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November 17, 1997
The Changing Nature of
Part-time Work
by Grant Schellenberg
There is growing consensus among labour market analysts that the predominant trend in the economy has been towards an "up-skilling" rather than a "de-skilling" of jobs. While jobs with low-skill requirements are still prevalent, employment growth has been strongest in those sectors of the economy where the demand for highly skilled, knowledge-intensive workers is greatest. This report examines whether there is increasing scope for part-time employment on the high-skill, "good" side of the dichotomy between "good jobs" and "bad jobs." The evidence provides only modest support for this view.
An increasing share of part-time workers are in professional occupations, reflecting the overall growth in this occupational category. For example, among women aged 25 and older – who fill about half of all part-time jobs – the proportion who work as professionals has increased from about one-quarter to one-third since the mid-1980s. However, the majority of part-time workers are still employed in clerical, sales and service jobs – the three fields where part-time workers have traditionally been concentrated.
A review of changes in the distribution of wages among part-time workers also shows modest improvements. Between 1986 and 1993, the share of part-time workers earning less than $7.50 per hour declined by almost seven percentage points (from 47 to 40 per cent), and the share earning $15.00 per hour or more increased by five percentage points. However, the overall gains by part-time workers must not be overstated, since the largest share of these workers remained concentrated at the lower end of the wage distribution.
And despite modest improvements since the mid-1980s, the vast majority of part-time workers are still excluded from access to workplace benefits. In 1995, less than one-fifth of part-time employees were covered by occupational pension plans, medical and dental plans, or paid sick leave, compared to two-thirds of full-time employees. Among unionized part-time workers, access to workplace benefits improved in the late 1980s, but few gains have been made subsequently.
A review of other characteristics of part-time work, such as job security, work schedules, skill requirements, and the use of new technologies also indicates that generally, part-time workers fare poorly.
One way to measure job security is to assess the number of workers who report that their employment is "non-permanent." Using this measure, we find that there is much more job insecurity among part-time workers than among full-time workers. More than one-quarter of all part-time workers (28 per cent) reported that their job was non-permanent, compared to only one-tenth of full-time workers.
About half of these non-permanent part-time workers described their jobs as "casual." While some of these workers were young people still in school, many were older workers, and they may have considered their work to be casual because they hoped to find better-paying, full-time employment. Another one-third of the part-time workers who described their jobs as non-permanent did so because they were hired on contract for a fixed term only. And contract employment often has negative consequences for workers, including exclusion from workplace benefits and uncertainty about future employment.
The work schedules of part-time workers raise additional concerns about the quality of their jobs. While the vast majority of full-time workers (74 per cent) were employed on a regular daytime schedule, this was true for a minority of part-time workers only (41 per cent). Most part-time employees must do shift work; more than one-third have irregular or on-call work schedules. As a result, their hours and earnings vary from week to week. This might not be difficult for young part-time workers still in school, but it does create insecurity for about one-quarter of the adult part-time workers (aged 25 and older) who also have irregular work hours and variable earnings. The vast majority of part-time employees who work irregular hours say they have little choice about doing so because it is a requirement of the job.
Evidence also suggests that part-time workers are often used for jobs that have lower skill requirements. As a result, they may be left out of the "up-skilling" process now underway. In the 1991 Census, a skill classification for jobs was developed based on the education, training and skills needed to enter positions and the duties undertaken. Within sales and service occupations, nearly half the jobs with the lowest skill requirements were filled by part-time workers, compared to less than one-fifth of the jobs that required the second highest skill level. The same pattern appeared in other occupational categories, although the differences were not as great. Part-time workers also tend to have lower levels of educational attainment than their full-time counterparts within the same occupations. And when they are asked, fewer part-time workers than full-time workers agree that their job requires a high level of skill.
There are also striking differences in the impact of new technologies on the jobs of part-time and full-time workers. More than half the full-time workers said that their jobs had been somewhat or greatly affected by the introduction of computers or automated technologies over the last five years; only about one-third of part-time workers said this was true of their jobs. Large differences are even evident within occupational categories. Among professionals, for example, two-thirds of full-time workers said their jobs had been affected by technology, but less than half (42 per cent) of the professional part-time workers made this claim. One important reason that many part-time workers may not be acquiring new technological skills is that they are over-represented in small firms. These firms tend to be found in sectors of the economy where technological change has been less rapid, such as in retail trades and personal services. Small firms may also be more likely than larger ones to try to remain competitive by cutting labour costs and other expenses, rather than by investing in new technologies.
Finally, a review of the employment preferences of Canadians reveals a significant gap between the type of employment available and the type of employment being sought. Fully half of all part-time workers indicated that they would prefer to work more hours for more pay. This represents a tremendous problem of underemployment among part-time workers, and it is prevalent among both sexes, and across all age groups, occupations and wage categories.
Between 1975 and 1994, the proportion of part-time workers who wanted a full-time job but could not find one rose from 11 to 35 per cent. This incidence of involuntary part-time work has increased in all sectors, including professional occupations. And it has risen significantly among mothers with children, indicating that for many women with children, part-time employment is more the result of a lack of employment options, rather than a voluntary choice about how best to balance their paid and unpaid work.
In summary, data up to 1995 indicate that advances in the quality of work due to technological changes have largely excluded part-time workers. This is particularly worrisome because the number of part-time workers has been growing in comparison to full-time workers. It appears that the polarization of the work force – with one group of workers receiving good wages, benefits and job security, and another group, including most part-time workers, receiving poor wages, no benefits and little security – is worsening.
The Changing Nature of Part-Time Work - Related Material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
309 Cooper Street, 5th Floor,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0G5
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
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