
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 6, 1993                   TAG: 9309060105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: From Cox News Service and The Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. JOINS WORLD IN HIRING PART TIME

The increasing inclination of American companies to hire part-time workers is part of a disturbing worldwide trend, the International Labour Organization warns in a Labor Day report.

Part-time employment has risen sharply among industrialized nations in recent years to now include 60 million people - one of every seven workers, the United Nations agency said. Most of these part-time workers are women and many lack the benefits and protections that full-time workers enjoy.

The growing reliance on part-time employees is a symptom of a "persistently weak job market" throughout the industrial world, said Michel Hansenne, director general of the International Labor Organization.

The trend is also growing in developing countries, although it has not reached the level found in industrialized nations, the ILO survey found.

Part-time workers now account for between 10 percent and 20 percent of all employees in the United States, Germany, Belgium, Canada, France and Japan. More than one in every five workers is employed part time in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Britain and Norway. The practice has grown fastest in the Netherlands, where one-third of all employers are part-timers, double the number 15 years ago.

Part-time work has both advantages and drawbacks, the report points out. For employers, it offers flexibility and lower costs. Part-time workers often find it easier to adjust work and home schedules.

However, part-time workers also can suffer lower pay, worse working conditions, job insecurity, fewer fringe benefits and career opportunities and lower status than do full-time employers.

"Working conditions are often worse for part-time workers," said Vittoria DiMartino, an author of the report.

In the United States, he said, part-time workers often fail to qualify for Social Security benefits and are denied medical insurance, pensions, paid vacations and leave for illness or maternity.

One problem is that the world is just not creating the 40 million new jobs per year that the ILO estimates are needed to keep up with present employment levels.

"While the majority of part-timers work that way voluntarily, many are forced to accept part-time jobs because of a lack of full-time opportunities, which reflects the persistently weak job market in the industrialized world," said Hanesenne.

In a recent survey of workers in the 12 nations of the European Community, 37 percent of the part-time workers said they would prefer a full-time job.

However, the trend is not entirely negative, the report says. Much of the growth in part-time work is attributable to voluntary scheduling innovations like flex-time and job sharing that enable workers to better accommodate family and job.

In a number of countries, the phased retirement of older workers has turned them into transitional part-timers. For instance, a 1989 survey showed that nearly three-fourths of the United Kingdom's 460,000 workers over the age of 65 were part-timers.

Part-time work is also more prevalent in the service industry than other sectors of economies and the service sector is the fastest-growing part of the workplace in most industrialized countries.

The ILO study said some countries encourage part-time employment as a way of boosting overall employment.

But it said this can create a second-rank, vulnerable work force and distort competition, making it an issue in trade negotiations.

"Part-time work has a lot of potential for employees, employers and for societies," said DiMartino. But he said the ILO is preparing an agreement for all member countries that would pledge to treat part-time workers more equitably.

Within the ILO, government, worker and employer representatives are preparing new international labor standards on part-time work. These standards will be considered for adoption at the ILO's annual conference next June at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The proposed agreement on part-time work would seek laws to provide equivalent benefits for part-time workers throughout the world.

The trend toward part-time work also is growing in developing countries, although statistics are limited, the report said.

by CNB