Main research question: Whether flexicurity increased during economic crisis? Whether flexibility increased during economic crisis? - Increase in part-time and fixed-term employment Whether the part-time employment has increased because of substitution for full-time employment? - Involuntary part-time share

1. WOMEN EMPLOYMENT IN LATVIA:
THE EFFECT OF FLEXICURITY
PRINCIPLES INTEGRATED IN
ECONOMIC POLICY
International Conference
«Economic Science for Rural Development»
Jelgava, LLU ESAF, 23 – 24 April 2015
Agnese Vaivade
University of Latvia

2. Agenda
Flexicurity concept
Hypothesis of part-time labour market creation
Part-time and fixed-term employment in Latvia
Part-time working women profile
Conclusions
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3. Flexicurity concept
Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs, revised in 2005
Integrated Guideline No.21:
«Promote flexibility combined with employment security
and reduce labour market segmentation,
having due regard to the role of the social partners»
European Commission (2007) defined four flexicurity principles:
1. Flexible and reliable contractual arrangements
2. Comprehensive lifelong learning
3. Effective active labour market policies
4. Modern social security systems
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4. Hypothesis of part-time
labour market creation
Main research question:
Whether flexicurity increased during economic crisis?
Whether flexibility increased during economic crisis?
• Increase in part-time and fixed-term employment
Whether the part-time employment has increased
because of substitution for full-time employment?
• Involuntary part-time share
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5. Part-time and fixed-term
employment in Latvia
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Men 72.7 71.5 60.3 57.9 61.5 64.4 66.8
Women 63.9 65.2 60.4 59.0 60.2 61.7 63.4
Women and Man Employment rate
ratio
0.879 0.912 1.002 1.019 0.979 0.958 0.949
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Source: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia
Employment rate in Latvia by gender in the age group 15 to 64, in percentage
Part-time and fixed-term employment in Latvia, in percentage
Year Share of employed men,
working
Share of employed women,
working
Women share from total
flexible employment
Part-time Fixed- term Part-time Fixed- term Part-time Fixed- term
2007
4.84 5.45 8.01 2.91 61.19 34.89
2008
4.47 4.75 8.17 1.95 63.91 29.63
2009
7.48 5.68 10.14 2.91 58.86 36.62
2010
7.83 8.88 11.44 4.95 60.98 38.48
2011
7.34 7.94 10.93 5.45 61.45 43.61
2012
7.10 6.23 11.61 3.34 62.92 37.02
2013
6.07 5.27 10.02 3.57 62.97 42.32
Source: author’s calculations based on the Labour Force Survey data

6. Part-time and fixed-term
employment in Latvia
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School
education,
training or
field practice
Own
illness,
disability
Could not
find a full-
time job
Did not
want a full-
time job
Due to
economic
reasons
Other
reasons
No answer
2007 18.88 6.08 20.95 16.87 0.00 36.59 0.62
2008 14.72 5.01 27.12 18.64 0.00 34.52 0.00
2009 11.02 3.96 43.07 10.59 0.00 31.36 0.00
2010 7.62 2.24 41.25 7.39 22.78 18.33 0.39
2011 6.54 3.39 39.96 11.46 20.41 18.24 0.00
2012 8.57 3.08 41.08 14.17 10.73 22.37 0.00
2013 8.93 3.12 38.00 21.35 7.05 21.54 0.00
Reasons for working part-time in Latvia, in percentage
Source: author’s calculations based on the Labour Force Survey data

