The amount of part-time employees grows faster among women

Since Estonia became independent, working part-time has become more and more widespread among female as well as male employees. In 1989, less than 2% of men and over 4% of women were working part-time. By 2006, women had established a lead of 7 percentage points.

Employees working part-time by gender, 1989–2006

Although working part-time enables to reconcile better work and family life, it also means greater instability and smaller pay. Since women are more inclined to work part-time, their pay is lower than that of men. In 2006, the women’s average monthly net income from wage labour accounted for 69% of men’s income. Among full-time employees, the ratio was 71%, respectively. The gender differences were smaller among part-time employees — the average income earned by women was 94% of men’s income.

The part-time work is more common among young and older women and men. 8% of men and one fifth of women aged 15–24 were working part-time in 2006. Among employees aged 50–74, 6% of men and 15% of women had a part-time job. A lot of young people cannot work full-time because of their studies; young women are also related to raising children. Older people, however, are often having jobs besides their pension.

In spite of the negative aspects that are related to part-time work, it expands substantially the opportunities related to working and simplifies returning to work life if family circumstances allow it. Although the proportion of part-time work has significantly grown during the past decades, it is still quite unpopular among Estonian women compared to old European Union countries, where one third of women are working part-time.

A part-time employee is an employed person whose usual working time per week is less than 35 hours, except the occupations where a shortened working time is prescribed by the law. The estimates are based on the data of the Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics Estonia since 1995. Every quarter about 5,000 persons participate in the survey. The Labour Force Survey is carried out by statistical organisations in all European Union Member States on the basis of harmonised methodology.