Incidence of involuntary part time employment — Involuntary part-time employment by country
This dataset contains incidences and gender composition of part-time employment with standardised (15-24, 25-54, 55-64, 65+, total) and detailed age groups. Data are further broken down by professional status - employees, total employment. Part-time employment is based on national definitions. Detailed notes and...
What the numbers show
Incidence of involuntary part time employment — Involuntary part-time employment is currently reported for 43 countries. The highest value is 7.79 Percentage of employment in Italy; the lowest is 0.485 Percentage of employment in Malta.
The median across all reporting countries is 2.13 Percentage of employment, and the mean is 2.6 Percentage of employment.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 16.
Over the past decade 7 countries rose and 36 fell. The largest increase was in Russian Federation (up 687.6%), and the largest decrease in Ireland (down 82.4%).
Incidence of involuntary part time employment — Involuntary part-time: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy | 7.79 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 34.3% | volatile |
| 1 | Croatia | 0.682 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 56.9% | falling |
| 2 | Australia | 6.32 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 29.0% | rising |
| 3 | Chile | 6.15 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 31.8% | falling |
| 4 | Spain | 6.11 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 38.8% | volatile |
| 4 | Estonia | 2.76 Percentage of employment | 2025 | up 105.7% | rising |
| 5 | New Zealand | 5.52 Percentage of employment | 2025 | up 20.4% | flat |
| 6 | Finland | 5.13 Percentage of employment | 2025 | up 16.4% | rising |
| 6 | Latvia | 2.13 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 9.3% | falling |
| 7 | Belgium | 4.83 Percentage of employment | 2025 | up 99.8% | flat |
| 7 | Türkiye | 1.5 Percentage of employment | 2025 | up 61.1% | rising |
| 8 | South Africa | 4.35 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 2.3% | rising |
| 8 | Lithuania | 1.02 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 58.4% | falling |
| 9 | Sweden | 4.31 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 33.4% | falling |
| 9 | Netherlands | 0.875 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 79.2% | volatile |
| 10 | Japan | 4.25 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 6.0% | falling |
| 10 | Poland | 0.68 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 66.6% | falling |
| 11 | France | 3.43 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 54.8% | flat |
| 11 | Slovenia | 0.461 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 63.2% | flat |
| 12 | Canada | 3.36 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 33.1% | rising |
| 13 | Russian Federation | 3.31 Percentage of employment | 2020 | up 687.6% | volatile |
| 14 | Cyprus | 2.69 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 69.5% | rising |
| 15 | Switzerland | 2.57 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 12.1% | rising |
| 16 | OECD | 2.53 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 35.0% | rising |
| 17 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 2.53 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 40.7% | rising |
| 17 | Norway | 2.53 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 31.9% | rising |
| 19 | Iceland | 2.36 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 34.3% | rising |
| 20 | Portugal | 2.15 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 56.2% | rising |
| 21 | Austria | 2.11 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 37.1% | rising |
| 22 | Greece | 2.01 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 69.3% | volatile |
| 23 | Luxembourg | 1.81 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 37.9% | volatile |
| 24 | North Macedonia | 1.7 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 6.1% | falling |
| 25 | Germany | 1.52 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 57.7% | volatile |
| 26 | Czechia | 1.51 Percentage of employment | 2025 | up 81.9% | rising |
| 27 | Romania | 1.46 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 71.2% | falling |
| 28 | Denmark | 1.45 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 59.5% | falling |
| 29 | Ireland | 1.33 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 82.4% | volatile |
| 30 | Colombia | 0.982 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 13.4% | falling |
| 31 | United States of America | 0.809 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 46.9% | flat |
| 32 | Hungary | 0.768 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 65.3% | rising |
| 33 | Israel | 0.717 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 74.2% | falling |
| 34 | Bulgaria | 0.709 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 48.1% | falling |
| 35 | Malta | 0.485 Percentage of employment | 2025 | down 79.0% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- European Union (19 countries) in OECD 3.6 Percentage of employment
- European Union (22 countries) in OECD 3.22 Percentage of employment
- Slovak Republic 0.532 Percentage of employment
- European Union (27 countries) 3.1 Percentage of employment
- G7 2.43 Percentage of employment
About this data
This dataset contains incidences and gender composition of part-time employment with standardised (15-24, 25-54, 55-64, 65+, total) and detailed age groups. Data are further broken down by professional status - employees, total employment. Part-time employment is based on national definitions. Detailed notes and sources can be found in LFS_NOTES_SOURCES. 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.