In the earliest times men and women started off on an equal footing to provide the means for their own livelihood. Over the centuries, however, different personal reactions to prevailing situations started to break down that equality not only between men and women but also among men.
People began to be distinguished between poor and rich, clever and stupid, innovative and dull. But the dividing line among people started to arise when financial and economic conditions were taken into account; a clear distinction arose between being an employer and an employee. With the Industrial Revolution this distinction became more pronounced.
The political effect of the Industrial Revolution was the introduction of representative government based on democracy that departed from the traditional practice that all power lay on landed gentry. Instead, power was at first shared with industrialists and the growing number of new capitalists and then encompassed a broad section of the population.
From then on, governments used to be concerned with providing work, work practices and safety and health conditions at new factories as the national economy started to acquire new dimensions. As a result, governments have had to reconcile the interests of employers and employees to ensure the generation of national wealth.
Certainly, it is not an easy task to merge two contrasting interests. Employers want to minimise costs and employees are after getting the best remuneration for their time and acquired skills. Since within an economy there may be cyclical, seasonal and frictional fluctuations, full-time jobs are not always available. As a result, a number of workers have to temporarily depend on part-time employment or end up with no employment at all.
Same entitlements for part-timers
Governments are fully aware of the consequences when the economy is not functioning properly and therefore no job opportunities are created. In both cases workers tend to suffer financial hardship and, psychologically, they may even consider themselves misfits. Governments provide benefits to tide workers over the period of their unemployment.
In the case of part-time workers, the British government, like many other governments endowed with a social conscience, have legislated clear-cut conditions so that part-timers will not endure undue hardship: the same hourly rate of pay and the same access to pension schemes are enforced; in addition, part-timers enjoy the same entitlements to annual leave and maternity/parental leave (on a pro rata basis) as full-time employees; and finally, they have full access to training and are entitled to sick pay.
The people who resort to part-time work tend to be women, because of their family commitments, and young workers who may not have yet acquired the required skills needed in the labour market. There are others, however, who have found that it suits them better to rely on part time work. In Barbados and Mauritius, outsourcing generally depends on part-timers; and it has been a financial bonanza on those taking part.
In Malta, the National Statistic Office (NSO) provides policymakers and economic analysts with the tools to investigate the labour market. Particularly relevant is the table that shows how part-time work has developed. The NSO also provides a comparative investigation of this trend over the years. More information is needed, however, to assess correctly whether part-time work can be regarded as beneficial to all.
One can say that in Malta only about 35 per cent of the entire population make up the working populatiuon. This means that 65 per cent are totally dependent on these workers. About 40 per cent of the gainfully employed either directly or indirectly depend on government employment. These workers are generally paid through taxation collected by public authorities. By implication, the percentage of workers who are actually generating the national wealth is relatively small.
Last year, the percentage of people who had a part-time job was about 30 per cent of the workforce - an increase of more than 15,000 workers over the 1997 figure. In 1997 the total of part-timers was nearly 24,000, of whom 38.9 per cent were women.
Last year, the proportion of women in part-time employment rose to 51.9 per cent. So far, there is no information available regarding the breakdown of age groups pertaining to male part-timers. What is important is that, in 2004, 56 per cent of persons having part-time employment actually depended solely on this earned income.
78 per cent rise in part-timers
The NSO classified part-time employment in three categories: direct production, market services and non-market services. Direct production incorporates agriculture and fisheries, quarrying, construction and oil-drilling and manufacturing; market services includes wholesale and retail, banking, insurance and real estate, transport, storage and communication, hotels and catering establishments and other categories not specified; and finally, non-market services is made up of government departments and armed forces.
In 1997, the classification that attracted most part-time employment was non-specified 'other activities'. By 2004 the number of these part-timers shot up by 78 per cent. Apparently, it is about time that the NSO goes into this figure to break it down so that proper analysis can be carried out to establish the reason for which workers prefer this economic activity.
Though hotels and catering establishments registered a higher absolute figure over wholesale and retail, the rate of increase in the latter category is much higher than the former one. A note worth making in this respect is that government departments are making use of part-timers. Between 1997 and 2004 the percentage of employees engaged by government departments in part-time work increased by 70 per cent.
The pertinent question to ask is whether this trend of increasing part-time employment should be encouraged or not. Opposition parties and trade unions are likely to be against the idea and may use this trend to accuse Government of being unable to create full-time employment opportunities. They may also portray this growing trend in part-time work in a bad light as it is an incidence when workers are either forced to work part-time to supplement their wages as the cost of living is increasing or have to content themselves with part-time work because they have been unable to find full-time employment.
More flexibility
It is an undisputed fact that these workers are earning less than had they been in full-time employment but they may also reap advantages. The new work environment helps them to become familiar with other potential opportunities that may come their way. Perhaps, it could be the first step to help them consider becoming self-employed and embark on new business enterprises.
In addition, part-time employment helps to make the economy less rigid with traditional employment practices and workers become more flexible at their place of work. It certainly encourages workers to interest themselves in the multiskill phenomenon that has become a characteristic of successful small countries.
Employing the new communication technology and having innovative ideas, other small countries are increasing their reliance on part-time work. Outsourcing work from larger industrialised countries, developing economies like India and others are finding it beneficial to their national economy to have people earning high income from their own homes through the Internet.
Malta needs more vocational training centres to cultivate this new trend in flexible work practices. Part-time work can be a source of furthering employment and business opportunities, Malta's silver lining, instead of being stuck in the same old place carrying out routine tasks.
Dr Borda is an economist specialising in the development of small states