Distribution of paid and unpaid work of people of 50 plus in The Netherlands

Labour market participation of Dutch men younger than 50 remained the same in the period 1975-1985, but the participation rate of men over 50 is rapidly diminishing. Labour market participation of Dutch women younger than 50 years of age has rapidly grown. In an analysis of time budget surveys over the period 1975-1985 special attention is paid to the total workload of paid and unpaid work because the division of paid and unpaid labour between men and women is changing: women enter the labour market, men increase their share of unpaid work. To prevent younger people from burning out when they reach the age of 50 and over because of the double burden of paid and unpaid work, policy measures should be taken to make a combination of paid and unpaid work easier for both sexes. Some measures are proposed that could diminish this total workload.