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Jon C. Messenger Senior Research Officer International Labour Office, Geneva

Working Time and Gender: Findings from an ILO Report and Implications for Time Use Data International Seminar on Time Use Research Rio de Janeiro-10 September 2010. Jon C. Messenger Senior Research Officer International Labour Office, Geneva. What is the ILO?.

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Jon C. Messenger Senior Research Officer International Labour Office, Geneva

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  1. Working Time and Gender: Findings from an ILO Report and Implications for Time Use DataInternational Seminar on Time Use Research Rio de Janeiro-10 September 2010 Jon C. Messenger Senior Research Officer International Labour Office, Geneva

  2. What is the ILO? • The ILO was originally established in 1919; now a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) system • Unlike most of the UN system, the ILO is tripartite: governments, trade unions, and employer federations participate in its decision-making bodies • Objective: Decent work for all • Promoting opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security, and human dignity • Responsible for promulgating International Labor Standards

  3. International Working Time Standards • Preamble to ILO Constitution singles out working hours as an area of focus and first ILO Convention was on working time—C1 Hours of Work (Industry) • Since 1919, the ILO has adopted 39 standards relating to working time. The most important cover: • daily and weekly hours—8-h day & 48-h week/ 40-h week/reduction of working hours • weekly rest—minimum of 1 day (24 hours) • annual leave—minimum of 3 weeks • night work • part-time work • workers with family responsibilities

  4. ILO Report on Working Time Around the World • ILO report Working Time Around the World (Lee, McCann, and Messenger, 2007; Portuguese language version, 2010) • Report provides the first-ever global comparative analysis of national laws, policies, and (usual) working hours which focuses on developing and transition countries • The report draws mainly on data from three sources: • The ILO’s Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws (www.ilo.org/travdatabase) covering more than 100 countries • An ILO Questionnaire on the distribution of weekly working hours sent to national statistical agencies around the world • A series of 15 country studies to provide more in-depth information for selected countries • Azerbaijan, Brazil, Chile, China, Czech Rep., Hungary, Jamaica, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Peru, Russian Fed., Senegal, Tunisia

  5. Statutory Limits on Working Hours • Gradual movement towards a 40-hour limit on weekly hours of work in national laws over the past four decades • The ILO Working Time Around the World report confirms that the 40-hour limit is now the dominant standard for normal hours of work across the world • However, substantial regional differences remain, especially: • 48-hour standard remains dominant in Latin America • Split in Asia between 48-hour standard and 40-hour standard (with no generally applicable standard in India and Pakistan)

  6. Excessively Long Working Hours:Proportion of Workers Working Over 48* Hours/Week, 2004-05(Source: ILO Special Data Collection on the Distribution of Working Hours) Global estimate: 22 % of workers

  7. Shorter Working Hours:Proportion of Workers Working Under 35* Hours/Week, 2004-05(Source: ILO Special Data Collection on the Distribution of Working Hours)

  8. Gender “Gaps” in Paid Working Hours:Proportion of Workers Working Over 48* Hours/Week, 2004-05 (Source: ILO Special Data Collection on the Distribution of Working Hours)

  9. Gender “Gaps” in Paid Working Hours:Proportion of Workers Working Under 35* Hours/Week, 2004-05 (Source: ILO Special Data Collection on the Distribution of Working Hours)

  10. Working Time in the Informal Economy:Distribution of Weekly Hours of Self-Employed Workers (Source: ILO Special Data Collection on the Distribution of Working Hours)

  11. Working Time Developments: Key Findings (I) • Gradual movement towards a 40-hour limit on weekly working hours in national laws over the past four decades • However, proportions of workers working long hours remain high in many developing and transition countries • There are also substantial proportions of workers working short hours in many countries—especially in informal economy

  12. Working Time Developments: Key Findings (II) • Major differences in paid working hours by gender • Proportion of workers working excessively long hours in paid work greater for men than women in almost every country • Proportion of workers working shorter hours in paid work greater for women than men in almost every country • Men are divided between those working long hours and those working short hours—the latter appear likely to be underemployed • Women more frequently work shorter hours—particularly in the informal economy—most likely due to a heavy burden of family care and other domestic responsibilities, i.e. their unpaid work

  13. Implications for Time Use Data • Available data on hours of work permit researchers to analyse paid working hours by gender in most countries • However, available working time data do not permit researchers to: • Analyse unpaid hours of work e.g., time spent on unpaid household work, caregiving, and other activities outside of the SNA boundary • Analyse total hours of work, including both paid and unpaid work by gender (and other variables e.g., part-time status, family status, number of children in household, etc.) • Also, analyse the timing of both paid and unpaid work activities, which is extremely important for understanding the time patterns in society

  14. Average Weekly Hours in Brazil:Paid Work, Unpaid Work, and Total Work by Gender, 2008(Source: IBGE PNAD Microdata)

  15. Average Weekly Hours in the EU-27:Paid Work, Unpaid Work, and Total Work by Gender, 2009(Source: European Foundation for the Improvementof Living and Working Conditions, 2010)

  16. Implications for Time Use Data • Valid, reliable time use data on unpaid work is essential to allow researchers to address these important gender and family issues • The availability of such rich time analyses can inform public policy choices regarding: • Employment policies, including part-time work and other work-life balance policies • Child care and elder care supports • Opening hours of public institutions (e.g., schools, public transportation services)

  17. Contact Information Jon C. Messenger Senior Research Officer International Labour Office (ILO) Conditions of Work and Employment Programme (TRAVAIL) E-mail address: messenger@ilo.org Website address: www.ilo.org/travail

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