been the increase of non-standard employment arrangements. These types of arrangements refer to atypical and alternative employment arrangements which are often called flexible staffing arrangements.
The utilization of these flexible labour arrangements has been, however, the source of much controversy in the last twenty years but nowadays it is becoming more and more common in the OECD countries, more specifically in Switzerland.
KRONE-GERMANN, Irenka. Flexible time arrangements: relevance and impact of part-time work in Switzerland. Thèse de doctorat : Univ. Genève, 2010, no. SES 726
URN : urn:nbn:ch:unige-68510
DOI : 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:6851
Available at:
http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:6851
Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version.
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Flexible Time Arrangements:
Relevance and Impact of Part-Time Work in Switzerland
Thèse présentée à la Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales de l’Université de Genève
Par Irenka KRONE-GERMANN
pour l’obtention du grade de
Docteur ès sciences économiques et sociales mention : économie politique
Membres du jury de thèse :
M. Giovanni FERRO-LUZZI, Maître d’enseignement et de recherche, Université de Genève
M. Yves FLÜCKIGER, Professeur, Directeur de thèse, Université de Genève
Mme Caroline HENCHOZ, Chercheuse postdoctorale à l’Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Centre Urbanisation Culture Société, Montréal, Québec M. Michel ORIS, Professeur, Président du jury, Université de Genève
Thèse N° 726
Genève, le 26 février 2010
La Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales, sur préavis du jury, a autorisé l’impression de la présente thèse, sans entendre, par là, n’émettre aucune opinion sur les propositions qui s’y trouvent énoncées et qui n’engagent que la responsabilité de leur auteur.
Genève, le 5 mars 2010
Le doyen
Bernard MORARD
Impression d’après le manuscrit de l’auteur
Remerciements
Je tiens tout d’abord à transmettre mes chaleureux remerciements au professeur Yves Flückiger, Département d’économie politique et vice-recteur de l’Université de Genève, pour avoir accepté d’être mon directeur de thèse et m’avoir guidé avec beaucoup de finesse tout au long de ma recherche. Je le remercie particulièrement de cette chance qu’il m’a donnée de m’insérer dans une recherche académique focalisée sur le marché du travail en Suisse alors que j’étais depuis plus de dix ans active professionnellement dans un tout autre domaine, à savoir les relations économiques internationales. Sa longue expérience, ses conseils avisés et ses suggestions régulières m’ont été fort utiles et m’ont permis d’orienter mon travail sur plusieurs domaines-clé du travail à temps partiel.
Je témoigne également toute ma reconnaissance à mon jury de thèse pluridisciplinaire composé de M. Michel Oris, professeur de démographie historique et d’histoire sociale, M. Giovanni Ferro-Luzzi, maître d’enseignement et directeur ad interim de l’Observatoire Universitaire de l’Emploi, et Mme Caroline Henchoz, chercheuse postdoctorale à l’INRS à Montréal, Québec. Au travers de discussions sur l’existence d’opportunités perdues ou de discriminations effectives liées au travail à temps partiel et de réflexions socio-économiques sur le conditionnement social de l’identité « genrée », les échanges avec mon jury de thèse ont été très constructifs et m’ont beaucoup apporté.
Un profond merci s’adresse à mon mari Oliver Krone, père de nos trois enfants, qui m’a accompagnée le plus intensément durant tout ce travail et qui, de par sa propre expérience vers l’obtention d’un doctorat, a su m’encourager durant les moments hauts mais parfois aussi difficiles de ce parcours. Il m’a démontré jour pour jour, en marge de son activité professionnelle, qu’un vrai job-sharing at home pouvait réellement exister et que la base de toute relation se fonde sur le respect de l’autre et de sa liberté.
En tant qu’outsider du système universitaire, je n’aurais jamais pu garder une certaine sérénité si je n’avais pas connu Sophia Dini et Brigitte van Baalen, toutes deux alors chercheuses à l’Université de Genève et désormais aussi titulaires d’un doctorat, qui m’ont constamment soutenue et avec lesquelles j’ai souvent eu l’occasion d’échanger mes préoccupations.
Grâce à Anne de Chambrier, ma partenaire en job-sharing at work dans mon environnement professionnel au sein du Secrétariat d’Etat à l’économie (SECO), j’ai pu découvrir sur le terrain et dans la pratique que le partage de travail est un modèle de partenariat réalisable et même particulièrement stimulant. Après presque trois ans d’expérience commune dans le milieu de la promotion commerciale internationale et l’aide au développement, je souhaite souligner qu’un tel type de partenariat professionnel amène la pensée individuelle à d’autres réflexions et stimule constamment la créativité.
Dans ce même contexte, mes remerciements s’adressent à mon supérieur, Hans-Peter Egler, chef de la section Promotion commerciale et développement, qui a osé prendre le risque et nous donner la chance de travailler sous de telles conditions d’emploi. Dans un monde du travail où les préjugés sont encore si nombreux, cette audace est d’autant plus louable.
Mes sincères remerciements s’adressent également aux chercheurs Chris Kopp de l’Université de Berne et Ben Jann, chargé d’enseignement à l’Université de Zurich qui m’ont ouvert la porte vers le monde économétrique de Stata. Leurs expertise et précision sur le langage informatique Stata m’ont permis de comprendre les finesses et limites des tests économétriques que j’ai utilisés dans ce travail.
Je témoigne aussi ma gratitude envers Sharon Miller pour son professionnalisme lors de la relecture de mon manuscrit. Ses hautes compétences linguistiques et ses suggestions pertinentes m’ont permis de peaufiner ma version finale. Toute erreur qui subsiste dans cette dernière version n’engage que ma responsabilité.
De tout cœur, enfin, je remercie ma famille, mes parents pour leur ouverture d’esprit et la stimulation intellectuelle depuis mon enfance qu’ils ont si bien su transmettre, et mes amis qui ont toujours été là. En particulier mon amie de toujours Sandra Ourgli qui par sa profonde générosité et sa curiosité intellectuelle m’a toujours soutenue tout au long de ce parcours de vie.
