Women labour participation fluctuating

The participation of women in the workforce in The Netherlands has declined, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

More than eight out of 10 women who were inactive in the third quarter of 2014 the labour market did not want a paying job. Also, more women have stated an illness or disability as the reason for not working. CBS stated that this could be related to the decrease in the number of women who aspire to a job because of retirement or old age.

The employment rate for men has hardly increased – 78.7% of men were working in 2013. According to the figures, in 1998, for every 100 working men there were 66 working women. This number has increased – in 2013; there were 82 women for every 100 working men.

Women work fewer hours per week in part-time positions. In 2013, women worked 28.5 hours on average compared to men who worked nearly 39 hours. In addition, 80% of men worked more than 35 hours per week compared to almost 30% of women did.

There is however, an increase in the number of women entrepreneurs. A total number of 376,000 women in 2014 have businesses, mostly without staff. They are highly educated women and many of them have children. Freedom and flexibility were cited as reasons for opening their own businesses.