The quality of part-time work in a changing U.S. labor market, 1980--2005.

摘要

Key topics within sociological scholarship addressing change in the American labor market have been the deinstitutionalization of "standard" full-time work, the growth in part-time work and other "nonstandard" employment arrangements, and a corresponding deterioration in the material aspects of job quality (e.g., wages and benefits). Dual/segmented labor market theories position part-time work within the disadvantaged "secondary" labor market, in which jobs tend to be less skilled and afford lower wages and benefits. Yet, theories of part-time work acknowledge the existence of "good" and "bad" part-time jobs. While existing research has contributed to our understanding of the differences between full-time and part-time work quality, revealing the overall inferiority of part-time work, an important limitation of existing literature is that it has not empirically examined the variation within part-time work quality, the winners and losers in terms of part-time work quality, and how these arrangements have evolved themselves in a changing American labor market. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement, this thesis examined four indicators of part-time work quality---voluntary/involuntary part-time work, employer-based health insurance coverage, employer-based retirement plan coverage, and wages---among adult part-time employees aged 18--69 years over a 25--year period, 1980--2005. Across all years, the majority of employees voluntarily worked part time, but significantly fewer reported health insurance coverage, retirement benefits, and good wages. Change in quality over time differed for women (who make up the majority of part-time employees) and men. An overall decline in voluntary part-time work impacted women but not men. While both groups experienced a decline in health insurance coverage during the study period, men's rates of good wages and retirement plan coverage declined, whereas women's rates improved. Logistic regression models revealed that segmentation within good wage/benefit part-time work is nearly identical with that of full-time employees in terms of job, employer, and employee characteristics. A key difference between the part-time and full-time models, however, was that over time part-time women were just as likely to have good wages/benefits as part-time men, whereas full-time women consistently had lower odds than their male counterparts. Results provide evidence of segmentation within part-time work and, for this reason, that dual/segmented labor market theories have inadequately considered part-time work. Additionally, this study calls attention to the limitations of existing scholarship on change in the American labor market in representing the experiences of part-time employees, especially part-time women.