Polarization of working hours
The polarization of working hours denotes a different distribution of actually worked working hours among different groups of a population, with either particularly long or, conversely, particularly short working hours predominating, depending on the group to which they belong. So the distribution is polarized .
In many cases, not only the result , but also a social process in the direction of increasingly polarized working hours is referred to as the polarization of working hours .
Polarization can relate to different groups: men and women, highly and low-skilled people, residents and foreigners, young and older people. For example, the quotas for part-time work between men and women are very different across Europe . In particular, the working hours of parents in West Germany are highly polarized.
If the polarization does not match the wishes of those affected ( involuntary part-time employment ), this can be a form of discrimination .
Polarization of working hours within the family
Polarized working hours within a partnership are often the result of an individual or family member weighing up the value of the salary versus the value of the time available. The difference in working hours between men and women is often an expression of a gender-specific division of labor within the family, in which the respective expected salary losses ( opportunity costs ) and, if applicable, expectations of a focus on engagement on one role ( hyperinclusion ) come into play. So, especially with existing salary differences between men and women, a decision within a family to optimize the family economy can be that one partner works full-time and possibly works overtime , while the other parent significantly reduces their own working hours to take on family responsibilities. In countries where spouse splitting applies, this economic advantage can be particularly great. Conversely, such a model can result in disadvantages for pension entitlements and longer-term career opportunities for the low-income partner.
Polarized working hours in individual states
Germany
In Germany , according to a survey (as of 2017), around 2.4 million people between the ages of 15 and 74 would like their working hours to be increased, and 1.4 million would like to reduce their working hours. A loss or an increase in earnings based on working hours was taken into account in the survey.
Gainful employment is polarized according to qualification and gender: men increasingly work over 40 hours, with the increase in the 48 hour period being particularly large; Women, on the other hand, work increasingly for less than 30 hours, with a particular increase in the area of less than 15 hours.
Increasing polarization can be observed in Germany: on the one hand, the working hours of full-time employees have increased, on the other hand, the proportion of part-time and marginally employed people is growing. The part-time rate was 14% in 1991 and rose to 24.5% in 2005. However, the quota differs greatly according to gender. For women, part-time work is gradually becoming a new form of normal working hours: 44% of all women in dependent employment work less than full-time. For men, however, the rate rose only slowly to a total of 7%.
The process of polarization is attributed to the erosion of collective working time norms in the sense of working time laws , collective regulations and company agreements , as has been observed for a long time in the Anglo-Saxon region.
Great Britain
In Great Britain there is a polarization of working hours according to gender: 40% of women work part-time and 60% of men work more than 40 hours a week.
Polarization in relation to activity and qualification
Polarized working hours according to economic sector
In many branches of industry, working conditions are characterized by processes of flexibilization and polarization of working hours as well as greater demands on professional mobility.
Polarized working hours according to qualification
In a comparison of the Institute for Work and Technology (IAT / Gelsenkirchen) among four countries, it was found that in Great Britain, Germany and Sweden the actual weekly working hours of employees with high qualifications are longer than those of employees with low and medium qualifications; in Italy, however, they are shorter. The differences depending on qualifications can be partly explained by a high part-time share of unskilled and semi-skilled employees, but this part-time share is influenced by several factors, for example cultural conditions, statutory working time regulations and existing childcare offers.
credentials
- ↑ Part-time employees - men - (% of total employment) and part-time employees - women - (% of total employment) . In: Eurostat database, "Employment" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on February 16, 2008)
- ↑ The wish of many parents: distribute working hours more evenly. (PDF; 88 kB) In: Böcklerimpuls 4/2008. Hans Böckler Foundation, accessed on July 30, 2008 .
- ↑ Around 2.4 million people in employment wanted to work more in 2017, almost 1.4 million fewer. In: Destatis. November 1, 2018, accessed September 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Margret Mönig-Raane: Who Owns the Time? Coordinates of a different time distribution. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 7, 2010 ; Retrieved February 16, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hartmut Seifert: Chapter "Lines of Development". In: Working time - developments and conflicts, From politics and contemporary history (APuZ 04-05 / 2007). Federal Agency for Civic Education , accessed on February 16, 2008 .
- ^ Hubert Eichmann, Christoph Hermann: Upheaval in gainful employment - dimensions of dissolution of boundaries in work. (PDF; 733 kB) Research and Advice Center for the World of Work (FORBA), February 2004, accessed on February 28, 2017 . Section “Polarization of working hours between groups of employees”, p. 8
- ↑ Seventh Family Report of the Federal Government , Sections II.3.3.4 "The Example: United Kingdom" (accessed on February 16, 2008)
- ↑ Michaela Schier et al: Parents in unlimited gainful employment - differentiated and flexible care needs. (PDF; 137 kB) July 2007, p. 4 , accessed on February 16, 2008 .
- ↑ Weekly working hours of women and men in four European countries. www.innovations-report.de, March 16, 2003, accessed on September 18, 2008 .
