Why does part-time employment increase in recessions?

Daniel Borowczyk-Martins

IZA World of Labor, 2017, No 397, 397

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.

Keywords: part-time work; involuntary; business cycles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E21 E24 E32 J21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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