Full-time hours, part-time work: questioning the sufficiency of working hours as a measure of employment status

Abstract The social and economic forces that shape attitudes toward the welfare state are of central concern to social scientists. Scholarship in this area has paid limited attention to how working part-time, the employment status of nearly 20% of the U.S. workforce, affects redistribution preferences. In this article, we theoretically develop and empirically test an argument about the ways that part-time work, and its relationship to gender, shape redistribution preferences. We articulate two gender-differentiated pathways—one material and one about threats to social status—through which part-time work and gender may jointly shape individuals’ preferences for redistribution. We test our argument using cross-sectional and panel data from the General Social Survey in the United States. We find that the positive relationship between part-time employment, compared to full-time employment, and redistribution preferences is stronger for men than for women. Indeed, we do not detect a relationship between part-time work and redistribution preferences among women. Our results provide support for a gendered relationship between part-time employment and redistribution preferences and demonstrate that both material and status-based mechanisms shape this association.

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Stepping in, stepping out or staying put? Part-time work and immigrant integration in Norway

Dualisation of Part-Time Work ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447348603.003.0007 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 159-186 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hanne Cecilie Kavli ◽

Roy A. Nielsen

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Working Hours ◽

Immigrant Integration ◽

Full Time ◽

Strong Focus ◽

Time Work ◽

Risk Event ◽

Part Time ◽

Stable Part ◽

Part Time Work

Migrants are often at a disadvantage in the labour market. Increased migration has therefore led to a strong focus in receiving countries on policy that can facilitate employment. Less attention is paid to working hours, contracts or type of work. The workplace is viewed as an arena where immigrants can improve language skills and establish contacts through which they can achieve upwards mobility in the labour market. We investigate transfers out of part-time work among immigrants and natives in Norway. By means of competing risk event history analyses, we compare transitions from part-time work to either full-time positions or exits from the labour market over five years among Norwegians and different groups of immigrants. Stable part-time is less common among immigrants than among natives, as immigrants have higher transfers to both full-time work and unemployment. Immigrants - men and women - have the same or higher likelihood of transitioning from part-time to full-time compared to natives. This suggest that immigrants are more often involuntarily in part-time and that they benefit from the opportunity to demonstrate their skills to employers. However, immigrants also have higher exit risk and this risk increases with short working hours, indicating a higher level of precariousness.

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Involuntary Full- and Part-Time Work: Employees’ Mental Health and the Role of Family- and Work-Related Resources

Societies ◽

10.3390/soc10040081 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 81

Author(s):

Deborah De Moortel ◽

Nico Dragano ◽

Morten Wahrendorf

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Working Hours ◽

Full Time ◽

Standard Work ◽

Work Related ◽

Family And Work ◽

Time Work ◽

Part Time ◽

Part Time Work ◽

Male Workers

Resources related to a good work-life balance may play an important role for the mental health of workers with involuntary working hours. This study investigates whether involuntary part-time (i.e., working part-time, but preferring full-time work) and involuntary full-time work (i.e., working full-time, but preferring part-time work) are associated with a deterioration of mental health and whether family- and work-related resources buffer this association. Data were obtained from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) with baseline information on involuntary working hours and resources. This information was linked to changes in mental health two years later. We found impaired mental health for involuntary full-time male workers and increased mental health for regular part-time female workers. The mental health of involuntary full-time male workers is more vulnerable, compared to regular full-time workers, when having high non-standard work hours and when being a partner (with or without children). Involuntary part-time work is detrimental to men’s mental health when doing a high amount of household work. This study is one of the first to emphasize the mental health consequences of involuntary full-time work. Avoiding role and time conflicts between family and work roles are important for the mental health of men too.

