The number of part-time jobs in Austria has risen by 30% over the past decade, according to new figures from Statistik Austria.
In 2013, around 950,000 people worked part-time, but by 2023, that number had increased to 1.25 million. Over the same period, the number of full-time workers also grew slightly, from 2.61 million to 2.69 million.
However, data on the number of hours worked by part-time employees is unavailable, with part-time work defined as “between 12 hours and full-time.”
“More and more people in Austria are working part-time, on fixed-term contracts, in mini-jobs or in temporary work. In 2013, less than a third of employees were in these types of employment, but by 2023, it was 36.7%,” said Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistik Austria.
According to Thomas, the proportion of part-time workers increased from 26.7% to 31.6% in this period, with only the Netherlands having a higher part-time rate in the EU.
The number of fixed-term contracts also saw a significant rise, up by 20% to 243,000 people in 2023, compared to 203,000 a decade ago. Temporary work rose by 14.5% to 85,000, while mini-jobs increased by 9.9% to 191,000. However, the number of freelance contracts fell by 7.7% to 30,000.
Gender Differences
Part-time work is far more common among women, with 986,000 women in part-time employment, compared to 261,000 men, who continue to dominate full-time jobs. In fact, Austria’s part-time rate for women is one of the highest in Europe, at 51.6%, well above the EU average of 29.3%. In contrast, the part-time rate for men is only slightly above the European average.
The high rate of part-time work among women is linked to the unequal distribution of paid and unpaid work between the genders. For women, the most common reason for working part-time is caregiving for children or elderly relatives, with 39.8% citing this as the primary factor. For men, this is much less significant, with only 8.6% of men reporting caregiving as a reason for part-time work.
Family commitments, particularly childcare, play a significant role in shaping women’s work patterns. The part-time rate for women with children under 15 years old stands at 73.3%, compared to just 8.1% for men. Even when children are older, women are still more likely to work part-time, with 57.4% of women with children aged 15 and above working part-time, compared to just 9.2% of men.
When men work part-time, the reasons tend to be more related to education or career development (26.3%), personal choice to avoid full-time work (23.7%), or difficulty finding a full-time position (9.0%). In contrast, the main reasons for women working part-time are more closely linked to family care responsibilities.
