There is a broad debate in international comparative welfare state research about the ways in which welfare state policies influence the integration of women into labour markets. In comparative welfare state research the main labour market indicators are sometimes used without considering the possibilities that they offer for the evaluation of theoretical assumptions and their limitations.
The main question that this chapter seeks to answer is: how can different labour market indicators be used for different research questions related to women’s labour market integration? We analyse the possibilities and limitations of the main labour market indicators. Moreover, we argue that it is important to understand the processes and social phenomena that are connected with the main labour market indicators in order to apply these indicators in an adequate way. Finally, we show that it is possible to classify women’s labour markets on the basis of the differences in the ways in which the main indicators interact. We show how such an analysis can be conducted by the example of cross-national analysis of women’s labour markets in 11 European cities and countries.