Parental work schedules and hours from a cross-national perspective: a welfare regime analysis on 29 countries

Technological advances have transformed when and for how long individuals work, a process associated with increasing polarization and precarity. Using the European Working Conditions Survey (2005-2015) (N = 20, 648), we examined parental work schedules and hours across welfare regimes covering 29 European countries. Our multivariate logistic regressions results indicate that nonstandard work schedules (e.g., evenings, nights, weekends) and overworking (=>45 hours weekly) were more common in the Liberal, Southern, and Central-Eastern European regimes than in the Corporatist and Social Democratic regimes, whereas part-time work (=25 hours weekly) was most prevalent in the Liberal and Corporatist regimes. Fathers were more likely to work nonstandard schedules and overwork but less likely to work part-time than mothers, particularly so in the Liberal regime. Compared to lower-educated parents, higher-educated parents were less likely to work nonstandard schedules and to overwork, particularly so in the Southern and Central-Eastern European regimes.