Part-time Work Popularity and Possibilities

For a multitude of reasons, workers may sometimes prefer not to spend their entire workweek at their job. Part-time contracts typically entail a workweek of around 30 hours or less, rather than 40. Some may find this a more efficient way to organize their lives, while others may want to be able to devote more hours to other priorities. Expats moving to the Netherlands may be wondering what their options are regarding part-time work, and filling in their schedule differently. One thing that can certainly be said about part-time work in the Netherlands is that it is popular.

The good news for those who are advocates of part-time jobs is that the Netherlands has a higher number of part-time workers than any other member of the European Union – and not by a small margin. Eurostat numbers indicate that in 2015, the rate of part-time workers in the Netherlands was at 46.9%. In other countries with a relatively high number of part-time workers, typically about a fifth of the workforce occupies a part-time position. The Dutch rate of part-time workers is also double the European average. As such, it is safe to conclude that part-time work is very much accepted in the Netherlands, and that employers are likely to be familiar with these sorts of work arrangements. If you feel that part-time work is most suited for you, the Netherlands appears to be a good country to pursue this in. Several job search engines used in the Netherlands offer the possibility to search for part-time positions specifically. One such example is monsterboard.nl. Under its ‘advanced search’tab, the website allows users to select whether they are searching for a full-time or part-time position. A similar feature is offered by indeed.nl.

Expats may also be wondering in which industries part-time work is easiest to pursue. Here, the numbers indicate that part-time work is very strongly tied to the topic of gender. The number of part-time workers in the Netherlands are high, but even higher, is the percentage of women who work part-time, when compared to the number of men who do. This year, Loonwijzer reported that 74% of part-time workers in the Netherlands are female. As such, industries that appear to offer part-time work contracts most commonly are industries that are typically female-dominated. Fields related to health care or youth care, for instance, employ a lot of female workers with part-time contracts. Research commonly relates part-time work for women with their responsibilities for childcare. They often need to set aside hours from their career to care for their young. A 2017 NRC article on the topic of women who work part-time put forward the argument that childcare is still typically considered to be the responsibility of the woman, and industries often do not pay as much attention to the rights of fathers. Those considering finding part-time work in the Netherlands should thus keep in mind that the topic of part-time work often ties in to notions of differing gender responsibilities.

Overall, it can be said that the option of working part-time is provided more easily in the Netherlands, much more often than anywhere else in other countries on the same continent. It appears to be culturally accepted. As such, when searching through job listings it is easy to distinguish between full-time and part-time positions. However, the option also appears to be offered much more frequently in female-dominated industries.

Barbara Haenen