Part-time workers form a substantial proportion of the working population both in the member states of the European Union and in the applicant countries. The development of part-time work in recent years varies from one country to another. To promote part-time employment, while protecting the workers concerned from discrimination, in 1997 the European Social Partners concluded an agreement which was incorporated into a Council directive in the same year.

Since there have been number of criticisms concerning the content of the new legislation - for example that it excludes all social security aspects, that the principle of non-discrimination is subject to numerous exceptions - and concerning the fact that few real guarantees are foreseen, the ETUI decided to scrutinise the impact of this directive on member states' legislation. Its findings - different in a number of significant respects from the official Commission implementation report - were published in December 2002 in a new ETUI Report.

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