The Effects of Working Time, Segmentation and Labour Market Mobility on Wages and Pensions in Ireland
| Published date | 01 March 2003 |
| Author | Philip J. O'Connell,Vanessa Gash |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8543.00262 |
| Date | 01 March 2003 |
The Effects of WorkingTime,
Segmentation and Labour Market
Mobility on Wages and Pensions in
Ireland
Philip J. O’Connell and Vanessa Gash
Abstract
Most research on pay and benefit differences between full- and part-time work
focuses on characteristics of part-time workers and part-time jobs. However,
part-time jobs are more open to labour market ‘outsiders’, and such labour
market mobility can influence wages. We analyse the effects of working time,
gender, segmentation and mobility on wages and pension benefits in Ireland.
Both segmentation and mobility influence wages directly, and controlling for
segmentation in a wage model eliminates the negative effect of part-time
working. The wage effects of labour market mobility differ by gender and
labour market segment. Pension entitlement is strongly influenced by gender,
working time, labour market segment and mobility.
1. Introduction
Part-time working has increased over recent years in most OECD countries,
often accounting for a substantial share of employment growth. These
developments have been accompanied by increased concern about the
quality of part-time jobs, particularly with respect to pay and occupational
benefits (Kalleberg et al. 2000; Rubery 1998). Most existing research tends
to focus on the nature of part-time jobs and the characteristics of part-time
workers to analyse differences in pay and benefits between full- and part-
time employment. Part-timers tend to receive lower rates of pay and are less
likely to be entitled to occupational pensions. These disadvantages reflect
the personal characteristics of part-time workers, including education levels,
and also the sectors and occupations in which part-time work is concentrated.
Philip O’Connell is at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin. Vanessa Gash is at
Nuffield College, Oxford.
British Journal of Industrial Relations
41:1 March 2003 0007–1080 pp. 71–95
#Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2003. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd,
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
A more optimistic interpretation of the increase in part-time working
derives both from its potential to reduce high unemployment levels and
from the fact that part-time jobs appear to be more open than full-time
employment to the unemployed and other labour market ‘outsiders’. If part-
time work functions as an important route into employment, then research
should pay greater attention to labour market dynamics, focusing not only
on the current characteristics of jobs and workers, but also on whether part-
time workers have entered that status from within or outside the work-force.
Thus, if a greater proportion of part-timers than full-timers are recent entrants
to employment, some of the wage gap that is often attributed to the personal
characteristics of part-time workers and/or the characteristics of part-time
jobs may be due to labour market mobility. Moreover, if we expect job quality
to vary by labour market segment, we should also examine the impact of
mobility in different segments. The effects of labour market segmentation
and mobility are, of course, of interest in and of themselves, as well as in the
context of explaining part-time rewards. In this paper we analyse differences
in two important indicators of the quality of work in Ireland – hourly wages
and entitlement to occupational pensions – to establish whether these differ-
ences can be attributed to differences in working time per se, to the character-
istics of part-time workers and part-time jobs, or to labour market mobility.
2. Labour market trends in Ireland
The issues surrounding part-time working, labour mobility and gender loom
large in Ireland, given the dramatic increases in total employment, in
women’s employment and in part-time working in recent years. Table 1
shows total employment by gender for the years 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2001.
1
Employment growth was sluggish between 1988 and 1993, averaging only
1.3 per cent growth per annum. However, total employment increased by
an average of 5 per cent per annum over the years 1993–2001; and, with
a booming economy, employment growth was particularly rapid – almost
5.3 per cent per annum – between 1998 and 2001.
Employment trends have differed between men and women. Total male
employment increased by 4.3 per cent per annum between 1993 and 2001,
while female employment was much more buoyant, increasing by 6.1 per
cent per annum over the same period. These differing trends have given rise
to a marked change in the gender balance of employment in Ireland, with
women’s share of total employment increasing steadily, from under 33 per
cent in 1988 to almost 41 per cent in 2001.
The incidence of part-time working has increased substantially in Ireland
since the mid-1980s. Table 2 shows that the share of part-time workers in
total employment increased from under 7 per cent in 1983 to over 12 per
cent in 1997. For men the proportion of part-timers rose from under 3 per
cent to over 5 per cent in 1997, while among women the increase was from
under 16 per cent to 23 per cent. As noted above, there is a discontinuity in
72 British Journal of Industrial Relations
#Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2003.
To continue reading
Request your trial