Most Danes working part-time are satisfied with their jobs and their lives in general, according to a new survey by Nordisk information för kunskap om kön, a gender research centre. Particularly women are satisfied not working full-time.
According to Nina Smith, a professor of economics at Aarhus University, 96 percent of women working part-time are satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs.
“The survey shows that Danish women working part-time are particularly satisfied and do so voluntarily,” Smith told Politiken newspaper.
Conversely, in Sweden, Norway and Finland women working part-time are significantly less pleased compared to women working full-time. 13.2 percent of women working part-time in these countries are dissatisfied with their job situation.
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Shorter periods in Denmark
The tendency is the same among Nordic men working part-time, where the Danes once again lead the survey in job satisfaction.
One of the reasons for the Danish satisfaction is that Danes with children at home work part-time for shorter periods than their Norwegian and Swedish counterparts, according to Thomas P Boye, a family researcher from Roskilde University.
“Therefore, part-time work doesn’t have the same negative consequences for careers and wages for Danish parents,” Boye argued.
According to statistics from Eurostat, every third Danish woman works part-time, as does every seventh Danish man.
