Part-time and full-time employment - statistics

Data from September 2025

Planned article update: October 2026

Highlights

In 2024, 17.1% of employed people in the EU were part-timers.

The growth rate for part-time employment (+1.0%) exceeded that of full-time employment (+0.9%) again in 2024.

Almost one-third (31.7%) of employed women with children worked part-time in the EU in 2024, with highest shares in Austria (70.5%), the Netherlands (66.6%), and Germany (66.1%).

Trend in part-time employment, EU, 2014-2024

This article presents the latest statistics on part-time employment based on the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS). It provides information on trends in part-time employment and the profile of part-time workers by sex, age, level of education, and occupation. Other areas of focus include the presence of children in the household. The results are presented for the EU and its countries, while the figures and tables also include data for EFTA and candidate countries where available.

Main concept

Within the EU Labour Force Survey, information on part-time employment is collected solely for the main job of a working individual. The classification of the main job as full-time or part-time is determined by the respondent's perception of their typical working hours, resulting in a self-assessed employment type. A person in a part-time job is assumed to work fewer hours than a comparable full-time worker in the same occupation and organisation ('local unit'). For individuals who cannot compare their working hours because, for example, they work alone, the benchmark is the group of people working in the same occupation and industry within the same country.

In 2024, the reasons reported by part-time workers aged 25–64 for their working-time arrangements (source: Eurostat (dataset code lfsa_epgar)) varied notably between women and men. These reasons included

care of adults with disabilities or children (29.6% for women, 8.7% for men)
no full-time job found (17.1% for women, 25.7% for men)
other family reasons (6.8% for women, 2.5% for men)
own illness or disability (6.1% for women, 11.4% for men) and
education or training (3.3% for women, 9.6% for men)

The categories 'other reasons' (women 24.0%, men 27.0%) and 'other personal reasons' (women 13.1%, men 15.2%) showed roughly the same share for women and men.

Development of part-time employment

The share of part-time workers aged 20-64 remained broadly stable over the past decade, with a slight decline from 17.8% in 2015 to 17.1% in 2024 (see Figure 1). The share of men in part-time work has shown little variation, fluctuating within a narrow range of 7.5% to 7.7% throughout the period. Women have consistently represented a much higher proportion of part-time workers, though their share declined gradually from 29.7% in 2015 to 27.8% in 2024. Overall, the data indicate a stable pattern in part-time employment, with a persistent gender gap, as women continue to account for the majority of part-time workers.

Figure 1: Trend in part-time employment, EU, 2015-2024
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_pt_a)

The annual variations in part-time and full-time employment across the EU since 2015 are illustrated in Figure 2. Overall, both employment types showed predominantly positive growth across the period, except in 2018 and 2020. In 2018, part-time employment decreased marginally by -0.2%, while full-time employment still grew by +1.3%. A more notable change occurred in 2020, when part-time and full-time employment fell by -2.3% and -1.6%, respectively, reflecting the labour market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery followed in 2021 and 2022, with both categories returning to positive growth. Full-time employment recorded stronger increases of +1.7% in 2021 and +2.3% in 2022, compared with more moderate growth in part-time employment (+0.4% and +0.9%, respectively). In 2023, part-time employment rose sharply by +2.0%, surpassing full-time growth (+0.8%) for the first time in the decade. In 2024, both categories continued to expand, though at a slower pace, with part-time employment up by +1.0% and full-time employment by +0.9%.

Figure 2: Annual changes in employment type, EU, 2015-2024
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_pt_a) and (lfsi_emp_a)

Worker profile and countries

More part-time employment among people with low levels of education and young people in education

Part-time employment in the European Union is more prevalent among younger people in education, women, and those with lower education levels. For young people, over half of those still in education worked part-time in 2024 (see Figure 3).

Part-time employment is common among people aged 15-24. Regardless of educational status, 42.2% of women and 27.0% of men work part-time. Among those in education, these figures rise to 61.2% for women and 49.1% for men. Conversely, for those not in education, part-time employment decreases to 24.4% for women and 12.6% for men, indicating that educational commitments influence part-time work among young people.

In the 25-54 age group, most people work full-time. Nevertheless, a gender gap remains as 25.7% of women and only 6.3% of men work part-time. Educational attainment further affects part-time working; 36.8% of women with lower education levels work part-time compared to 7.9% of men. As education levels increase, part-time work declines, with 28.6% and 5.5% of women and men with a medium level of education, respectively. Furthermore, 21.0% of highly educated women and 6.5% of men work part-time. This suggests that higher education might be associated with higher full-time employment, particularly among women.

