The Netherlands is a part-time job champion. Here are some numbers gleaned (with some calculations on my part) from Eurostat, Labour Force Survey for 2010:

• Of all persons employed, 46% are women
  
• Of all persons employed, 48% are on part time
  
• Of all persons employed, 35% are women on part time
  
• Of all jobs held by women in the Elementary occupations sector (includes cleaning), 90% are part-time

Part-time work is generally associated with lower pay and rights, less benefits, more precarity. It's also more often held by women than men. (It's true, partly voluntarily, for reasons of child and family responsibilities mainly).

This can be hailed as a success in bringing women into the labour force. It also massages the unemployment rate quite nicely.

But 9 out of 10 jobs held by women in a low-paid occupational sector being part-time looks like a recipe for exploitation.