Atypical opinion on part-time employment

Abstract

Part-time employment is the most widely known and applied element of the so called atypical forms of employment. Both public opinion and the experts think that it contributes to a better use of labour force resources and so the improvement of productivity. In addition, it supports the harmonization of work and private life. However, despite its positive recognition and popularity, its share in employment tendencies is only slightly increasing, and surprisingly, it even declined during the boom preceding the Covid pandemic. The gap between the rich and poor member countries of the European Union has remained the same during the latest decade in this respect. One reason for all this might be that its economic and social impacts are more contradictious than they seem to be at first glance. The article briefly refers to the aspects of a more sophisticated socio-political evaluation of part-time employment, and by introducing some statistical data of the period between the financial crisis in 2008-2009 and the recession having evolved as a result of the pandemic, it seeks to contribute to a more realistic evaluation of the economic impacts of this form of employment. This more realistic approach may also serve as an indirect input to a more sophisticated qualification of other types of atypical employment.