Part-time and full-time employment - statistics

Data from September 2024

Planned article update: October 2025

Highlights

In 2023, 17.1% of employed people in the EU were part-timers.

The growth rate for part-time employment (+2.0%) exceeded that of full-time employment (+0.8%) in 2023 for the first time in a decade.

Almost one-third (31.8%) of employed women with children worked part-time in the EU in 2023, with highest shares in Austria (69.2%), the Netherlands (67.9%), and Germany (65.4%).

Trend in part-time employment, EU, 2014-2023

This article presents the most recent insights into part-time employment based on the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS). It provides information about the trends in part-time employment and the profile of part-time workers in terms of sex, age, level of education and occupation. Other areas of focus include the presence of children in the household. The results are presented at EU level and by EU country.

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 own 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 organization ('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 2023, the reasons reported by part-time workers aged 25-64 for their working-time arrangements varied notably between women and men. These reasons included

care of adults with disabilities or children (29.5% of female part-timers against 8.2% of male part-timers)
no full-time job found (18.1% for women against 27.5% for men)
other family reasons (6.7% for women against 2.4% for men)
own illness or disability (5.8% for women against 11.0% for men)
education or training (3.3% for women against 9.7% for men) and
other reasons (women 23.9%, men 27.0%).

The category of 'other personal reasons' (women 12.8%, men 14.2%) showed roughly the same share for women and men.

Development of part-time employment

The share of part-time workers aged 20-64 showed a relatively stable trend over the first five years of the past decade, decreasing from 19.1% in 2014 to 18.8% in 2019 (see Figure 1). In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the EU labour market, the proportion of part-time workers fell to 17.3%. Since then, the trend has remained relatively stable, reaching 17.1% in 2023. The share of men in part-time work has remained stable, hovering around 8% for the past decade, while women have consistently represented a higher proportion, with their share decreasing from 31.8% in 2014 to 27.9% in 2023. This data suggests a gradual overall decline in part-time employment, with a notable gender disparity over the years.

Figure 1: Part-time employment by gender, EU, 2014-2023
(age group 20-64, percentage of total employment)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_pt_a)

The annual variations in part-time and full-time employment across the EU since 2014 are illustrated in Figure 2. Between 2014 and 2022, both categories generally experienced positive growth, with the exceptions of 2018 and 2020. In 2018, part-time employment decreased slightly by -0.1%, while full-time employment saw an increase of +1.4%. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a notable decline of -9.3% in part-time employment. Conversely, full-time employment saw a slight rise of +0.1%. Over the next two years, 2021 and 2022, both employment types grew. However, full-time employment growth was more pronounced, with increases of +1.6% in 2021 and +2.3% in 2022. Part-time employment also grew, but at a slower pace, with increases of +0.6% in 2021 and +0.9% in 2022. The trend reversed in 2023, where increases were observed in both employment categories. However, for the first time in a decade, the growth rate for part-time employment (+2.0% in 2023) exceeded that of full-time employment (+0.8% in 2023).

Figure 2: Annual changes in employment type, EU 2014-2023
(age group 20-64, percentage changes in part-time and full-time job)
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_pt_a) and (lfsi_emp_a)

Worker profile and countries

More part-time employment among low education level and young people in education

Part-time employment in European Union is more prevalent among younger people in education, women, and those with lower education levels. For young individuals, over half of those still in education worked part-time in 2023 (see Figure 3).

Part-time employment is common among individuals aged 15-24. Regardless of educational status, 42.1% of females and 25.9% of males work part-time. Among those in education, these figures rise to 60.8% for females and 47.3% for males. Conversely, for those not in education, part-time employment decreases to 24.4% for females and 12.2% for males, indicating that educational commitments influence part-time work among young people.

In the 25-54 age group, most individuals work full-time. Nevertheless, a gender gap remains; 25.9% of females and only 6.2% of males work part-time. Educational attainment further affects part-time working; 36.8% of females with lower education levels work part-time compared to 8.1% of males. As education levels increase, part-time work declines, with 28.8% and 5.4% of women and men having a medium level of education, respectively. Furthermore, 21.0% of highly educated females and 6.4% of males working 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 female workers. In the 55-64 age group, 32.7% of females and 8.6% of males work part-time, a trend that holds across all education levels. For instance, 41.9% of women with lower education work part-time versus 9.3% of men. Even among the highly educated, 23.8% of women and 8.8% of men work part-time.

Overall, education level influences particularly females’ part-time employment, with a higher proportion of women with low education working part-time compared to those with medium or high education. Men, however, show relatively uniform trend over the individuals 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, 2023
(percentage of the total employment in each category)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_epgaed) and ad-hoc data extraction

In 2023, 17.1% of employed individuals in the European Union were working part-time. At the EU level, as well as in all EU countries except Romania, women were more prevalent in this category (27.9%) compared to men (7.7%). In several EU countries, more than one in five employed individuals worked part-time, namely the Netherlands (38.7%), Austria (30.4%), Germany (28.5%), Belgium (22.9%) and Denmark (22.0%). In 2023, more than half of employed women worked part-time in the Netherlands (60.6%) and Austria (50.7%) and more than one-third in Germany (48.0%) and Belgium (37.3%). The lowest shares of part-time workers were in Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Slovakia where fewer than 4.0% of employed individuals worked part-time. In these countries, at most one in 20 employed women worked part-time.

