The National Work–Life Balance Index©: The European Case

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• 作者：Jose Maria Fernandez-Crehuet ; J. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal…
• 刊名：Social Indicators Research
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：August 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：128
• 期：1
• 页码：341-359
• 全文大小：550 KB
• 刊物类别：Humanities, Social Sciences and Law
• 刊物主题：Social Sciences
  Sociology
  Quality of Life Research
  Microeconomics
  Public Health
  Human Geography
  
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1573-0921
• 卷排序：128

文摘

This paper proposes an index to measure the possibilities individuals have to balance their work and life spheres. Using data for 26 European countries, and principal components analysis, we compute the National Work–Life Balance Index© as a combination of five dimensions: Time/Schedule, Work, Family, Health, and Policy. We find that Northern and Central European countries, such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden have a higher value of the National Work–Life Balance Index©, compared to Southern and Western European countries, such as Spain, Greece, Portugal, Latvia, and Bulgaria. These results are consistent with existing literature showing that there is a lower proportion of individuals reporting difficulty balancing their work and household responsibilities in Northern countries, compared to other European countries. To the extent that international data becomes comparable, the National Work–Life Balance Index© may help to guide public policies aimed at improving the work–life balance of individuals in countries that are comparatively worse off in this respect.KeywordsEuropeNational Work–Life Balance Index©Principal components analysis