Pour Anika, Yannik et Maëva
Content
1. General introduction ... 13
1.1. Introduction and motivation ... 13
1.2. Contribution and thesis overview ... 14
2. Determinants and characteristics of non-standard work time arrangements .. 17
2.1. Introduction ... 17
2.2. Typologies of non-standard working arrangements ... 18
2.2.1. Numerical versus functional labour flexibility ... 18
2.2.2. Current specific typologies ... 20
2.2.3. Notion of flexibility under the current Swiss labour legislation ... 24
2.3. Flexible working arrangements explained by the core- periphery model ... 27
2.3.1. Towards a core-periphery structure ... 27
2.3.2. Market segmentation and dual workforce ... 30
2.4. Fact and numbers ... 32
2.4.1. Part-time employment in Switzerland and the EU ... 32 U 2.4.2. Part-time and economic branches ... 36
2.4.3. Public and private sectors differences and other characteristics ... 36
2.5. Supply and demand of flexible working time arrangements ... 37
2.5.1. Demand driven aspects of flexible time arrangements ... 38
2.5.2. Supply driven aspects of flexible time arrangements ... 41
2.5.3. Overview on motives to work part-time in Switzerland and the EU 42 2.6. Voluntary and involuntary flexible work arrangements ... 44
2.7. Descriptive analysis from a gender perspective ... 46
2.7.1. Gender differences with regard to part-time employment ... 46
2.7.2. Ideal wished situation by female employees in Switzerland ... 49
2.7.3. Towards equal opportunities for women and men? ... 49
2.8. Conclusions ... 52
3. Part-time employment and vertical segregation ... 55
3.1. Introduction ... 55
3.2. Theoretical considerations on vertical segregation ... 56
3.2.1. The human capital model with a reduction of work activity ... 58
3.2.2. Lack of good part-time jobs due to the dual labour market ... 61
3.2.3. Drop ceilings and trap-door floors ... 63
3.2.4. The dilemma of the so-called ideal worker ... 64
3.2.5. Swiss family traditionalism not dead but quite modernized ... 66
3.3. Methodological approach by using the ordered probit estimation and the Duncan index of dissimilarity ... 68
3.3.1. Data ... 68
3.3.2. Methodology ... 68
3.4. Oaxaca Blinder decomposition of the segregation index ... 78
3.4.1. Explained and unexplained part of the vertical segregation ... 79
3.5. Findings ... 82
3.6. Specific computation results ... 85
4. Earning inequalities between full and part-time employees ... 93
4.1. Introduction ... 93
4.2. Review of literature on part-time work and earnings inequalities ... 93
4.3. Analysis by standard earning linear regressions and probit models ... 97
4.3.1. Earning linear regressions ... 98
4.3.2. Probit models of earnings inequalities ... 105
4.4. Wage differential decomposition by Oaxaca Blinder methodology ... 106
4.4.1. Part-time/full-time wage differentials and selection bias ... 106
4.5. Findings ... 114
4.6. Specific computation results ... 116
5. Labour market segmentation and part-time work ... 127
5.1. Introduction ... 127
5.2. Theoretical background of labour force segmentation ... 127
5.2.1. Neo-classical and institutional approaches ... 127
5.2.2. Statistical and econometric techniques ... 129
5.2.3. Main hypothesis of a dual labour market for part-timers ... 133
5.3. Dual part-time labour market analysis and endogenous switching model with one known regime “primary and secondary segments” a priori defined ... 134
5.3.1. The switching model with one known regime ... 134
5.3.2. Data ... 136
5.3.3. Results and interpretation ... 136
5.4. Dual labour market analysis and endogenous switching model with unknown regime ... 140
5.4.1. The switching model with unknown regime ... 140
5.4.2. Data ... 145
5.4.3. Results and interpretation ... 146
5.5. Findings ... 150
6. Proposals towards new flexible time arrangements and partnership models to improve the status of part- time employees... 153
6.1. Introduction ... 153
6.2. Potential impact of partnership models ... 154
6.2.1. Definition and characteristics of job-sharing ... 154
6.2.2. Definition and characteristics of top-sharing ... 156
6.2.3. First attempts in Switzerland and outcome ... 157
6.2.4. Improvement of social welfare through partnership models? ... 158
6.2.5. Application by using the Paretian welfare model ... 160
6.3. Increase of functional flexibility inside companies ... 162
6.4. Social welfare increase and decrease of social costs ... 163
6.4.1. An optimization of the existing capabilities among part- timers in general and increase of male part-timers ... 163
6.4.2. A decrease in the need of total outsourcing of childcare ... 165
6.4.3. Reduction of negative externalities such as the so-called burn-out syndrome ... 167
6.4.4. Towards more diversity and gender equity at medium and top occupational hierarchies ... 168
6.5. Instruments to enforce new types of flexible time arrangements and partnership models ... 169
7. General Conclusions ... 173
7.1. Main results ... 173
7.2. Needs for changes ... 179
7.3. New areas to be explored ... 181
Bibliography ... 183
Tables
Table 2-1 Examples of organizational flexibilities ... 20
Table 2-2 Relevant elements of the Swiss labour market legislation ... 26
Table 2-3 Percentage of part-time workers with regard to their age and gender, a European comparison ... 33
Table 2-4 Percentage of independent workers in relation with their cohort: a European comparison ... 37
Table 2-5 Part-time employment by reasons. Percentage of women in part-time employment... 43
Table 2-6 Interaction between part-time work between employers and employees ... 46
Table 2-7 Part-time motivation by gender ... 48
Table 2-8 Attitudes with regard to the best model to be applied in Switzerland ... 49
Table 3-1 Disaggregation of the Swiss labour market in part-time activity (10%) ... 71
Table 3-2 Effective distribution of part-timers and full-timers along the hierarchical categories in the private sector ... 72
Table 3-3 Effective distribution of part-timers and full-timers along the hierarchical categories in the public sector ... 73
Table 3-4 Effective distribution and simulated distribution for the occupations in the private sector (ordered probit) ... 79
Table 3-5 Effective distribution and simulated distribution for the occupations in the public sector (ordered probit)... 79
Table 3-6 Ordered probit with full-timers’ coefficients in the private sector ... 86
Table 3-7 Ordered probit with part-timers’ coefficients in the private sector ... 87
Table 3-8 Ordered probit with full-timers’ coefficients in the public sector ... 88
Table 3-9 Ordered probit with part-timers’ coefficients in the public sector ... 89
Table 3-10 Results of the Duncan Indexes while considering only male employees, in % ... 90
Table 3-11 Results of the Duncan Indexes while considering only female employees, in % ... 90
Table 3-12 Results of the Duncan Indexes while considering respondents aged 25-49, in % ... 91
Table 3-13 Results of the Duncan Indexes while considering respondents aged 50-65, in % ... 91
Table 4-1 Results of the computation of lambda using the Heckman methodology ... 110
Table 4-2 Oaxaca Blinder decomposition with the correction for the selection rule .... 111
Table 4-3 Three-fold division of the Oaxaca Blinder decomposition with data from the SESS 2006 ... 112
Table 4-4 Two-fold division of the Oaxaca Blinder decomposition with data from the SESS 2006 ... 113
