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Part-time work is on the increase in Europe for both men and women according the fresh report 'Part- time work in the European Union' published by The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. It's an EU Commission initiative and one of the aims is to encourage a debate on part-time work. 

Women still make up a clear majority of part-time workers - they're four times more likely to be working part-time than men. The report points out the major differences between European countries as well as the different causes of part-time work - such as a general acceptance of part-time work or the lack of rules and legislation. The fact that women tend to be working part-time could also be a result of poor childcare facilities. 

The report also highlights the difference in working conditions between full-time and part-time workers. The part-timers don't have the same opportunity to perform complicated tasks, they are more pessimistic about their possibilities to develop their skills in the workplace and they stand a slimmer chance to gain further training or education at work. 

Around one in five of all EU workers work part-time. The number is higher in the Netherlands and in some of the Nordic countries at between 25 and 30 percent. This could be explained by an increase in part-time work where the employment rate is very high. In all European countries part-time work is most commonly found in the health sector, schooling and social care. 2009 figures show the Netherlands with most part-time workers, followed by Sweden where 28 percent of the workforce is in part-time employment. 

36 percent of women in the Nordic countries work part-time. More than half of all female workers in the Faroe Islands work part-time, in Norway 43 percent do and in Sweden 41 percent. Finland stands out from the crowd. 18.5 percent of women there work part-time and only 8.3 of men. 

All the Nordic countries have seen an increase in the number of part-time workers since the year 2000, except Iceland which has seen a reduction of the number of part-time working women. 

Sources:

Nordic Statistical Yearbook 2010 

Part- time work in the European Union