GENEVA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Latest government figures on Thursday showed that Switzerland has the second highest number of part-time workers in Europe, with over a third of employees work less than 90 percent.
The Swiss Federal Statistical Office showed a marked increase in part-time work over the past 20 years - from 26.3 percent to 36.7 percent.
A total of 59 percent of women and 18 percent of men work part-time.
The figures put Switzerland second in Europe for part-time working, behind The Netherlands, where 50.7 percent of the population work less than 100 percent.
Swiss neighbors Germany (28.2 percent), France (18.8 percent) and Italy (18.7 percent) all have lower levels of part-time work. In Europe, Hungary (4.8 percent) and Bulgaria (2.4 percent) have the lowest levels.
Women in Switzerland are three times more likely than men to be working reduced hours, with taking care of young children being the most frequent reason given. But the proportion of males taking on jobs below 100 percent has accelerated.
Service sector jobs are most likely to be part-time, notably in the arts, private working at home, teaching, health, and social sectors.
Switzerland boasts one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe at 2.7 percent in December.
