Abstract
The share of workers employed part-time increases substantially in economic downturns. How should this phenomenon be interpreted? One hypothesis is that part-time jobs are more prevalent in sectors that are less sensitive to the business cycle, so that recessionary changes in the sectoral composition of employment explain the increase in part-time employment. The evidence shows, however, that this hypothesis only accounts for a small part of the story. Instead, the growth of part-time work operates mainly through reductions in working hours in existing jobs.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 397 |
Journal | IZA World of Labor |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISSN | 2054-9571 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2017 |
Keywords
- Part-time work
- Involuntary
- Business cycles