Part-time workers have right to equal treatment (WoL, V2)
| Quick info | |
|---|---|
| Data type | Numeric |
| Scale | Metric |
| Value labels | not applicable |
| Technical name | labor_equity_part_equal |
| Category | Labour and labour market |
| Label | Part-time workers have the right to equal treatment (WoL, V2) |
| Related indicators |
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The variable measures the degree of equal treatment of part-time and full-time workers.
Part-time workers are predominantly female, young (pupils, students) and often have an immigrant background (multiple part-time jobs). The legal inequality of part-time workers is an important building block in the differentiation from standard employment relationships – the third major form of precarious employment, particularly in countries of the Global North, alongside fixed-term and temporary employment relationships.
Unequal treatment may be provided for by law. In addition to less protection against dismissal, reduced holiday and rest periods may be regulated or, for example, access to social benefits may be restricted, including state social security systems (e.g., via mini-jobs in Germany). Unequal treatment can also arise from overtime regulations that only apply after exceeding a certain threshold of number of hours per week, and other standards established in collective agreements. In addition, unequal treatment of part-time employees typically arises from operational dynamics, since shorter attendance times typically result in exclusion mechanisms because meetings are missed, bonuses based on flexibility are missed, etc. What these forms of unequal treatment have in common is that part-time employees have to bear the additional burdens of other paid or unpaid work themselves, while in the case of full-time employees they are rewarded by the employer (and often also by the legislator).
The variable measures the extent to which part-time employees are legally treated equally. Equal treatment with regard to protection against dismissal is not to be examined here – this is the subject of the following variable.
This variable is derived and minimally modified from the CBR Labour Regulation Index Dataset (‘CBR-LRI’), which provides data on employment law across 117 countries spanning the years from (in most instances) 1970 to 2022, with the exception of post-socialist countries (refer to Adams et al. 2017, 2023). The current CBR-LRI data points were reviewed, and any discrepancies in values were adjusted in accordance with the WoL coding rules. Additionally, data points from before 1970 or equivalent timeframes for former Soviet bloc countries were included (cf. Fechner/Carlino 2025). In addition to the 115 countries with populations exceeding 500,000 as classified by CBR-LRI, 37 more countries have been included (cf. Fechner/Carlino 2025). Core differences concerning the original CBR-LRI data:
Variable E.12 in the Worlds of Labour (WoL) SPE template - originally CBR-LRI variable 2.
Coding rules
"Equals 1 if the legal system recognises a right to equal treatment for part-time workers (as, for example, in the case of EC Directive 97/81/EC).
Equals 0.5 if the legal system recognises a more limited right to equal treatment for part- time workers (via, e.g., sex discrimination law or a more general right of workers not be treated arbitrarily in employment).
Equals 0 if neither of the above.
Scope for scores between 0 and 1 to reflect changes in the strength of the statutory law."
For detailed coding rules, please consult Fechner/Carlino 2025.
Bibliographic info
Citation: Fechner, Heiner and Marina Carlino (2025). Worlds of Labour (WoL) Leximetric Dataset. University of Bremen.
Related publications: Adams, Zoe, Bhumika Billa, Louise Bishop, Simon Deakin and Tvisha Shroff (2023). CBR Labour Regulation Index (Dataset of 117 Countries, 1970-2022) - Codes and Sources. Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge. at: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.9130.2
Carlino, Marina, Fechner, Heiner, and Schäfer, Andrea (2025). Using leximetrics for coding legal segmentation in employment law: The development and potential of the Worlds of Labour database. In I. Dingeldey, H. Fechner, & U. Mückenberger (Eds.), Constructing Worlds of Labour. Coverage and Generosity of Labour Law as Outcomes of Regulatory Social Policy. Palgrave Macmillan. pp.53-83
Deakin, Simon, Johna Armour and Mathias Siems (2023). CBR Leximetric Datasets [Updated 2023]. Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.9130.2
Dingeldey, Irene, Heiner Fechner, Jean-Yves Gerlitz, Jenny Hahs, Ulrich Mückenberger, Worlds of Labour: Introducing the Standard-Setting, Privileging and Equalising Typology as a Measure of Legal Segmentation in Labour Law, Industrial Law Journal, Volume 51, Issue 3, September 2022, Pages 560–597, https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwab016
Fechner, Heiner, and Marina Carlino (2025). Coding Legal Segmentation in Employment Law. The Worlds of Labour (WoL) Dataset. SFB 1342 Technical Paper Series, 22. Bremen: SFB 1342. https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/4191
Misc
Project manager(s): Responsible for data coding: Heiner Fechner (2018-2025), Marina Carlino (2022-2025).
Responsible for data editing, description (WESIS) and entry: Heiner Fechner (2025), Andrea Schäfer (2021-2025), Jenny Hahs (2018-21), Jean-Yves Gerlitz (2018-20).
Principal Investigators: Irene Dingeldey, Ulrich Mückenberger.
Student assistants (alphabetical ordering): Max Anders, Julia Bode, Jessica Bonn, Daniel Euler, Jan-Christopher Floren, Maxime Fischer, Jennifer Götte, Eliko Hagen, Désirée Hoppe, Irina Kyburz, Alexandra Kojnow, Tarek Mahmalat, Karolin Meyer, Oguz Mermut, Johanna Nold, Tanusha Pali, Gerrit Pantel, Johannes Ramsauer, Max Sudhoff, Kristina Walter, Caroline Zambiasi.
Data release: Version 0.001: Initial release December 2025.
Revisions: No revisions yet.
This is the first version of the dataset of the thoroughly revised Version 2 WoL template; for the first time, all variables including those originally stemming from CBR-LRI have been coded/revised under WoL criteria. A preliminary version with compiled data (CBR-LRI and WoL) has been published in WeSIS marked by "CBR-LRI-based" and "WoL, V1".
Sources
Own coding, partially based on coding by CBR-LRI.
Fechner, Heiner, and Marina Carlino (2025). Coding Legal Segmentation in Employment Law. The Worlds of Labour (WoL) Dataset. SFB 1342 Technical Paper Series, 22. Bremen: SFB 1342. https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/4191
Partially identical (after revision by WoL) with the original CBR-LRI coding, to be found in:
Deakin, Simon, Johna Armour and Mathias Siems (2023). CBR Leximetric Datasets [Updated 2023]. Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.9130.2
