OECD vs United States: Full-time and part-time employment based on national definition
Full-time and part-time employment based on national definition over time
- OECD
- United States
How they compare
OECD currently reports 504,527 Persons against 134,927 Persons in United States, a difference of 369,600 Persons.
That makes OECD's figure about 3.7 times United States's.
Across all 50 years both countries report, OECD has been ahead every year.
OECD ranks 1st and United States ranks 2nd of 40 countries.
OECD has averaged higher in every one of the 6 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | OECD | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 118,714 Persons | 78,359 Persons | 40,356 Persons | OECD |
| 1980s | 190,908 Persons | 88,070 Persons | 102,838 Persons | OECD |
| 1990s | 309,415 Persons | 102,245 Persons | 207,170 Persons | OECD |
| 2000s | 425,042 Persons | 115,842 Persons | 309,200 Persons | OECD |
| 2010s | 451,876 Persons | 120,450 Persons | 331,426 Persons | OECD |
| 2020s | 489,422 Persons | 130,823 Persons | 358,600 Persons | OECD |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher full-time and part-time employment based on national definition, OECD or United States?
- OECD, at 504,527 Persons against 134,927 Persons in United States as of 2025.
- What is the difference in full-time and part-time employment based on national definition between OECD and United States?
- 369,600 Persons, with OECD ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for OECD and United States?
- 50 years are reported by both, from 1976 to 2025.
- How do OECD and United States rank globally for full-time and part-time employment based on national definition?
- OECD ranks 1st and United States ranks 2nd of 40 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Full-time and part-time employment based on national definition. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
This dataset contains data on full-time and part-time employment based on national definition. Data are broken down by professional status - employees, total employment - sex and standardised age groups (15-24, 25-54, 55+, total). National definitions of part-time work vary considerably across OECD countries. Essentially three main approaches can be distinguished: i) a classification based on the worker’s perception of his/her employment situation; ii) a cut-off (generally 30 or 35 hours per week) based on usual working hours, with persons usually working fewer hours being considered part-timers; iii) a comparable cut-off based on actual hours worked during the reference week. A criterion based on actual hours will generally yield a part-time rate higher than one based on usual hours, particularly if there are temporary reductions in working time as a result of holidays, illness, short-timing, etc. On the other hand, it is not entirely clear whether a classification based on the worker’s perception will necessarily yield estimates of part-time work that are higher or lower than one based on a fixed cut-off. In one country (France) which changed from 1981 to 1982 from a definition based on an actual hours cut-off (30 hours) to one based on the respondent’s perception, the latter criterion appeared to produce slightly higher estimates. Other factors as well affect the international comparability of the estimates. In some countries, the hours’ cut-off is based on hours for the main job, in others on total hours for all jobs. Certain countries do not consider unpaid family workers to be employed unless they work more than a minimum number of hours, so that such workers do not enter into counts for part-time workers. In order to facilitate analysis and comparisons over time, historical data for OECD members have been provided over as long a period as possible, often even before a country became a member of the Organisation. Information on the membership dates of all OECD countries can be found at OECD Ratification Dates. For detailed information on labour force surveys for all countries please see LFS_NOTES_SOURCES.