Women's Labour Force Participation and Part Time Work in Spain

Spain is one of the southern countries where the percentage of women working part‐time is relatively low in comparison to other European countries, together with a low female activity rate. Some important obstacles to increasing female activity rates have already been removed, as younger cohorts of women show a more permanent attachment to the labour force than older women, meeting even high unemployment, which is especially acute for women and young people. Under the recent labour market reform, it is hoped that part‐time contracts, which were first regulated in 1984, would be a way of facilitating flexibility and an incentive for employers to create jobs, as the experience of other countries has shown. The relative novelty of part‐time work in Spain is the reason why this typically female employment regime has not been much explored in Spain yet, in spite of its important role in the reorganisation of the employment system.