Part‐time Employees: Workers Whose Time has Come?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459210012662 |
| Published date | 01 February 1992 |
| Pages | 3-12 |
| Date | 01 February 1992 |
| Author | Linda Dickens |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Part-time
Employees
3
Part-time Employees:
Workers Whose Time has
Come?
Linda Dickens
Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK
The
large
increase
in
part-time
working in Britain has
increasingly focused attention
on this group within the labour market. In 1951, 4 per cent of all employees
worked fewer than 30 hours a week. Forty years later this
figure
has risen to
around
25
per
cent,
i.e. over
5 million
people,
and the projected trend is upwards.
Attention has also been drawn to part-time workers as one section of the
"atypical" workforce singled out by the EC Commission. The Social Action
Programme, issued to begin implementing the Social Charter, contains three
draft directives on atypical workers, seeking to improve their position and bring
their employment conditions more in line with those of full-time, permanent
workers. This article looks at the directives and the extent to which, if adopted,
they would address the disadvantages associated with part-time work in Britain.
But it also argues that it is short-sighted to focus only on the draft directives;
other developments at European level have profound implications for part-time
workers and require employers to take immediate action.
Disadvantages of Part-time Work
The relative disadvantages of working part-time rather than full-time have been
well documented[1] and need only be indicated briefly here. Disadvantages
include: lower earnings and restricted access to enhanced pay opportunities;
less access to occupational benefits; fewer opportunities for training or
promotion; less job security; fewer statutory employment protections and
exclusion from contributory social security benefits.
Part-time work
is
more unevenly distributed than full-time work across sectors
and occupations and tends to be concentrated in relatively low-paying sectors
and in jobs which are low-paid and low-graded. Labour Force Surveys show
that over 60 per cent of all part-timers are found in retail distribution, hotels
and catering, education, and other services. Almost 60 per cent of employees
in hotels and catering work part-time; around 45 per cent of
all
employees in
retail distribution and in education work part-time; about 40 per cent of those
in medical and health services; about 20 per cent of employees in public
administration and defence and
16
per cent of those in banking, insurance and
finance. Occupational crowding results in over
81
per cent of part-timers being
in just four occupational groups: catering and cleaning; clerical and related;
selling; professional and related.
Part-time workers have lower average hourly earnings than full-timers: part-
time females earn about 57 per cent of average male full-time earnings and Employee Relations, Vol. 14 No. 2,
1992,
pp. 3-12 © MCB University
Press 0142-5455
To continue reading
Request your trial