Table 4-5 Regression model of the hourly earnings with several explanatory variables by using the SLFS 2006 dataset ... 117
Table 4-6 Regression model of the hourly earnings with several explanatory variables by using the SESS 2006 dataset ... 119
Table 4-7 Probit model on the median of salary per hour with several variables from the SLFS 2006 ... 121
Table 4-8 Probit model on the median of salary per hour with several variables from the SESS 2006 ... 123 Table 4-9 Level of education among full-timers and part-timers ... 125 Table 4-10 Level of education among female and male employees ... 125 Table 5-1 Endogenous switching regression model with one known regime defined
(primary or secondary segment): full-timers ... 138 Table 5-2 Endogenous switching regression model with one known regime defined
(primary or secondary segment): part-timers ... 139 Table 5-3 Endogenous switching regression model with unknown regime:full-timers . 148 Table 5-4 Endogenous switching regression model with unknown regime: part-timers 149 Table 6-1 Some advantages and disadvantages of job-sharing ... 155 Table 6-2 Benefits for companies and employees ... 156 Table 6-3 Limits of such a model ... 157
Figures
Figure 2-1 The core-periphery model ... 28 Figure 2-2 Part-time and full-time workers in Switzerland and in the EU: gender
differences and ages ... 34 Figure 2-3 Percentage of paid work activity applied by men and women aged 25-49 in
relation to the number of children. EU without Danemark, Poland, Finland and Sweden ... 35 Figure 2-4 Part of part-time employment per branches in the secondary and tertiary
sectors (% of the overall employment in the branch) ... 36 Figure 2-5 Evolution of part-time employment among men and women, 1991-2008 ... 47 Figure 2-6 Gender structure on the Swiss labour market with a focus on the share of
activity (in %) ... 47 Figure 2-7 Disaggregation of the Swiss labour market in part-time activity (10%) with a
focus on gender ... 48 Figure 2-8 Level of Maturity Diploma to entry university, gender differences ... 51 Figure 2-9 Percentage of women at the management board of top companies in Europe 52 Figure 3-1 The traditional human capital model ... 59 Figure 3-2 The human capital model with a reduction of professional activity ... 60 Figure 3-3 Structure of employees working more than 75% (>31.5 hours per week)... 70 Figure 3-4 Structure of employees working less or equal to 75% (<= 31.5 hours per
week) ... 71 Figure 3-5 Effective distribution of part-timers and full-timers within the occupational
categories in the private sector ... 73 Figure 3-6 Effective distribution of part-timers and full-timers within the hierarchical
categories in the public sector ... 74 Figure 5-1 Hypothetical Scatter Plot – Dual Market Theory ... 141 Figure 6-1 Pareto’s contract curve, Edgeworth-Bowley Box ... 160
Abbreviations
BASS: Office for Labour and Social Political Studies CO: Code of Obligations
CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility
IFC: International Finance Corporation Group ILO: International Labour Organization JOBSTAT: The Statistics of Employment
KOF: Office for Business Cycle Researches LT: Federal Labour Statute
OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OLS: Ordinary Least Squares
OSPCA: The Statistics of the Employed Population
PTE: Part-time Employment as a Proportion of Total Employment SECO: State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
SESS: The Swiss Earnings Structure Survey SFSO: Swiss Federal Statistical Office SHP: Swiss Household Panel
SLFS: Swiss Labour Force Survey SLM: Segment Labour Market Theory WTA: Working Time Arrangement
Chapter 1
1. General introduction
1.1. Introduction and motivation
In recent labour market history, one of the most striking features has been the increase of non-standard employment arrangements. These types of arrangements refer to atypical and alternative employment arrangements which are often called flexible staffing arrangements. The utilization of these flexible labour arrangements has been, however, the source of much controversy in the last twenty years but nowadays it is becoming more and more common in the OECD countries, more specifically in Switzerland.
On the Swiss labour market, part-time work remains the most widespread employment schedule among flexible standard arrangements: out of the overall active population, one employee out of three works part-time and more than half of all women are part-timers.
Female part-time workers represent 57% of the active population which is far larger than the same proportion of male part-timers (13%). The progression of part-time activities among men and women has also been five times higher in the past years than the work progression for full-timers (SFS0, 2009). In international comparison, Switzerland ranks second just after the Netherlands in terms of the highest percentage of female part-time employees worldwide. When considering the overall amount of part-timers (including men and women employees), Switzerland ranks fourth worldwide after the Netherlands, Japan and Australia (ILO, 2009).
Although forms of involuntary part-time schedules still exist, part-time employment is becoming more and more a desirable work arrangement to conciliate private and professional obligations.
Despite the potential importance of part-time work in Switzerland, many statements about its impact are rather speculative. Most empirical works have so far been focused on part-time work as being one out of several explanatory variables in econometric models focused on the labour market. There are, however, very few studies in which part-time and full-time workers are differentiated into two samples and compared directly with each other.
This thesis attempts to present some economic angles of the impact of part-time work on hierarchical occupation, earnings disparities, as well as personal and social welfare. The models used in following economical research contain comparisons between large samples of part-time and full-time employees by using two reliable Swiss datasets.
Although following analysis is in no way a comprehensive study, we tried to cover fields of economic science such as vertical segregation, earnings disparities, labour market segmentation and, finally, social welfare.
1.2. Contribution and thesis overview
One of the central contributions of this thesis is the importance attributed to the status of part-time and full-time. By leaving the common tendency to take these characteristics as only one of several explanatory variables, part-time becomes a fundamental focus of analysis where two types of workers are compared: the first includes a group of part- timers working less or equal to 75% of a full-time schedule, and the second more than this percentage (the threshold of 75% being clearly explained in the following chapters).
This thesis is structured into five chapters1 with the main economic core in Chapters 3 to 5 where several econometric models are tested with large datasets of respondents such as the Swiss Earnings Structure Survey (SESS) and the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS), the first containing more than 1.3 million observations and the second approximately 48’000 respondents.