Part-time work is also notable among older workers, particularly women. In the 55-64 age group, 32.6% of women and 8.5% of men work part-time, a trend that holds across all education levels. For instance, 41.4% of women with a lower education work part-time versus 9.0% of men. Even among the highly educated, 24.2% of women and 8.8% of men work part-time.

Overall, education level influences particularly women's part-time employment, with a higher proportion of women with low levels of education working part-time compared to those with medium or high education. Men, however, show relatively uniform trend among people aged 25-64 and are less likely to work part-time than women across all age groups and educational levels.

Figure 3: Part-time employment by sex, age and level of education, EU, 2024
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_epgaed) and ad-hoc data extraction

In 2024, 17.1% of employed people in the European Union were working part-time. At the EU level, as well as in all EU countries except Romania and Bulgaria, women continued to be more likely to work part-time (27.8%) than men (7.7%). The highest shares of part-time workers were observed in the Netherlands (38.6%), Austria (30.7%), Germany (28.9%), Denmark (23.5%) and Belgium (23.2%), where more than 1 in 5 employed persons worked part-time. More than half of employed women in the Netherlands (60.5%) and Austria (51.1%) worked part-time, while in Germany (48.5%) and Belgium (37.3%) the share also remained substantial. By contrast, the lowest proportions of part-time employment were recorded in Bulgaria (1.5%), Romania (2.9%), Croatia (3.0%) and Slovakia (3.8%), where fewer than 4% of employed individuals worked part-time. In these countries, part-time work among women was also limited, with shares below 6%.

Figure 4: Part-time employment by sex and country, 2024
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_epgaed)

Part-time employment and children

Nearly one-third of employed women with children in the EU were working part-time in 2024

The breakdown of part-time employment as a share of total employment for men and women aged 25-54, with or without children, is shown in Figure 5. In 2024, around one-third (31.7%) of employed women aged 25-54 with children in the EU worked part-time, compared with 19.1% of employed women without children. Among men, the proportions were considerably lower, with 5.1% of those with children and 7.4% of those without children working part-time. The share of employed women with children working part-time was higher than that of women without children in nearly all EU countries, with the exceptions of Denmark, Finland and Greece.

The difference in the part-time employment rate between women and men with children was 26.6 percentage points (pp) in the EU in 2024. For people without children, the gap was smaller, amounting to 11.7 pp. In Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany, the share of employed women with children working part-time was exceptionally high, exceeding 65%, while in Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Romania, part-time employment among both men and women remained below 10%, regardless of the presence of children.

The share of men working part-time, whether or not they had children in their household, displayed less variation across EU countries than that of women. Among men with children, the share ranged from 1.2% in Croatia to 13.7% in the Netherlands, while among men without children it varied from 0.9% in Bulgaria to 17.5% in Denmark. This suggests that part-time employment among men remains relatively limited across most EU countries, while women, and especially women with children, continue to be far more likely to work part-time.

Figure 5: Part-time employment by presence of children, sex and country, 2024
Source: Eurostat (lfst_hhptety)

The relationship between the difference (in pp) in employment rate and the share of part-time employment for people with children against people without children is illustrated in Figure 6. The horizontal axis represents the difference in part-time employment share between people with children and those without children, while the vertical axis shows the corresponding difference in employment rates.

The employment rate for women with children in the EU was 75.4%, which is lower than the 80.2% employment rate for women without children, and represents a difference of -4.8 percentage points. Furthermore, the share of part-time work for women with children stands at 31.7%, which in turn to employment rate, is higher than the 19.1% for those without children, showing a difference of +12.6 percentage points. Highlighted below are the highest and lowest recorded figures in the European Union, reflecting the range of variation in these two indicators.

Slovenia (88.6%), Sweden (87.9%) and Croatia (85.3%) recorded the highest employment rates for women with children, while Italy (62.7%), Greece (66.0%) and Romania (64.5%) had the lowest.

Czechia displayed the largest employment rate gap (-16.3 pp), with women without children reaching 90.5% compared with 74.2% for those with children. In contrast, Denmark (+8.8 pp), Sweden (+8.7 pp), and Croatia (+5.4 pp) recorded the largest differences among the countries where employment rates for women with children were higher than for those without.

The highest shares of part-time work among women with children were recorded in Austria (70.5%), the Netherlands (66.6%), and Germany (66.1%), whereas the lowest were found in Bulgaria¹ (1.5%), Romania (2.4%), and Croatia (3.1%).

