The labour market participation of women in small European Union member states

Abstract

This article is intended to provide a comparative analysis of women’s participation in the labour market in different European contexts with special reference to five small European States. The paper shows that in the small Member States the participation rate of women is increasing faster than that of the larger Member States, that in the small Member States the participation rate of women is increasing faster than that of the male participation rate and that a higher education level is related to a higher participation rate of women in the small Member States. The paper also discusses some implications derived from the main conclusions.