Chapter 2 aims at introducing the concept of flexible time arrangements by presenting their main characteristics and determinants. Several angles are highlighted such as the notion of core and periphery inside the companies, the descriptive situation of part-time employment worldwide and more specifically in Switzerland, some statistical differences in economic sectors and branches, several major supply and demand related factors of flexible time arrangements and, finally, some gender related aspects in relation with part- time employment.
Chapter 3 firstly presents an overview of available literature on vertical segregation. Our aim in this context is not to offer an exhaustive and lengthy description of the academic work in this field, but rather to briefly review some main topics related to the notion of vertical segregation. This overview is then followed by a descriptive analysis of the current position of part-time and full-time employees at several levels of hierarchical status on the Swiss labour market. By using the Duncan segregation index we try to present the current inequality in distribution of part-timers and full-timers along those vertical hierarchies. In a second stage, by using the Oaxaca decomposition, we attempt to
1 This thesis was preliminarily thought to be composed of four main papers but the interaction and relationship among those papers lead us finally to present the entire research in a more linear approach containing five chapters.
determine the percentage of unexplained part which characterizes part-time workers in comparison to their full-time counterparts.
In Chapter 4, we investigate the potential earning disparities due to the practice of a part- time activity instead of a full-employment schedule to also make a link with the results obtained in the third Chapter. Without directly correlating the results to the vertical occupations of our respondents, we try nevertheless to introduce several explanatory variables to explain the impact on salaries of part-time and full-time employment. We disaggregate first the types of part-time employment into eight categories to obtain more specific results with regard to the precise schedule of the respondents considered. In a second stage, samples of part-timers (working <=75%) are again compared with full- timers (working >75%) but with a focus on the specific types of earnings disparities. In other words, we try to determine in this final stage the explained and unexplained parts of the observed differences in earnings.
To better understand the reasons which could explain vertical segregation and earnings disparities, Chapter 5 tries to identify the existence or not of a segmented labour market for part-time workers. Some first general tools to analyze so-called segments are presented in an introductory section. Thus, our goal here is to allow the readers to become acquainted with different ways of analyzing labour market segmentation. We then choose to use the so-called switching models to investigate econometrically the existence of dual market segmentation. This identification process is made through the use of two endogenous switching models, the first with an a priori defined regime and the second with an unknown regime. Again, the samples used are separated into observations comprising two samples of full-timers and part-timers.
While considering the overall findings of Chapters 3 to 5, we do enter, in our last Chapter, into a more sociological reflection on new flexible time arrangements and partnership models such as job-sharing, top-sharing and project team rotations of part-time employees. The advantages and disadvantages of these labour models are discussed and a possible visualization of their impact is presented through the traditional Paretian social welfare model. This last Chapter endeavours at the same time to assess the potential overall welfare implications by the utilization of such new flextime arrangements and partnership models. A specific angle related to well-being theories in general is introduced, taking into account some theories in relation to the notions of capabilities and functioning. We also note in this context that the impact of such new types of flexible arrangements and partnership models seem to affect as well other components of society by increasing work satisfaction in general, reducing the need to fully outsource childcare,
decreasing cost aspects related to burn-out problems on the labour market, promoting the number of male part-timers, and finally inducing a progressive development toward a more equalitarian gender structure with regard to part-time employment.
Specific social economic measures and concrete instruments are in this chapter also suggested to facilitate the enforcement of those flexible time arrangements and new partnership models.
Chapter 2
2. Determinants and characteristics of non-standard work time arrangements
2.1. Introduction
The last decades have seen a tremendous trend towards non-standard forms of work, resulting in more part-time and temporary employment in advanced economies and more informal employment in developing countries.
The focus in this chapter is to present first a typology of non-standard employment arrangements, to describe the current statistical situation on the Swiss labour market compared to other European countries with a specific focus on gender aspects and, finally, to explain the main determinants of the existence of such new arrangements including some major supply and demand driven elements on the labour market.
Most data used in this study are taken from the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS)2, the Swiss Earnings Structure Survey (SESS), the Statistics of the employed population (OSPCA)3 and the employment statistics (JOBSTAT)4 which represent some of the main primary sources of statistical data in Switzerland.
The Swiss Earnings Structure Survey (SESS) is a representative and nation-wide survey conducted every two years by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO). It is an establishment survey, i.e. the questionnaires are filled out by personnel officers in each firm. Firms with 2 to 19 employees should report on all their employees, firms with 20 to 49 employees on 50% of their employees, and firms with more than 49 workers on 1/6th of their workforce. The questionnaire covers a number of topics such as payment, job characteristics, working time, tenure, firm size, and industry. The data include
2 The Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) is a nation-wide and representative phone survey conducted each year by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office since 1991. With telephone interviews lasting approximately 20 minutes, individuals are questioned on a number of topics related to the labour market. This survey is based on a sampling of roughly 48’000 households (previously 16’000, the sample was increased in 2001) selected at random from the telephone book. Since 2003, an additional sampling of 15’000 foreign households is selected from the Central Aliens Register. Those who take part in the survey are contacted five years in a row.
3 The Statistics of the employed population (OSPCA) is a statistic of synthesis based on the Swiss Labour Force Survey, the statistics of border employees and the central system of information of migration.
OSPCA provides data in terms of active persons employed on the labour market.
4 The Statistics of employment (JOBSTAT) is a representative sample survey of around 63’000 companies or entities of the secondary and tertiary sectors. JOBSTAT provides data in terms of employments available on the Swiss labour market.
information on private and public firms/entities. The sample size is very large (1.3 million respondents), thus making a detailed analysis of wage differentials, and the wage data come from establishment records which are not subject to recall errors and are extraordinarily reliable. However, this dataset does not contain any information on the existence of children in the household of the respondent. This lack of information represents a weakness which is nevertheless counterbalanced by the high degree of reliability of this dataset. This very large survey covers something like one quarter of the overall active population.
2.2. Typologies of non-standard working arrangements
As stated by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) report on gender equity and according to employers’ organizations, balancing efficiency with family needs and responsibilities of both men and women employees is becoming increasingly important for businesses, particularly as they operate in tight labour markets. Flexible working arrangements allow employers to retain skills critical for their operation while at the same time providing employees who would otherwise have to leave for family reasons with the opportunity to remain economically active (ILO, 2009).
