Why do Europeans work part-time? A cross-country Panel Analysis

Hielke Buddelmeyer (), Gilles Mourre () and Melanie Ward ()
Additional contact information
Hielke Buddelmeyer: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and IZA, Contact address: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Alan Gilbert Building, 7th fl oor, 161 Barry Street, Carlton 3053 VIC, Australia., http://www.unimelb.edu.au/
Gilles Mourre: Corresponding author: European Commission, DG Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN) and Free University of Brussels (ULB, SBS, CEB), Contact address: BU-1 4/168, European Commission, Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium., http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/index_en.htm
Melanie Ward: European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany., http://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html

No 872, Working Paper Series from European Central Bank

Abstract: This empirical paper seeks to determine the relative contribution of the business cycle and structural factors to the development of part-time employment in the EU-15 countries over the 1980s and 1990s, exploiting a panel of EU countries. In the short-run, the business cycle is found to exert a short-term negative effect on part-time employment developments, which is consistent with firms utilising part-time work to adjust their labour force to changing economic conditions. Institutions and other structural factors such as changes in legislation affecting part-time employment are found to be key drivers of the rate of part-time employment, significant in the longer run. Overall, although the role of individual factors differs in the 1980s and 1990s, a contribution analysis considering the most significant factors shows that the main structural and institutional variables generally well explain the development in the part-time employment rate in the EU countries, which is not the case in the United States. JEL Classification: J21, J22, J28, J68.

Keywords: Part-time employment; working time organisation; the business cycle; labour supply; labour market policies; institutions; regulations. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-eec, nep-lab and nep-opm
Date: 2008-02
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