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Part-Time Work and Gender Inequality in Europe. A Comparative Analysis of Satisfaction with Work–Life Balance

10.31235/osf.io/scpx6 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Barbara Beham ◽

Sonja Drobnič ◽

Patrick Präg ◽

Andreas Baierl ◽

Janin Eckner

Keyword(s):

Working Hours ◽

Work And Family ◽

Work Life ◽

Work Life Balance ◽

Substantial Part ◽

Full Time ◽

Life Balance ◽

Time Work ◽

Part Time ◽

Part Time Work

Part-time work is an increasingly common strategy for handling work and family—but is it an effective strategy everywhere and for everyone? To answer this question, we examine the satisfaction with work–life balance of workers in 22 European countries included in round five of the European Social Survey. Our results show that part-time workers are more satisfied with their work–life balance than full-time workers; the more so, the fewer hours they put in. Yet, we find an important gender difference: Women in marginal part-time work (< 21 hours/week) are more satisfied than men in a similar situation, and conversely men in full-time work are more satisfied than women working full-time. Further, the societal context plays an important role: substantial part-time work (21–34 hours/week) is more conducive to satisfaction with work–life balance in more gender-egalitarian countries than in countries with low gender equality. Hence, a supportive gender climate and institutional support may entice workers to reduce working hours moderately, which results in markedly increased levels of SWLB.

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Employment Adjustment and Part-Time Work: Lessons from the United States and the United Kingdom

American Economic Journal Macroeconomics ◽

10.1257/mac.20160078 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 389-435 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Daniel Borowczyk-Martins ◽

Etienne LalÉ

Keyword(s):

Working Hours ◽

The United States ◽

Full Time ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Employment Adjustment ◽

Time Work ◽

Labor Adjustment ◽

Part Time ◽

Stock Flow ◽

Part Time Work

We document that fluctuations in part-time employment play a major role in movements in hours per worker during cyclical swings in the labor market. Building on this result, we develop a stock-flow framework to describe the dynamics of part-time employment. The evolution of part-time employment is predominantly explained by cyclical changes in transitions between full-time and part-time employment. Those transitions occur overwhelmingly at the same employer, entail sizable changes in individual working hours and are associated with an increase in involuntary part-time work. Our findings provide a novel understanding of the cyclical dynamics of labor adjustment on the intensive margin. (JEL E24, E32, J22, J23)

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The Effects of Part-Time Work on Women's Occupational Mobility in Britain: Evidence from the 1958 Birth Cohort Study

National Institute Economic Review ◽

10.1177/002795011222200103 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 222 ◽

pp. R20-R37 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Shirley Dex ◽

Erzsébet Bukodi

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Large Scale ◽

Occupational Mobility ◽

Birth Cohort Study ◽

Full Time ◽

Downward Mobility ◽

Time Work ◽

Part Time ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Part Time Work

The effects of working part time on job downgrading and upgrading are examined over the life course of British women born in 1958. We use longitudinal data with complete work histories from a large-scale nationally representative cohort study. Occupations were ranked by their hourly average earnings. Analyses show a strong link between full-time/part-time transitions and downward and upward occupational mobility over the course of up to thirty years of employment. Probabilities of occupational mobility were affected by women's personal traits, occupational characteristics and demand-side factors. Downward mobility on moving from full-time to part-time work was more likely for women at the top levels of the occupational hierarchy working in male-dominated or mixed occupations and less likely in higher occupations with more part-time jobs available.

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Gender Roles and Employment Pathways of Older Women and Men in England

SAGE Open ◽

10.1177/2158244017742690 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 215824401774269 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Mariska van der Horst ◽

David Lain ◽

Sarah Vickerstaff ◽

Charlotte Clark ◽

Ben Baumberg Geiger

Keyword(s):

