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Are Part-Time Workers poor?

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  • Joan R. Rodgers

    (University of Wollongong)

Abstract

The proportion of Australian workers who are employed on a part-time basis has almost trebled in the last thirty years to reach its current level of 28 per cent. Part-time work is one type of ‘non-standard’ employment that is viewed with concern for it is alleged that part-time jobs provide a low standard of living for those employed in them. This paper focuses upon an extreme version of that concern: the incidence of poverty among part-time workers. Unit-record data are used to compare the poverty rates of part-time workers with those of full-time workers, the unemployed and people not in the labour force. The incidence of poverty among part-time workers is found to be a little lower than that of the entire adult population. The major reason for the relatively modest poverty rate of part-time workers is that a large proportion of them live in families with a full-time worker.

Suggested Citation

  • Joan R. Rodgers, 2003. "Are Part-Time Workers poor?," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 6(1), pages 177-193, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:6:y:2003:i:1:p:177-193
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Campbell, I & Burgess, J, 2001. "A new estimate of casual employment?," Australian Bulletin of Labour, National Institute of Labour Studies, vol. 27(2), pages 85-108.
    2. Peter Dawkins, 1996. "The Distribution of Work in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 72(218), pages 272-286, September.
    3. Dawkins, Peter, 1996. "The Distribution of Work in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 72(218), pages 272-286, September.
    4. David Johnson, 1987. "The Calculation and Use of Poverty Lines in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 20(4), pages 45-55, December.
    5. Murtough, G & Waite, M, 2001. "A new estimate of casual employment? Reply," Australian Bulletin of Labour, National Institute of Labour Studies, vol. 27(2), pages 109-117.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeyapraba Suresh, 2023. "Poverty is Lack of Capabilities: A Literature Review," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(3), pages 462-476, March.
    2. Joanna Abhayaratna & Les Andrews & Hudan Nuch & Troy Podbury, 2008. "Part Time Employment: the Australian Experience," Staff Working Papers 0805, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia.
    3. Robson, Doug & Rodgers, Joan R, 2008. "Travail to No Avail? Working Poverty in Australia," Economics Working Papers wp08-08, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    4. Jeroen Horemans, 2016. "The part-time poverty gap across Europe: How institutions affect the way part-time and full-time workers avoid poverty differently," Working Papers 1603, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    5. Inga Laß & Mark Wooden, 2020. "Temporary Employment Contracts and Household Income," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 111-132, January.
    6. Jeroen Horemans, 2017. "Atypical Employment and In-Work Poverty: A Different Story for Part-Timers and Temporary Workers?," Working Papers 1701, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; Time Allocation and Labor Supply (Hours of Work; Part-Time Employment; Work Sharing; Absenteeism; Quits).;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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