These statistics indicate that in most countries, the presence of children affects women’s employment rates and their tendency to work part-time. The countries around the origin (of the coordinate system in Figure 6) show the most balanced trends over the two indicators. In countries located near the vertical zero line, the employment rates of women with and without children differ only marginally, while the share of part-time work may still vary considerably, for example, in the Netherlands. Similarly, countries close to the horizontal zero (x-axis) show little difference in the share of part-time work between women with and without children, but might introduce differences in employment rates (y-axis). This is the case in Denmark and Finland, where women with children tend to have higher employment rates than those without, and in Romania and Cyprus, where the opposite is observed. Conversely, in Austria and Germany, women with children have lower employment rates and a higher share of part-time work compared with women without children. Closest to the women's EU average is Italy, where the employment rate difference was -4.3 pp (EU -4.8 pp) and the difference in the share of part-time workers was +11.5 pp (EU +12.6 pp).

Figure 6: Difference in employment rate and in share of part-time employment between people with and without children in the household by country, 2024
Source: Eurostat (lfst_hhptety) and (lfst_hheredty)

The differences in employment rates and the share of part-time employment in 2024 for men with children in the household, compared with men without children, are also presented in Figure 6. Men with children tend to experience positive employment rate differences compared to their childless counterparts, opposite to women with children in many countries. For example, countries like Czechia, Romania and Germany showed strong negative employment rate differences for women, but for men, the differences are positive.

Concerning men, having children in the household is associated with a higher employment rate in all countries and shows an approximately equal or lower share of part-time employment for men with children compared with those without, in all countries for which data are available.

The highest employment rates for men with children were recorded in Czechia (96.7%), Slovenia¹ (96.3%) and Malta¹ (96.1%).

The largest difference in employment rates between men with and without children was observed in Finland (+15.0 pp), Latvia (+14.4 pp), Denmark and Sweden (both +14.1 pp). Differences of more than +10 percentage points were also recorded in Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Croatia and Italy.

Part-time work among men with children remained limited in most EU countries. The highest shares were found in the Netherlands (13.7%), Germany (8.4%) and Belgium (8.2%). In all other countries, the proportion of part-time work among men with children stayed below 8%. The largest negative difference in part-time employment between men with and without children was observed in Denmark (-11.8 pp), followed by Austria and Finland (both -4.9 pp), and Sweden (-4.3 pp), indicating that men with children are less likely to work part-time compared with those without children.

The chart highlights a persistent gender divide in how parenthood or guardianship affects employment patterns across Europe. Men with children generally retain or increase their employment rates, and part-time work remains rare for them in contrast to women. This reflects the ongoing gender disparity where men often remain in full-time work or increase their participation after having children, while women may reduce their participation.

Impact of the level of education for part-timers by presence of children

The distinction between genders remains evident when looking at different levels of education

The share of part-time work for women with children was higher compared to women without children across all educational levels. For men, the situation is opposite. The share of part-time work for men with children were lower than the share for men without children despite the educational level examined. Figure 7 presents the share of part-time and full-time employment by sex, level of education and presence of children in the household among employed individuals aged 25-54. The share of women working part-time in the female employment was the highest for women with a low level of education and with children (40.7%), followed by women with a medium level of education and having children (35.6%) and women with a low level of education and without children (31.0%). By contrast, it was the lowest for women without children with a high level of education (14.6%).

Given the level of education, the difference between the share of part-time employment for employed women with and without children was the largest for women with a medium level of education (+14.4 pp). The corresponding gap for women with a high level of education was +12.0 pp, while for women with a low level of education the difference was +9.7 pp.

Due to the persistent disparity in part-time work between men and women, and the relatively stable trend in men’s part-time work, the gap (absolute difference in pp) between the share of part-time employment for men with and without children remained much smaller than that observed among women. For men with children, the share of part-time employment was lower by -2.2 pp among those with low education, by -1.5 pp among those with medium education, and by -2.0 pp among those with high education, compared with their counterparts without children.

Figure 7: Part-time employment by educational attainment level and presence of children, EU, 2024
Source: Eurostat LFS ad hoc extraction

Part-time employment by occupation

The share of part-time workers in total employment by sex and by main ISCO-08 occupational categories are introduced in Figure 8.

In 2024, almost half of employed women in elementary occupations (entailing simple and routine tasks and mainly requiring the use of hand-held tools and some physical effort) were working part-time (46.6%) compared with 15.8% of employed men in the same occupational group. More than one third of female workers were part-timers in service and sales occupations (34.0%) compared with 14.2% of employed men. These workers provide personal and protective services related to travel, housekeeping, catering, personal care, protection against fire and unlawful acts, or demonstrate and sell goods.

