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Why so many Dutch people work part time

Dubious

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May 11th 2015, 23:50 BY S.N.



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THE Dutch are generally a pretty content bunch. The Netherlands consistently ranks as one of the best places in the world to live. Dutch kids are among the happiest in the world, according to Unicef. Some attribute their high quality of life and general good nature to a rather laid-back approach to work: more than half of the Dutch working population works part time, a far greater share than in any other rich-world country. On average only a fifth of the working-age population in EU member states holds a part-time job (8.7% of men and 32.2% of women); in the Netherlands 26.8% of men and 76.6% of women work less than 36 hours a week (see chart). Why?

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Part of the reason is that Dutch women were relative latecomers to the labour market. Compared with other countries, few men had to leave to fight in the world wars of the 20th century, with the result that women did not labour in factories as they did in America and Britain. Thanks to the country's wealth, a dual income was often not a necessity for a comfortable life. And Dutch politics was dominated by Christian values until the 1980s: the focus was mainly on providing state aid (implicit subsidies in the fiscal system) so that women could stay at home with children.

This changed in the late 1980s, when the state realised that it would be a good idea to mobilise women into the job market. But the cultural conviction that families still needed mothers home for tea-time prevailed, and thus the state worked closely with employers to ensure that the new part-time jobs would enjoy similar legal positions to their full-time equivalents. This has, to an extent, been continued: in 2000 the right for women and men to ask for a job to be part-time was written into law. But Ronald Dekker, a labour economist at Tilburg University, thinks this law is a confirmation of existing practice and therefore largely symbolic, only necessary for certain “archaic industries”. Instead, he reckons the high prevalence of part-time jobs is largely down to the wide availability of good quality, well-paid “first tier” part-time jobs in the Netherlands: jobs often considered inferior in many other countries.

Whether part-time work is good for emancipation is questionable. Today, perhaps because part-time work is the norm, women in the Netherlands have a relatively high labour-force participation rate. However, the Netherlands’ record for getting women into top management roles is dire. The prevalence of part-time work seems to play a role: once you strip out part-timers, women make it into management roles nearly as often as men, according to the CBS (the main statistics agency in the Netherlands) although that doesn't include top management. The Dutch government has said that by next year 30% of executive board positions should be held by women, but that may prove excessively optimistic; the level is currently just 6%, according to Mijntje Luckerath, an academic at Tilburg University, who also blames old-fashioned selection processes. And not all part-timers are pleased with their set up: before the financial crisis, fewer than 10% of Dutch part-timers wished they were employed full time; this has risen to nearly 25%. This percentage is still much lower than in other EU countries, but it is a striking rise.


http://www.economist.com/blogs/econ.../fb/wl/ee/st/whysomanydutchpeopleworkparttime
 
Women I would assume. The Netherlands has mostly avoided the militant feminism plaguing the rest of Europe.
 
Speaking as a parent of a household with 2 working persons...

For our Household, my wife NOT working part-time but full-time would be prohibitively expensive as far as cost of daycare is concerned, and there is a relatively low level of provision of childcare services esp. for younger childern.

Also, while we may work part time more, work is not 'layed back': we have a very high labor productivity per hour worked.
Eurostat - Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table

Screen%20Shot%202013-05-28%20at%206.40.52%20PM.png

How Did Work-Life Balance in the U.S. Get So Awful? - The Atlantic

working_hours_picture_1_2.png

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/09/working-hours

GDP_capita_per_hour_2013.png

Socio-economic maps of Europe - Europe Guide - Eupedia
 
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UK is one the heaven of corporate culture where working class men and women work like robots 40+hours a week just to pay housing rents, income tax, gas and electricity bills, children get no quality time with parents, you can ditch them in childcare(oh I forgot childcare costs are expensive), rest of the money is spent raising children+food. What ever little they have left is saved for a cheap holiday in Spain every 5 years.
 
UK is one the heaven of corporate culture where working class men and women work like robots 40+hours a week just to pay housing rents, income tax, gas and electricity bills, children get no quality time with parents, you can ditch them in childcare(oh I forgot childcare costs are expensive), rest of the money is spent raising children+food. What ever little they have left is saved for a cheap holiday in Spain every 5 years.
You havent seen America their maternity leave as compared to Scandinavia is non existent :unsure:

Speaking as a parent of a household with 2 working persons...

For our Household, my wife NOT working part-time but full-time would be prohibitively expensive as far as cost of daycare is concerned, and there is a relatively low level of provision of childcare services esp. for younger childern.

Also, while we may work part time more, work is not 'layed back': we have a very high labor productivity per hour worked.
Eurostat - Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table

Screen%20Shot%202013-05-28%20at%206.40.52%20PM.png

How Did Work-Life Balance in the U.S. Get So Awful? - The Atlantic

working_hours_picture_1_2.png

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/09/working-hours

GDP_capita_per_hour_2013.png

Socio-economic maps of Europe - Europe Guide - Eupedia
Thread is about Netherlands not America....
 
Yes, and my stats and remarks are about The Netherlands. So, your point is?
=2nd pix cant find which country it represents but my understanding was US since you claim it is Netherlands I believe you
 
UK is one the heaven of corporate culture where working class men and women work like robots 40+hours a week just to pay housing rents, income tax, gas and electricity bills, children get no quality time with parents, you can ditch them in childcare(oh I forgot childcare costs are expensive), rest of the money is spent raising children+food. What ever little they have left is saved for a cheap holiday in Spain every 5 years.

This is pretty much what I say when people question my lifestyle, im only 27 but people think its strange if you dont conform to whats expected, have kids, mortgage etc. I always tell them why should I live like you, so I can be constantly stressed out, scraping by with a few annoying kids all day for the end payoff of 2 weeks to the same holiday destination every year and if your lucky retiring at an age when your dick still works. I dont earn much myself but because I have nothing to tie my down im free, can afford to travel the world for a bit every time I fancy it, can go out where I want, meet women and not think about having to have kids with them etc. People are miserable and want you to feel miserable to.
 
UK is one the heaven of corporate culture where working class men and women work like robots 40+hours a week just to pay housing rents, income tax, gas and electricity bills, children get no quality time with parents, you can ditch them in childcare(oh I forgot childcare costs are expensive), rest of the money is spent raising children+food. What ever little they have left is saved for a cheap holiday in Spain every 5 years.

Ain't that the case everywhere ? :undecided:
 
UK is one the heaven of corporate culture where working class men and women work like robots 40+hours a week just to pay housing rents, income tax, gas and electricity bills, children get no quality time with parents, you can ditch them in childcare(oh I forgot childcare costs are expensive), rest of the money is spent raising children+food. What ever little they have left is saved for a cheap holiday in Spain every 5 years.
Netherlands is more expensive than UK with the latter providing higher salaries and cheaper costs for facilities(transport etc). But the Dutch spend very wisely and are usually very content with the money they earn.
 

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