Figure 4: Part-time employment by sex and country, 2023
(age group 20-64, percentage of total employment in each sex category)
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 2023

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 2023, around one-third (31.8%) of employed women aged 25-54 with children in the EU were engaged in part-time work, in contrast to 20.0% of employed women without children. Conversely, among men, a smaller percentage of those with children worked part-time (5.0%) compared to their counterparts without children (7.3%). The share of employed women with children working part-time exceeded that of women without children in all EU countries except Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Greece, and Romania.

The difference in the part-time employment rate between women with children and men with children was 26.8 percentage points (pp) in the EU in 2023. For men and women without children, the difference (12.7 pp.) was narrower and amounted to less than half of the estimate for people with children. In Latvia, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria(¹), the proportion of part-time workers in total employment was relatively low regardless of the presence of children and was lower than 10.0% for employed men and employed women, with or without children.

Moreover, the share of men engaged in part-time work, irrespective of their parental or guardian status, demonstrates less variability than the part-time employment rates for women across EU countries. The male share varied from 1.1% (for men with children in Slovakia) to 15.5% (for men without children in Denmark). However, the third quartile values for men with children and men without children were 5.6% and 7.8%, respectively, indicating that in 18 and 20 EU countries, the proportions of male part-time workers fell below these figures.

Figure 5: Part-time employment by presence of children, sex and country, 2023
(age group 25-54, percentage of total employment in each category)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_hhptety)

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

The employment rate for women with children in the EU was 74.9%, which is lower than the 79.7% 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 31.8%, which in turn to employment rate, is higher than the 20.0% for those without children, showing a difference of 11.8 percentage points. Highlighted below are the highest and lowest recorded figures, reflecting the range of variations in these two indicators.

Sweden and Slovenia (87.8%), Norway (85.3%), Portugal (84.9%) and Denmark (84.0%) exhibit the highest employment rates for women with children.

Czechia has the largest difference (19.2 pp.), with a high employment rate of 91.9% for women without children, while Italy displays the lowest employment rate for women with children (61.2%) and women without children (66.4%) in the European Union.

The highest share of part-time work for women with children were recorded in Austria (69.2%), the Netherlands (67.9%) and Germany (65.4%), indicating that many women choose or need to work part-time in these countries. Conversely, Bulgaria (1.6%) and Romania (2.4%) showed a very low part-time rate of for women with children but also in general (i.e., women and men with or without children), which could imply fewer options for flexible work arrangements.

These statistics indicate that in most countries, the presence of children impacts women's employment rates and their propensity to work part-time. Countries like Denmark, Sweden, and Croatia are located in the upper-left part of the graph, indicating that women with children in these countries have higher employment rates compared to those without children, but the difference in part-time work is either minimal or negative (indicating a lower part-time work rate for women with children). On the far right of the graph, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands show the most significant increases in part-time work among women with children compared to those without. However, the employment rate for women with children compared to women without children is particularly lower in Germany and Austria.

The most balanced trends are found in Finland and Lithuania, where the absolute difference for both indicators comparing women with and without children is less or equal to 1 percentage point. Latvia, Cyprus and Portugal recorded an absolute difference below 3 pp. for both statistics. Czechia stands out in the lower right, where women with children experience a significant drop in employment rates and moderate rise in part-time work. Closest to the EU average is Italy, where the employment rate difference was 5.2 pp. (EU 4.8 pp.) and the difference in the proportion of part-time workers was equal to 11.6 pp. (EU 11.8 pp.).

Figure 6: Difference in employment rate and in share of part-time employment between individuals with and without children, 2023 (age group 25-54, difference in percentage points)
Source: Eurostat (lfst_hhptety) and (lfst_hheredty)

The differences in employment rates and the share of part-time employment for men with children, compared to men without children in 2023, are also presented in Figure 6. In general, 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 indicates a higher employment rate in all countries and also show a stable or a lower share in part-time employment for men with children compared to those without children in all countries for which data is available.

The highest employment rates for men with children were measured in Czechia (96.8%), Slovenia (95.7%), the Netherlands (95.4%) and Sweden (95.1%).

Greece has the largest difference (14.9 pp.), with an 93.2% employment rate for men with children compared to 78.3% for men without children. Furthermore, the difference was over 10 pp. in Greece, Croatia, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Denmark and Lithuania.

The highest share of part-time work for men with children was in the Netherlands, being only 13.1% compared to the highest share of part-time work for women with children (Austria 69.2%). For all the other countries, the share of part-time for men with children were below 10.0%. The largest difference in part-time work was found in Denmark, where the difference in the part-time proportion for men with and without children was lower by 10.0 percentage points.