The general concept of flexibility refers to the capacity to adapt to change in its genuine definition. The term flexibility is not new but its interpretation can raise confusion as there are differences in interpretation. By flexible working arrangements, we shall understand an employment relationship which is looser and can be terminated more easily. Flexible time arrangements are defined when timetable is made flexible. There are many ways of conceptualizing labour flexibility but our specific focus here is to differentiate two general kinds of non-standard working arrangements used more commonly in the literature on labour strategies: the numerical and functional flexibilities.
2.2.1. Numerical versus functional labour flexibility
By numerical flexibility, we understand the process through which firms react to changes in the demand for their products/services by adjusting the amount of labour they employ.
It is achieved through overtime, part-time work, variable working hours, fixed-term contracts or layoffs. In other words it means reducing costs by limiting workers’
involvement in the organization. Among the categories of work contracts related to numerical flexibility, part-time and fixed-term contracts are the most widespread practices and in some firms quite important. On-call work and temporary work are less used by many companies. Fixed-term contracts and temporary work contracts are
presumably more frequent among low-skilled (production) workers who are often paid according to volume and quality of output (Arvanitis, 2003).
Usually numerical flexibility maximizes business adaptability at the level of employment contracts by hiring workers on a temporary basis in order to adjust staffing levels.
By functional flexibility, we mean the process through which enterprises adjust to changes in the demand for their output by an internal reorganization of workplaces based on multi-skilling, multi-tasking, team-working and the involvement of workers in job design, innovation, technology and the organization of work. According to current theoretical approaches to workplace organization, functional flexibility is generated through the combined use of new information technologies and new forms of workplace organization, both of which require highly-skilled labour to be operational. Enhancing employees’ ability to perform a variety of jobs and participate in decision-making.
Functional flexibility involves high skill and collaborative approaches to work based on high quality labour input. In other words, firms are more functionally flexible to the extent that they can perform a wide variety of tasks with the labour that they have available. The idea of functional flexibility overlaps with the concept of high performance work organizations. High performing organizations represent a departure from hierarchical, top-down management and are characterized by high degrees of employee involvement in decision making, employee discretion and skills (Arvanitis, 2003). The notion of “high performing” organizations has been used to refer to workplaces adopting a wide variety of practices, including just-in-time inventory practices, job expansion and rotation, technologically sophisticated work such as the use of computers, and the utilization of team production such as quality circles and self- directed work team (see also the concepts of job-sharing and top-sharing partnership models mentioned under §6.2.1 and §6.2.2).
In general functional flexibility maximizes business adaptability at the level of organizational arrangements – by redesigning production and decision-making processes.
Compared to the notion of numerical flexibility, functional flexibility is more difficult to quantify as it touches upon a more qualitative form of flexibilization of labour units.
Functional flexibility can however be measured also in part through the percentage of people who do exercise a profession different from the one they learnt initially. An important part of functional workers are nevertheless also those employees who inside the same company are assigned from one division to the other for specific projects which are time limited. Companies which have a flatter hierarchy structure are those which tend to favour more such transversal functional flexibility.
Table 2-1 Examples of organizational flexibilities
Examples of numerical flexibility Examples of functional flexibility
• Part-time work
• Fixed-term contracts
• Work on call
• Temporary work (personnel temporarily hired from other firms)
• Working time flexible within a month
• Working time flexible within a year
• Job rotation combined with part-time work
• Team-work between sections
• Job-sharing and top-sharing partnership models
• Change of the number of managerial levels
• Overall shift of competences
• New organizational practices
• Occupational flexibility (internal personnel moves)
• Autonomy and decentralized decision making process of employees.
Source: Arvanitis, 2003.
Personal suggestions on job-sharing and top-sharing allocations were added to this table.
Those specific notions of numerical and functional flexibilities mentioned above are taken mostly from the entrepreneurial perspective and business economic literature. From a more economic angle, they can be presented under a dual segmentalist approach as reflected in Chapter 5. It is of interest to mention already at this stage that functional flexibilities seem to belong more to the primary segment and numerical flexibilities to the secondary segment (see § 3.2.2.).
2.2.2. Current specific typologies
The International Labour Organization (ILO, 2003) presents some typology of non- standard employment arrangements. Out of this structure, let us summarize and define the most relevant working time arrangements (WTAs) and non-standard employment arrangements used with a direct focus on the labour situation which prevail in Switzerland.
Annual hour contracts
Annual hour contracts set out a target number of hours to be worked during a year. Firms typically retain the option to require workers to supply more or less hours than this target, depending on the state of demand. However, this flexibility is limited to a precise band by a maximum annual hour agreement. Annual hour contracts are very common in manufacturing industry, especially where continuous processes or seasonal peaks are involved (OECD, 2005).
On-call work or zero-hour contracts
Zero-hour contracts imply that employees are not allocated fixed hours in advance of the actual work episodes. The workers can be called upon to work whatever hours the employer requires. These contracts clearly are unlikely to attract good quality workers unless wage compensation is high. Usually, the use of on-call workers depends entirely on demand factors (demand fluctuations, labour shortage or emergency situation such as in health care) (OECD, 2005).
Both annual hour contracts and zero-hour contracts are designed to provide employers with greater flexibility in the arrangement of working time. These can be viewed as occupying the extreme end of a spectrum of flexible work arrangements that are observed in industrialized countries.
Statistics on on-call work are difficult to obtain as on-call work is often not subject to a contract. A study on the Swiss labour market mandated by SECO showed that 3.8% of the active population (around 152’000 individuals) work under precarious conditions such as work on-call, telework without contractual basis, interim missions and part-time work when the employee wishes more working hours and when the work contract stipulates an irregular working schedule. Two thirds of these are women, essentially married women with children, people with lower education or those looking for work.
Over half the people working on-call do not benefit from a guaranteed minimum of working hours. The places where this work is most frequent are those under-unionized like retail commerce, hotels, catering or health care (SECO 2003c).
Flexible hour contracts
The flexible hour contract (often called “flextime working” or “flexitime”) is arranged on a working week or month basis. Within each accounting period, the employee usually must be at work between certain “core hours”. The difference between core hours worked and contractual hours for the week or month is a follows: outside the core period, employees can choose freely or arrange with immediate supervisors to vary their start and finish times within a “bandwidth”. Bandwidth is defined as the amount of the time between the earliest allowable start time and the beginning of the core period and the period from the end of core hours to the latest permissible working time (OECD, 1999).
Part-time work
Part-time work can be defined as a working time arrangement below the legally accepted full-time schedule in a country. The percentage of part-time will vary respectively to the full-time agreed work time.