7. Part-time working
women profile
1. Education attainment positively correlates with female
participation in the labour market.
2. Blossfeld and Hakim (1997) suggested that the higher a
woman’s level of education, more profitable an extra hour of
paid work is for her, compared to an hour of household work.
Thus, well-educated women will consider outsourcing
household duties and extending their working hours but
women with lower education will more often work shorter
hours as well as engage in part-time employment.
3. In the OECD Employment Outlook (1999) it is said that in
general, the higher the proportion of women working part-
time in any country, the smaller the percentage of them who
say they would prefer to work full-time.
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8. Part-time working
women profile
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Part-time (%) Fixed-term (%)
Higher
education
Vocational
education
General
secondary
education
Primary
education
or lower
Higher
education
Vocational
education
General
secondary
education
Primary
education
or lower
2007
5.64 6.25 10.14 16.45 1.22 2.97 3.28 8.10
2008
6.64 7.06 9.43 14.96 0.89 1.66 2.22 6.93
2009
8.19 8.84 12.45 18.07 1.02 2.54 3.93 11.07
2010
10.00 10.82 12.89 18.11 2.53 4.61 7.10 13.97
2011
9.50 11.73 11.51 14.71 2.34 6.08 7.93 16.10
2012
8.79 12.76 14.63 16.18 1.59 4.11 3.98 11.82
2013
8.10 11.73 10.90 13.00 2.08 2.92 4.99 14.97
Share of women working flexible work by corresponding educational level
Source: author’s calculations based on the Labour Force Survey data

9. Part-time working
women profile
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≤ EUR 284.57* EUR 284.58 –
426.86
EUR 426.87 –
711.44
EUR 711.45 –
1422.87
≥ EUR 1422.88
Part-
time
Fixed-
term
Part-
time
Fixed-
term
Part-
time
Fixed-
term
Part-
time
Fixed-
term
Part-
time
Fixed-
term
2007
10.34 3.28 2.30 1.46 1.21 0.53 0.28 5.43 0.00 10.76
2008
14.57 3.35 2.92 0.81 1.98 0.55 0.11 1.27 0.00 0.00
2009
17.44 4.98 3.12 0.81 1.45 0.74 3.07 2.02 0.00 0.00
2010
16.90 5.83 3.46 1.69 1.54 1.88 2.07 3.04 0.00 0.00
2011
17.62 6.90 3.58 1.78 1.79 1.76 1.08 3.36 0.00 6.87
2012
19.68 4.80 4.46 1.29 1.89 0.92 1.12 1.94 1.58 1.66
2013
18.79 4.99 2.23 2.05 1.68 0.74 1.59 1.81 1.08 0.00
Share of women working flexible work by corresponding income level,
in percentage
Source: author’s calculations based on the Labour Force Survey data
* Minimum wage at 2013

10. Part-time working
women profile
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Share of women part-time employment
from total women employment
Share of women fixed-term employment
from total women employment
No Children 1 Child 2 or more Children No Children 1 Child 2 or more Children
2007
8.55 7.02 7.89 2.86 2.61 3.57
2008
8.60 6.74 9.03 1.70 1.71 3.09
2009
9.96 9.54 11.64 2.53 2.40 4.88
2010
10.67 11.72 13.26 4.52 4.62 6.71
2011
10.83 11.96 9.57 4.81 5.69 7.13
2012
12.04 11.08 10.89 3.49 2.47 4.29
Women part-time and fixed-term employment by number of children,
in percentage
Source: author’s calculations based on the Labour Force Survey data

11. Conclusions
1. In a global economic crisis in Latvia, employed men were more
affected by job loss or switching to a part-time job than women.
2. The participation of women in full-time-equivalent employment rate
in Latvia is higher than in the EU-27, because of low overall part-
time employment.
3. Almost half of part-time employment is involuntary, it increased
from 21% in 2007 to 43% in 2009.
4. Part-time and fixed-term employment is more likely for women
with primary or lower and general secondary education but less
likely for women with vocational and higher education. The highest
share of part-time and fixed-term women employment is within the
lowest income group.
5. Increase in flexibility during crisis has not been simultaneous with
the increase in employee’s security. Flexibility has increased
because of involuntary adjustments and not because of focused
labour market policy towards flexicurity implementation.
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12. University of Latvia
Faculty of Economics and Management
Economics Doctorate
Agnese.Vaivade@lu.lv
Thank you for your
attention!
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