Part-time employment as a % of total employment
In 2006 countries showed a mixed percent of their workforce employed as part-time employees. OECD data refers to part-time employment as persons who usually work less than 30 hours per week in the main job (35 hours for Japan). The split which separates those with a large chunk of part-time employees is not easily definable and countries do not share similar economies, policies, histories, or geographic locations. OECD countries oscillate around the group’s total of 16.1%. The Netherlands’ workforce is comprised of the most part-time employees at 35.5%, followed by Australia and Switzerland at 27.1% and 25.5%, respectively. The economy with the lowest percent of part-time labor compared to the total workforce is the Slovak Republic where only 2.5% of employees are considered part-time. Other performers at the low end of the ranking include Hungary, with 2.7%, the Czech Republic, at 3.3%, and Turkey, at 7.9%.
Women as a percent of total part-time employment
Although the preceding graph of part-time employment as a percent of the total workforce did not show any direct trend, the data as it pertains to women is useful for economists, policy-knacks, and company directors as woman seem to overwhelming make up a country’s part-time labor. In fact, all OECD countries see woman as over 60% of their part-time labor. The OECD total of 72.1% is unnaturally high, but perhaps for good reason. Woman are indeed facing new struggles as the nature of employment changes and two people are often needed to support a family. To be there for their children, women must have more free time at home, but while their children are at school during the day, women are able to take on part-time work. Luxembourg’s place as a bustling banking center might likely show favorable employment plans for part-time female professionals, accounting for the European country’s high score of 93.1% for woman as a percent of total part-time employees. Korea, with 58.5% and Turkey, with 58.6%, might rank lower because of traditional values over the woman’s place in a household or at least the man’s place as an owner. The culture of employing women is undoubtably one of pragmatism, which might explain why OECD countries, considered the world’s strongest economies, show such high figures.
Consumer price increases (as %)
OECD annual inflation rates in 2007 remained relatively low, but some developing economies are nevertheless showing the expected hot flashes of a bustling market. The OECD total of 2.4% consumer price increase is dwarfed by Turkey, whose economy is heating up with 10.9%, a number they will need to cool down as they continue talks with EU negotiators over eventual accession talks. The Celtic Tiger Ireland is also showing economic growth’s effects on inflation, where consumer prices have jumped by 5.1%. Besides Japan, which in fact registered a deflation of 0.1%, Europe’s mature economies of France with 1.2%, Switzerland with 0.2%, and Norway with 1.1%, are reporting very stable price increases.
Trillion passenger-kilometers
How mobile are citizens in OECD countries? Very, according to one composite score this accounts for passenger transport on rail, buses and coaches, and private cars. The scores, in trillions of passenger-kilometers, are indicative of how on the move some countries are and how they stack up against others. The US rises far above all other OECD members, with 7.4 trillion passenger-kilometers, perhaps because of the country’s close to 300 million population or because of the “go-go-go” nature of Americans. Japan, with 1.222 trillion passenger-kilometers and Germany with 1.0289 trillion rank second and third among OECD countries. The least mobile citizens come from Greece, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic, perhaps attributed to income, geographic location, availability of transport, or just being content with remaining still.