One main characteristics of part-time is that this type of flexible work can be supply- driven (voluntary decisions of employees) or demand-driven (non voluntary situation for employees where the situation depends primarily on demand factors such as the demand fluctuations or labour shortage). These specific supply and demand driven aspects are developed under §2.5.
On the Swiss market, part-time is defined as follow in the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS):
• an occupational level inferior to 90% of the common full-time activity (42 hours in average): this means that the breakeven between full-time and part-time works is situated at around 37 hours per week;
• an occupational level superior to one hour per week.
Fixed-term contracts
A fixed-term contract is a contract of employment which is due to end when a specified date is reached, a specified event does or does not happen or a specified task has been completed. The fixed-term employee regulations only apply to employees who have a fixed-term employment contract with the business where they work. They don’t cover agency workers (‘temps’) who have a contract with an outside company, apprentices, or students and other trainees on work-experience placements or temporary work schemes.
In general the use of fixed-term contracts depends primarily on demand factors (demand fluctuations or labour shortage) (OECD, 1999).
Outsourcing and contracting-in are two forms of employments regulated as fixed-term contracts:
• Contracting-out is most frequent in firms with medium and high numerical flexibility. It means the use by employers of workers outside their own workforce to perform tasks previously performed by the employers' own employees.
Contracting-out seems also to be growing in importance;
• Contracting-in relationships too are emerging and becoming part of the way that corporations operate. Firms are sometimes going so far as to "rent" senior executives and even CEO's, putting them on fixed-term contracts. Contracting-in relationships can give organizations a ready flow of knowledge with low fixed costs, thus giving them the fluid assets that provide flexible capabilities (Sherer, 1996).
Temporary work
Several industries refer to a temporary position in different ways. In general terms, a temporary employee is someone who works for a company on a non-fixed term basis.
The employee's salary is usually calculated on an hourly or daily rate and is paid through a payroll. No notice period is required to terminate temporary employment by either party.
Shift work
Shift work is a regular work schedule during which an enterprise is operational or provides services beyond normal working hours. It is a work organization under which different groups or crews of workers succeed each other at the same work site to perform the same operations. The employer might have latitude to change the pattern of work schedule and most frequently this would be done on a rotational basis (OECD, 1999).
Overtime and night work
Overtime can be defined as a working time arrangement beyond the legally agreed weekly arrangement of 42 hours per week. In Switzerland, night work is considered to be from 11pm to 6am.
Telework or homework
There is no agreed definition of telework. According to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, telework covers work performed under the following conditions: a) the place of work must be other than the normal workplace of the employer; b) work necessitates the use of telecommunications (computer, fax, telephone, Internet). Telework is thus defined functionally.
Based on this broad definition, some authors have distinguished five main categories of telework: i) multi-site telework, i.e. work partly based in the office and partly at home; ii) telehome work, i.e. work from home and carried out for a single employer; (iii) freelance work, i.e. work from home and carried out, on a freelance basis, for different employers;
(iv) mobile telework, i.e. work done in different sites using portable equipment to keep in touch with the employer; and (v) relocated back-officers which perform work at distance on the employer’s premises (OECD, 2001).
In Switzerland, a homework contract is characterized by the fact that work for the employer is performed by the worker at home or at a location of his/her choice (Art. 351 CO). The worker has the obligation to deliver the product of his/her work within a set timeframe. If the employment relationship is continuous in nature, wages are paid
periodically. Otherwise, payment is effected upon delivery of the product of the work.
(Art. 353a.1 CO).
2.2.3. Notion of flexibility under the current Swiss labour legislation
Internationally compared, Switzerland remains one of the most liberal market oriented economy where labour regulations are not strongly restrictive. Compared with other OECD countries, Switzerland takes a position with respect to the degree of restriction of its legislation near to the top countries being somewhat more restrictive than the USA and the UK, but by far more flexible than the Netherlands, Finland, Greece and Ireland (OECD, 2004).
Sources of labour law
The main source of labour law is federal legislation. In addition, federal ordinances, collective agreements and standard contracts play a key role. Nevertheless, Swiss labour law is not codified. A distinction can be drawn between private labour law, whose provisions pertain to the employment contract, public labour law, which imposes minimal standards for worker protection, and collective labour law.
The employment contract is governed by Art. 319-362 of the Code of Obligations (CO), which became effective in 1911. Employment contract law was extensively reviewed in 1971. As for the provisions of individual labour law stemming from public law, the Federal Labour Statute of 13 March 1964 (LT) is the most important law5.
There is currently no legislation on part-time work in Switzerland. Only Art.319 of the Code of obligation, al.2 contains some provision on part-time activity: “Is also considered as an individual working contract, a contract through which a worker is committed to work regularly for an employee on a hour, half a day or day basis (part-time work).”
5Alongside that law, there are the following main ones:
• Work in transport and communication enterprises: Federal Statute of 8 October 1971 on work in public transport enterprises (Working Hours Statute, LDT); Federal Statute of 23 September 1953 on maritime navigation under the Swiss flag;
• Homework: Federal Statute of 20 March 1981 on homework (Homework Statute, LtrD);
• Training: Federal Statute of 19 April 1978 vocational training (LFPr);
• Others: Federal Statute of 6 October 1989 on the employment service and the hiring of services (LSE); Federal Statute of 24 March 1995 on equality between men and women (Equality Statute, LEg).
Legal hours of work
The maximum weekly number of working hours is 45 for workers engaged by industrial enterprises and for employees, whilst it is 50 hours for all other workers (Art. 9 LT).
Nevertheless, under certain conditions, this maximum may be extended by four hours at most, either with compensation within a set timeframe or - in exceptional cases - without compensation. Workers may perform night work only if certain conditions are met (Art.
10 LT).
In most branches of activity, working hours are set by collective agreements, and range between 40 and 42 hours weekly. There are branches, however, where the social partners have not bargained. The result is that in these branches, hours of work clearly exceed the norm. In various sectors, an annual number of working hours has been introduced so as to allow employers more flexibility.
No minimum wages
Swiss lawmakers have set no minimum wage. On the contrary, wages are very often set by collective agreements and standard employment contracts. Nevertheless, the wages thus set are no more than minimum wages from which the parties to an employment contract may depart, to the benefit of the worker (Art. 357d.2 CO). Remuneration must be paid at the end of each month, except where the collective agreement or standard contract provides otherwise.
