Nearly one in five employees in France works part-time. As confirmed by 2019 data published Friday May 24, 2024 by Dares (statistical services dependent on the Ministry of Labor). This represents 4.3 million people, 83% of whom are women.
Very feminized professions
These are mainly employee positions (53%), much more rarely executive positions (10%). And most of these jobs are concentrated in a few professions: “15 of the 87 professional families alone account for 67% of part-time people, while they represent 38% of salaried employment”, underline the authors. Many of these employees work in services to individuals and communities (maintenance, home help and household help, etc.), health (caregivers, nurses, midwives, etc.) or commerce (salespeople). And in the home help professions, for example, the majority of jobs are even offered part-time (which is not the case for salespeople, however).
“With the exception of vehicle drivers, these are very feminized professions, adds the study. Even if they work full time, they are mainly occupied by women. This double concentration of part-time work, professional and gender-based, is notably linked to public policies which, since the 1980s, have encouraged the use of part-time work, by promoting the flexibility of working hours in certain sectors (low-skilled tertiary sector), with the objective of stimulating employment, and particularly female employment”.
Read also: TESTIMONY. Employee and caregiver: “I had the impression that the noose was tightening”
Part-time often for lack of anything better
Note that in 38% of cases, people are part-time because the job they hold is not offered full-time. The organization decided by the employer does not allow them to work more.
These people in so-called “incomplete” employment receive the lowest net salary (it is reported as full-time so that it can be compared) compared to people employed part-time for other reasons. They are also the ones who most report being “very poorly paid” given the work they do and the working conditions are particularly precarious. More people are working multiple jobs to try to make ends meet. There are also many single-parent families there.
Read also: Mothers Sacrifice Their Careers More Than Fathers, Study Finds
If part-time work is therefore very often occupied for lack of anything better, family reasons (child or dependent person who must be taken care of) also explain a large part of the use of this type of job. In 94% of cases, they are women.
The study also highlights that part-time workers have twice as often a disability that is recognized or in the process of being recognized as full-time employees.
The special case of parental leave
The authors note that people who switch to part-time while maintaining fairly long working hours (moving to 80% or more) are in a particular situation. “Unlike other part-time transition situations, they do not see their professional insecurity vary, but the lack of recognition increases and the intensity of their work does not significantly reduce”.
This is particularly the case for women who go through schemes such as parental leave (PréParE). Certainly, this is recognized as “a right for the employee, corresponding to a need which is legitimized” and it offers guarantees for a future return to full time. But “with a slightly reduced quota, it could be that the feeling of less recognition is linked to the pursuit of high professional activity despite a falling salary and reduced promotion prospects”.
The authors conclude: “This could explain the persistent difficulties encountered by young employed mothers”. Data to keep in mind while an overhaul of parental leave is underway.
