A recent report by the Amsterdam Institute entitled “The First Part-Time Economy in the World” documents the social impact of this process. Since 1970, part-time jobs in the Dutch economy have increased to a record for countries monitored by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This trend has accelerated over the past decade.
The institute reported: “Already by 1988 there were 1,886,000 part-time employed people (31.4 percent of all people in employment). In 1997 their number had risen to 2,656,000. This is an increase of 40.8 per cent in nine years, four times the increase (10.3 percent) in full-time employment.”
The number of self-employed increased from 150,000 to 757,000 between 1987 and 1997, while temporary, agency, and variable-hour working increased by comparable proportions. By 1997, fully a million households—total population of some 16 million—were below the poverty line. Of these, 40 percent had been in poverty since 1992. Social spending plummeted from 66 percent of gross domestic product in 1985 to around 50 percent today.
Poverty has grown in suburbs of big cities such as Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague. Increasingly, the burden for sustaining social programs has been transferred to local authorities, which have responded by cutting spending on such services.
The institute reported: “Already by 1988 there were 1,886,000 part-time employed people (31.4 percent of all people in employment). In 1997 their number had risen to 2,656,000. This is an increase of 40.8 per cent in nine years, four times the increase (10.3 percent) in full-time employment.”
The number of self-employed increased from 150,000 to 757,000 between 1987 and 1997, while temporary, agency, and variable-hour working increased by comparable proportions. By 1997, fully a million households—total population of some 16 million—were below the poverty line. Of these, 40 percent had been in poverty since 1992. Social spending plummeted from 66 percent of gross domestic product in 1985 to around 50 percent today.
Poverty has grown in suburbs of big cities such as Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague. Increasingly, the burden for sustaining social programs has been transferred to local authorities, which have responded by cutting spending on such services.