Workers’ unions
Workers' unions play a meaningful role in Switzerland's economic, social and political lives. Apart from the negotiation and conclusion of collective agreements, their task also encompasses participation in law-making through consultation and the pursuit of workers' interests before the courts. One-fifth of Switzerland's workers are officially members of a workers' union but this percentage doesn’t measure the entire impact of syndicalism on the economic structure as collective union conventions extend their rights to entire sectors of the economy without taking specifically into consideration the specific percentage of people unionized in these sectors.
Table 2-2 Relevant elements of the Swiss labour market legislation
2010 Maximum weekly work time
Blue collar workers of manufacturing enterprises; white-collar workers; sales personnel in large firms in retail trade
All other categories
45 hours 50 hours
Night work time 11pm to 6am
Overwork time (hours per year)
Blue collar workers of manufacturing enterprises; white-collar workers; sales personnel in large firms in retail trade
All other categories
170 hours 140 hours Fixed term contracts
Purpose of the contract Maximum cumulated duration
No limit No limit Private temporary work agencies
Types of work for which WTA (Working Time Arrangement), employment is legal
Maximum cumulated duration
No limit No limit Dismissal
Trial period before eligibility arises Notice period
In the first year
Between two and nine years After ten years or more
3 months 1 month 2 months 3 months Retirement age
Women Men
65 65 Source: Current information available at SECO, 2010.
2.3. Flexible working arrangements explained by the core-
periphery model
Considered from a more theoretical approach, the trend towards externalization for most large enterprises in the 70s took firstly place to reduce costs. The number of workers affected and the number of firms concerned increased systematically and following tendencies were observed:
• An externalization of place or a trend toward moving workers out of a central facility. These arrangements were referred to as “homework”, “flexiplace” or for workers using computers to “telecommuting”;
• An externalization of administrative control where firms were removing from their own administrative control, either of hiring temporary or contract workers who remain on another’s payroll while under the direction of the firm, or else by simply contracting out all together tasks that need to be done;
• An externalization by reducing the duration of employment. The typical examples of a reduction of the duration of employment was the increased introduction of part-time work schedule, fixed or limited work contract.
(Kalleberg 2000b and 2001; Harrison, 1994).
2.3.1. Towards a core-periphery structure
During the 1980s, a new paradigm emerged in the labour market and organizational literature to analyze current trends in organizational forms and employment relations.
Inspired by the best practices of Japanese firms, as well as the most successful American and European firms, this approach explained how the bureaucratic employment system that came to dominate the organizational landscape during the post-World War II period was definitively leaving the room for creating a new employment system based on strong mutual commitment between employers and employees (Kalleberg, 2001).
In response to increased economical and social complexity, the commitment system replaced the former bureaucratic system for the core competencies of the organization, but in response to increased environmental instability, professional and traditional systems developed to manage competencies that are peripheral to the organization. A core-periphery structure slowly appeared in most medium and large companies.
The theoretical notion of this structure has often been understood in terms of Atkinson’s core-periphery model of the “flexible firm” (Atkinson, 1984) or dual workforce model. This model offered managers and government policy-makers a framework for identifying the main practices on which they should focus in order to obtain both functional and numerical flexibility mentioned previously. It suggested that they seek to establish long-term employment relations with part of their
workforces (the “core”, regular, permanent workers who are highly trained, skilled and committed to the organization, attributes that are thought to be needed for functional flexibility) while simultaneously externalizing other activities and/or persons by means of transactional contracts. Segmenting the organization’s workforce into fixed and variable components should achieve costs effectiveness, as the numerically flexible, non-standard, peripheral workers are used to buffer or protect the regular, “core” labour force from fluctuations in demand, thereby avoiding the morale problems engendered by laying off regular employees and the disequilibria (and illegalities in some countries) associated with treating regular workers differently (Atkinson and Meager, 1986).
Figure 2-1 The core-periphery model
Inu
Core Group Primary Labour Market
Functional Flexibility
First Peripheral Group Secondary Labour Market
Numerical Flexibility
Second peripheral group Short term
contracts
Public subsidy trainees
Delayed recruitment
Job sharing
Part time
Increased Outsourcing
Agency temporary Subcontracting
Source: Atkinson J., 1984.
But Atkinson’s core-periphery model seemed to oversimplify the dynamics of the real world and criticism of the core-periphery model was found later on in several analyses:
Osterman’s works (Osterman, 1988) showed that problems of worker dislocation and internal labour market evolution were linked. This linkage emerged because the problem of dislocation and market adjustments was exacerbated by internal labour market structures (i.e., hiring and promotion patterns), because employee fear of the
consequences of dislocation made in internal labour market patterns, and because the firm believed that the cost of providing employment security might be too high. These connections were so important that firms would limit the size of their core workforce and resort to peripheral workers only as a buffering mechanism.
Smith (1994) provided an empirical illustration of how organizations integrate regular and non-standard workers. She showed that functional and numerical flexibility could exist in the same organization along a continuum, in which permanent workers in functionally flexible jobs often work with temporary workers in separate, dual sectors as assumed by the core-periphery model. Tsui et al (1995) sought to demonstrate when organizations were likely to use functional as opposed to numerical flexibility strategies. They distinguished between employment relations characterized by functional flexibility (which they call “organization-focused”) and relationships that provided numerical flexibility (which they define as “job focused”). They noted that most organizations were likely to use both job- and organization- focused employment relations simultaneously, though the proportions of each type that were used vary. In other words, within one organization, different jobs may be more suitable to one approach than another. The job-sharing partnership model presented in
§6.2.1 show also that in this context within the same company both flexibilities can be taken into account.
Sherer (1996) identified a variety of labour utilization strategies that differ in the degree to which workers are internal to the organization: a) partnership relationships, in which labour is attached to the firm via voice in decision-making; b) employment relationships, in which labour is inside the firm to some degree; and c) contracting relationships, in which labour is outside the organization. Each of these types of work arrangements involves distinct forms of control and financial arrangements between employers and employees. Firms may be able to obtain both functional and numerical flexibility by combining these three types of work arrangements in various ways by using employment relationships for some jobs, partnership arrangements for others and contracting-in relations for still others.
Harrison (1994) distinguishes forms of governance along a dimension capturing the relationship between the firms within the core of a system and the ring, or periphery, of that system. In his view, a rough typology of governance structure could include the case in which a system is essentially all ring and no core. That is, there is no enduring lead firm, or there is a rotating leader, as in systems that link firms together on a project-by-project basis.
