women employment in latvia: the effect of flexicurity principles integrated in economic policy

WOMEN EMPLOYMENT IN LATVIA:

THE EFFECT OF FLEXICURITY PRINCIPLES INTEGRATED IN

ECONOMIC POLICY

International Conference

«Economic Science for Rural Development»

Jelgava, LLU ESAF, 23 – 24 April 2015

Agnese Vaivade

University of Latvia

Agenda

Flexicurity concept

Hypothesis of part-time labour market creation

Part-time and fixed-term employment in Latvia

Part-time working women profile

Conclusions

24.04.2015. Agnese Vaivade 2

Flexicurity concept

Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs, revised in 2005

Integrated Guideline No.21: «Promote flexibility combined with employment security

and reduce labour market segmentation,

having due regard to the role of the social partners»

European Commission (2007) defined four flexicurity principles:

1. Flexible and reliable contractual arrangements

2. Comprehensive lifelong learning

3. Effective active labour market policies

4. Modern social security systems


Hypothesis of part-time labour market creation

Main research question:

Whether flexicurity increased during economic crisis?

Whether flexibility increased during economic crisis?• Increase in part-time and fixed-term employment

Whether the part-time employment has increased because of substitution for full-time employment?

• Involuntary part-time share



2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Men 72.7 71.5 60.3 57.9 61.5 64.4 66.8

Women 63.9 65.2 60.4 59.0 60.2 61.7 63.4

Women and Man Employment rate ratio

0.879 0.912 1.002 1.019 0.979 0.958 0.949


Source: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia

Employment rate in Latvia by gender in the age group 15 to 64, in percentage

Part-time and fixed-term employment in Latvia, in percentageYear Share of employed men,

working

Share of employed women,

working

Women share from total

flexible employment

Part-time Fixed- term Part-time Fixed- term Part-time Fixed- term

20074.84 5.45 8.01 2.91 61.19 34.89

20084.47 4.75 8.17 1.95 63.91 29.63

20097.48 5.68 10.14 2.91 58.86 36.62

20107.83 8.88 11.44 4.95 60.98 38.48

20117.34 7.94 10.93 5.45 61.45 43.61

20127.10 6.23 11.61 3.34 62.92 37.02

20136.07 5.27 10.02 3.57 62.97 42.32

Source: author’s calculations based on the Labour Force Survey data



School

education,

training or

field practice

Own

illness,

disability

Could not

find a full-

time job

Did not

want a full-

time job

Due to

economic

reasons

Other

reasonsNo answer

2007 18.88 6.08 20.95 16.87 0.00 36.59 0.62

2008 14.72 5.01 27.12 18.64 0.00 34.52 0.00

2009 11.02 3.96 43.07 10.59 0.00 31.36 0.00

2010 7.62 2.24 41.25 7.39 22.78 18.33 0.39

2011 6.54 3.39 39.96 11.46 20.41 18.24 0.00

2012 8.57 3.08 41.08 14.17 10.73 22.37 0.00

2013 8.93 3.12 38.00 21.35 7.05 21.54 0.00

Reasons for working part-time in Latvia, in percentage



1. Education attainment positively correlates with female participation in the labour market.

2. Blossfeld and Hakim (1997) suggested that the higher a woman’s level of education, more profitable an extra hour of paid work is for her, compared to an hour of household work. Thus, well-educated women will consider outsourcing household duties and extending their working hours but women with lower education will more often work shorter hours as well as engage in part-time employment.

3. In the OECD Employment Outlook (1999) it is said that in general, the higher the proportion of women working part-time in any country, the smaller the percentage of them who say they would prefer to work full-time.




Part-time (%) Fixed-term (%)

Higher

education

Vocational

education

General

secondary

education

Primary

education

or lower

Higher

education

Vocational

education

General

secondary

education

Primary

education

or lower

20075.64 6.25 10.14 16.45 1.22 2.97 3.28 8.10

20086.64 7.06 9.43 14.96 0.89 1.66 2.22 6.93

20098.19 8.84 12.45 18.07 1.02 2.54 3.93 11.07

201010.00 10.82 12.89 18.11 2.53 4.61 7.10 13.97

20119.50 11.73 11.51 14.71 2.34 6.08 7.93 16.10

20128.79 12.76 14.63 16.18 1.59 4.11 3.98 11.82

20138.10 11.73 10.90 13.00 2.08 2.92 4.99 14.97

Share of women working flexible work by corresponding educational level




≤ EUR 284.57* EUR 284.58 –

426.86

EUR 426.87 –

711.44

EUR 711.45 –

1422.87≥ EUR 1422.88

Part-

time

Fixed-

term

Part-

time

Fixed-

term

Part-

time

Fixed-

term

Part-

time

Fixed-

term

Part-

time

Fixed-

term2007

10.34 3.28 2.30 1.46 1.21 0.53 0.28 5.43 0.00 10.762008

14.57 3.35 2.92 0.81 1.98 0.55 0.11 1.27 0.00 0.002009

17.44 4.98 3.12 0.81 1.45 0.74 3.07 2.02 0.00 0.002010

16.90 5.83 3.46 1.69 1.54 1.88 2.07 3.04 0.00 0.002011

17.62 6.90 3.58 1.78 1.79 1.76 1.08 3.36 0.00 6.872012

19.68 4.80 4.46 1.29 1.89 0.92 1.12 1.94 1.58 1.662013

18.79 4.99 2.23 2.05 1.68 0.74 1.59 1.81 1.08 0.00

Share of women working flexible work by corresponding income level, in percentage

Source: author’s calculations based on the Labour Force Survey data* Minimum wage at 2013



Share of women part-time employment

from total women employment

Share of women fixed-term employment

from total women employment

No Children 1 Child 2 or more Children No Children 1 Child 2 or more Children

20078.55 7.02 7.89 2.86 2.61 3.57

20088.60 6.74 9.03 1.70 1.71 3.09

20099.96 9.54 11.64 2.53 2.40 4.88

201010.67 11.72 13.26 4.52 4.62 6.71

201110.83 11.96 9.57 4.81 5.69 7.13

201212.04 11.08 10.89 3.49 2.47 4.29

Women part-time and fixed-term employment by number of children, in percentage


Conclusions

1. In a global economic crisis in Latvia, employed men were more affected by job loss or switching to a part-time job than women.

2. The participation of women in full-time-equivalent employment rate in Latvia is higher than in the EU-27, because of low overall part-time employment.

3. Almost half of part-time employment is involuntary, it increased from 21% in 2007 to 43% in 2009.

4. Part-time and fixed-term employment is more likely for women with primary or lower and general secondary education but less likely for women with vocational and higher education. The highest share of part-time and fixed-term women employment is within the lowest income group.

5. Increase in flexibility during crisis has not been simultaneous with the increase in employee’s security. Flexibility has increased because of involuntary adjustments and not because of focused labour market policy towards flexicurity implementation.


University of Latvia

Faculty of Economics and Management

Economics Doctorate

[email protected]

Thank you for your attention!


women employment in latvia: the effect of flexicurity principles integrated in economic policy

Economy & Finance

parttime employment

women employment

fulltime employment

agnese vaivadeparttime

employment security

labour market segmentation

fixedterm employmentwhether

man employment rate