Parents want to increase workload: Is this the end of part-time growth in the labor market?

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One person’s suffering is another person’s joy: On the one hand, there are families suffering so much from high rent prices and rising health insurance premiums that half of them are having to consider increasing their workload, according to the new family barometer. On the other hand, there are employers who almost despair when looking for qualified personnel and welcome any increase in workload.

“The opportunity to increase your workload is better than ever,” says Michael Siegenthaler (38). He researches the Swiss labor market at the Center for Economic Research (KOF) at ETH Zurich. “For many companies, this means you are knocking down open doors.” If you cannot increase your salary at your current employer, you have a good chance of finding a new job with a higher salary in the job market.

According to estimates, the Swiss economy will lose between 300,000 and 500,000 workers in just a few years due to demographic change. Part-time employees who want to increase their working hours are welcomed.

Part-time country Switzerland

Switzerland is one of the leaders in Europe when it comes to part-time work: 37 percent of employees in Switzerland work part-time, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office. In the early 1990s, this rate was still 25 percent.

Are we lazy when it comes to working compared to neighboring countries? Not at all! The fact that more and more people work part-time is largely due to the increasing participation of women in the labor market. A few decades ago the typical Swiss family model was: father works 100 percent. Mom, she works at 0 percent. Since then, the employment rate between genders has been equalised.

Women increase their workload more than men reduce it. As a result, double households are working more today than they were 20 years ago. This applies to both couples with children and couples without children.

The tendency for workloads to increase is not only due to cost pressure on families. But also with increasing levels of education: More and more women in Switzerland have a higher education qualification, i.e. a university or technical college diploma. The higher the level of education, the less traditional family forms are preserved and the greater the participation in the workforce. “‘More and more women are coming in who want to work with the 80 percent, not just the 40 percent,'” explains KOF’s Siegenthaler.

However, there is still room for improvement in women’s participation in the labor market. The important thing is compatibility. Nursery costs in Switzerland are high compared to other European countries, according to a Seco study. This creates an incentive to work with a reduced workload rather than having someone else look after the children; this was also revealed by the family barometer.

Source :Blick