2.3.2. Market segmentation and dual workforce
As Kalleberg (2000b) pointed out, to view core and peripheral workers as occupying positions in separate parts of the organization is to neglect today to consider ways in which these groups of workers may work together within the same departments and may even perform the same jobs within an organization. In his work, Kalleberg develops two general theoretical perspectives which describe how organizations combine functional and numerical flexibility. The first focuses on how organizations integrate these two forms of flexibility internally by different human resource portfolios or mixes of labour utilization systems. The second shows how organizations can achieve both numerical and functional flexibility via their external relations with other organizations.
Internal reorganization of labour
Some informal theories on human resource portfolio argue that firms are likely to use temporaries to protect and retain regular core employees only under certain conditions: it is a strategy used to control costs of workforce size adjustment mainly by organizations facing potentially layoffs arising from product market fluctuations (e.g. seasonality, short product circles, and special projects). The main reasons to retain core employees are related to their know-how capacity and to the high prices a company would pay to recruit and train the peripheral workers. An analogy can be made here to Lindbeck and Snower’s theory on involuntary unemployment as the consequence of the “insider-outsider dilemma”: involuntary unemployment is in this context presented as a condition which the “insiders” (the currently employed workers) impose on the “outsiders” (the currently unemployed workers). The insiders set their wages above the minimal level at which the outsiders would be willing to work, but the employers have no incentive to fire as the costs of firing and hiring are quite substantial (costs of advertising, screening and training). Consequently, the insiders drive the wage above the level at which the outsiders would be willing to work, but the firm has no incentive (up to a point) to hire the outsiders. As a result, there is involuntary unemployment (Lindbeck and Snower, 1984).
In the debate on the core-periphery model, the mix between both types of employees (the core and peripheral employees) is also related to the economic situation prevailing for the company and to the uncertainty of the economic branch in which the company is active. In time of extreme slow-downs, core workers can also be affected and the periphery could then not buffer and protect the core as downsizing can then also affect the core of the company. If the prices of keeping the core become too high, there is no incentive for a company to protect and keep their core employees anymore.
External reorganization of labour
An alternative, but not mutually exclusive, elaboration of the core-periphery model sees organization as combining functional and numerical flexibility by forming external relations with other organizations rather than by adopting internally different labour utilization strategies. Network organizations are illustrated by strategic alliances, joint ventures and partnerships, and subcontracting. Those networks among organizations are often an attempt by employers to reduce their resource dependencies and uncertainty (associated with skill shortages, for example) and to respond to change in competition, technology and environment Like the use of internal human resource portfolios, the creation of networks among organizations is related to cost reductions such as the reduction of resource dependencies and uncertainty (associated with skill shortages for example) and to respond to changes in competition, technology and unexpected economic turbulences (Kalleberg, 2001). The costs and benefits are similar to those generally observed through the impact of strategic alliances, joint ventures or other partnerships.
As Hachen (2004) explains, the dual workforce model (or as referred to the core- periphery model) is evident across firms of different sizes, in different sectors, and with different types of markets. In direct relation with these observations on core and periphery structures inside a company, Chapter 5 of this thesis presents ways of determining the possible dual market segmentation (primary and secondary segments, see definitions under §5.2.1) on the Swiss labour market through an econometric analysis (two types of switching models tested with a large dataset).
In most industrialized countries there seems to prevail a tendency where companies are more concentrated on the core while outsourcing the periphery to decrease costs and difficulties related to human resources management. This tendency seems also to prevail on the Swiss market where outsourcing of the periphery remains a dynamic form of management to better respond to market driven aspects such as economic slowdowns or lack of specific expertise at the core. But outsourcing can nevertheless also induce new costs for the core company such as new costs of information transfer towards external consultants of internal elements specific to the core dynamic of a company. Entrepreneurial culture is sometimes also difficult to be understood by externals and can raise new difficulties in the daily work management of companies.
Regarding the existence of part-time schedules inside a company, one can observe some forms of part-time employment in the core and at the periphery. The core- periphery model presented in Figure 2-1 can nevertheless be structured differently while considering specific branches or companies. Part-time employment can be found for example in certain branches more at the periphery than at the core and vice versa. The same prevails for job-sharing which could also be applied at the core of a
company to respond to specific needs and wishes of employees and employers as presented in Chapter 6. This form of job-sharing corresponds then more to a functional form of part-time employment (job-sharing at an executive level or, even top-sharing at a higher level of the hierarchical ladder) where employees have a longer experience and can be easily moved inside specific divisions of companies.
2.4. Fact and numbers
Statistically observed, the share of part-time employment as a proportion of total employment (PTE) has increased over the last 20 years in all industrialized countries.
Worldwide, the highest rate of PTE is to be found in the Netherlands, where around 40% of all employees are on part-time contracts, followed by Japan, Australia and Switzerland (ILO 2009). With regards to female part-time employees taken separately, Switzerland ranks second worldwide just after the Netherlands. The lower amount of male part-time workers in Switzerland compared to the ones in the Netherlands, Japan, and Australia explains this difference. The amount of male part-timers in these countries is almost three times higher than in Switzerland.
2.4.1. Part-time employment in Switzerland and the EU
While analysing the specific situation in Europe, we observe that the percentage of part-time workers among both cohorts (25-54 years) and (55-64 years) is not only very high in certain countries like the Netherlands and Switzerland, but its progression has also been positive for the last decade. Today, in Switzerland, one third of the entire active population works under a part-time schedule (SFOS 2009).
The Swiss labour market also includes more than half of the female population working under a part-time schedule of activity. As shown in Table 2-3, this amount is twice as high as the average of all EU/EFTA countries. Regarding the statistical situation of male part-time workers, the Swiss labour market shows no great difference with the general trend in Europe which accounts for less than 10% of male part-timers. One specific feature of Switzerland, however, is to note that in a European comparison, the difference between male and female part-timers remains the highest. There is a 44% difference in Switzerland between female and male part- timers compared to a 20% difference in average among all other European countries (SFSO 2009).
Concerning male part-time employees, the situation in the Netherlands is clearly different and shows that men work part-time much more frequently than do male employees in Switzerland. As examined by Delsen (1998) in the case of the Netherlands, although part-time employment still remains a female phenomenon concentrated in lower functions within the service sector, recent developments point
