Answer to Question #276208 in Management for Shelley

Question

Discuss the result or the outcome of the research as depicted in the case study “Converging or Diverging? A Comparative Analysis of Trends in Contingent Employment Practice in Europe over a Decade”.

600 words

Answer 1

Since 1990, unemployment in the Netherlands has fallen considerably (see Table 1) and this has been explained largely by the rise in contingent employment contracts, particularly part-time employment. The female participation rate is high, and the percentage of men taking up part-time jobs is the highest of the five countries studied (OECD, 2003). Part-time employment in the Netherlands is an important mechanism for allowing parents to balance family and work commitments, and as a result, there is a high demand for such types of contracts and the incidence of involuntary part-time employment is low (OECD, 2002). Similarly, in Sweden part-time

work is strongly supported through legislation. Part-timers have a high degree of unionisation,

tend to work more than 20 h, reflecting their right to reduce their daily hours from 8 to 6, in contrast to other countries such as the UK, Spain and Germany, where the hours worked per week by the majority of part-timers are less than 20 (Eurostat, 1996). The proportion of men undertaking part-time work is higher than in Germany, Spain and, until 1999, the UK (OECD, 2003). In short, there is a greater commonality between the Netherlands and Sweden when compared with Germany, Spain and the UK with regard to the role of women in the labour market, the gendering of work, and the regulatory support surrounding the use of part-time contracts. In contrast, the pattern of women’s participation in the labour market in Germany and the UK share many similarities (Cousins, 1999). Women in both countries tend to take up part-time jobs following the birth of a child. Part-timers are cheaper to employ because those working under a certain hours threshold are not entitled to sickness benefits and pensions in Germany (Cousins, 1999), and in the UK employers do not pay National Insurance contributions (Marullo, 1995). Overall, it could be argued that part-time contracts in the UK and Germany are thus more favourable to the employer than to the employee compared with those in Sweden and the Netherlands, hence restricting demand. Therefore, we would expect Germany and the UK to diverge from Sweden and the Netherlands in their use of part-time employment.