The chart for men 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 (41.8%), followed by women with a medium level of education and having children (35.3%) and women with a low level of education and without children (32.4%). By contrast, it was the lowest for women without children with a high level of education (15.1%).

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 (+13.1pp.). The corresponding gap for women with a high level of education was slightly smaller (higher by 11.6pp.) whereas the difference for women with a low level of education was higher by 9.4 percentage points.

Due to a notable disparity in the share of part-time work between men and women, and the stable trend of men's part-time work share, it is only logical that the gap (absolute difference in pp.) between the share of part-time employment for men, with and without children and by all levels of education was much smaller than that of women. The difference for men with children compared to men without children having a low level of education was lower by 1.8 pp., with a medium level of education 2.7 pp., whereas the gap for men with a high level of education was 2.0 percentage points.

Figure 7: Part-time employment by sex, educational attainment level and presence of children in EU, 2023
(age group 25-54, percentage of total employed individuals)
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 2023, 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 (46.7%) against 15.6% of employed men in the same category of occupations. More than one third of female workers were part-timers (34.3%) in services and sales compared with 14.0% of male employed people. 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 people in work were part-timers in the following occupation categories: craft and related trades (4.7%), managers (5.5%) and plant and machine operators and assemblers (5.7%). In these three categories, less than 20.0% of women were working part-time (respectively, 15.4%, 10.3% and 11.5%).

Figure 8: Part-time employment by sex and main occupational category, EU, 2023
(age group 20-64, percentage of total employed individuals in each category)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_epgais)

Temporary contracts and part-time employment

Part-time work more prevalent in temporary job At the EU level, it is notable that part-time work is more common among those with temporary contracts than those with permanent contracts. In 2023, 37.3% of women on temporary contracts worked part-time, compared to 27.0% of women on indefinite contracts. The difference is starker among men, where 18.9% of those with temporary jobs worked part-time, while only 5.3% of men on permanent contracts engaged in part-time jobs.

Figure 9: Part-time employment in temporary and non-temporary employment, by sex, EU, 2023
(age group 25-64, percentage of total employment in each category)
Source: Eurostat ad-hoc extraction

In conclusion, the higher proportion of part-time employment among women compared to men may reflect different personal choices but also circumstances. Women tend to pursue part-time roles more frequently than men, often to balance work with family responsibilities (with 29.5% of women citing 'care of adults with disabilities or children' as the primary reason for part-time work, compared to 8.2% of men). Conversely, a larger proportion of men reported education or training (9.7% of men versus 3.3% of women) and health-related reasons, such as illness or disability (11.0% of men compared to 5.8% of women), as the main motivations for part-time work. Nevertheless, it should be underlined that 27.5% of men and 18.1% of women indicated that the lack of available full-time positions was their primary reason for working part-time.

Source data for tables and graphs

Part-time employment: 2023 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 based on the same target populations and uses the same definitions in all countries, which means that the results are comparable between the countries.

The EU-LFS is an important source of information about the situation and trends in the national and EU labour markets. Each quarter around 1.8 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.

Please note that 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 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.

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 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

In the Netherlands, the 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

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).

Main concepts

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.

Level of education refers to the educational attainment level, i.e. 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 ISCD 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.

Additional methodological information

More information on the EU-LFS can be found via the online publication EU Labour Force Survey, which includes eight articles on the technical and methodological aspects of the survey. The EU-LFS methodology in force from the 2021 data collection onwards is described in methodology from 2021 onwards. Detailed information on coding lists, explanatory notes and classifications used over time can be found under documentation.

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.

Employment statistics are at the heart of many EU policies. The European Pillar of Social Rights has been 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 scoreboard will also serve to assess progress towards a social 'triple A' for the EU as a whole.

The action plan presented by the 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.

In June 2022, EU employment and social affairs ministers presented their national targets to deliver on the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan by 2030. For more information, see the dedicated section on the European Commission website.

Furthermore, the European Employment Strategy (EES) dates back to 1997, now constitutes part of the Europe 2020 growth strategy. It is implemented through the European semester, an annual process promoting close policy coordination among EU Member States and EU Institutions. In particular, the implementation of the EES - supported by the work of the Employment committee - involves the following four steps of the European Semester:

Employment guidelines are common priorities and targets for employment policies proposed by the Commission, agreed by national governments and adopted by the EU Council.
The Joint employment report (JER) is based on (a) the assessment of the employment situation in Europe (b) the implementation of the Employment Guidelines and (c) an assessment of the Scoreboard of key employment and social indicators. It is published by Commission and adopted by the EU Council.
National Reform Programmes (NRPs) are submitted by national governments and analysed by the Commission for compliance with Europe 2020. (database – NRPs prior to 2011)
Based on the assessment of the NRPs the Commission publishes a series of Country reports, analysing Member States' economic policies and issues Country-specific recommendations.

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

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)

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