At the other end of the scale, fewer than 6.0% of employed persons worked part-time in craft and related trades (4.9%), managerial occupations (5.6%) and plant and machine operator and assembler occupations (5.7%). In these 3 categories, less than one fifth of women were working part-time – respectively 16.1%, 10.5%, and 11.9%. Overall, part-time employment remains more prevalent among women and in service-oriented and elementary occupations.

Figure 8: Part-time employment by sex and main occupational category, EU, 2024
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_epgais)

Temporary contracts and part-time employment

Part-time work more prevalent in temporary job

At the EU level, part-time work remains more common among those with temporary contracts than among those with permanent (indefinite) contracts. In 2024, 37.0% of women with temporary contract worked part-time, compared with 26.4% of women holding permanent contracts. The difference is also visible among men, where 19.9% of those with temporary contract worked part-time, compared with only 5.3% of men on indefinite contracts.

Figure 9: Part-time employment in temporary and non-temporary employment, by sex, EU, 2023
Source: Eurostat ad-hoc extraction

In conclusion, the higher proportion of part-time employment among women compared to men may reflect both personal preferences and external circumstances. Women continue to pursue part-time roles more frequently than men, often to balance work with family responsibilities – 29.6% of women cited "care of adults with disabilities or children" as their main reason for part-time work, compared with only 8.7% of men. Conversely, a larger share of men reported education or training (9.6% of men versus 3.3% of women) and own illness or disability (11.4% of men compared with 6.1% of women) as their primary motivations for working part-time. Most importantly, it should be underlined that 25.7% of men and 17.1% of women indicated that the lack of available full-time positions was the main reason for their part-time employment.

Source data for tables and graphs

Part-time and full-time employment: 2024 data and figures

Data sources

Methods and definitions

Source: The EU-LFS is the largest European household sample survey providing quarterly and annual results on labour participation of people aged 15 years and over as well as on persons outside the labour force. It covers residents in private households. Conscripts in military or community service are not included in the results.

The EU-LFS is an important source of information about the situation and trends in the national and EU labour markets. Each quarter around 1.2 million interviews are conducted throughout the participating countries to obtain statistical information for some 100 variables. Due to the diversity of information and the large sample size, the EU-LFS is also an important source for other European statistics like education statistics or regional statistics.

Reference period: Yearly results are obtained as averages of the four quarters in the year.

Coverage: The results from the EU-LFS currently cover all European Union countries, the EFTA countries Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, as well as the candidate countries Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye. For Cyprus, the survey covers only the areas of Cyprus controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.

European aggregates: EU and EU-27 refer to the sum of the 27 EU countries. If data are unavailable for a country, the calculation of the corresponding aggregates takes into account the data for the same country for the most recent period available. Such cases are indicated.

Country notes

The Netherlands collects EU-LFS data remains collected using a rolling reference week instead of a fixed reference week, i.e. interviewed persons are asked about the situation of the week before the interview rather than a pre-selected week.

Definitions and main concepts

The concepts and definitions used in the EU-LFS follow the resolutions of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) which is held every 5 years in Geneva, organized by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Some main employment characteristics, as defined by the EU Labour Force Survey, include:

employees defined as those who work for a public or private employer and who receive compensation in the form of wages, salaries, payment by results, or payment in kind; this category includes non-conscript members of the armed forces;
self-employed persons work in their own business, farm or professional practice. A self-employed person is considered to be working during the reference week if she/he meets one of the following criteria: works for the purpose of earning profit; spends time on the operation of a business; or is currently establishing a business;
the distinction between full-time and part-time work is generally based on the spontaneous response of respondents. The main exceptions are the Netherlands and Iceland where a 35 hours limit is applied, Sweden where a limit is applied to the self-employed, and Norway where people working between 32 and 36 hours are asked whether this is a full- or part-time position;
indicators for employed persons with a second job refer only to people with more than one job at the same time; people having changed job during the reference week are not counted as having two jobs;
an employee is considered as having a temporary job if employer and employee agree that the end of the job is determined by objective conditions, such as a specific date, the completion of an assignment, or the return of an employee who is being temporarily replaced. Typical cases include: people in seasonal employment; people engaged by an agency or employment exchange and hired out to a third party to perform a specific task (unless there is a written work contract of unlimited duration); people with specific training contracts.

Educational attainment refers to the highest level of education successfully completed.

