Half a Job: Bad and Good Part-Time Jobs in a Changing Labor Market

241 Pages·1995·37.578 MB·English

by  Chris Tilly

Half a Job
Bad and Good Part-Time Jobs
in a Changing Labor Market
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Job
Half a
Bad and Good Parl-Time Jobs
in a Changing Labor Market
CHRIS TILLY
iii
Temple University Press Philadelphia
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To Marie and Amanda
Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122
Copyright © 1996 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 1996
Printed in the United States of America
@ The paper used in this publication meets the requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Libraty Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984
Text design by Arlene Putterman
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tilly, Chris.
Half a job: bad and good part-time jobs in a changing
labor market / Chris Tilly.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56639-381-7 (cloth). - ISBN 1-56639-382-5
(paper)
1. Part-time employment-United States. I. Title.
HD5110.2.U5T548 1996
331.25'72-dc20 95-20654
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CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Vll
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX
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1 Half a Job Is Not Enough 1
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2 Why Has Part-Time Employment Continued to Grow? 13
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3 Two Theoretical Frameworks 34
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4 Good and Bad Part-Time Jobs 47
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5 Implications of the Distinction Between Good and Bad
Pa rt-Time Jobs 70
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6 How Businesses Set the Level of Part-Time Employment 91
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7 Cycles and Trends 121
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8 The Case for New Policies 158
APPENDIX: A FORMAL MODEL OF THE CYCLICAL ADJUSTMENT
OF PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT IN NONCYCLICAL INDUSTRIES 189
NOTES 199
REFERENCES 207
INDEX 217
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TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLES
2.1 Part-Time Employees' Family Position, Percent, 1985 16
2.2 Major Life Roles of Part-Time Workers, 1978 and 1987 16
2.3 Rate of Part-Time Employment by Age and Gender,
1969, 1979, 1989, and 1993 18
2.4 Rate of Part-Time Employment by Industry Composition,
1969, 1979, 1989, and 1993 22
2.5 Percent of Involuntary, Voluntary, and Total Part-Time
Employment by Industry, 1969, 1979, 1989, and 1993 24
2.6 Percent of Involuntary, Voluntary, and Total Part-Time
Employment in Boston, Pittsburgh, and the United States,
1988 29
2.7 Industry Composition of Nonagricultural Employment
in Boston, Pittsburgh, and the United States, Percent, 1987 30
2.8 Types of Retail and Insurance Organizations Interviewed 31
4.1 Training Periods and Part-Time or Full-Time Status
by Job at EZ Mart and SuperValu 51
4.2 Percent of Part-Time Employment by Occupation
in the Retail and Grocery Industries, March 1992 67
4.3 Percent of Part-Time Employment by Occupation
in the Insurance Industry, March 1992 68
5.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Part-Time Employment
for the Employer 74
5.2 Industry Composition of Part-Time and Total Workforce,
1993 89
5.3 Occupational Composition of Part-Time and Total
Workforce, 1993 90
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Vlll Tables and Figures
T ABLES (continued)
5.4 Firm-Size Composition of Part-Time and Total Workforce,
March 1993 90
6.1 Percent of Part-Time Employment by Major Industry,
1993 92
6.2 Percent of Part-Time Employment by Major Occupation,
1993 92
7.1 Old Versus New Measurements of Part-Time Employment,
1993 156
FIGURES
2.1 Unemployment Rates and Rates of Part-Time Employment,
1956-93 14
2.2 The Part-Time/Full-Time Hourly Wage Gap, 1973-93 20
2.3 Rate of Part-Time Employment in Retail, 1962-93 26
2.4 Rate of Part-Time Employment in Insurance, 1968-92 28
6.1 Distribution of Surveyed Retail and Insurance Firms
by Rate of Part-Time Employment 94
6.2 Influences on the Department-Level Manager in Determining
the Mix of Part-Time and Full-Time Jobs 106
7.1 Unemployment Rate and Rate of Involuntary Part-Time
Employment, 1956-93 122
7.2 Components of the Involuntary Part-Time Workforce,
1957-93 124
7.3 Rate of Part-Time Employment in Retail
and Unemployment Rate, 1962-93 127
7.4 Rate of Part-Time Employment in Insurance
and Unemployment Rate, 1968-92 128
7.5 GDP Growth, Unemployment, and Involuntary Part-Time
Employment, January 1991-December 1994 142
A.l Labor Market Equilibria 193
A.2 Static and Dynamic Effects of an Increase
in Unemployment 195
A.3 Effects of a Decrease in Training Costs 196
A.4 Turnover Difference Schedules in Retail and Insurance
Labor Markets 196
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• IT IS TRADITIONAL TO WAIT UNTIL THE END OF THE
acknowledgments for a nod to the patient spouse and family, but let me
instead begin by thanking my wife, Marie Kennedy, and my stepdaugh
ter, Amanda Kennedy. The two of them provided me with every con
ceivable form of support as I wrote the dissertation out of which this
book developed: emotional, financial, intellectual. Amanda even served
as an able research assistant for data entry tasks. By the time I began to
turn the dissertation into a book, Amanda had left home to pursue her
own part-time jobs, but Marie continued to provide warmth, wisdom,
and the occasional hard question. I dedicate this book to them.
There are many other people I want to thank for their assistance on
this project. First and foremost, lowe a debt of gratitude to my disserta
tion committee in the departments of Economics and Urban Studies and
Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Ben Harrison,
Michael Piore, and Lester Thurow. Their guidance, patience, and support
made this research an enjoyable and enriching experience. Their secre
taries, Meg Gross, Linda Woodbury, and Mary Lane, also helped make
the process a pleasure, not least by facilitating communication with these
sometimes elusive professors. For the book phase of the project, I thank
Charlie Derber for spurring me to turn this work into a book, Eileen Ap
pelbaum for offering a very helpful review of the manuscript, and
Michael Ames, my editor at Temple University Press, for providing clear
and useful advice.
Others at MIT also offered their help along the way. Bob McKersie
set up my initial company interviews, thereby boosting my confidence
and giving me a flying start. And my "shadow" dissertation committee
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