Dutch, part-time champions, fight labour shortage - by Emma Thomasson
The Netherlands must get more women, immigrants and older people into jobs and make everyone work longer hours if the economy is to avoid a return to steeply rising wages which choked off growth five years ago. The Dutch work fewer hours on average than any other OECD nation except Norway, thanks to a high rate of part-time work. This helps to boost female participation in the workforce but dampens overall labour supply as few women have full-time jobs. Politicians, analysts and academics agree that the situation cannot continue without hurting economic competitiveness, though there are deep disagreements on how to tackle the problem. Economy Minister Maria van der Hoeven called last week for the standard working week to be increased to 40 hours from 36 now and for paid leave to be cut to help relieve the tight job market.
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