Regional differences in women´s part time employment. An analysis of supply and demand

Part-time employment has a significant weight in the EU countries, but with remarkable differences. In The Netherlands, for instance, it reaches really high levels (50 per 100 of employment) whereas it has a comparative low weight in other countries like Spain (11.3 per 100). On the other hand, gender differences are also very significant, as well as their regional distribution, as it is the case of Spain. While women?s part-time employment in the Balearics is 16.4 per 100, in Navarre it reaches 27.8 per 100 (LFS, Active Population Survey, 3rd. quarter 2006). Focusing on women?s part-time employment, the paper has two main objectives. First, to compare its evolution in the main EU countries, showing the characteristics and reasons for their differences. Second, to analyze the factors supporting regional heterogeneity, taking Spain as a case-study. As opposed to the most usual approaches, focused either on the supply or the demand side of labour market, the paper adopts both perspectives considering that they are complementary in order to explain part-time employment levels as well as their spatial distribution.