Low level of education refers to ISCED levels 0-2 (less than primary, primary and lower secondary education),
Medium level refers to ISCED levels 3 and 4 (upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education)
High level refers to ISCED levels 5-8 (tertiary education).

Time series

Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 came into force on 1 January 2021 and induced a break in the EU-LFS time series for several EU countries. In order to monitor the evolution of employment and unemployment despite the break in the time series, EU countries assessed the impact of the break in their country and computed impact factors or break corrected data for a set of indicators. Break corrected data are published on the Eurostat website for the LFS main indicators.

Publication of results

Eurostat provides two sets of indicators linked to the annual employment rate, which serve different purposes and which in some cases differ from each other: 1) The EU-LFS main indicators, which contain seasonally adjusted series. They include the labour market headline indicators used e.g. in the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure Scoreboard or the European Statistical Monitor and are consequently used for monitoring policy. They only have a few breakdowns and normally refer to the age group 20-64 years. 2) The detailed results, which contain series that are not seasonally adjusted. They have a large number of breakdowns and can therefore be used for more detailed analysis. For France, only one data series is published. This series contains data for metropolitan France until the fourth quarter of 2013, and from 2014 on, also the French overseas departments.

Context

Employment statistics can be used for a number of different analyses, including macroeconomic (looking at labour as a production factor), productivity or competitiveness studies. They can also be used to study a range of social and behavioural aspects related to an individual's employment situation, such as the social integration of minorities, or employment as a source of household income.

Employment is both a structural indicator and a short-term indicator. As a structural indicator, it may shed light on the structure of labour markets and economic systems, as measured through the balance of labour supply and demand, or the quality of employment. As a short-term indicator, employment follows the business cycle; however, it has limits in this respect, as employment is often referred to as a lagging indicator.

The European Pillar of Social Rights was jointly signed by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on 17 November 2017. Employment and social policies are the main fields of interest of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which is about delivering new and more effective rights for citizens. It has 3 main categories: (1) Equal opportunities and access to the labour market, (2) Fair working conditions and (3) Social protection and inclusion.

In particular, today's more flexible working arrangements provide new job opportunities especially for the young but can potentially give rise to new precariousness and inequalities. Building a fairer Europe and strengthening its social dimension is a key priority for the Commission. The European Pillar of Social Rights is accompanied by a 'social scoreboard' which will monitor the implementation of the Pillar by tracking trends and performances across EU Member States in 12 areas and will feed into the European Semester of economic policy coordination.

The action plan presented by the European Commission in March 2021 provides guidance on the implementation of the European pillar of social rights, including in the areas of employment, skills and social protection. The action plan also sets three main targets to be achieved throughout the European Union by 2030:

an employment rate of at least 78% in the EU;
at least 60% of adults attending training courses every year;
a reduction of at least 15 million in the number of people at risk of social exclusion or poverty.

For more information, see commitment to implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights.

All EU countries have now identified and submitted national targets (final or preliminary) that are consistent with the overall EU framework and the shared ambition towards reaching the EU headline target by 2030.

Explore further

Database

Employment and unemployment (Labour Force Survey) (employ), see:

LFS main indicators (lfsi)

Employment and activity - LFS adjusted series (lfsi_emp)

Unemployment - LFS adjusted series (une)

Labour market transitions - LFS longitudinal data (lfsi_long)

LFS series - Detailed quarterly survey results (from 1998 onwards) (lfsq)

LFS series - Detailed annual survey results (lfsa)

LFS series - Specific topics (lfst)

LFS ad-hoc modules (lfso)

Thematic section

Employment and unemployment (Labour force survey)

Publications

Methodology

Publications

ESMS metadata files and EU-LFS methodology

Employment and unemployment (Labour Force Survey) (ESMS metadata file — employ_esms)
LFS main indicators (ESMS metadata file — lfsi_esms)
LFS series - detailed annual survey results (ESMS metadata file — lfsa_esms)
LFS series - detailed quarterly survey results (from 1998 onwards) (ESMS metadata file — lfsq_esms)
LFS regional series (ESMS metadata file — reg_lmk)
LFS ad-hoc modules (ESMS metadata file — lfso_esms)

External links

Selected datasets

Employment and unemployment (Labour Force Survey) (t_employ), see:

LFS main indicators (t_lfsi)

Population, activity and inactivity - LFS adjusted series (t_lfsi_act)

Employment - LFS adjusted series (t_lfsi_emp)

Unemployment - LFS adjusted series (t_une)

LFS series - Detailed annual survey results (t_lfsa)

LFS series - Specific topics (t_lfst)