Gender Roles ◽

Marital Status ◽

Older Women ◽

Older Age ◽

Full Time ◽

Men And Women ◽

Male Breadwinner ◽

Time Work ◽

Part Time ◽

Part Time Work

In the context of population aging, the U.K. government is encouraging people to work longer and delay retirement, and it is claimed that many people now make “gradual” transitions from full-time to part-time work to retirement. Part-time employment in older age may, however, be largely due to women working part-time before older age, as per a U.K. “modified male breadwinner” model. This article therefore separately examines the extent to which men and women make transitions into part-time work in older age, and whether such transitions are influenced by marital status. Following older men and women over a 10-year period using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this article presents sequence, cluster, and multinomial logistic regression analyses. Little evidence is found for people moving into part-time work in older age. Typically, women did not work at all or they worked part-time (with some remaining in part-time work and some retiring/exiting from this activity). Consistent with a “modified male breadwinner” logic, marriage was positively related to the likelihood of women belonging to typically “female employment pathway clusters,” which mostly consist of part-time work or not being employed. Men were mostly working full-time regardless of marital status. Attempts to extend working lives among older women are therefore likely to be complicated by the influence of traditional gender roles on employment.

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Arbeidsvoorwaarden en de gewenste pensioenleeftijd

Gedrag & Organisatie ◽

10.5117/2011.024.004.412 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Marianne van Zwieten ◽

Jan Fekke Ybema ◽

Goedele Geuskens

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Working Conditions ◽

Working Hours ◽

Retirement Age ◽

Older Employees ◽

Flexible Working Hours ◽

Flexible Working ◽

Time Work ◽

Part Time ◽

Part Time Work

Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age The present study examines how the satisfaction with the terms of employment among older employees affects the preferred retirement age. Two waves of data collection (2008 and 2009) of the cohort-study of the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NWCS) were used for this study. The results of this longitudinal study showed that satisfaction with terms of employment that concern flexibility (e.g. flexible working hours and the possibilities for part-time work) contribute to a higher preferred retirement age. It also contributes to not specifying the preferred retirement age. This means that employees who are satisfied with the flexibility in their jobs more often do not know at what age they prefer to retire than employees who are not satisfied, but if they do know they report a higher preferred retirement age. By arranging flexibility in the job together with and to the satisfaction of employees, employees can be stimulated to postpone retirement.

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Working-hour Trends in the Nordic Countries: Convergence or Divergence?

Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies ◽

10.18291/njwls.v9i3.116056 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Aart-Jan Riekhoff ◽

Oxana Krutova ◽

Jouko Nätti

Keyword(s):

Gender Gap ◽

Working Hours ◽

Annual Data ◽

Structural Factors ◽

Age Group ◽

Men And Women ◽

Time Work ◽

Part Time ◽

Part Time Work ◽

Working Hour

In this article, we investigate changes in usual working hours and part-time work in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in recent decades. We analyze whether convergence or divergence occurred between countries, between men and women, and between men and women in each country. We use annual data from the European Labor Force Survey to identify trends between 1996 and 2016 (N = 730,133), while controlling for a set of structural factors. The findings suggest a degree of divergence between countries: usual working hours and the incidence of part-time work were relatively stable in Finland and Sweden, while working hours decreased in Denmark and Norway. The latter is partly driven by a decline among the 15–29 age group. The gender gap in working hours and part-time work was closed somewhat, in particular due to a rise in part-time work among men and a decline among women in Norway and Sweden.

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Inclusion and Exclusion in Hiring

Making the Cut ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691175102.003.0004 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 67-85

Author(s):

David S. Pedulla

Keyword(s):

Full Time ◽

Employment History ◽

Race And Gender ◽

Employment Skills ◽

Time Work ◽

Part Time ◽

Employment Experience ◽

And Gender ◽

Time Standard ◽

Part Time Work

This chapter delves into the effects of each type of employment experience—part-time work, temporary agency employment, skills underutilization, and long-term unemployment. These are compared to full-time, standard employment on applicants' likelihood of receiving a callback for a job. As the chapter shows, the effects are largely contingent. First, they are contingent on the type of employment history. Each type of employment experience—part-time work versus temporary agency employment, for instance—does not result in the same treatment from hiring professionals. Second, the consequences of a particular employment experience are contingent on the race and gender of the worker. Indeed, it is difficult to isolate the effect of a given employment history from the way it is refracted through a worker's social group membership.

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