Why Dutch women work part-time: A Oaxaca-decomposition of differences in European female part-time work rates

Abstract

We analyze differences in female part-time work rates across countries using European Social Survey data for 2012 to study composition and selectivity effects by means of Oaxaca-decompositions. A novel treatment of the selection term distinguishes the effect of country differences in employment rates from the effect of pure selectivity. We find that demand-side factors are more important than supply-side factors in explaining differences in part-time work rates, that overall composition effects are small and that employment positively selects women into part-time work